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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/consumption/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 20:54:20 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Consumption</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/consumption/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Jute loses ground to plastic despite Bangladesh’s packaging law</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/jute-loses-ground-to-plastic-despite-bangladeshs-packaging-law/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/jute-loses-ground-to-plastic-despite-bangladeshs-packaging-law/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2026 08:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamran Reza Chowdhury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/06081201/onions-in-jute-sacks-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325445</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Industry, Law, Plastic, Regulations, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh is the world’s second largest producer of the environmentally friendly fiber jute. However, the country has, for decades, grappled with the move to combat the escalating use of the cheaper and more popular, but harmful, plastic-based packaging and synthetic fibers. As a safeguard measure, the government, 16 years ago, enacted a law for the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh is the world’s second largest producer of the environmentally friendly fiber jute. However, the country has, for decades, grappled with the move to combat the escalating use of the cheaper and more popular, but harmful, plastic-based packaging and synthetic fibers. As a safeguard measure, the government, 16 years ago, enacted a law for the mandatory use of jute sacks and bags to contain and carry 19 essential commodities, including rice, wheat and fertilizer. The move has been largely unsuccessful, though, with plastic and synthetic fiber invasion as packaging ingredients continuing unabated. Synthetic and poly bags have caused environmental problems such as waste disposal. Nazmul Haque, the government-appointed jute officer in the northern Sherpur district, told Mongabay that a small semi-automatic rice mill — Sakhina Rice Mill — has exclusively been using jute sacks. Sakhina Rice Mill in Sherpur stands out from the crowd by exclusively using jute bags and sacks, debunking the narratives of fellow rice millers that jute sacks and bags reduce their profit margin. “A 50-kilogram [110-pound] capacity synthetic/plastic bag costs 20 takas [16 cents], while a jute sack costs 80 takas [65 cents]. A synthetic/poly bag cannot be reused; it is for one-time use. On the other hand, we can use the same jute sack at least three times for carrying paddy or rice and then mend it, if torn, and use it three more times for carrying rice bran,” Md. Hamez Uddin, a proprietor of Sakhina Rice Mill, told Mongabay. “Jute sacks are economically better,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/jute-loses-ground-to-plastic-despite-bangladeshs-packaging-law/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/jute-loses-ground-to-plastic-despite-bangladeshs-packaging-law/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325445</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global pressure on ayahuasca threatens Amazonian plants and knowledge systems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 20:38:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carlos Minuano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/23203123/AP18157600830602-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321692</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biocultural Diversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Community Forests, Conservation, Consumption, Controversial, Culture, Globalization, Indigenous Peoples, International Trade, Medicinal Plants, Overconsumption, Overexploitation, Plants, Rainforests, Religions, Traditional Medicine, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“One of the world’s largest pharmacies is being destroyed,” says Benki Piyãko, a leader of the Ashaninka Indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Acre. The warning points to multiple threats advancing on the Amazon but also to growing debate surrounding one of the so-called forest medicines: ayahuasca. This Indigenous beverage with psychedelic properties is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“One of the world’s largest pharmacies is being destroyed,” says Benki Piyãko, a leader of the Ashaninka Indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Acre. The warning points to multiple threats advancing on the Amazon but also to growing debate surrounding one of the so-called forest medicines: ayahuasca. This Indigenous beverage with psychedelic properties is usually prepared from two native plants: the caapi vine or mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) and the leaves of the chacrona plant (Psychotria viridis). According to Indigenous leaders and experts, these species are facing increasing pressure and signs of scarcity in some areas. Called kamarãpe by the Ashaninka people, ayahuasca has been used by Indigenous peoples across the Amazon for centuries. It has crossed borders for decades, ceasing to circulate exclusively in its original contexts. Today, it can be found in urban religious centers, therapeutic retreats, and international psychedelic tourism circuits. Scientists and pharmaceutical companies are also turning their attention to this ancestral beverage, which already shows evidence of therapeutic potential for different mental health disorders such as depression and substance addiction. But increasing global interest is also creating concerns. As demand grows, so has the ayahuasca supply chain, without a corresponding growth in management or oversight. In different parts of the Amazon, there are signs of pressure on the species used to prepare the beverage, often collected without planning. At the same time, increasing consumption in nontraditional contexts raises concerns about ancestral knowledge being commodified for the market. The main problem seems to lie in how&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321692</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How a popular spaghetti dish is threatening Italy’s marine ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:47:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuela Callari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16113722/Riccio_Viola_URCHIN-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Italy]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Consumption, Crime, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Invertebrates, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Surveillance, Tourism, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended on the seafloor. “It was midnight. Here they were again,” Simeone told Mongabay. The poachers had come a few nights before to scout the area. Then a second time. This time, Simeone was waiting for them. He rushed to alert the Coast Guard. The poachers operated with ruthless efficiency, using a dangerous illegal method known as the hookah system. A compressor on a small boat pumps air through a hose to a diver, allowing them to stay underwater for hours and systematically strip the seabed. Every 20 minutes, the diver resurfaced to hand over a net full of purple sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus), grab an empty net and then dive back down. When the authorities moved in, the two men on the boat began dumping hundreds of sea urchins and their gear into the sea, as the diver quickly resurfaced. The three men were old acquaintances of Simeone’s. “They are repeat offenders. It’s not the first time we’ve caught them,” Simeone said. Illegally harvested sea urchins seized in July 2024. Image courtesy of Maurizio Simeone. During a previous bust a year earlier, the vessel was apprehended with a staggering haul: 976 sea urchins pulled from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321286</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>Nepal’s rhododendron tourism sparks unchecked liquor trade concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nepals-rhododendron-tourism-sparks-unchecked-liquor-trade-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nepals-rhododendron-tourism-sparks-unchecked-liquor-trade-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2026 08:59:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mukesh Pokhrel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/26085236/Dhaulagiri_and_Rhododendron-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320077</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Flowers, Forests, Natural Resources, Overconsumption, Regulations, Tourism, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TINJURE-MILKE-JALJALE, Nepal — Every April, Nima Sherpa’s family used to picnic in a rhododendron (lali guras in Nepali) forest about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from her home at Basantapur Bazaar in Tehrathum in the Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region, which stretched across the eastern districts of Tehrathum, Taplejung and Sankhuwasabha. It has been five years since her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[TINJURE-MILKE-JALJALE, Nepal — Every April, Nima Sherpa’s family used to picnic in a rhododendron (lali guras in Nepali) forest about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from her home at Basantapur Bazaar in Tehrathum in the Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) region, which stretched across the eastern districts of Tehrathum, Taplejung and Sankhuwasabha. It has been five years since her family has done so as they no longer have the time. Instead of enjoying their time in the forest, they said, they are busy running their hotel in Basantapur Bazaar, which sees a big surge in tourism for only a few weeks. This is when the hillsides get covered in crimson, pink and white blooms of at least 26 species of rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.), the national flower. All family members get busy welcoming guests with smiles and souvenirs. This year alone, local officials estimate that around 500,000 visitors entered the TMJ area between April 1-15. One of the “souvenirs” growing in popularity among visitors is the flower-based alcohol, bottled in reused containers with handwritten labels and openly displayed in shops across. But authorities remain unaware of where the flowers are harvested, whether extraction levels are sustainable, and of the safety of the unlabeled products. Rhododendron trees in Tinjure. Image by Nirmal Dulal via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). A trade hiding in plain sight In April this year, Mongabay found bottles of rhododendron liquor displayed openly in shops catering to tourists in Basantapur Bazaar and nearby Gufa Pokhari, in Chainpur municipality, Sankhuwasabha district. Several shopkeepers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/nepals-rhododendron-tourism-sparks-unchecked-liquor-trade-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320077</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global trade in sea cucumbers ‘alarming’ with many species at risk: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/global-trade-in-sea-cucumbers-alarming-with-many-species-at-risk-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/global-trade-in-sea-cucumbers-alarming-with-many-species-at-risk-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2026 20:20:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/30161142/1-orange-footed-sea-cucumber-Cucumaria-frondosa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318498</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Food, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Trade, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global trade in sea cucumbers has grown since 2013 and continues to decimate the populations of many species, according to a recent study that cites “escalating impacts” and calls for stronger conservation measures. “Nowadays it&#8217;s overexploited nearly all over in the world,” Chantal Conand, an emeritus associate at France’s National Museum of Natural History [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The global trade in sea cucumbers has grown since 2013 and continues to decimate the populations of many species, according to a recent study that cites “escalating impacts” and calls for stronger conservation measures. “Nowadays it&#8217;s overexploited nearly all over in the world,” Chantal Conand, an emeritus associate at France’s National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the study, told Mongabay, speaking of sea cucumbers generally. Conand and her co-authors write that the harvest of sea cucumbers is now “contagious” — spreading from place to place — and that the “continued growth and expansion of the global sea cucumber trade is alarming as the sustainability of many species-specific fisheries remains of great concern.