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		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=circular-economy&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/circular-economy/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:25:13 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Circular Economy</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/circular-economy/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>How carbon markets can succeed &#038; also serve Global South communities (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 21:09:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pati Ruiz Corzo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/27182742/Encinos-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324619</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Avoided Deforestation, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Sequestration, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Environment, Finance, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Mitigation, Nature-based climate solutions, Rainforests, Solutions, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Carbon markets were designed around the compelling premise that private finance could flow where forests are most at risk, rewarding the communities and landowners who protect them while helping companies take responsibility for their emissions. For anyone working in climate or conservation, the underlying logic still holds. The world&#8217;s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Carbon markets were designed around the compelling premise that private finance could flow where forests are most at risk, rewarding the communities and landowners who protect them while helping companies take responsibility for their emissions. For anyone working in climate or conservation, the underlying logic still holds. The world&#8217;s forests provide essential ecosystem services, capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide, face enormous pressure, and need sustained economic incentives if they are to survive. So why has the voluntary carbon market so consistently fallen short of this promise? Over the past decade, the sector has faced mounting evidence that many carbon credits, particularly those issued for forest conservation in the Global South, have not delivered the climate outcomes they claimed. There have been well-documented cases of social harm to Indigenous and local communities, scientific analysis has repeatedly found that the methodologies used to calculate emissions reductions were prone to significant overestimation, and trust in the market, among both buyers and civil society, has been eroded. Military macaws (Ara militaris) flying over a forest in the Sierra Gorda. They are one of the many iconic and endangered species that call the forests of the Sierra Gorda home. Image courtesy of Roberto Pedraza Ruiz / Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda. However, this is not a reason to abandon the idea of climate finance for nature. It is a reason to understand what has gone wrong, and to ask what a more inclusive, just, and transparent model can look like. What hasn’t worked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-carbon-markets-can-succeed-also-serve-global-south-communities-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324619</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ronald Sanabria sought to make tourism more sustainable</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ronald-sanabria-sought-to-make-tourism-more-sustainable/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ronald-sanabria-sought-to-make-tourism-more-sustainable/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 00:13:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/14125659/Ronald-Sanabria-wall-facebook-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323354</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and Mesoamerica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Ecotourism, Obituary, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tourism often reaches small places with large promises. It can bring money to forests, beaches, villages, parks, and old towns. A family guesthouse may become viable. A young person may have a reason to stay. It can help persuade a government that a forest has value if left standing. The same industry can also strain [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tourism often reaches small places with large promises. It can bring money to forests, beaches, villages, parks, and old towns. A family guesthouse may become viable. A young person may have a reason to stay. It can help persuade a government that a forest has value if left standing. The same industry can also strain the places it sells. In many places, roads arrive before rules. Hotels take the best land. Water and waste are handled after the money has begun to flow. Wildlife, wages, and culture are folded into the business later, if they are dealt with at all. The traveler leaves with photographs. The community is left with the consequences. Ronald Sanabria spent much of his career between what tourism said it could do and what it actually did. For him, sustainable tourism meant work: credible standards, training, certification, purchasing decisions, local capacity, and steady persuasion. Tourism, he knew, was too fragmented for simple answers. The same trip might involve a hotel, a guide, a tour operator, a booking platform, a transport company, and a village association. The work had to reach those relationships, or sustainability would remain a claim. Sanabria, who died on July 1st, aged 57, was a Costa Rican engineer who became a central figure in sustainable tourism in Latin America and beyond. He joined the Rainforest Alliance in 1998, first in sustainable agriculture. Two years later, he began building its sustainable-tourism program. Over the next two decades, he worked with hotels, tour operators, community&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ronald-sanabria-sought-to-make-tourism-more-sustainable/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ronald-sanabria-sought-to-make-tourism-more-sustainable/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323354</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From Mardi Gras to marsh: Glass Half Full turns party glass into Louisiana coastline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/from-mardi-gras-to-marsh-glass-half-full-turns-party-glass-into-louisiana-coastline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/from-mardi-gras-to-marsh-glass-half-full-turns-party-glass-into-louisiana-coastline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2026 20:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/16182043/GHF_FranKDV_Bottle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323746</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Ecosystems, Environment, and Recycling]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NEW ORLEANS, U.S. — On a cold Saturday in late January, a parade floats rolls down Royal Street painted with the image of the Louisiana coastline, eroding away. The next float displays Lady Liberty gagged and locked behind a chain-link fence. This is Krewe du Vieux, the raunchy, mule-drawn satirical parade that has rolled through [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NEW ORLEANS, U.S. — On a cold Saturday in late January, a parade floats rolls down Royal Street painted with the image of the Louisiana coastline, eroding away. The next float displays Lady Liberty gagged and locked behind a chain-link fence. This is Krewe du Vieux, the raunchy, mule-drawn satirical parade that has rolled through New Orleans’ French Quarter for 40 years, making political jokes few others dare to make in public. Its 2026 theme is “Save the Wet Glands,” a play on “save the wetlands.” This year’s Krewe du Vieux Queen is Franziska Trautmann, the pink-haired co-founder and CEO of Glass Half Full, a business that takes the city’s glass bottles and turns them into sand used to rebuild Louisiana’s dwindling coast. Growing up here, the coastal erosion crisis is “like the boogeyman,” Trautmann told me outside the Glass Half Full facility in Chalmette, Louisiana. “It’s this overwhelming thing looming in the distance.” Krewe du Vieux is a satirical parade that has rolled through New Orleans for 40 years. Its 2026 theme is “Save the Wet Glands,” a play on “save the wetlands.”  Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay. A Krewe du Vieux float depicts Louisiana&#8217;s eroding coastline and current Louisiana governor during their February 2026 parade. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay. Most locals have heard the statistics: roughly a football field of Louisiana is lost to the sea every hour. Large areas of grassy marshes and tree-laden swamps that once knit the coast together have succumbed to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/from-mardi-gras-to-marsh-glass-half-full-turns-party-glass-into-louisiana-coastline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/from-mardi-gras-to-marsh-glass-half-full-turns-party-glass-into-louisiana-coastline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323746</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ecuador’s Amazon coffee farmers get ahead of Europe&#8217;s deforestation rules</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 11:37:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sibélia Zanon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/14111555/Fapecafes_local-production-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322761</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Avoided Deforestation, Business, Coffee, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Crops, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, EUDR, Farming, Governance, Natural Resources, Regenerative production landscapes, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“What motivates us most is being able to say, ‘I take care of the environment, I don’t cut down trees, and my coffee will be valued more highly,’” said Victoria Alverca Peña, a farmer for 25 years and co-founder of APECAP, a small coffee and cacao producers’ association in Zamora Chinchipe, a province in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“What motivates us most is being able to say, ‘I take care of the environment, I don’t cut down trees, and my coffee will be valued more highly,’” said Victoria Alverca Peña, a farmer for 25 years and co-founder of APECAP, a small coffee and cacao producers’ association in Zamora Chinchipe, a province in the Ecuadorian Amazon. “I’ll be able to sell it under better conditions, and my work will be much more valued. “In our farms, besides coffee, you&#8217;ll find cacao, timber trees, fruit trees and even short-cycle crops,” she added. “When the coffee plants are still young, we can grow crops like corn, cassava or plantains. This helps us a lot with food security.” At the end of this year, the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to go into force, prohibiting products linked to deforestation from entering the EU market. Coffee is among the target commodities, and here in southern Ecuador, a group of coffee growers has been ahead of the