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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=chemicals&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/chemicals/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2026 11:26:43 +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 Chemicals</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/chemicals/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Cyanide ponds from illegal mining threaten Amazon Indigenous territory</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Nov 2026 14:12:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Oliveira]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/20111822/Ibama-2026_03_25_Op_Xapiri_capa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333213</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Chemicals, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Degraded Lands, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Health, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Grabbing, Law, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Public Health, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, Water, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With mercury increasingly hard to get, illegal gold miners have turned to a cheaper, deadlier alternative.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cyanide use in illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon is posing a new threat to people and animals in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory. The territory, in the state of Roraima, has been invaded by illegal miners who use cyanide to dissolve gold out of crushed ore, leaving behind ponds of cyanide-contaminated water. In July, the Federal Police arrested two men and seized from them approximately 375 kilograms (827 pounds) of a “chemical compound with characteristics consistent with cyanide,” as well as 1,250 kg (2,756 lb) of activated charcoal — another substance used in gold processing in Roraima. According to the police, the seizures are linked to illegal gold mining in the Indigenous territory. A year earlier, in July 2025, the Federal Police closed down an illegal laboratory in Boa Vista, the state capital, where rocks thought to have come from gold mining and areas of water contaminated with cyanide were found. According to the G1 news outlet, the rocks reportedly came from Raposa Serra do Sol, with miners sending them to the capital for the gold-washing and separation process. Traditionally, illegal miners extract gold from ore using mercury — a toxic substance whose trade is illegal in Brazil. With intensified environmental raids, mercury availability on the informal market has fallen dramatically, according to Brazil’s environmental agency, IBAMA. Because no companies are authorized to legally sell mercury in the country, the product has become significantly more expensive on the black market, where a 1.5-liter (50-ounce) bottle can&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333213</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global framework urgently needed to assess emerging health risks of novel chemicals, experts say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/global-framework-urgently-needed-to-assess-emerging-health-risks-of-novel-chemicals-experts-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/global-framework-urgently-needed-to-assess-emerging-health-risks-of-novel-chemicals-experts-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2026 15:37:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/22121844/1-4986464658_800cca2a0b_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333552</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Chemicals, Climate Change, Environment, forever chemicals, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Microplastics, Planetary Boundaries, Plastic, Pollution, Public Health, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over the past century, humanity has invented a dizzying array of novel chemicals for industrial, commercial and domestic use. These synthetic chemicals have been manufactured and released into the world with little caution for the harm they might cause to human health or to ecosystems that we depend on for life as we know it. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over the past century, humanity has invented a dizzying array of novel chemicals for industrial, commercial and domestic use. These synthetic chemicals have been manufactured and released into the world with little caution for the harm they might cause to human health or to ecosystems that we depend on for life as we know it. An estimated 350,000 synthetic chemicals had been registered for production as of 2020, and for the vast majority, we know next to nothing about their health effects. Even their chemical compositions are often hidden as proprietary trade secrets. “The world today is full of manufactured chemicals,” says Philip Landrigan, public health physician and director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College in the U.S., who spoke to Mongabay via video call. But “we have really good data on the health effects for only 30 or 40 of these chemicals,” he warns. Only a handful of chemicals have been banned or restricted in U.S. markets in the last 50 years. The evidence base for some classes of chemicals is more developed than others, but what we know so far gives serious cause for concern, experts say. From thalidomide-induced birth defects to the pesticide DDT’s ecological impacts and cancers linked to polychlorinated biphenyls, the chemical industry has a long history of rushing new synthetics to market while largely asking questions about toxicity later. “I would think of it as an iceberg — there&#8217;s a little bit of ice visible above&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/global-framework-urgently-needed-to-assess-emerging-health-risks-of-novel-chemicals-experts-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/global-framework-urgently-needed-to-assess-emerging-health-risks-of-novel-chemicals-experts-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333552</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Large animals are living carbon stores. Does that make saving them a climate solution?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/large-animals-are-living-carbon-stores-does-that-make-saving-them-a-climate-solution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/large-animals-are-living-carbon-stores-does-that-make-saving-them-a-climate-solution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2026 02:47:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/16155427/c.-Julie-Larsen-_6422_African-Elephants_KEN_03-09-14-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332957</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Earth Science, Elephants, Environment, Forest Carbon, Global Environmental Crisis, Research, Science, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Great herds of elephants once crisscrossed Africa, and scientists have no doubt that they shaped the landscape, ecosystems and — as recent science has shown — the balance of carbon. Though it&#8217;s difficult to be certain of exact numbers, some scientists muse that over the past five centuries, humans have driven a loss of 98% [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Great herds of elephants once crisscrossed Africa, and scientists have no doubt that they shaped the landscape, ecosystems and — as recent science has shown — the balance of carbon. Though it&#8217;s difficult to be certain of exact numbers, some scientists muse that over the past five centuries, humans have driven a loss of 98% of the continent’s elephants. A more recent, often-cited figure from the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, put the continent&#8217;s elephant population at 1.3 million in the 1970s. Research since then has suggested that overall numbers of savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) have dropped by 70%, driven by hunting and habitat loss. Their forest cousins, Loxodonta cyclotis, have likely slid by 90%. As scientists have begun to uncover the interactions between carbon and big animals like elephants, there&#8217;s a been a push to &#8220;rewild&#8221; landscapes for the benefit of the climate. The ocean&#8217;s massive whales similarly offer that potential. As the largest animals that have ever existed on Earth, their bodies alone serve as substantial reservoirs that could keep climate-warming carbon out of the atmosphere over the course of the decades (or more) that they live. Other research has sketched out a whale pump: Whales’ nutrient-rich waste also supports phytoplankton, which absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide. Cetacean contributions to carbon sequestration continue even after they die, as their bodies sometimes sink to the ocean floor, where a range of deep-sea organisms feed on them, keeping that carbon out of the atmosphere. Centuries of hunting have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/large-animals-are-living-carbon-stores-does-that-make-saving-them-a-climate-solution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/large-animals-are-living-carbon-stores-does-that-make-saving-them-a-climate-solution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332957</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plastic industry bookkeeping plans hide chemical recycling harms, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/plastic-industry-bookkeeping-plans-hide-chemical-recycling-harms-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/plastic-industry-bookkeeping-plans-hide-chemical-recycling-harms-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2026 15:54:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/15224641/1_B_Plastic_pollution_crisis_UNEP-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332808</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Canada, Global, North America, North Carolina, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Chemicals, Circular Economy, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Natural Resources, Plastic, Pollution, Public Health, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plastic pollution has rapidly escalated into a global environmental crisis that threatens ecosystem function and human health at an epic scale. Solutions are urgently needed, but while scientists, conservationists and more than 75 nations have called for binding limits on fossil fuel-driven plastic production, the plastics industry is opposed to all limits and is instead [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plastic pollution has rapidly escalated into a global environmental crisis that threatens ecosystem function and human health at an epic scale. Solutions are urgently needed, but while scientists, conservationists and more than 75 nations have called for binding limits on fossil fuel-driven plastic production, the plastics industry is opposed to all limits and is instead pushing a collection of technologies known as ‘chemical recycling.’ Critics say the industry is utilizing deceptive accounting practices and marketing jargon to rebrand polluting plastic incineration disposal methods. To date, chemical recycling facilities have created a relatively miniscule amount of recycled plastic, according to industry critics. But consumer product labels claiming “20% recycled plastic” have become an increasingly common sight on single-use plastic items. Reading such labels, consumers might logically assume that the product contains 20% recycled material, but that might not be the case. In addition, that potentially misleading label could be greenwashing environmentally damaging plastic incineration. Chemical recycling: Cutting-edge solution or sleight of hand? Chemical recycling, also dubbed ‘advanced recycling’ by the industry, uses chemicals, intense heat and/or pressure to break down plastic waste into its molecular building blocks. This contrasts with traditional ‘mechanical’ recycling methods which shred plastic waste into tiny flakes that can be melted and re-molded into new products. The most common form of chemical recycling, called ‘pyrolysis,’ uses high temperatures and pressure to convert waste plastic into an oil, which can be further processed into a variety of chemicals, some of which can be used to create new plastics.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/plastic-industry-bookkeeping-plans-hide-chemical-recycling-harms-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/plastic-industry-bookkeeping-plans-hide-chemical-recycling-harms-critics-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332808</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers in Suriname call for investigation, stricter oversight amid new mining activity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 16:18:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/09154037/a.-Banner-%C2%A9-marccharron-original-1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331661</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Chemicals, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, and said they discovered “substantial” mining activity that raised legal questions about permitting. Now, the two lawmakers are calling on President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons to launch an immediate investigation and temporarily halt all mining activity in the area. “The situation on-site raises fundamental questions about the nature, duration, permitting, oversight and the fiscal and environmental controls on these activities,” the lawmakers said in a letter, reviewed by Mongabay, to the president’s office last month. It added, “[It’s] necessary to establish how activities of this scale have been able to take place over an extended period and to what extent the state’s interests and revenues have been protected in the process.” The lawmakers, who traveled with a group of local journalists and an environmental activist, observed “deep excavations” at the site and materials being transported to processing locations. There were also indications of cyanide use via heap leaching, a process in which the chemical is sprayed onto rock to dissolve gold, making it easier to collect smaller particles. The import and use of cyanide is heavily restricted in Suriname. Geerlings-Simons is trying to phase out imports and implement a registry system for the chemical, which is still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331661</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A chemical kept fishmeal from catching fire. Then scientists raised cancer concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-chemical-kept-fishmeal-from-catching-fire-then-scientists-raised-cancer-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-chemical-kept-fishmeal-from-catching-fire-then-scientists-raised-cancer-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 13:01:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ian Urbina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/08040418/b.-54476493970_8b5ce03b55_o-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331923</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Chemicals, Fisheries, Fishing, Health, Oceans, Overfishing, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article is from Food for Feed, a series investigating the global fishmeal industry. It is produced by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C., and excerpted by Mongabay. On Jan. 8, 1966, a South African ship caught fire at sea. At port in Bristol, in the U.K., firefighters pried open [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This article is from Food for Feed, a series investigating the global fishmeal industry. It is produced by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C., and excerpted by Mongabay. On Jan. 8, 1966, a South African ship caught fire at sea. At port in Bristol, in the U.K., firefighters pried open the smoking container, and the conflagration spread and burned for five days. A little over a month later, on Feb. 11, a Liberian steamship caught fire near Rotterdam. The blaze spread and ignited a storage area with barrels of petrol, raging for several days, before melting the deck and mast, and eventually sinking the vessel. Then, on March 19 that same year, a Danish ship caught fire off Long Beach, California, injuring three firefighters and killing a longshoreman, and causing more than $1 million in estimated damages. These were far from isolated incidents. Fishmeal powder is known for spontaneously combusting as it decays and oxidizes. From the 1950s through the 1970s, fishmeal cargo ignited at least 90 fires on ships and in plants around the world, according to a review of historical news coverage by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organization based in Washington, D.C. The culprit in each fire was fishmeal, a dark-yellow powder made by drying and pulverizing fish. More than half of the seafood consumed around the world is from aquafarms. Fishmeal or fish is crucial for farm-raised salmon, shrimp, tilapia, and other species. Fishmeal. Image by Phu Thinh Co via&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-chemical-kept-fishmeal-from-catching-fire-then-scientists-raised-cancer-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-chemical-kept-fishmeal-from-catching-fire-then-scientists-raised-cancer-concerns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331923</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 17:13:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14212951/AP26023620981888-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, could be worth billions. Burgum’s trip came just a few months after a U.S. military operation removed then-President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to a detention center in the U.S. state of New York. Since then, officials have heralded a new era for Venezuela, and tried to make the mining sector more attractive to foreign investment: Passing mining reform laws, taking down leaders of criminal groups involved in mining, and raiding illegal mining sites. The U.S. is also considering an executive order aimed at improving access to critical minerals, Reuters reported. Yet at the same time, observers say the illegal mining crisis is getting worse, not better. Illegal mining has expanded this year, in some cases in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in mining have tightened their hold in many parts of the country, according to sources contacted by Mongabay. “[Since Maduro’s capture], nothing has changed in the criminal and legal ecosystem,” Cristina Burelli, founder of SOSOrinoco, an advocacy group studying the social and environmental impacts of mining in Venezuela, told Mongabay. “If anything, we have seen an increase in certain areas.” Vendors weigh and trade gold at gold-buying shops in El Callao, Venezuela.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa’s new gold rush: Big promises, closed books in new carbon frontier</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-promises-closed-books-in-new-carbon-frontier/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-promises-closed-books-in-new-carbon-frontier/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2026 16:10:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leonie Joubert]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/02171203/southern-greater-kudu-Tragelaphus-strepsiceros-strepsiceros-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328407</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Market, Climate Change, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Forest Carbon, Landscape Restoration, Restoration, Soil Carbon, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the third article in Mongabay&#8217;s three-part investigation of spekboom-led ecosystem restoration in South Africa. This is part of an award-winning collaboration between independent science writer Leonie Joubert, the Stellenbosch University School for Climate Studies, and the Henry Nxumalo Foundation which supports investigative journalism in Africa. Read parts one and two. GQEBERHA, South Africa [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the third article in Mongabay&#8217;s three-part investigation of spekboom-led ecosystem restoration in South Africa. This is part of an award-winning collaboration between independent science writer Leonie Joubert, the Stellenbosch University School for Climate Studies, and the Henry Nxumalo Foundation which supports investigative journalism in Africa. Read parts one and two. GQEBERHA, South Africa — Browsed. Heavily browsed. Knackered. This farm camp is well on the knackered side of the degradation scale, threadbare after decades of heavy livestock pressure. But the single shrub at Nick Hamp-Adam’s feet may help change that. It just needs a second chance. This young spekboom plant (Portulacaria afra) is more stocky shrub than rooted cutting. It’s had more time than usual in the nursery to bulk up ahead of being released into the wild. But for the moment, it&#8217;s stricken on its side, roots exposed. Hamp-Adams, general manager for Return to Thicket, one of the smaller restoration projects in this nook of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, is about to set things right. He sinks to his knees, finds a hand-sized stone and begins reopening the original planting hole. “Kudu, most likely …&#8221; His breath is metered by his efforts with the digging tool. “… came through …” Strike. “… grabbed it …” Strike. “… probably wasn&#8217;t planted deep enough.” Strike. He’s gentle when he rights the plant, taking care as he tamps the soil around its roots. Tough plants, generally. Don’t need much coddling. Except during planting. Treat them like babies during planting.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-promises-closed-books-in-new-carbon-frontier/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Australia expands seismic testing, experts warn of profound effects on sealife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 18:38:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Theoné van der Merwe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/22140035/b.