&#8221; The paper, which was published Feb. 19 in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, follows other recent sea cucumber studies that also raise conservation concerns. Chantal Conand, lead author of a recent study on sea cucumbers, holds a pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas), amid the research collections of France’s National Museum of Natural History, where she is an emeritus associate. Image courtesy of Chantal Conand. Diving for good data Globally, there are roughly 1,800 species of sea cucumbers, which make up all of the taxonomic class Holothuroidea. Like starfish (class Asteroidea) and sea urchins (class Echinoidea), they sit in the phylum Echinodermata. Sea cucumbers act as recyclers and processors on the seafloor, eating detritus — decaying organic matter — and discharging it in a more aerated, nitrogen-rich form that helps&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/global-trade-in-sea-cucumbers-alarming-with-many-species-at-risk-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-318498</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Migratory species summit adopts new marine protections amid extinction warnings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 13:55:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08015440/c.-BANNER-%C2%A9Andy-Murch-Great-Hammerhead-Shark-4761-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317143</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Global, Indian Ocean, Latin America, Pacific Ocean, South America, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fishing, Fragmentation, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Marine, Marine Animals, Migration, Oceans, Overexploitation, Seabirds, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dozens of migratory animals, including 33 marine species, gained new protections during the recent summit for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The 15th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP15) took place March 23-29 in Campo Grande, Brazil, under the slogan “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life.” “It was a very [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dozens of migratory animals, including 33 marine species, gained new protections during the recent summit for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The 15th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP15) took place March 23-29 in Campo Grande, Brazil, under the slogan “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life.” “It was a very strong COP for marine species,” Amy Fraenkel, CMS executive secretary, told Mongabay after the meeting’s conclusion. The CMS is a United Nations convention ratified by 132 nations and the European Union that aims to build the international cooperation necessary to conserve migratory species on a global scale. Among the key outcomes at the latest meeting: Delegates agreed on new or enhanced treaty protections for 40 species and populations, including 26 seabirds, three shorebirds and four shark species. Furthermore, CMS COP15 took steps to reduce bycatch of protected species and to identify marine flyways and key marine areas for the conservation of migratory species. Delegates also called for greater protections for seamounts, recognizing the conservation needs of freshwater fish and guarding against the impacts of deep-sea mining. “There&#8217;s a real need to be looking at ocean systems, including our coasts and the shorebirds that rely on the ocean and coastal systems,” Fraenkel said. “I was happy to see that at this COP, we started to do that.” But while conservation advocates lauded the steps taken at COP15, the summit also issued stark warnings that extinction and species decline are accelerating. The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) World&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Latin America&#8217;s largest hospital complex cancels plan to buy shark meat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/latin-americas-largest-hospital-complex-cancels-plan-to-buy-shark-meat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/latin-americas-largest-hospital-complex-cancels-plan-to-buy-shark-meat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 14:59:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla MendesLucas BertiPhilip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/07100614/shark-meat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317005</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Shark Meat Nation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Health, Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Public Health, Regulations, shark finning, Sharks, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The University of São Paulo Medical School Hospital said it would cancel a plan to buy more than 17 metric tons of shark meat as part of a 2026 procurement, citing concerns over heavy metals. HCFMUSP is the largest public hospital complex in Latin America. It consists of at least eight institutes in São Paulo, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The University of São Paulo Medical School Hospital said it would cancel a plan to buy more than 17 metric tons of shark meat as part of a 2026 procurement, citing concerns over heavy metals. HCFMUSP is the largest public hospital complex in Latin America. It consists of at least eight institutes in São Paulo, Brazil&#8217;s largest city, including a world-renowned heart center serving hundreds of thousands of patients annually. Brazil is the world’s top consumer of shark meat. A 2025 investigation by Mongabay found that government purchases are a significant driver of Brazil’s shark meat consumption, with the low-priced meat served in thousands of hospitals, schools and prisons in the South American nation of 213 million people. HCFMUSP issued tenders and named suppliers for at least 135 metric tons of shark meat from 2008-20, the Mongabay investigation found. After it learned HCFMUSP had issued another shark meat tender in February 2026, the NGO Sea Shepherd Brasil wrote a letter to hospital administrators asking them to rethink their plans. The letter argued that sharks are widely threatened and that their meat tends to contain high levels of heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, posing a risk to human health. In late March, HCFMUSP announced it would remove shark meat from the 2026 procurement, citing “a proven toxicological risk associated with heavy metals” and the advocacy from Sea Shepherd. “HCFMUSP reaffirms its commitment to nutritional excellence and the safety of the supplies provided at its facilities,” it wrote on social&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/latin-americas-largest-hospital-complex-cancels-plan-to-buy-shark-meat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/latin-americas-largest-hospital-complex-cancels-plan-to-buy-shark-meat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317005</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mongabay-shark-meat-expose-wins-national-journalism-education-award-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mongabay-shark-meat-expose-wins-national-journalism-education-award-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2026 19:47:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/26191533/c.