curve in preparing for the EUDR implementation. Since 2019, nearly 400 farmers here have adopted a model that combines forest conservation, traceability, and geospatial monitoring as part of the Deforestation-Free Coffee Initiative, at work in 23 areas across the region. Between 2019-2021, the project developed Ecuador&#8217;s first deforestation-free coffee production model. The effort relies on a national protocol developed by the Ecuadorian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which uses satellite imagery, traceability systems, and independent verification to track where coffee is grown&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ecuadors-amazon-coffee-farmers-get-ahead-of-europes-deforestation-rules/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322761</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife helps regulate the climate &#038; this belongs in policy discussions (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/wildlife-helps-regulate-the-climate-this-belongs-in-policy-discussions-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/wildlife-helps-regulate-the-climate-this-belongs-in-policy-discussions-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2026 15:26:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jérôme Pinti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/05173648/kjs_20180711-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321788</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Decarbonization, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When we talk about climate change and wildlife, most people think about the impact of climate change on animals. We see individual organisms struggling to find food and being pushed into new places and environments, with global consequences for species distribution and animal abundances. What many overlook is the other side of that relationship: Wildlife [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When we talk about climate change and wildlife, most people think about the impact of climate change on animals. We see individual organisms struggling to find food and being pushed into new places and environments, with global consequences for species distribution and animal abundances. What many overlook is the other side of that relationship: Wildlife can help heal our climate. Wild animals help shape how ecosystems store carbon, move nutrients, recover from disturbance, and remain resilient as conditions change. That is the message behind the new Scientific Consensus on Wildlife and Climate, currently endorsed by more than 300 scientists from around the world, and counting. The consensus makes a simple but important point for climate policy: We should account for wild animals and their ecological roles when designing climate plans, because natural systems are incomplete without the species that help them function. Climate mitigation conversations typically focus on technology and infrastructure. More recently, we have become better at talking about forests, wetlands, seagrass, and other natural habitats that store carbon. All of those ecosystems matter, but we are sometimes missing an important piece: The animals living in and moving through those systems. Animals ranging from plankton to sperm whales (pictured) and everything in between move carbon from the ocean’s surface into the deep sea through a variety of processes. Image courtesy of The Dominica Sperm Whale Project. A 2023 paper in Nature Climate Change estimated that protecting and restoring wild animal populations and their ecological roles could increase carbon dioxide&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/wildlife-helps-regulate-the-climate-this-belongs-in-policy-discussions-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-321788</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pulp and paper giant APRIL&#8217;s supplier choices put FSC remedy process to the test</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 04:12:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/23034155/signal-2026-06-01-105626_002-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321620</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Certification, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Industry, International Trade, Land Use Change, Logging, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL&#8217;s recent decision to lower its deforestation commitments and source wood from two companies associated with extensive recent forest loss has created a new challenge for its relationship with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with environmental groups urging the world&#8217;s leading forestry certifier to terminate the already suspended reassociation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL&#8217;s recent decision to lower its deforestation commitments and source wood from two companies associated with extensive recent forest loss has created a new challenge for its relationship with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with environmental groups urging the world&#8217;s leading forestry certifier to terminate the already suspended reassociation process. In late May, APRIL announced it was reviewing its decade-old Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) 2.0 and lowering its deforestation cutoff date from 2015 to Dec. 31, 2020. The move allows Indonesia&#8217;s second-largest pulp and paper producer to source wood from PT Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP) and PT Mayawana Persada (Mayawana), two companies that have experienced some of the country&#8217;s largest recent forest losses. APRIL said the decision was necessary to address fibre shortages after the Indonesian government revoked the operating permits of four of its long-term suppliers earlier this year, affecting around 15% of its wood supply in Riau Province. According to data from the forest-monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, together, IFP and Mayawana lost nearly 80,000 hectares (197,684 acres) of forest­­­­­ — an area almost half the size of London — between 2015 and 2024, including more than 54,000 hectares (133,436 acres) after 2020. This is more than any other forestry companies in Indonesia. Deforestation in the concession of PT Mayawana Persada, September 2020–April 2024 © Earthsight. Image source: Sentinel-2 via Copernicus Browser Environmental groups have criticized the move, arguing that it weakens a longstanding no-deforestation safeguard and sends a message that companies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/pulp-and-paper-giant-aprils-supplier-choices-put-fsc-remedy-process-to-the-test/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Thailand, EUDR pressure on small-scale rubber farmers prompts private-sector assistance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 02:02:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/14133641/1.-Banner-option-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Certification, Commodity agriculture, Corporations, Crops, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, EUDR, Farming, Forest Products, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Law, Plantations, Rubber, Supply Chain, Sustainable Forest Management, Trade, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KRABI, Thailand — Beneath a humid canopy of rubber trees, Sathit Phromraksa pauses to inspect a coagulated ball of rubber in a palm-sized bowl fastened to a trunk. Last night, he and his wife worked their way through the plantation, carefully carving a line in the bark of each tree to stimulate the flow of milky latex. With a total 500 trees to tap in their 1.6-hectare (4-acre) plantation, their work took them from midnight to 3:30 a.m. “I inherited this rubber farm from my father,” says 59-year-old Sathit, a lifelong resident of Namgaan subdistrict in Thailand’s Krabi province. “Back then, my family used a lot of chemicals to control weeds and pests, but now, we follow organic practices.” Sathit is one of roughly 1.7 million smallholders who produce 90% of Thailand’s natural rubber supply across millions of individual plantations, most of them no bigger than his. For many, staying profitable is a constant challenge amid fluctuating market prices, crop diseases and climate change. Now, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is poised to add to the pressures facing small-scale producers like Sathit. Under the law, set to take effect in January 2027, only suppliers who can prove their land wasn’t cleared after Dec. 31, 2020, will be allowed to continue selling rubber to EU markets. As the world’s leading natural rubber producer, the economic implications for Thailand are significant. While the bulk of its exports go to China and Malaysia, the value of Thai rubber entering the EU increased by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-thailand-eudr-pressure-on-small-scale-rubber-farmers-prompts-private-sector-assistance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lanka bans single-use plastic bottles at government events, charges for plastic bags</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lanka-bans-single-use-plastic-bottles-at-government-events-charges-for-plastic-bags/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lanka-bans-single-use-plastic-bottles-at-government-events-charges-for-plastic-bags/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 19:09:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08190037/1-Single-use-plastic-bottle-c-Pearl-Protectors-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320781</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, Sustainability, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka banned the purchase and use of single-use plastic water bottles in all government institutions effective May 31, under a new government circular that targets reduction of wasteful plastic consumption within the state sector. The move is the latest in a long line of attempts by the island nation to reduce plastic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka banned the purchase and use of single-use plastic water bottles in all government institutions effective May 31, under a new government circular that targets reduction of wasteful plastic consumption within the state sector. The move is the latest in a long line of attempts by the island nation to reduce plastic pollution — a crisis that clogs waterways, pollutes beaches, harms marine life, and overwhelms the country’s fragile waste management systems. But environmentalists say the real question is not whether Sri Lanka can announce another ban, but whether it can be enforced. The new directive applies to public institutions and is expected to reduce the routine use of disposable plastic water bottles during government meetings, events, offices and official functions. Authorities are encouraging reusable alternatives and better drinking water infrastructure within public institutions, says Kapila Rajapaksha, the director-general of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the state agency mandated to address plastic pollution. Sri Lanka’s plastic problem is growing exponentially. The National Plastic Waste Inventory (NPWI) published in 2024 has estimated the island’s municipal plastic waste generation to be approximately 