-%C2%A9Wayne-and-Pam-Osborn-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324311</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, carbon, Conservation, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Science, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was spring, 20 years ago now, but he remembers it clearly. On the deck of the Geco Resolution, wind tearing spray from the waves, Robert McCauley stood gazing out onto an ocean blackened by night. The ship had been firing seismic airguns all day, thunderous blasts punching through the water and into the seabed. Over time, the rhythmic boom reverberating through the hull had almost faded into the background. But then night fell, and the sound revealed itself. “Every time the airgun went off, the sea would light up,” McCauley told Mongabay. Each blast was triggering a burst of bioluminescence — dinoflagellates and other microscopic life igniting in unison. “A sheet of light would shoot out, like a wave traveling at the speed of sound. It went out for about a kilometer at least,” he said. As Australia’s leading expert in marine bioacoustics, McCauley, a research scientist at the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University, was there to study how whales responded to the noise. But watching the bioluminescent glow pulse outward and fade, then pulse again, he found himself wondering less about whales and more about the tiny organisms that sustain them. “It made me think, what’s happening to all those little animals? How are they being stimulated? And what happens if they’re being stimulated every five or 10 seconds, repeatedly?” McCauley wondered. For decades, marine seismic surveys have echoed through the world’s oceans, largely in search of oil and gas. Research has shown the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-australia-expands-seismic-testing-experts-warn-of-profound-effects-on-sealife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324311</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Tunisian phosphate plant that sickens children so US, Europe can get fertilizer</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2026 02:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dawn KikelElisângela MendonçaKhadija Ben Salah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21020526/h-KhadijaBenSalah-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324147</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, North Africa, and Tunisia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agrochemicals, Air Pollution, Business, Chemicals, Community Development, Environment, Fertilizers, Health, Industry, Mongabay investigation, Pollution, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dalila grew up in the Tunisian coastal city of Gabès and is accustomed to the heavy, acrid smell from the state-owned phosphate processing plant about a 10-minute walk from her home. On days when noxious fumes fill the air, Dalila rushes to tightly shut the windows and tells her children to hurry indoors. She washes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dalila grew up in the Tunisian coastal city of Gabès and is accustomed to the heavy, acrid smell from the state-owned phosphate processing plant about a 10-minute walk from her home. On days when noxious fumes fill the air, Dalila rushes to tightly shut the windows and tells her children to hurry indoors. She washes them, believing it lessens harmful effects from chemicals. Emissions can last all day. Residents may get little or no advance warning. But one day in September 2025, children were at school when gases spread. Some students fell to the ground, complaining they had difficulty breathing. Others said they felt like they were suffocating. Dalila’s daughter said she felt like she was choking. Dalila rushed her to a government-run hospital. When she asked about test results or the type of substances that may have caused her difficulty breathing, Dalila said she did not get clear answers. The incident sickening the schoolchildren helped spark mass protests in the streets of Gabès, with people waving banners that read “Stop Pollution” and “Move The Plant.” It is not the first time that residents have protested water and air pollution from the factory. Dalila feels that she and others in Gabès are being ignored. They are far from alone. Fishermen report coastal waters were once abundant with fish, but, now, their nets come up empty. Scientific studies provide evidence that environmental damage poses a danger to the health of those living nearby. People take part in a demonstration against pollution&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-tunisian-phosphate-plant-that-sickens-children-so-us-europe-can-get-fertilizer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324147</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can selective logging help the Congo Basin store more carbon?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-selective-logging-help-the-congo-basin-store-more-carbon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-selective-logging-help-the-congo-basin-store-more-carbon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 22:38:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/02103623/elephants-in-the-congo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322365</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Logging, Rainforests, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The rainforests of the Congo Basin are the planet’s largest forested carbon sink: as these 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) of trees in Central Africa breathe in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they turn it into leaves and bark and branches, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. Yet a recently [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The rainforests of the Congo Basin are the planet’s largest forested carbon sink: as these 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) of trees in Central Africa breathe in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they turn it into leaves and bark and branches, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. Yet a recently published study quantifying this carbon storage presents a surprising suggestion: that the most effective way to trap even more carbon in Congo Basin rainforests may be to cut some of its trees down. The study, published as an advance copy in April in ­­Nature Communications, found that selectively managed logging areas make up about 57% of the net carbon removals in the Congo Basin. The authors suggest this shows these forests could provide benefits to both the planet and local communities if sustainable logging is permitted. “The question is: is logging, or any other sustainable use of those forests, only bad for the environment?” said lead researcher Le Bienfaiteur Sagang, a tropical ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Can we use these forests, give them more value, provide jobs for the locals, and still provide a good contribution to the climate?” Sagang and his co-authors decided to put this questions to test. They designed a machine-learning program that combined land-cover data, captured between 1990 and 2020 across the Congo Basin’s six forested countries, with aboveground carbon levels estimated from other studies via lidar, which creates complex 3D landscape scans using lasers. This rainforest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-selective-logging-help-the-congo-basin-store-more-carbon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-selective-logging-help-the-congo-basin-store-more-carbon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322365</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Laser scanning forests may boost carbon estimates, but credibility questions linger</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 14:55:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shradha Triveni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/26115840/Overlay1-1-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321918</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Geology, Mapping, Research, Science, Soil Carbon, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Forests are natural carbon sinks. But as reforestation of degraded land is becoming a global climate solution, a persistent question lingers: How do we know how much carbon a forest is actually storing? Researchers say ground-based laser scanning, or LiDAR, could improve the efficiency of measuring the outcomes of reforestation. And a recent paper published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Forests are natural carbon sinks. But as reforestation of degraded land is becoming a global climate solution, a persistent question lingers: How do we know how much carbon a forest is actually storing? Researchers say ground-based laser scanning, or LiDAR, could improve the efficiency of measuring the outcomes of reforestation. And a recent paper published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence found that LiDAR scanning in Australia offered an improvement over other methods of carbon estimation. LiDAR instruments emit thousands of tiny laser pulses to create complex and intricate 3D maps of a forest’ structure, allowing researchers to more accurately estimate how much carbon is contained in its trees. Co-author of the paper Alexander W. Cheesman, a senior research fellow at James Cook University, North Queensland, Australia, calls the technology “transformative.” “Traditional field surveys heavily relied on manually measuring the height and diameter of a relatively small number of trees. But laser scanning captures the whole forest in 360 degrees, recording every stem, every branch and the shape of the canopy,” Cheesman told Mongabay during a virtual interview over Google Meet. In Australia, the Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM) is the government’s main tool to track carbon stored in soil and roots (belowground carbon) and vegetation (aboveground carbon). It is used for national greenhouse gas reporting to the United Nations and to assess carbon credit within the country, through the government’s Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme. Rather than directly measuring carbon, FullCAM simulates the movement of carbon through ecosystems by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/laser-scanning-forests-may-boost-carbon-estimates-but-credibility-questions-linger/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321918</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rodent-killing baits threaten small wild cats and other wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 14:29:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/18054111/Image_6-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321399</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, Global, North America, Oceania, South Africa, Southern Africa, United States, and Washington]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Carnivores, Cats, Chemicals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Health, Mammals, Poisoning, Predators, Rodents, Small Cats, Toxicology, Wildlife, and Wolves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cat kills rodent. Cat eats rodent. Cat is exposed to potentially lethal rodenticides. That scenario is increasingly likely for many small wild cat species across the globe, and yet, only a handful of researchers are investigating this underrecognized conservation issue. Thus far, researchers confirmed that one wild cat population has declined from exposure to these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cat kills rodent. Cat eats rodent. Cat is exposed to potentially lethal rodenticides. That scenario is increasingly likely for many small wild cat species across the globe, and yet, only a handful of researchers are investigating this underrecognized conservation issue. Thus far, researchers confirmed that one wild cat population has declined from exposure to these poisons. That’s a small bobcat (Lynx rufus) living on Kiawah Island off the South Carolina coast in the U.S., which faces imminent local extinction due to rodenticides. Up until 2019, there was a stable population of these beloved cats, which are considered celebrities