-2-Banner-IMG_7017-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314912</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Sharks, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Mongabay exposé that revealed widespread Brazilian government procurements of shark meat to serve in thousands of schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions has won first place in the higher education category of Brazil&#8217;s National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes) awards, a top journalism education honor in the country. &#8220;The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A Mongabay exposé that revealed widespread Brazilian government procurements of shark meat to serve in thousands of schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions has won first place in the higher education category of Brazil&#8217;s National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions (Andifes) awards, a top journalism education honor in the country. &#8220;The work stands out for its expert input from specialists and researchers, who contribute to the analysis of the environmental, health and regulatory impacts of the issue,&#8221; Andifes said in the Feb. 24 announcement. &#8220;By valuing scientific knowledge in its journalistic approach, the report highlights the role of higher education in producing evidence, training specialists and contributing to public debate and public policy.&#8221; In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, the investigation published in July 2025 tracked 1,012 public tenders issued by Brazilian authorities since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, worth at least 112 million reais ($21.8 million today). These tenders were issued by 542 municipalities in 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, raising environmental and public health concerns. Senior editor Philip Jacobson and investigative reporters Karla Mendes and Fernanda Wenzel were the Mongabay authors of the two-part investigation, along with Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, the Pulitzer Center’s data editor. As apex predators, sharks&#8217; tissues tend to accumulate high levels of heavy metals like mercury and arsenic, which can harm human health if ingested in large enough quantities, especially in young children and other vulnerable populations. Overfishing both for shark&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mongabay-shark-meat-expose-wins-national-journalism-education-award-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314912</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay shark meat investigation wins national journalism award in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mongabay-shark-meat-investigation-wins-national-journalism-award-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mongabay-shark-meat-investigation-wins-national-journalism-award-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 14:57:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/23134234/DSC03551-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Sharks, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Mongabay investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons has won second place in the national category of the 67th ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award, one of the country’s most prestigious journalism prizes. Mongabay, working in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, published the investigation in late July revealing that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A Mongabay investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons has won second place in the national category of the 67th ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award, one of the country’s most prestigious journalism prizes. Mongabay, working in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, published the investigation in late July revealing that Brazilian authorities had issued 1,012 public tenders since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, worth at least 112 million reais ($20 million). These tenders were issued by 542 municipalities in 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, raising environmental and public health concerns. Shark meat can contain high levels of mercury and arsenic, which scientists say can be harmful to human health when consumed in large quantities; at the same time, overfishing can deplete populations of sharks, which are recognized as critical to the marine environment. A second article published as part of the investigation found that government agencies across Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, had issued tenders for at least 211 metric tons of angelshark, which are endangered. In a Dec. 12 statement announcing the ARI/Banrisul award, the Rio Grande do Sul Press Association (ARI) said the award “recognized the talents” in professional and university categories amid a record number of entries, up 40% from the 2024 edition. Senior editor Philip Jacobson and investigative reporters Karla Mendes and Fernanda Wenzel were the Mongabay authors of the two-part investigation, along with Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, the Pulitzer Center&#8217;s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mongabay-shark-meat-investigation-wins-national-journalism-award-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mongabay-shark-meat-investigation-wins-national-journalism-award-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With a target on their bellies, can California&#8217;s sturgeon survive?