250,000 metric tons per year. Sri Lanka recycles only about 27,000 metric tons of plastic waste annually, roughly 11% of total plastic waste generated. An estimated 68,000 metric tons, or 27% of plastic waste, remain uncollected and are often burned, buried or illegally dumped. Approximately 101,000 metric tons or 41% of the plastics go unaccounted from the waste management system during collection, transport, sorting and disposal. According&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lanka-bans-single-use-plastic-bottles-at-government-events-charges-for-plastic-bags/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lanka-bans-single-use-plastic-bottles-at-government-events-charges-for-plastic-bags/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320781</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Nigerian teen is turning agricultural waste into biodegradable sanitary pads</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2026 07:36:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/28073436/665830-PantiPads-8f54a6-original-1775732022-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320234</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Circular Economy, Innovation, Prizes, Waste, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For many Nigerian women, access to sanitary pads remains a challenge. Even those who can obtain them, the prevalence of single-use menstrual products creates problems of its own. They contain plastics and chemicals and are not eco-friendly generating large amounts of waste. After learning that many traditional sanitary pads used contain up to 90% plastic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For many Nigerian women, access to sanitary pads remains a challenge. Even those who can obtain them, the prevalence of single-use menstrual products creates problems of its own. They contain plastics and chemicals and are not eco-friendly generating large amounts of waste. After learning that many traditional sanitary pads used contain up to 90% plastic and can take hundreds of years to decompose, Nigerian teenager Raheema Auwal-Panti saw an opportunity to support women while helping the environment. The 15-year-old decided to use low-grade agricultural waste to make sanitary pads. She was motivated by a desire “to sweep up plastic pollution” in Nigeria. “[Even] if no one does something about it, I could do something about it,” said Auwal-Panti, who hails from Minna, the capital of Niger state in Nigeria. She founded ‘PantiPads’ in 2025. Auwal-Panti’s project was selected in a shortlist of 35 global teams for the 2026 Earth Prize, organized by the Earth Foundation, a Switzerland-based nonprofit that empowers, educates and inspires young people to tackle environmental challenges. In northern Nigeria, cassava processing generates significant agricultural waste, which poses environmental risks, particularly to soil quality. The waste includes solid and liquid components, such as cassava peelings, dried with non-dried banana leaves and corn husks. The biomass-rich waste, if poorly managed, can lead to environmental degradation, including organic pollution of water bodies and soil contamination. “Using these wastes to develop eco-friendly pads is currently helping to address menstrual stigma which remains a significant public health challenge that affects girls&#8217; education and overall well-being&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320234</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Loopholes undermine palm oil industry’s antideforestation pledges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2026 21:51:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/02173520/sabah_1209-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Certification, Commodity agriculture, Corporate Social Responsibility, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, EUDR, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, International Trade, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, and Supply Chain]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — More than a decade after the palm oil industry embraced a pledge to not deforest, clear tropical peatlands, or use exploitative practices, policies to that end now cover most of the global palm oil trade, as major traders, refiners and consumer brands have pledged to keep deforestation-linked palm oil out of their supply [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — More than a decade after the palm oil industry embraced a pledge to not deforest, clear tropical peatlands, or use exploitative practices, policies to that end now cover most of the global palm oil trade, as major traders, refiners and consumer brands have pledged to keep deforestation-linked palm oil out of their supply chains. However, deforestation linked to palm oil continues, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of the commodity. Satellite analysis by forest-mapping initiative TheTreeMap shows 31,073 hectares (76,783 acres) of forest were cleared for palm oil in Indonesia in 2025, slightly higher than the 30,956 hectares (76,494 acres) recorded in 2024 — highlighting persistent gaps in how the industry enforces its zero-deforestation pledges. In some cases, palm oil from newly cleared land still enters supply chains that companies describe as deforestation-free. “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policies aim to eliminate three major sources of harm in palm oil production: clearing natural forests, developing plantations on carbon-rich peatlands, and exploiting workers or local communities. By 2020, these commitments covered roughly 83% of palm oil refinery capacity in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s main producing region. In recent years, companies have also built systems to enforce these pledges. Many now publish grievance mechanisms where violations can be reported, while third-party monitoring groups use satellite imagery to track forest loss and flag suspicious activity. Large-scale corporate deforestation in Indonesia has fallen compared to the mid-2010s, when some plantation companies were clearing vast areas of rainforest. Deforestation for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/loopholes-undermine-palm-oil-industrys-antideforestation-pledges/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The most underfunded climate opportunities may be at sea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-most-underfunded-climate-opportunities-may-be-at-sea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-most-underfunded-climate-opportunities-may-be-at-sea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 May 2026 00:45:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/23171940/OceanImageBank_CameronVenti_2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320057</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Decarbonization, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Marine, Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Offshore Wind, Ports, Renewable Energy, Shipping, Wind, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ocean philanthropy remains a small field. Funding directed specifically toward ocean-climate solutions is smaller still. At last week’s “Sea Change” panel on ocean-climate solutions in Asia, convened as part of the Philanthropy Asia Summit, the discussion kept returning to this mismatch: the ocean is central to the climate transition, yet ocean-climate philanthropy remains a rounding [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ocean philanthropy remains a small field. Funding directed specifically toward ocean-climate solutions is smaller still. At last week’s “Sea Change” panel on ocean-climate solutions in Asia, convened as part of the Philanthropy Asia Summit, the discussion kept returning to this mismatch: the ocean is central to the climate transition, yet ocean-climate philanthropy remains a rounding error in global giving. Ocean-climate philanthropy’s funding gap The numbers are stark: Less than 1.5% of global philanthropic giving goes to climate mitigation. About 0.25% goes to ocean issues. At the intersection of the two, the figure is roughly 0.05%. That is a narrow base of support for work that touches power generation, shipping, food systems, coastal protection, marine biodiversity, and the future of many island and coastal economies. The ocean has long been treated by funders primarily as a conservation concern. Grants have supported marine protected areas, fisheries management, coastal livelihoods, scientific research, and habitat protection. Much of that work remains essential. It has helped create institutions, protect places, and improve the management of fisheries and reefs. Climate change is now the force most likely to overwhelm many of those gains. Warming, acidification, rising seas, stronger storms, and shifting fish stocks are changing the conditions under which ocean conservation operates. Foundation Funding for Ocean-Climate (2015–2024). Foundation ocean-climate funding shown here is inclusive of all mitigation and sequestration-focused funding, including cross-cutting policy work. Funding to blue carbon is included in this chart as a sequestration strategy. Labels represent 2024 funding amounts. Graphic from &#8220;Funding Trends&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-most-underfunded-climate-opportunities-may-be-at-sea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-most-underfunded-climate-opportunities-may-be-at-sea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320057</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After quinoa’s boom, Bolivian farmers face degraded soils and climate stress</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/after-quinoas-boom-bolivian-farmers-face-degraded-soils-and-climate-stress/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/after-quinoas-boom-bolivian-farmers-face-degraded-soils-and-climate-stress/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 15:15:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Swift]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/13161907/Benjamin-Swift_DJI_0055-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Drought, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Impact Of Climate Change, Monocultures, Planetary Boundaries, Precipitation, Regenerative production landscapes, Restoration, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AROMA MARKA, Bolivia — The rolling hills around the town of Aroma Marka are a cacophony of colors: golden-yellow, deep-red and purplish-black quinoa pods smatter the otherwise barren landscape here in Bolivia’s southern Altiplano, the Andean Plateau. At 3,800 meters (about 12,500 feet) above sea level, the Altiplano stretches across much of western Bolivia and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AROMA MARKA, Bolivia — The rolling hills around the town of Aroma Marka are a cacophony of colors: golden-yellow, deep-red and purplish-black quinoa pods smatter the otherwise barren landscape here in Bolivia’s southern Altiplano, the Andean Plateau. At 3,800 meters (about 12,500 feet) above sea level, the Altiplano stretches across much of western Bolivia and into Peru, Chile and Argentina. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) has been grown on the Altiplano since pre-Hispanic times, but it was only recently that the nutrient-dense pseudocereal was put on the global map, fueling a production boom in the Andes. Prices later tumbled as countries outside the region also began cultivating it. Yet the striking scenery belies the lasting scars the 2010-2014 quinoa boom left in the region. At its height, sky-high prices triggered a production frenzy, drawing former residents back from cities to plant the “golden grain.” But Walter Canaviri, a quinoa producer and local leader, remembers that the sudden spike came at a cost. “Everyone wanted to produce more,” he told Mongabay. In the rush to capitalize on the moment, some growers encroached on neighbors’ lands, leading to disputes. “It was a sad time for this area because everyone turned against everyone,” he said. While the quinoa boom brought a temporary boon for rural Andean Indigenous communities, it also came with the destruction of local ecosystems, soil degradation, and social conflict – all of which have been exacerbated by changes in regional weather patterns and global climate change. Though Bolivian producers like Canaviri are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/after-quinoas-boom-bolivian-farmers-face-degraded-soils-and-climate-stress/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Southern Ocean is key to our planet&#8217;s future &#038; we have a chance to protect it this year (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 16:02:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Zac Goldsmith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10190606/WWF_Jay-Williams.-Chinstrap-penguins-e1760123344432-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319355</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Certification, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, Sustainability, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the most striking images in David Attenborough&#8217;s Ocean, his defining 2025 documentary, is of supertrawlers dragging vast krill nets through a pod of feeding humpback whales off Antarctica. For most viewers, it will have been the moment a distant and invisible crisis became viscerally real. But it was also something else: a glimpse [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the most striking images in David Attenborough&#8217;s Ocean, his defining 2025 documentary, is of supertrawlers dragging vast krill nets through a pod of feeding humpback whales off Antarctica. For most viewers, it will have been the moment a distant and invisible crisis became viscerally real. But it was also something else: a glimpse of what is at stake if we fail to act, and a reminder of how little time we have left to protect some of our planet’s most precious resources. The Southern Ocean is not simply another stretch of water in need of protection. It is the engine of the global climate system, and one of the last places on Earth where nature still operates on its own terms. Right now, it is in serious trouble. The Antarctic Peninsula is home to roughly a third of the global krill population, which sustains whales, penguins, seals and seabirds. But three consecutive years of record-low sea ice have disrupted the reproduction cycles that krill depend on, and last year the krill fishery hit its 620,000-metric-ton catch limit for the first time in history, closing three months early. Industrial fleets from Norway, China, South Korea, Chile and Ukraine are extracting them at a pace that the ecosystem, already stressed by climate change, cannot absorb. The Marine Stewardship Council&#8217;s recent decision to recertify the Antarctic krill fishery as &#8220;sustainable,&#8221; despite an outdated stock assessment and mounting evidence of localized harm to whale and penguin populations, has rightly drawn legal challenge.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319355</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The digital graveyard: Is Bangladesh becoming China’s e-waste back door?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-digital-graveyard-is-bangladesh-becoming-chinas-e-waste-back-door/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-digital-graveyard-is-bangladesh-becoming-chinas-e-waste-back-door/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2026 13:34:50 +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/20/2026/05/05110841/2-recovered-wires-from-dismantled-ships-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318733</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[E-waste, Environment, Environmental Law, Health, Law, Public Health, Recycling, Trade, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the world turns its attention to China’s increasingly stringent waste import ban, a dangerous stream of electronic waste is entering Bangladesh. Despite the enactment of the Hazardous Waste (e-waste) Management Rules 2021, weak regulatory systems and illegal trade routes are making the country a major destination for global “e-waste.” Electronic waste (e-waste), which includes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the world turns its attention to China’s increasingly stringent waste import ban, a dangerous stream of electronic waste is entering Bangladesh. Despite the enactment of the Hazardous Waste (e-waste) Management Rules 2021, weak regulatory systems and illegal trade routes are making the country a major destination for global “e-waste.” Electronic waste (e-waste), which includes discarded computers, laptops, phones, refrigerators and medical equipment, has become a growing crisis. According to the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association, about 35 million mobile handsets are sold every year in Bangladesh. With an average lifespan of just 2-4 years, about 30 million devices enter the local waste stream every year, most of which go unmonitored. The crisis is exacerbated by a massive increase in electronics imports. Bangladesh Bank (BB) data show that more than $2.47 billion was spent on imports of electrical appliances and accessories in the 2024-25 fiscal year. A significant portion of this was coming from China worth $1.8 billion. However, experts warn that a growing black market in refurbished products is hiding the true extent of the environmental threat. Refrigerator compressors stored and dismantled in unsafe ways. Image by Abdullah Zahid Osmani, TIB. Escalating electronics imports and the e-waste shadow The influx of electronics into Bangladesh has reached staggering proportions, raising significant concerns over the nation’s potential role as an unwritten “dumping ground” for global waste. A latest Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) study, using import and export data from the customs department, has revealed that Bangladesh imported e-waste materials worth around&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-digital-graveyard-is-bangladesh-becoming-chinas-e-waste-back-door/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesia, a schoolboy moves mountains on waste as government targets reform</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-schoolboy-moves-mountains-on-waste-as-government-targets-reform/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-schoolboy-moves-mountains-on-waste-as-government-targets-reform/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2026 14:34:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gafur Abdullah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/30142106/WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-13-at-17.46.13-1-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318477</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JEMBER, Indonesia — Syazwan Luftan Riady traces his environmental campaigning to school holidays spent at his grandmother’s riverside home in a rural part of Indonesia’s East Java province. “Throw that trash in the river, the basket’s full!” Luftan said, mimicking the levity with which his grandmother, like millions of others on the world’s most populous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JEMBER, Indonesia — Syazwan Luftan Riady traces his environmental campaigning to school holidays spent at his grandmother’s riverside home in a rural part of Indonesia’s East Java province. “Throw that trash in the river, the basket’s full!” Luftan said, mimicking the levity with which his grandmother, like millions of others on the world’s most populous island, handled household waste in the absence of government services. While still a schoolboy in Jember, East Java, Luftan learned from his parents and developed his interest in the environment further after joining Sekolah Alam Raya. At just 12 years old, Luftan went on to co-found an organization of his own, Wiskomunalian, a grassroots association of youngsters working on achievable measures to effect environmental change. “It was about making friends aware about the environment, especially the issue of waste,” said Luftan, now in his second year of an undergraduate degree at Brawijaya University in Malang, a four-hour drive from Jember. Some of the Wiskomunalian youth in January 2026. Image by Gafur Abdullah/Mongabay Indonesia Child star A goal of Luftan and his colleagues is that “every child must be supported with adequate knowledge and experience grounded in their local realities,” Wiskomunalian wrote last year. But converting that vision into cleaner rivers and streets is a tall order, amid population growth and limited fiscal space with which to build waste treatment facilities. The United Nations Environment Programme records Indonesia as generating around 3.2 million metric tons of plastic waste every year, making it the world’s second-largest plastic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-indonesia-a-schoolboy-moves-mountains-on-waste-as-government-targets-reform/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia escalates ‘war on waste’ with criminal probe into Jakarta landfill disaster</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-escalates-war-on-waste-with-criminal-probe-into-jakarta-landfill-disaster/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-escalates-war-on-waste-with-criminal-probe-into-jakarta-landfill-disaster/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 01:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Achmad Rizki MuazamLuh De Suriyani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/28142847/Bantargebang-landfill-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318274</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities are pursuing a criminal investigation into two senior public health managers over the most recent tragedy and alleged mismanagement at two of the country’s largest landfill sites. The investigations were announced two months after President Prabowo Subianto publicly declared a “war on waste,” and just weeks after a fatal avalanche of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities are pursuing a criminal investigation into two senior public health managers over the most recent tragedy and alleged mismanagement at two of the country’s largest landfill sites. The investigations were announced two months after President Prabowo Subianto publicly declared a “war on waste,” and just weeks after a fatal avalanche of garbage at Southeast Asia’s