there, but that year, three cats died. Among them was a female that bled to death while giving birth. Postmortems revealed concoctions of rodenticides in each of the bobcats’ blood and livers. Over the next four years, there were 12 more victims and the bobcats’ overall survival rate fell to 39%. All tested positive for concentrations of anticoagulant rodenticides; some had been acutely poisoned, said Meghan Keating, a doctoral candidate at South Carolina’s Clemson University. That was a troubling sign for a population that now numbers less than 20 individuals. They are regularly exposed to rodenticides, as rodents (including rats) are a major part of their diet, Keating said. Also troubling is that her team found exposure to not just one, but a cocktail of rodenticides. “We haven&#8217;t had a bobcat test positive for less than two rodenticides,” she told Mongabay. Kiawah Island’s rodenticide-driven bobcat decline may be an outlier, given its&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rodent-killing-baits-threaten-small-wild-cats-and-other-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321399</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal e-waste trade turns Bangladesh into net importer</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/illegal-e-waste-trade-turns-bangladesh-into-net-importer/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/illegal-e-waste-trade-turns-bangladesh-into-net-importer/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2026 07:45:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sajibur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/09073616/e-waste-in-bangladesh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320801</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Chemicals, E-waste, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, Industry, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pollution, Public Health, Technology, Trade, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Bangladesh, poor oversight of unlawful cross-border trade in hazardous electronic waste continues, turning the country into a net importer of electronic waste. The country has rules to control e-waste. It is also a party to the Basel Convention and has introduced its own laws, like the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules (2021). However, enforcement [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Bangladesh, poor oversight of unlawful cross-border trade in hazardous electronic waste continues, turning the country into a net importer of electronic waste. The country has rules to control e-waste. It is also a party to the Basel Convention and has introduced its own laws, like the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules (2021). However, enforcement of these frameworks remains weak. Mongabay obtained and reviewed the document outlining Bangladesh’s import and export of e-waste, revealing key details on trade flows and regulatory gaps. The document, by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), shows that 40 companies imported e-waste under HS code 8549 — the international customs code for trading e-waste — at various times between 2022 and 2025, in apparent violation of the Basel Convention, an international treaty to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations. The textiles and apparel industry leads at 27%, or about one quarter, of all e-waste importers. No response from importers Mongabay reached out to Unilever Bangladesh Limited, one of the 40 e-waste importing companies and the only one that responded. Shamima Akhter, director of corporate affairs, partnerships &amp; communications of Unilever Bangladesh Limited, said in an email on May 21, &#8220;We confirm that we have not imported any e‑waste or restricted items. The product concerned is a load cell, which is a precision measuring instrument, and the correct HS Code for this item is 90318, as declared in our import documentation. Any change to HS Code 8549 during the clearance process was made independently&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/illegal-e-waste-trade-turns-bangladesh-into-net-importer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320801</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A ‘symphony’ of wildlife suggests carbon financing is working in Sierra Leone</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-symphony-of-wildlife-suggests-carbon-financing-is-working-in-sierra-leone/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-symphony-of-wildlife-suggests-carbon-financing-is-working-in-sierra-leone/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2026 20:36:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/27093342/White-necked_rockfowl_Picathartes_gymnocephalus_Nyamebe_Bepo_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320170</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Birds, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Rainforests, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the first things H.S. Sathya Chandra Sagar noticed in Gola Rainforest National Park was its profusion of sound. Standing amid the tallest trees he’d ever seen, Sagar could hear the calls of countless birds, the hoot of primates, and in the distance, drumming: chimpanzees, beating fists and sticks on tree roots to check [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the first things H.S. Sathya Chandra Sagar noticed in Gola Rainforest National Park was its profusion of sound. Standing amid the tallest trees he’d ever seen, Sagar could hear the calls of countless birds, the hoot of primates, and in the distance, drumming: chimpanzees, beating fists and sticks on tree roots to check in with faraway friends. The din was a chorus of good news. Sagar, a conservation biologist, had traveled to the Sierra Leone national park as part of his Ph.D. research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S. to try and figure out if economic measures aimed at conserving carbon in the Gola Rainforest also helped protect its animal biodiversity. In a study published in Conservation Science and Practice, Sagar and his co-authors find that its noisy soundscape suggests that it does. “We see that if it’s done well, carbon financing initiatives do have the capability to protect both biodiversity, beyond just habitat, and carbon markets,” Sagar says. Gola Rainforest National Park is one of the largest remaining portions of the Upper Guinean Tropical Rainforest, which once covered some 700,000 square kilometers (about 270,000 square miles) of West Africa. After a century of mining and logging, and a devastating civil war in the 1990s, Sierra Leone protected 700 km2 (270 mi2) of this forest that remained within its borders in 2010. In 2012, Sierra Leone established the Gola REDD+ project, a framework created through the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-symphony-of-wildlife-suggests-carbon-financing-is-working-in-sierra-leone/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320170</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia seizes mercury shipment bound for illegal mines in the Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2026 16:23:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anggita Raissa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/26103526/indonesia-illegal-mining-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Poisoning, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Authorities at Indonesia’s largest port seized hundreds of kilograms of the toxic heavy metal mercury in late April. The bust reflects the vast scale of illegal mining underway in forests across much of Southeast Asia amid record-high gold prices. “This mercury was to be shipped to the Philippines using manipulated customs documents, so [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Authorities at Indonesia’s largest port seized hundreds of kilograms of the toxic heavy metal mercury in late April. The bust reflects the vast scale of illegal mining underway in forests across much of Southeast Asia amid record-high gold prices. “This mercury was to be shipped to the Philippines using manipulated customs documents, so that the cargo appeared to be textiles, clothing and carpets,” Victor Dean Mackbon, special investigations lead with the Jakarta Police, told Mongabay Indonesia. Police and customs officials said the 760 bottles of mercury were packed in cardboard and concealed within 145 rolls of carpet. Investigators allege the mercury was procured in Indonesia for a buyer in Davao, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Mercury is widely used to separate gold from crushed ore by miners in the illegal sector. But the heavy metal is also a potent neurotoxin linked to developmental disorders in children, as well as severe cognitive, neurological and physical impairment in adults. The seized mercury bottles displayed by authorities in Jakarta at a press conference. Image courtesy of Jakarta Police. Authorities have questioned nine people over the Jakarta seizure, and charged two — the alleged supplier and alleged exporter — with violations of trade and mining laws, for which they could face up to four years in jail. Victor said the suspected trafficking route may have been used to ship mercury to the Philippines since 2021. Davao, the alleged destination of the mercury consignment, is the political stronghold of the Duterte&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/indonesia-seizes-mercury-shipment-bound-for-illegal-mines-in-the-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cerrado’s hidden carbon highlights gaps in Brazil’s conservation policy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cerrados-hidden-carbon-highlights-gaps-in-brazils-conservation-policy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cerrados-hidden-carbon-highlights-gaps-in-brazils-conservation-policy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 09:47:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Shailer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07093915/Foto1_GuilhermeAlencar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318792</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Governance, Grasslands, Planetary Boundaries, Protected Areas, Reforestation, Research, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fieldwork in the wet grasslands of the Brazilian Cerrado often means long trudges through head-high reeds, following tapir trails and watching for tick nests or boggy pitfalls. All this is made more difficult when your equipment is not waterproof. So in February 2024, when a thunderstorm broke over Chapada dos Veadeiros, a national park in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fieldwork in the wet grasslands of the Brazilian Cerrado often means long trudges through head-high reeds, following tapir trails and watching for tick nests or boggy pitfalls. All this is made more difficult when your equipment is not waterproof. So in February 2024, when a thunderstorm broke over Chapada dos Veadeiros, a national park in the northeast of Goiás state, ecologist Larissa Verona and her team sprinted for their truck. “The rain passed in about 10 minutes, but when we returned, we saw a fire had started right in the middle of the road,” presumably from a lightning strike, she tells Mongabay in a video call. “Oh my god, we need to go,” she recalls thinking. “We don’t want to be here when the fire chief arrives.” Wildfires have become increasingly more common in the Cerrado, Brazil’s second-biggest biome (after the Amazon), which sprawls across 2 million square kilometers (about 770,000 square miles) and hosts a mix of savannas, grasslands and forested corridors. In the past half-century, some 55% of the Cerrado’s native vegetation has been cleared — largely to support the expansion of industrial monocultures and often with the justification that this biome holds less environmental value than the Amazon Rainforest to the west or the Atlantic Forest to the southeast. This has resulted in degraded soils and dwindling groundwater. But draining and clearing vegetation from the Cerrado’s peaty, wet grasslands, known locally as veredas and campos úmidos, could also threaten a critical carbon stockpile, according to recent research.