largest dump. On March 8, seven sanitation and support workers were killed after being buried under a landslide of solid waste following structural failure at the Bantargebang site east of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city. A further six people were injured. Bantargebang, the country’s largest landfill, spans an area the size of 200 football fields and reaches more than 50 meters (167 feet) high at its peak, taller than the Statue of Liberty. Indonesia’s environment minister at the time said Asep Kuswanto, the former head of the Jakarta Environmental Agency, responsible for operating Bantargebang, had been charged on April 20 under the country’s 2008 environment law. Excavators atop a mountain of garbage in Bantargebang. Image by Achmad Rizki Muazam/Mongabay Indonesia. “We conducted an environmental audit, which found that required standards had not been met,” Hanif Faisol Nurofiq told Mongabay Indonesia on April 21. (On April 27, Hanif was removed from his post in a cabinet reshuffle.) If convicted, Asep could face up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 15 billion rupiah (around $870,000). Hanif added that environmental investigators would continue to investigate the Bantargebang tragedy, and did not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-escalates-war-on-waste-with-criminal-probe-into-jakarta-landfill-disaster/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318274</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Open dumping &#038; failed reforms bury Sri Lankan cities in waste problem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/open-dumping-failed-reforms-bury-sri-lankan-cities-in-waste-problem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/open-dumping-failed-reforms-bury-sri-lankan-cities-in-waste-problem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2026 12:12:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/23114935/1-Sri-Lanka-Air-Force-pictures-of-Meethotamulla-Garbage-dump-disaster--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318011</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Air Pollution, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Policy, Food Waste, Governance, Habitat, Law Enforcement, Pollution, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — As Sri Lankans celebrate the traditional New Year on April 14 each year, a period marked by family gatherings and renewal, there are no celebrations at Keerthirathna Perera’s home anymore. In 2017, the Perera family was in celebration mode in their two-level home in Meethotamulla, in western Sri Lanka. But their festive lunch [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — As Sri Lankans celebrate the traditional New Year on April 14 each year, a period marked by family gatherings and renewal, there are no celebrations at Keerthirathna Perera’s home anymore. In 2017, the Perera family was in celebration mode in their two-level home in Meethotamulla, in western Sri Lanka. But their festive lunch was interrupted around 2 p.m. by a faint tremor. Moments later, a neighbor shouted that the stairway was suddenly cracking. Alarmed, the family rushed outside, only seconds before a deafening roar engulfed the area as a massive wave of garbage and earth surged upward. Houses shifted, some collapsed instantly, while others were simply thrust aside. When the noise eventually faded, the neighborhood found itself reduced to a chaotic field of rubble. In this confusion, Keerthirathna searched desperately for his family. He found his wife trapped waist-deep in debris and saw only his granddaughter’s hand nearby, while there was no trace of his daughter and son-in-law. Rescue teams worked through the night, pulling his wife to safety around 10 p.m. and recovering the bodies of his granddaughter and son-in-law. After continuous digging through the unstable waste mound, four days later, his daughter’s lifeless body was finally recovered. The disaster killed at least 32 people, displaced hundreds and destroyed more than 140 homes, leaving more than a thousand homeless. The collapse of the mount at Meethotamulla exposed the catastrophic consequences of unmanaged urban waste accumulation and Sri Lanka’s repeated institutional failure to tackle the solid waste problem.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/open-dumping-failed-reforms-bury-sri-lankan-cities-in-waste-problem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318011</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plastic, from home and abroad, spills into Türkiye’s waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/plastic-from-home-and-abroad-spills-into-turkiyes-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/plastic-from-home-and-abroad-spills-into-turkiyes-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2026 16:59:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Guia BaggiUtku Kuran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/11152022/4377-compressed-plastic-waste-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315550</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, and Turkey]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Microplastics, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ADANA, Türkiye — Along the final stretch of the Seyhan River, in southern Türkiye, plastic bits in various colors dot the water and sediment. When the river bends, shredded plastic, degraded by the elements, forms large gray patches. Downstream, where the Seyhan flows into Mersin Bay, debris large enough to display clues to its origin [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ADANA, Türkiye — Along the final stretch of the Seyhan River, in southern Türkiye, plastic bits in various colors dot the water and sediment. When the river bends, shredded plastic, degraded by the elements, forms large gray patches. Downstream, where the Seyhan flows into Mersin Bay, debris large enough to display clues to its origin lies scattered across the wetland: wrinkled German-labeled packages of Thai-style chicken noodles, unopened single-use cutlery from the U.K., an empty margarine box from Spain, among many others. Between the small village of Baharlı and the sea, fishing barracks stand at the juncture of a large canal and the river. A fisher uses a wooden oar to lift the anoxic black sediments and show how plastic fragments have become ubiquitous across the riverbed. They are everywhere, his colleague Halil Balıkçıoğlu told Mongabay, along with sewage and chemical waste from big factories. “It wasn&#8217;t like this 30 years ago,” Balıkçıoğlu said. “We used to make tea with this water.” Fishing barracks at the juncture of a large canal and the Seyhan River. Image by Utku Kuran for Mongabay. In recent years, there’s been a rapid evolution in the local recycling industry largely fed by imports of foreign waste. According to U.N. Comtrade data, 677,663 metric tons of plastic scraps traveled to Türkiye in 2024 alone, 77% of it from the U.K. and the EU combined. Since China closed its doors to plastic waste imports in 2018, Türkiye has become a major destination. Most of this scrap heads&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/plastic-from-home-and-abroad-spills-into-turkiyes-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315550</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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315490</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Recycling startups test limits of private solutions to deluge of waste in Lagos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/recycling-startups-test-limits-of-private-solutions-to-deluge-of-waste-in-lagos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/recycling-startups-test-limits-of-private-solutions-to-deluge-of-waste-in-lagos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2026 14:26:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/20142553/HawkerWithDrinks2017_LagosNigeria_RobinUtrechtUNSGFlickrBYNCND2.0-BANNER.2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314521</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Governance, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Human Rights, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, Trade, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[OJUELEGBA, Nigeria — On the bustling streets of this central Lagos neighborhood, it’s easy to buy a drink. Hawkers weave between buses and motorcycles with wheelbarrows of bottled water and canned beverages. Finding a bin for the empty container is much harder. Many end up on the ground. Glass, cardboard, aluminum and — most commonly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[OJUELEGBA, Nigeria — On the bustling streets of this central Lagos neighborhood, it’s easy to buy a drink. Hawkers weave between buses and motorcycles with wheelbarrows of bottled water and canned beverages. Finding a bin for the empty container is much harder. Many end up on the ground. Glass, cardboard, aluminum and — most commonly — plastic collect in piles at busy junctions and in open gutters, mixed with food waste and refuse from nearby shops and homes. Drains clog, and stagnant water lingers. Bayo Adeolu, proud holder of a degree in plant biology from the University of Lagos, spent months tramping these same streets in search of work. He endured rejection after rejection, then tried selling used phones with a friend, but competition in this saturated market beat them back. One afternoon, scrolling through social media, a post caught his eye. &#8220;Earn-As-You-Waste,&#8221; it read, advertising an information session for Pakam, a company promoting recycling as a source of income. At the session, Pakam’s staff explained how participants could earn money by collecting recyclable waste from the company’s clients. Registered collectors, they said, would be trained to sort and weigh the waste, record this shabby bounty digitally, and transport the recovered materials to aggregation points. The state of Lagos state generates nearly 5.5 million metric tons of solid waste every year, according to the state waste management authority — or roughly 15,000 metric tons a day. A 2024 World Bank study estimated that nearly 40% of this rubbish is recyclable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/recycling-startups-test-limits-of-private-solutions-to-deluge-of-waste-in-lagos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314521</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Measuring biodiversity in a world of tree-planting pledges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2026 16:54:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/12121050/Chimps_Photo-credit_Jane-Goodall-Institute-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312848</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Restoration Solutions]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Madagascar, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Sequestration, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Invasive Species, Reforestation, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There are around 60,000 known tree species in the world, and they can do amazing things: store carbon, provide people with food and firewood, shelter creatures big and small, and so much more. In the past two decades, numerous high-profile initiatives have announced ambitious restoration targets for forests. Restoring forests can bring all kinds of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There are around 60,000 known tree species in the world, and they can do amazing things: store carbon, provide people with food and firewood, shelter creatures big and small, and so much more. In the past two decades, numerous high-profile initiatives have announced ambitious restoration targets for forests. Restoring forests can bring all kinds of benefits and is widely seen as an effective nature-based solution to climate change and biodiversity loss. But planting the wrong trees, or planting them in the wrong places, is, at best, a missed opportunity — and at worst, can even harm biodiversity. In fact, a 2019 Nature commentary found that almost half the area pledged under the Bonn Challenge, a high-profile initiative to restore 350 million hectares (865 million acres) of degraded forest by 2030, was for plantation-style monocultures, and thus a poor strategy for both carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Meanwhile, half of the land pledged for reforestation under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative was actually on savanna, a landscape not suitable for tree planting, according to a 2024 Science study. “It started to occur to us that there was potentially a problem here, particularly given the size of the pledges that were being made,” says Paul Smith, secretary-general at U.K.-based charity Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). What was needed, Smith and colleagues thought, was some way to promote best practices and recognize projects that got things right. When they looked at existing certification standards, they found that none focused primarily on biodiversity. What’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/one-year-on-tgbs-benchmark-shows-how-to-restore-forests-for-biodiversity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312848</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>SE Asia’s smallholders struggling to meet EUDR: Interview with RECOFTC’s Martin Greijmans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2025 10:59:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/29105530/IMG_6036-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Certification, Coffee, Community Forests, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Green, International Trade, Palm Oil, Plantations, Regulations, Timber, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Smallholders produce significant quantities of Vietnam’s coffee, Indonesia’s palm oil, and Thailand’s rubber exported into the EU. Yet under the bloc’s upcoming deforestation-free regulation (EUDR), industry experts say small-scale producers across Southeast Asia need more support to help prepare them to comply with the new rules. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Smallholders produce significant quantities of Vietnam’s coffee, Indonesia’s palm oil, and Thailand’s rubber exported into the EU. Yet under the bloc’s upcoming deforestation-free regulation (EUDR), industry experts say small-scale producers across Southeast Asia need more support to help prepare them to comply with the new rules. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is set to take effect at the end of 2026, after EU lawmakers voted earlier this month to postpone its implementation for the second year in a row, citing technical concerns. Its goal is to ensure that forest-linked products imported into the EU are deforestation-free by introducing mechanisms that enable companies trading seven commodities — cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and timber — to track their products’ origins throughout the entire supply chain. While experts say increased oversight is a vital step to reduce the footprint of EU consumption on forests, others have warned that without appropriate support and governance mechanisms, the new rules could introduce inequities that harm small-scale producers. Many smallholders lack the capacity and capital to comply with some aspects of the new regulations, for instance. This could see them sidelined in favor of bigger producers who can more easily adapt, according to Martin Greijmans, community enterprise program lead at RECOFTC, a Thailand-based community forest nonprofit. Further complicating matters are limited resources to inform smallholders about how the regulations will affect their businesses, underscoring the need for greater efforts by governments and private companies to help smallholders adapt, he says. “One shocking thing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/se-asias-smallholders-struggling-to-meet-eudr-interview-with-recoftcs-martin-greijmans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pulp giant RGE admits possible deforestation breach in Bornean wildlife habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pulp-giant-rge-admits-possible-deforestation-breach-in-bornean-wildlife-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pulp-giant-rge-admits-possible-deforestation-breach-in-bornean-wildlife-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Dec 2025 13:54:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/18204309/indonesia_160271-25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311741</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, International Trade, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, timber trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — One of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies has acknowledged to Mongabay a potential breach of its no-deforestation commitment in its supply chain, raising questions about the company’s attempt to regain sustainability certification under the Forest Stewardship Council. A new report by U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) alleges that Singapore-based [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — One of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies has acknowledged to Mongabay a potential breach of its no-deforestation commitment in its supply chain, raising questions about the company’s attempt to regain sustainability certification under the Forest Stewardship Council. A new report by U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) alleges that Singapore-based pulp and paper giant Royal Golden Eagle’s (RGE) supply chain is linked to deforestation in Indonesia, despite the group having adopted a no-deforestation policy in 2015. RGE, owned by Indonesia’s billionaire Tanoto family, is one of the world’s largest producers of wood pulp and the various products made from it, including paper, tissue, packaging, and viscose rayon. According to the report, RGE’s pulp and paper unit in China, Asia Symbol, sourced wood from two pulpwood plantations in Indonesian Borneo where 5,565 hectares (13,751 acres) of natural forest were cleared between 2020 and 2024. The analysis draws on satellite data, field investigations, and customs and wood supply records compiled by supply chain transparency platform Trase in its latest update on Indonesia’s pulp sector. The forest clearance occurred in the watershed of the Mahakam River, which contains some of the largest remaining tracts of intact rainforest in Indonesia and supports populations of critically endangered and iconic species, including the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), Mahakam population of the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the Bornean population of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Previously thought to be extinct in the wild on Borneo, Sumatran rhinos were detected in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pulp-giant-rge-admits-possible-deforestation-breach-in-bornean-wildlife-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pulp-giant-rge-admits-possible-deforestation-breach-in-bornean-wildlife-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311741</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/green-labeler-pefc-under-fire-for-certifying-indonesian-firm-clearing-orangutan-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/green-labeler-pefc-under-fire-for-certifying-indonesian-firm-clearing-orangutan-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 17:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15111219/DJI_0028-min-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311360</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, International Trade, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A major global forestry certification body is under scrutiny for endorsing one of Indonesia’s largest recent deforesters, raising concerns that consumers may be misled about the origins of the wood products they buy. In November, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) approved the certification of Indonesian timber firm PT Industrial [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A major global forestry certification body is under scrutiny for endorsing one of Indonesia’s largest recent deforesters, raising concerns that consumers may be misled about the origins of the wood products they buy. In November, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) approved the certification of Indonesian timber firm PT Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP). The label allows the company to market its pulpwood as “sustainable,” even though investigative group Earthsight says IFP has in recent years become Indonesia’s second-largest deforester. Between 2016 and 2022, IFP cleared nearly 22,000 hectares (about 54,000 acres) of natural forest in central Borneo, an area roughly the size of Amsterdam, to establish its plantations. Since 2022, the company has cleared more forest each year than almost any other operator in Indonesia’s industrial plantation sector. The concession lies in a landscape recognized as a key stronghold for critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), with roughly half the licensed area estimated to be orangutan habitat. IFP has refuted Earthsight’s findings, saying all clearing and planting was carried out under work plans approved by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. It also said it stopped logging natural forest at the end of 2023. But analysis by Indonesian NGO Auriga Nusantara shows deforestation continued well into 2024, with more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of forest loss recorded in the concession. That made IFP the fourth-largest deforester among plantation permit holders that year. PEFC told Earthsight it found no clear evidence of procedural error in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/green-labeler-pefc-under-fire-for-certifying-indonesian-firm-clearing-orangutan-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/green-labeler-pefc-under-fire-for-certifying-indonesian-firm-clearing-orangutan-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15165945/Recording2025-12-10133005-ezgif.com-gif-maker.