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cerrados-hidden-carbon-highlights-gaps-in-brazils-conservation-policy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cerrados-hidden-carbon-highlights-gaps-in-brazils-conservation-policy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318792</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia tested waters amid pollution claims; months later, still no public results</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cambodia-tested-waters-amid-pollution-claims-months-later-still-no-public-results/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cambodia-tested-waters-amid-pollution-claims-months-later-still-no-public-results/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 May 2026 03:45:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/04025851/November-2025_Mongabay_Virachey-Mining-12-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318641</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Ecosystems, extractives, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mining, Public Health, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Authorities from Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment were dispatched to Mondul Yorn, a small village in the remote northeastern province of Ratanakiri, on Feb. 13 to conduct water and sediment testing on the O’Ta Bouk River following community complaints of health problems linked to declining water quality. Then, from Feb. 17-20, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Authorities from Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment were dispatched to Mondul Yorn, a small village in the remote northeastern province of Ratanakiri, on Feb. 13 to conduct water and sediment testing on the O’Ta Bouk River following community complaints of health problems linked to declining water quality. Then, from Feb. 17-20, the Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI), a government agency that sits under the Fisheries Administration, sent two teams to catch 34 species of fish from the Sesan River and the O’Ta Bouk, a tributary that flows into the Sesan, itself a key tributary of the Mekong River. The O’Ta Bouk flows south through a gold mining operation in Ta Veng district before it reaches Mondul Yorn, where Indigenous Brao communities have reported experiencing skin rashes and itching sensations after coming into contact with the river’s water since gold mining began in mid-2023. To date, no results of water, sediment or fish sampling have been made public, despite experts urging more comprehensive testing and communities languishing in uncertainty over the safety of the river. IFReDI officials taking samples on the Sesan River in February 2026. Photo sourced from IFReDI&#8217;s Facebook. A park in peril Villagers living along the O’Ta Bouk report the river had turned brown and murky starting roughly in mid-2023; the mud on its banks, sticky. Many of the Brao farmers and fishers have avoided entering the water, drinking it or bathing in it or fishing in the river. These problems persisted when&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/cambodia-tested-waters-amid-pollution-claims-months-later-still-no-public-results/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318641</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Laos can do more to mitigate chemical pollution of rivers flowing into Vietnam (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/laos-can-do-more-to-mitigate-chemical-pollution-of-rivers-flowing-into-vietnam-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/laos-can-do-more-to-mitigate-chemical-pollution-of-rivers-flowing-into-vietnam-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2026 02:43:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pham Phan Long]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/29135516/4008934960_0289182d3a_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318272</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Chemicals, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Rivers, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia’s growing demand for rare earth elements and gold, driven by global needs in electronics, renewable energy, defense and high-value commodities, has accelerated mining across the region. While Myanmar’s unregulated mines have drawn attention for contaminating Mekong River tributaries, monitored by the Mekong River Commission, an equally pressing but less scrutinized issue exists along [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia’s growing demand for rare earth elements and gold, driven by global needs in electronics, renewable energy, defense and high-value commodities, has accelerated mining across the region. While Myanmar’s unregulated mines have drawn attention for contaminating Mekong River tributaries, monitored by the Mekong River Commission, an equally pressing but less scrutinized issue exists along the river systems shared by Laos and Vietnam, where no comparable bilateral treaty provides oversight. River hydrology and the mining footprint The total population of Laos is less than 8 million. In northeastern Laos, particularly Houaphanh province (population 300,000), rapid expansion of rare earth and gold mining along the Nam Ma, Nam Sam and Nam Neun rivers poses significant transborder risks. These waterways flow into Vietnam as the Song Ma, Song Chu and Song Lam rivers, where they sustain drinking water, agriculture and fisheries for approximately 10 million people in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. Pollutants can travel downstream within hours, creating urgent needs for cross-border cooperation. Satellite analysis from the Stimson Center’s interactive River Basins Dashboard shows 21 mines directly impacting these river systems in Laos. Contamination seen in these interconnected basins mirrors contamination patterns seen in Mekong tributaries affected by upstream mining in Myanmar, where toxins have devastated fisheries downstream in Laos and Thailand. Stimson’s dashboard shows 2,539 riverine mines in the region, including more than 500 rare earth mines concentrated in Myanmar and Laos. Many employ in-situ leaching techniques that use large volumes of river water and chemicals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/laos-can-do-more-to-mitigate-chemical-pollution-of-rivers-flowing-into-vietnam-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318272</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Asia’s longest free-flowing river contaminated by arsenic linked to Myanmar mines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/asias-longest-free-flowing-river-contaminated-by-arsenic-linked-to-myanmar-mines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/asias-longest-free-flowing-river-contaminated-by-arsenic-linked-to-myanmar-mines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2026 02:52:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14102130/IMG_0208-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317477</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, Salween River, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Critical Minerals, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, extractives, Fisheries, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, International Trade, Mining, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAE HONG SON, Thailand — Saw Si Paw Rak Salween guns the wooden fishing boat’s engine and steers along the river that inspired his family name. He is ethnic Karen — his parents migrated from Myanmar’s side of the Salween River to the Thai side. When he acquired Thai citizenship, Saw Si Paw had to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAE HONG SON, Thailand — Saw Si Paw Rak Salween guns the wooden fishing boat’s engine and steers along the river that inspired his family name. He is ethnic Karen — his parents migrated from Myanmar’s side of the Salween River to the Thai side. When he acquired Thai citizenship, Saw Si Paw had to select his own family name, a convention not followed in much of Myanmar. He settled on Rak Salween, which translates to “Love the Salween River.” Saw Si Paw’s love for the wild, free-flowing waterway extends beyond his chosen name. Together with his father, he guides the boat to his family’s 8-meter (26-foot) fishing nets left overnight on the Myanmar side of the river. Fishing is all he’s ever known, having learned the trade from his father and plied it on the Salween his entire life. So, it was especially jarring for him to hear about toxic chemicals recently found in the Salween. Independent testing of the Salween River began in September 2025, when researchers from Thailand’s Institute of Health Sciences Research at Chiang Mai University found alarming levels of contamination detected in the nearby Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in Thailand, much of which has been linked to unregulated mining in Myanmar. In particular, rare earth mines exporting crucial minerals — needed for artificial intelligence, mobile phones, laptops, electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies, among other things — have been blamed. But the mining of gold and various critical&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/asias-longest-free-flowing-river-contaminated-by-arsenic-linked-to-myanmar-mines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Novel research finds unexpected climate resilience in up to 36% of Amazon forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 03:23:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09222759/1-Palms-along-river-in-Manu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317301</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Precipitation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Temperatures, Threats To Rainforests, Tipping points, Trees, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has stressed large swaths of the world’s largest rainforest. Major Amazon River tributaries, including the Rio Negro and Madeira River, hit their lowest levels in more than a century of measurement in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has stressed large swaths of the world’s largest rainforest. Major Amazon River tributaries, including the Rio Negro and Madeira River, hit their lowest levels in more than a century of measurement in 2024. And experts warn that deforestation and wildfires are tipping parts of the biome from carbon sink to source. Yet in Manaus, a city at the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, forest ecologist Flávia Costa is upbeat as she highlights what appears to be a previously underappreciated underlying Amazon reality: Her research finds that the region’s vast wetlands, or shallow water table areas, have proven to be stubbornly drought resistant