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311360</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What would this scientist tell Trump? Interview with Robert Watson, former chair of the IPCC</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/what-would-this-scientist-tell-trump-interview-with-robert-watson-former-chair-of-the-ipcc/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/what-would-this-scientist-tell-trump-interview-with-robert-watson-former-chair-of-the-ipcc/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2025 21:23:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/09212012/54973440165_4d66b618bf_o-1BIS23-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310944</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Circular Economy, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Freshwater, Governance, Green, Oceans, Rainforests, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly in late 2025 and dismissed climate change as a “con job”, the scientific community reacted with alarm. Months earlier, The Guardian had reported that his anti-climate agenda could result in 1.3 million additional deaths globally. Prior to that, in August, CNN documented how scientists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly in late 2025 and dismissed climate change as a “con job”, the scientific community reacted with alarm. Months earlier, The Guardian had reported that his anti-climate agenda could result in 1.3 million additional deaths globally. Prior to that, in August, CNN documented how scientists were coordinating to counter Trump’s attempts to erase credible climate research from the record. The news was emblematic of a wider trend: The rapid spread of climate disinformation, a resurgence of greenwashing and a global political environment increasingly hostile to science — even as emissions rise, biodiversity collapses and pollution reaches lethal levels. Against that backdrop, the U.N. Environment Program launched another report, which it called a flagship environmental assessment — the Global Environment Outlook 7 (GEO-7) — in Nairobi on Tuesday. Authored by 287 scientists from 82 countries, the report paints a stark picture: Greenhouse gas emissions continue climbing, 20-40% of global land is degraded, pollution kills 9 million people a year and 1 million species face extinction if current trends continue. Among the co-chairs of GEO-7 is Sir Robert Watson, one of the world’s most respected environmental scientists and a former chair of the IPCC, the U.N.’s top climate science body. In many ways, he has spent his career trying to ensure science informs political decisions. Watson was in Nairobi this week for the launch of the GEO-7. So, what would he tell a political leader who rejects the science entirely? Mongabay asked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/what-would-this-scientist-tell-trump-interview-with-robert-watson-former-chair-of-the-ipcc/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/what-would-this-scientist-tell-trump-interview-with-robert-watson-former-chair-of-the-ipcc/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310944</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2025 21:18:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03083255/10-Abogbloshie-dump-in-Ghana-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310477</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Ghana, Global, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Consumption, E-waste, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Globalization, Health, Industry, Mining, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, Recycling, Research, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“I live in Accra, Ghana,” says Isaac Dinwe, who works for Closing the Loop, a Dutch company that works with the electronics industry to increase global recycling. “The e-waste problem in my country is so huge we are unable to manage it. Most of our e-waste ends up in city centres. Informal workers extract what [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“I live in Accra, Ghana,” says Isaac Dinwe, who works for Closing the Loop, a Dutch company that works with the electronics industry to increase global recycling. “The e-waste problem in my country is so huge we are unable to manage it. Most of our e-waste ends up in city centres. Informal workers extract what they can sell and burn the rest. It causes a lot of pollution,” Dinwe writes in an email to Mongabay from the group. Dinwe is one of a handful of Ghanaians tackling a public health and environmental crisis brought on by the global consumer economy and a lack of legislation and infrastructure around the globe. Dinwe heads a team trained to properly handle e-waste and travels to repair shops, villages and churches to buy “dead” phones that would otherwise end up landfilled or burned. “We are careful not to pay too much, as we want the phones to be used right up to the end of their life,” explains Closing the Loop CEO Joost de Kluijver. Isaac Dinwe, a Ghanaian, heads a team of 16 people who buy &#8216;dead&#8217; phones cheaply from repair shops and elsewhere in Accra, Ghana, to prevent them from being tossed into landfills. But, despite the team&#8217;s work, a lot of e-waste ends up in waste dumps where scavengers extract salvageable bits, then burn the rest, causing pollution that threatens public health. Image courtesy of Closing the Loop. Closing the Loop has joined with phone makers and sellers in Europe to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>FSC to vote on new traceability rules amid fraud allegations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2025 15:48:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/25084446/indonesia-fsc-wood-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308306</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Environment, Forests, Greenwashing, International Trade, Politics, Pulp And Paper, Sustainable Forest Management, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest green timber label will vote next week on whether to begin work on new traceability rules, amid renewed scrutiny and accusations over whether the body is doing enough to prevent fraud within its supply chains. The Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) bills itself as “the world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry.” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s largest green timber label will vote next week on whether to begin work on new traceability rules, amid renewed scrutiny and accusations over whether the body is doing enough to prevent fraud within its supply chains. The Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) bills itself as “the world’s most trusted mark for sustainable forestry.” Its tree-tick logo can be found on everything from furniture and snowboards to toilet paper and takeaway containers, an assurance the product was made with wood from forests the FSC has certified as responsibly managed. FSC certification appears on products worth tens of billions of dollars in sales each year. But forestry experts and whistleblowers have alleged for years that the FSC lacks a proper control system, allowing bad actors to fraudulently pass off timber that was illegally or unsustainably logged as FSC-certified. Phil Guillery, who was the FSC’s integrity director from 2011-21, said in early October that he believed “20-30% of claims in the system were false” during his tenure “and I haven’t seen anything to suggest the figure has dropped since.” The FSC issued a swift rebuttal to Guillery’s claims, calling them unsubstantiated and “based on outdated information that does not reflect the system today.” “Integrity is central to FSC’s mission, and we take any allegation of fraudulent behaviour seriously,” the FSC said. However, a senior FSC official currently with the organization told Mongabay this week that they believed the figure was actually an underestimate. “I’m actually amazed he said 20-30 percent —&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/fsc-to-vote-on-new-traceability-rules-amid-fraud-allegations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308306</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Regenerative fashion initiative in Indonesia wins 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/regenerative-fashion-initiative-in-indonesia-wins-2025-pritzker-environmental-genius-award/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/regenerative-fashion-initiative-in-indonesia-wins-2025-pritzker-environmental-genius-award/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2025 15:14:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/09151209/denica-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307322</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, California, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Amphibians, Bioacoustics, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Green Design, Hope and optimism, Regenerative production landscapes, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a world defined by extraction, Denica Riadini-Flesch is proving that creation can heal instead. The Indonesian economist-turned-entrepreneur has won UCLA’s 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award for building a “farm-to-closet” supply chain—a system that regenerates land, restores heritage craft, and empowers rural women. Riadini-Flesch founded SukkhaCitta after an encounter that reshaped her view of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a world defined by extraction, Denica Riadini-Flesch is proving that creation can heal instead. The Indonesian economist-turned-entrepreneur has won UCLA’s 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award for building a “farm-to-closet” supply chain—a system that regenerates land, restores heritage craft, and empowers rural women. Riadini-Flesch founded SukkhaCitta after an encounter that reshaped her view of progress. As a young economist from Jakarta, she once equated development with growth—an upward line without end. That illusion unraveled when she visited a village where women labored for weeks over textiles only to earn a few dollars, their skin and lungs scarred by synthetic dyes. “It burns my hands, my eyes, my lungs,” one woman told her. The remark revealed what Riadini-Flesch calls “the true cost of convenience.” SukkhaCitta set out to invert that logic. Instead of sprawling factories, production takes place in courtyards and small farms across Java, Bali, Flores, and West Timor. Cotton is grown on mixed plots that regenerate the soil; dyes come from indigo and mahogany leaves; fabrics are woven on handlooms. The enterprise has restored more than 120 acres of degraded land, kept five million liters of toxic dye wastewater out of rivers, and raised women’s incomes by 60 percent on average. The environmental benefits are measurable, but the social ones may matter more. Through decentralized Rumah SukkhaCitta schools, women learn ecological literacy, entrepreneurship, and heritage techniques side by side. Younger generations—once drawn to city sweatshops—are returning home to earn dignified incomes. “Artisans and farmers are the missing link&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/regenerative-fashion-initiative-in-indonesia-wins-2025-pritzker-environmental-genius-award/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307322</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What fuel will ships burn as they move toward net zero?