through years of intensifying climate change. In fact, her long-term research reveals that palm species and other wetland trees are not just surviving drought seasons, they’re maintaining their health and even adding biomass. That could mean these areas could serve as valuable refugia, as other parts of Amazonia degrade. Significantly, these shallow water table areas compose 36% of Amazonia and have been a crucial part of the evolving rainforest ecosystem for millions of years. Sturdy, resilient palms account for one in five tree species across the Amazon, which includes parts of nine nations, and of which Brazil occupies 60%. These forested wetlands and Costa’s research represent one bright spot in the Amazon’s otherwise gloomy projected trajectory for the 21st century — forecasts built on decades&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/novel-research-finds-unexpected-climate-resilience-in-up-to-36-of-amazon-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317301</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Ancient’ carbon venting from lakes in the Congo Basin peatlands: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 13:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawhare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30170255/9_dinghy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316575</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Climate, Conservation, Forest Carbon, Forests, Lakes, Peatlands, Research, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across the central Congo Basin lies a bastion of carbon that scientists are just beginning to understand. First mapped only about a decade ago, the Cuvette Centrale peatlands are the size of England and hold some 30 billion metric tons of carbon. Over thousands of years, the swampy conditions in this part of Central Africa [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Across the central Congo Basin lies a bastion of carbon that scientists are just beginning to understand. First mapped only about a decade ago, the Cuvette Centrale peatlands are the size of England and hold some 30 billion metric tons of carbon. Over thousands of years, the swampy conditions in this part of Central Africa have slowed the decay of plant matter falling from the forest above. The process leads to the development of peat, and the peatlands in the Congo Basin are the largest known repository in the tropics. Across the millennia, enormous amounts of carbon have built up and been stashed away inside the peat. Recent research now suggests that some of that very old carbon may be returning to the atmosphere through lakes that form amid peatlands — similar to the way smoke escapes a fireplace through a chimney, according to the authors. It’s a finding that opens new questions about how we account for the cycling of carbon through these ecosystems and the resulting influence on climate change. Water draining forested landscapes meets water draining savanna landscapes at this confluence between the Fimi and Kasaï rivers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The reddish color of the Kasaï River originates from the iron oxides associated with clays of suspended sediments transported by the river, which are more predominant in savanna compared to forest. The much darker color of the Fimi River, which drains Lake Mai Ndombe, stems from organic materials that leach from leaves and soils&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/ancient-carbon-venting-from-lakes-in-the-congo-basin-peatlands-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316575</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A South African reserve shows how carbon can catalyze rewilding conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-south-african-reserve-shows-how-carbon-can-catalyze-rewilding-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-south-african-reserve-shows-how-carbon-can-catalyze-rewilding-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2026 17:06:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/27145726/gemsbok-Oryx-gazella-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316455</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Private Reserves, Rewilding, Savannas, Soil Carbon, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TSWALU KALAHARI RESERVE, South Africa — From high on a promontory in the Korannaberg Mountains, a mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) peers down to the west across the green-dappled plain below, the sun rising behind. In the distance, wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunt in the veld, verdant after early rains. And nearby, white rhinos (Ceratotherium [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TSWALU KALAHARI RESERVE, South Africa — From high on a promontory in the Korannaberg Mountains, a mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) peers down to the west across the green-dappled plain below, the sun rising behind. In the distance, wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunt in the veld, verdant after early rains. And nearby, white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) graze among thorny thickets. These species, and dozens more, persist here thanks to a decades-long effort to rewild a sliver of Southern Africa’s great desert and dry savanna. The Tswalu Kalahari Reserve has become a sanctuary for rare and threatened animals, drawing in a steady stream of well-heeled tourists from around the globe. More recently, the reserve’s managers have embarked on a quest to increase the carbon stored in its soils — a quest that relies heavily on the reserve’s animals. At first glance, places like Tswalu might not seem suited for stockpiling carbon. The Tswana people call this part of the world Kgalagadi — “the waterless place.” Fickle precipitation in the Kalahari averages a scant 10-50 centimeters (4-20 inches) annually, and much less in some years. That means the comparative lushness here in late 2025 could evaporate if the rains don’t carry on throughout the austral summer of the Southern Hemisphere. To date, most nature-based carbon storage efforts have focused on fast-growing tropical forests, expanding native or plantation tree cover that draws carbon out of the atmosphere. Soil carbon, by contrast, is slower to accumulate, and it’s more laborious and expensive to monitor.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-south-african-reserve-shows-how-carbon-can-catalyze-rewilding-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-south-african-reserve-shows-how-carbon-can-catalyze-rewilding-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316455</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shipping’s biofuel gamble could deepen Africa’s land squeeze and food insecurity (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/shippings-biofuel-gamble-could-deepen-africas-land-squeeze-and-food-insecurity-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/shippings-biofuel-gamble-could-deepen-africas-land-squeeze-and-food-insecurity-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2026 15:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Million BelaySusan Chomba]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/07145348/container-ship-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316050</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biofuels, Business, carbon, Climate, Climate Change, Commentary, Farming, Food, food security, International Trade, Land Rights, Mitigation, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Shipping, Social Justice, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Africa&#8217;s future prosperity depends on how fast we can reduce emissions, especially from large polluting sectors like shipping. But using crops as fuel to cut emissions risks causing more harm than good. As countries gather at the UN&#8217;s International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in April to lay down the rules for future clean energy to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Africa&#8217;s future prosperity depends on how fast we can reduce emissions, especially from large polluting sectors like shipping. But using crops as fuel to cut emissions risks causing more harm than good. As countries gather at the UN&#8217;s International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in April to lay down the rules for future clean energy to power shipping, African governments must ensure that crop-based biofuels are not part of the solution. If that does happen, Africa might once again find itself paying the price for a transition from which it may not benefit. Shipping, as with other heavily polluting sectors, must decarbonize. But not all climate solutions are equal. The expansion of biofuels, often portrayed as ‘green’ in international shipping dialogues, could intensify pressures on land and food systems that are already stretched to the limit. As our work has shown, competition for land has reached a breaking point across Africa. Since 2000, hundreds of large-scale land deals have been recorded for industrial farming, carbon credits, mining, and biofuels. What is often presented as ‘unused’ or ‘marginal’ land is, in reality, the basis of livelihoods for small-scale farmers and Indigenous communities who are being displaced or stripped of control over their territories, which drives land inequality, rural poverty, and food insecurity. Biofuels for shipping risks accelerating this trajectory. Farmers at Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Image by Axel Fassio/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Shipping consumes roughly 300 million tons of fuel each year, and is responsible for 3% of global&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/shippings-biofuel-gamble-could-deepen-africas-land-squeeze-and-food-insecurity-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/shippings-biofuel-gamble-could-deepen-africas-land-squeeze-and-food-insecurity-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316050</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Should potentially harmful chemicals be appraised by class, not one at a time?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/should-potentially-harmful-chemicals-be-appraised-by-class-not-one-at-a-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/should-potentially-harmful-chemicals-be-appraised-by-class-not-one-at-a-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2026 20:16:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/19192519/6C_metals-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316002</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Environment, forever chemicals, Green, Health, Mammals, Regulations, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Look around your home. A food wrapper, a shampoo bottle, a couch cushion and many other items very likely contain synthetic chemicals that were never tested for long-term safety before reaching store shelves. In most countries, chemicals are assumed safe until proven harmful, and companies don’t have to demonstrate their products are safe before selling [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Look around your home. A food wrapper, a shampoo bottle, a couch cushion and many other items very likely contain synthetic chemicals that were never tested for long-term safety before reaching store shelves. In most countries, chemicals are assumed safe until proven harmful, and companies don’t have to demonstrate their products are safe before selling them. Instead, the responsibility falls on regulators to prove the harmfulness after chemicals are already in widespread use, a process that is expensive and slow. In many cases, regulators spend years building a case against one harmful chemical, only for manufacturers to then swap it for a structurally similar substitute that starts the process over. This pattern has a name: “regrettable substitution,” or the “toxic treadmill,” a cycle in which one harmful chemical is replaced by a structurally similar one that turns out to be equally problematic, requiring years of new research to prove. For example, when bisphenol A (BPAs), a synthetic compound used to make plastic, was found to interact with the human endocrine system, product manufacturers began to remove it from their products and replace it with BPS, a similar set of compounds that have also been linked to endocrine and estrogen disruption. PFAS (forever chemicals) have been found in the bodies of North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) thousands of miles from any factory. They are also found in human bodies. Image by Vsevolod Rudyi via iNaturalist. CC BY 4.0. “As a consumer we think, these people are taking care of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/should-potentially-harmful-chemicals-be-appraised-by-class-not-one-at-a-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316002</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest advocates accuse EU energy firm of Dutch biomass certification fraud</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2026 16:21:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/25141443/wood-pellets-burning-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315699</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, European Union, Global, Malaysia, and Netherlands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Controversial, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Industry, Politics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For years, a battle has raged between EU nations that claim their forest biomass certification policies safeguard against deforestation, promote sustainability and enable carbon-emissions reductions, even as forest advocates have argued that those policies fail to combat climate change, are badly flawed or outright fraudulent. EU policymakers remain entrenched today, defending their certification schemes as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For years, a battle has raged between EU nations that claim their forest biomass certification policies safeguard against deforestation, promote sustainability and enable carbon-emissions reductions, even as forest advocates have argued that those policies fail to combat climate change, are badly flawed or outright fraudulent. EU policymakers remain entrenched today, defending their certification schemes as a means of complying with laws to stop burning coal and for achieving national net-zero goals, despite evidence that burning wood pellets to make energy is dirtier than coal. But now forest advocates are turning up the pressure in the Netherlands in an unprecedented way. In a possible first-of-its-kind action, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service is considering a criminal investigation against RWE, one of the Netherlands’ largest energy providers. RWE faces allegations made by two forest advocacy groups that the company, which has collected billions of euros in Dutch biomass subsidies, misrepresented itself by claiming that hundreds of thousands of tons of wood pellets imported from Malaysia came entirely from sawmill waste. The two advocacy groups, Comite Schone Lucht and Biofuelwatch, say their research establishes that those pellets come mostly from whole trees, contributing to Malaysian deforestation. The Public Prosecution Service, the sole authority responsible for investigating and prosecuting Dutch criminal offenses, is expected to decide how to proceed by the end of March. Research shows that “biomass burning power plants emit 150% the CO2 of coal, and 300-400% the CO2 of natural gas, per unit energy produced.” Image by GIZ Bush Control and Biomass&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/forest-advocates-accuse-eu-energy-firm-of-dutch-biomass-certification-fraud/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315699</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rush to put AI data centers in space poses poorly understood dangers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/rush-to-put-ai-data-centers-in-space-poses-poorly-understood-dangers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/rush-to-put-ai-data-centers-in-space-poses-poorly-understood-dangers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2026 19:26:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/11174825/Image_5_NHQ202602130016orig-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315584</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Artificial Intelligence, Chemicals, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Data centers, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Governance, Ozone Layer, Politics, Pollution, Remote Sensing, Research, Space, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plans are afoot to launch large mega-constellations of AI data centers into Earth orbit. That ambition, pursued by multiple space industry leaders, coincides with a warning from scientists of potentially “catastrophic outcomes,” as the likelihood of satellite collisions in orbit increases. If all the satellites currently in low Earth orbit were suddenly unable to maneuver [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plans are afoot to launch large mega-constellations of AI data centers into Earth orbit. That ambition, pursued by multiple space industry leaders, coincides with a warning from scientists of potentially “catastrophic outcomes,” as the likelihood of satellite collisions in orbit increases. If all the satellites currently in low Earth orbit were suddenly unable to maneuver to avoid each other — a problem that could be triggered by a massive solar storm — then a potentially catastrophic collision would likely occur in just under four days, researchers say. That’s the latest finding from the CRASH Clock, a tool developed to monitor the timeframe during which a low Earth orbit satellite collision is likely to happen during a major solar event. Such events are difficult to predict and come with limited warning; solar activity peaks roughly every 11 years. The CRASH Clock assesses the sustainability of space operations, explains Sarah Thiele, first author on the paper and a Ph.D. student at Princeton University. “The paper demonstrates how reliant we are on the continuous successful active management of satellites in orbit, and how the margin for error in these operations is decreasing over time,” she writes in an email to Mongabay. In 2018, the CRASH estimate stood at a comfortable 164 days. But that margin of safety shrank rapidly as the proliferation of satellites surged, and was shortened to 5.5 days by June 2025, while a calculation using orbital data from January 2026 cut it to 3.8 days. “This just shows how reliant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/rush-to-put-ai-data-centers-in-space-poses-poorly-understood-dangers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/rush-to-put-ai-data-centers-in-space-poses-poorly-understood-dangers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315584</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Promising breakthrough creates plastics that self-deconstruct on cue: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/promising-breakthrough-creates-plastics-that-self-deconstruct-on-cue-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/promising-breakthrough-creates-plastics-that-self-deconstruct-on-cue-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Mar 2026 13:45:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Asher]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/10065130/1-BANNER-IMAGE-engin-akyurt-10CKgHbX15A-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315490</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Circular Economy, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Innovation, Microplastics, Plastic, Pollution, Research, Solutions, Sustainability, Waste, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plastics have a gigantic built-in problem: They’re tenacious, which is very good for a milk jug or a car bumper. But they don’t easily break down, which is bad for the environment. From the 1950s, when plastics were first produced in significant amounts, through 2017, the petrochemical industry churned out more than 8.3 billion metric [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plastics have a gigantic built-in problem: They’re tenacious, which is very good for a milk jug or a car bumper. But they don’t easily break down, which is bad for the environment. From the 1950s, when plastics were first produced in significant amounts, through 2017, the petrochemical industry churned out more than 8.3 billion metric tons of the nearly indestructible stuff, the vast majority of which is still with us today, polluting the natural world, contaminating wildlife and ourselves. Add to this an estimated 25 billion metric tons of plastic expected to be produced by 2050, and the agonizingly intractable nature of this mega-pollution crisis becomes clear. Humanity’s take-make-waste linear manufacturing economic model for plastics stands in stark contrast to natural systems. Over billions of years of evolution, living organisms developed strong, durable materials (think bone, shell and silk) that self-deconstruct back into harmless components after use. Inspired by the circularity of natural materials, chemists at Rutgers University in the U.S. set out to design plastics that could do the same. And they think they have found a breakthrough solution to the circularity problem, or at least may have taken a big step toward a solution. In a paper published last November, they report that they’ve developed a new molecular structure for plastic, inspired by nature, that allows it to self-deconstruct at the end of a product’s lifespan. In fact, researchers say that a timely programmable breakdown date can even be built into future plastic products. Chemist Yuwei Gu (left)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/promising-breakthrough-creates-plastics-that-self-deconstruct-on-cue-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/promising-breakthrough-creates-plastics-that-self-deconstruct-on-cue-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315490</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nations not on track to meet UN 2030 pesticide risk reduction targets: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nations-not-on-track-to-meet-un-2030-pesticide-risk-reduction-targets-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nations-not-on-track-to-meet-un-2030-pesticide-risk-reduction-targets-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2026 16:46:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/16203216/pexels-gilmer-diaz-estela-6345502-scaled-e1673901240276-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315348</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Biology, Chemicals, Conservation, Crops, Environment, Environmental Policy, Food, Food Industry, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Pesticides, Pollution, Public