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/what-fuel-will-ships-burn-as-they-move-toward-net-zero/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/what-fuel-will-ships-burn-as-they-move-toward-net-zero/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2025 16:56:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/08141520/The-Laura-Maersk-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307225</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Industry, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Politics, and Shipping]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 3 of a short series on efforts to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Part 1 addressed international policy and politics, Part 2 efficiency measures. This part looks at alternative fuels. In mid-October, more than 100 nations will gather at a London meeting to decide whether to enshrine a set of carbon reduction [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 3 of a short series on efforts to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Part 1 addressed international policy and politics, Part 2 efficiency measures. This part looks at alternative fuels. In mid-October, more than 100 nations will gather at a London meeting to decide whether to enshrine a set of carbon reduction rules into international shipping law. If they do, high-emitting conventional shipping fuels will be heavily penalized within a few years. But the rules don’t specify how they’re to be replaced; industry members would get to decide which low- and zero-carbon fuels to use instead. And so, spurred largely by these pending global regulations, the race is on to develop alternative fuels and scale up their use. Shipping accounts for about 3% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, and activity is expected to rise in coming decades. Efficiency measures to reduce fuel use of any kind, such as in hull design, will help but aren’t anywhere near a complete solution. “You’re not going to get to zero” with just efficiency, Lee Kindberg, former head of environment and sustainability for the North America division of Danish shipping giant A.P. Møller-Mærsk, often known simply as Maersk, told Mongabay. “Think about moving this huge mountain of metal with all these boxes of cargo on top of it,” she added. “It takes a lot of energy to do that, so it&#8217;s going to take low-carbon fuels.” Experts may disagree on the best alternative fuels, but they generally agree on which ones&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/what-fuel-will-ships-burn-as-they-move-toward-net-zero/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>RSPO sparks NGO outrage for dismissing complaint over alleged ‘shadow companies’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rspo-sparks-ngo-outrage-for-dismissing-complaint-over-alleged-shadow-companies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rspo-sparks-ngo-outrage-for-dismissing-complaint-over-alleged-shadow-companies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2025 07:31:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/02124848/1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307143</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Certification, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A major palm oil producer linked through supplier-reported mill lists to global brands like General Mills and PepsiCo has escaped sanction for allegedly concealing a web of “shadow companies” linked to deforestation and rights abuses, after the industry’s leading certification body ruled the allegations fell outside its current rules. The Roundtable on Sustainable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A major palm oil producer linked through supplier-reported mill lists to global brands like General Mills and PepsiCo has escaped sanction for allegedly concealing a web of “shadow companies” linked to deforestation and rights abuses, after the industry’s leading certification body ruled the allegations fell outside its current rules. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) dismissed allegations that Indonesian conglomerate First Resources Ltd. (FRL) controls a network of shadow companies — affiliates secretly under the same ownership but undeclared to regulators — despite evidence presented by NGOs linking these firms to deforestation, peatland destruction, river pollution and labor abuses. The decision by RSPO has triggered outrage among NGOs that say it exposes a loophole that lets corporate groups hide destructive operations behind undeclared affiliates while keeping their sustainability credentials intact. A group of NGOs, whose names were not disclosed in the panel’s decision, filed the complaint against FRL in 2021. They alleged FRL secretly controlled three firms — identified in the RSPO decision only as Company A, B and D, but presumed by NGOs to be FAP Agri, Ciliandry Anky Abadi (CAA) and New Borneo Agri (NBA). CAA has been Indonesia’s single biggest palm oil deforester for the past two years, according to analysis by French-based technology consultancy TheTreeMap. By not declaring these affiliates, NGOs say, FRL has been able to profit from destructive operations while still touting its 2015 zero-deforestation pledge and RSPO membership — allowing it to keep selling certified “sustainable” palm oil to multinational&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rspo-sparks-ngo-outrage-for-dismissing-complaint-over-alleged-shadow-companies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tony Pritzker’s patient strategy for the planet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tony-pritzkers-patient-strategy-for-the-planet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tony-pritzkers-patient-strategy-for-the-planet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2025 01:28:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/05222902/tony-pritzker-06-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307076</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Education, Environment, Environmental Policy, Green, Green Design, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, philanthropy, Recycling, Sustainability, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tony Pritzker approaches environmental philanthropy like a patient strategist. A scion of one of America’s best-known business families, he has spent decades moving between boardrooms, laboratories, and community meetings, applying the training of an engineer to problems that range from stormwater treatment in Los Angeles to packaging waste in global supply chains. Guided less by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tony Pritzker approaches environmental philanthropy like a patient strategist. A scion of one of America’s best-known business families, he has spent decades moving between boardrooms, laboratories, and community meetings, applying the training of an engineer to problems that range from stormwater treatment in Los Angeles to packaging waste in global supply chains. Guided less by ideology than by pragmatism, he insists that “science is science and it’s fact-based,” and that durable solutions come from setting clear goals, gathering evidence, and persisting until results are visible. Growing up in northern California and later raising a family in Los Angeles, he was never far from the state’s landscapes—from Lake Tahoe’s ski slopes to Santa Monica Bay. “I’m also a swimmer,” he says, recalling the moment when his love of the ocean turned into action. “I wanted the bay to be super clean because I swam there.” That instinct brought him to Heal the Bay two decades ago, where he joined the board under the leadership of Mark Gold. What began as an effort to keep a beach swimmable became a lesson in how to harness science, advocacy, and civic partnerships. Gold, he says, “really was my mentor.” The template endures. For Heal the Bay the goals were simple: gather the science, train teachers, bring children to the ocean, and press policymakers. Out of such apparently modest steps came infrastructure investments such as stormwater treatment at Hyperion, which now filters hundreds of millions of gallons of runoff a year. Along the way the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tony-pritzkers-patient-strategy-for-the-planet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307076</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With global rules pending, can the shipping industry get more carbon efficient?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/with-global-rules-pending-can-the-shipping-industry-get-more-carbon-efficient/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/with-global-rules-pending-can-the-shipping-industry-get-more-carbon-efficient/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2025 18:30:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/17131534/The-pink-panther-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306131</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Industry, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Politics, and Shipping]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 2 of a short series on efforts to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Part 1 discussed international policy and politics. This part looks at efficiency measures. Those in the shipping business have long had some incentive to make their vessels travel more efficiently: saving money on fuel. But the heavy fuel oil [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 2 of a short series on efforts to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Part 1 discussed international policy and politics. This part looks at efficiency measures. Those in the shipping business have long had some incentive to make their vessels travel more efficiently: saving money on fuel. But the heavy fuel oil they use is a “bottom-of-the-barrel” byproduct of crude oil refining and, while the price fluctuates, it generally is less expensive than other fossil fuels. So, getting shipowners to optimize operations or redesign their vessels on a large scale requires regulations, experts say. A big regulatory push may be steaming into port. The European Union recently began regulating greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, and the International Maritime Organization could adopt global decarbonization rules at a meeting in October, which would make shipping the first industry to be governed by a global treaty that sets enforceable decarbonization standards. The IMO deal would lead to a long-term transition to greener fuels and it could, coupled with other IMO regulations, lead to increased use of efficiency measures that reduce how much fuel vessels need in the first place. Such measures include everything from adding sails to ships to lubricating or redesigning hulls and optimizing routes or arrival times. These are cheaper and more immediately available than alternative fuels. “Efficiency measures are the most important because ultimately the most important thing we can do is reduce energy consumption, full stop,” Madadh MacLaine, secretary-general of the Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/with-global-rules-pending-can-the-shipping-industry-get-more-carbon-efficient/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306131</doi>				</item>
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