Health, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s nations committed to halving overall threats to biodiversity from pesticides and other highly hazardous chemicals by 2030 at the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference in 2022. But new research finds most countries are trending in the wrong direction when it comes to ecological risks from pesticides, with the U.N.’s global risk reduction target [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s nations committed to halving overall threats to biodiversity from pesticides and other highly hazardous chemicals by 2030 at the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference in 2022. But new research finds most countries are trending in the wrong direction when it comes to ecological risks from pesticides, with the U.N.’s global risk reduction target unlikely to be met without substantial changes to agricultural systems. In fact, only one country, Chile, is currently on track to meet the U.N. target of reducing pesticide risk by 50% by 2030, according to recent findings by a team of environmental scientists from German university RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, and published in the journal Science. Pesticide risk in this context is defined as the probability of chemical compounds — including insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides — used to control agricultural pests having adverse effects on species not directly targeted by the pesticides and, thus, on ecosystems more broadly — and ultimately on humans. The new study found that the applied toxicity of insecticides has increased for pollinating insects such as honey bees. Image by Louise Docker via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). To determine global pesticide risk, the study researchers looked at data on pesticide use from 2013 to 2019 in 65 nations that collectively represent nearly 80% of global crop acreage. They then combined these statistics with data on the toxicity of 625 pesticides for eight different species groups, including aquatic invertebrates and plants, fish, pollinating insects, soil organisms, and terrestrial arthropods, plants and vertebrates. This&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nations-not-on-track-to-meet-un-2030-pesticide-risk-reduction-targets-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nations-not-on-track-to-meet-un-2030-pesticide-risk-reduction-targets-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315348</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Petrostates stymie effort to rein in Arctic shipping carbon emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 15:41:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/22030600/b.-AdobeStock_254252875-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314611</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic and Arctic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Black Carbon, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Marine, Oceans, Pollution, Sea Ice, Shipping, Transportation, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[International shipping is on the rise in the Arctic region now that climate change regularly opens up transpolar sea routes in summer. That surge in traffic is leading to higher emissions of black carbon — colloquially known as soot, considered a “super pollutant.” Those emissions are escalating climate change and quickening sea ice and snow [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[International shipping is on the rise in the Arctic region now that climate change regularly opens up transpolar sea routes in summer. That surge in traffic is leading to higher emissions of black carbon — colloquially known as soot, considered a “super pollutant.” Those emissions are escalating climate change and quickening sea ice and snow loss across the Arctic, which is already Earth’s most rapidly warming region. At a recent meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), member states (led by Denmark, and including France, Germany and the Solomon Islands), proposed new regulations to require ships sailing in the Arctic to use fuels that emit low amounts of black carbon. But in February, global petrostates, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States, opposed this effort, meant to slow Arctic warming. This delay follows a 2025 postponement of an IMO plan that had been widely expected to succeed, which would have accelerated the decarbonization of global shipping. That plan was blocked by the U.S. along with other oil-producing nations. The just-nixed Arctic proposal would have required ships sailing in the Far North to stop burning residual fuels — responsible for high black carbon emissions — and instead move to less polluting fuels. As spring approaches in the Arctic, an orange horizon backlights a ship&#8217;s stack emissions. The Research Vessel Polarstern embarked on a yearlong expedition to drift in Arctic sea ice called the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC). Image by Julienne Stroeve/NSIDC via Flickr (CC&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/petrostates-stymie-effort-to-rein-in-arctic-shipping-carbon-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314611</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New study assesses geoengineering marine ecosystem risks, knowledge gaps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/new-study-assesses-geoengineering-marine-ecosystem-risks-knowledge-gaps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/new-study-assesses-geoengineering-marine-ecosystem-risks-knowledge-gaps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2026 15:22:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/19044926/7-Image-5-1536x642-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314457</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[algae, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, food security, Geoengineering, Marine, Marine Conservation, Nutrient Pollution, Oceans, Regulations, Research, Technology, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Science has made it clear: The prospect of heat waves without end, increasingly destructive floods, relentless drought, rapidly rising sea levels, and the risk of “point of no return” tipping points require humanity to swiftly stop burning fossil fuels to avoid catastrophe. But with political will and action lagging, some researchers say now is the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Science has made it clear: The prospect of heat waves without end, increasingly destructive floods, relentless drought, rapidly rising sea levels, and the risk of “point of no return” tipping points require humanity to swiftly stop burning fossil fuels to avoid catastrophe. But with political will and action lagging, some researchers say now is the time to evaluate the safety and feasibility of geoengineering. These are a suite of proposed technologies that could potentially delay the worst warming or sequester carbon, thus buying civilization time as it struggles to slash fossil fuel emissions. One place scientists are looking for geoengineering solutions is the world’s oceans, which store vast amounts of carbon, including about a quarter of anthropogenic emissions. Some researchers are especially interested in a set of geoengineering methods collectively dubbed marine carbon dioxide storage (mCDR). Still others are looking at ways to artificially cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight into space, especially above oceans. One major concern with all these untried technologies is that, if widely implemented, they could profoundly impact marine ecosystems, says Kelsey Roberts, a research associate at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in the U.S. In a recent Reviews of Geophysics paper, Roberts and co-authors examined eight geoengineering interventions most likely to directly impact marine ecosystems, identifying knowledge gaps and risks. “If we implement some of these insane science fiction-sounding technologies, what would happen to the fish? What would happen to the megafauna … and particularly, [what’s] the importance for global food security?” Roberts asks. Illustration&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/new-study-assesses-geoengineering-marine-ecosystem-risks-knowledge-gaps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314457</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From chemistry to regeneration: Agriculture’s next transformation has begun (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-chemistry-to-regeneration-agricultures-next-transformation-has-begun-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-chemistry-to-regeneration-agricultures-next-transformation-has-begun-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2026 21:53:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sallie Calhoun]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/17213606/cover-crop-workshop-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314374</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Business, Chemicals, Commentary, Farming, Food, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture is on the cusp of its most profound transformation in a century. Just as the Green Revolution shifted farming from sun and soil to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, we are just beginning another revolution: returning to an agriculture based on biology rather than chemistry. This isn&#8217;t new knowledge; rather, it&#8217;s wisdom refined over millennia [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture is on the cusp of its most profound transformation in a century. Just as the Green Revolution shifted farming from sun and soil to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, we are just beginning another revolution: returning to an agriculture based on biology rather than chemistry. This isn&#8217;t new knowledge; rather, it&#8217;s wisdom refined over millennia that we temporarily abandoned. If we embrace it, this transition could restore ecosystems, strengthen rural economies, and secure a healthier food future for all. For most of human history, farming relied on natural systems: the symbiosis between plants, soil and sun. That changed in the 20th century when synthetic fertilizers and pesticides made soil little more than a prop to hold up a plant that was externally fed everything it needed, and was stripped of its biodiversity. The approach boosted yields, but at enormous costs that we’re just now beginning to grasp fully: degraded soils, contaminated water, rising chemical input dependence (and correlated rising costs to farmers, even as food gets cheaper), which all result in collapsing farm economics and ecosystems. The system is locked in a treadmill of toxicity and debt. Sheep graze in the vineyard at Paicines Ranch. Image by Alicia Arcidiacono / Paicines Ranch. Nature&#8217;s intelligence Regenerative agriculture offers a path forward, and away from agrichemicals and bare ground. It builds on thousands of years of Indigenous knowledge, farmer-led innovation, organic farming and agroecological science that challenge chemical dependency and center biology in agriculture, while avoiding rigid prescriptions that risk turning principles&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/from-chemistry-to-regeneration-agricultures-next-transformation-has-begun-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-314374</doi>				</item>
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