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2025 12:18:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laurel Neme]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/09180637/15365961103_419799657f_4k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310850</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Rivers, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using photographs submitted by the tipster. The fish was in the back of his vehicle, barely alive. The wardens quickly issued a citation and rushed the 165-centimeter (65-inch) ailing sturgeon to the nearby marina. For 90 minutes, they worked to revive the fish. They submerged it in the water and, crouching on the boat ramp, rocked the animal back and forth to run water through its gills and provide oxygen as if it were swimming. At last, the fish rallied and swam away, presumably healthy enough to survive. This was in 2022, but it’s far from an isolated incident, noteworthy because it had a happy ending. California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) officers periodically discover anglers taking sturgeon illegally, as they did while patrolling the Sacramento River early this year, when they spotted two groups of suspected sturgeon poachers. Each had caught a large fish and tied it off some 91 meters (100 yards) away in a seeming effort to conceal it. But the wardens weren’t fooled. They seized the fish and set them free. In California, and worldwide, poachers target sturgeon for their eggs, which become a coveted delicacy when processed into caviar. Caviar&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310850</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>New ventures set out to tackle the plastic choking Bangladesh’s ECAs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-ventures-set-out-to-tackle-the-plastic-choking-bangladeshs-ecas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-ventures-set-out-to-tackle-the-plastic-choking-bangladeshs-ecas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Dec 2025 09:17:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/02085956/Workers-sorting-the-single-use-plastcis-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310419</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Law Enforcement, NGOs, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, Protected Areas, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The amount of single-use plastic that gets recycled as a measure to manage plastic pollution is insignificant in Bangladesh. However, some small-scale ventures working in this sector are trying to improve the situation. Currently, around 300 small-scale ventures are engaged in recycling plastic waste, specifically single-use plastic bottles and other plastics heavier than polybags, which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The amount of single-use plastic that gets recycled as a measure to manage plastic pollution is insignificant in Bangladesh. However, some small-scale ventures working in this sector are trying to improve the situation. Currently, around 300 small-scale ventures are engaged in recycling plastic waste, specifically single-use plastic bottles and other plastics heavier than polybags, which are used mainly for groceries and kitchen market and thrown away afterwards. As part of the recycling move, Bangladesh has recently started recycling the untreated single-use plastic waste, comprising mostly of polybags. Considering the negative impacts of untreated waste, the NGO BRAC, an international development organization, introduced a project to turn single-use plastic waste into raw materials for plastic products. To start off, the project has been collecting plastic waste from Cox’s Bazar sea beach, one of Bangladesh’s Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs), and its surrounding communities. Cox’s Bazar sea beach is one of the 13 biodiversity-rich habitats declared as ECAs by Bangladesh, which accords them protection under strict laws. BRAC’s plastic project was initially taken under the Plastic Free Rivers and Seas for South Asia (PLEASE) project by the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP), an intergovernmental organization of the eight South Asian nations. “With the presence of rivers and the ocean, we selected Cox’s Bazar for the initiative and tried to change the behavioral patterns of locals and tourists through different awareness building initiatives. For turning the waste into a resource, we planned to establish a plant to process the most neglected plastic waste&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-ventures-set-out-to-tackle-the-plastic-choking-bangladeshs-ecas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310419</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Nov 2025 13:53:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/19132317/turtle-plastic-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Chemicals, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Microplastics, Oceans, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, Seabirds, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New research has found that even small amounts of plastic can be deadly to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals. While previous research has established that plastic can lead to mortality in many species, this new study identifies the types and amounts of plastic that pose the greatest danger, and estimates how likely an animal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New research has found that even small amounts of plastic can be deadly to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals. While previous research has established that plastic can lead to mortality in many species, this new study identifies the types and amounts of plastic that pose the greatest danger, and estimates how likely an animal is to die after ingesting it. The study authors found the lethal dose to be much smaller than expected. The team of international researchers, including several from U.S.-based environmental advocacy group Ocean Conservancy, conducted a literature review of more than 50 studies, drawing together the necropsy results for more than 10,000 animals that included data on the cause of death and on plastic ingestion. The mortality data included 1,537 seabirds from 57 species; 1,306 sea turtles from all seven marine turtle species; and 7,569 marine mammals representing 31 species, including whales, dolphins and seals. The team used the data to generate modeling that analyzed the relationship between the plastic in the animal’s gut and the likelihood of death for each animal group, looking at both the total number of pieces of plastic and their volume. Where possible, they also considered the type of plastic the wildlife ingested to understand which types were most lethal to the animals. Plastic found inside a dead black-footed albatross. Image by Dan Clark /USFWS. “That lethal dose is much smaller than we expected,” lead author Erin Murphy, manager of ocean plastic research at the Ocean Conservancy, told Mongabay. She and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A slowdown, not salvation: what new extinction data reveal about the state of life on Earth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2025 21:21:08 +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/20/2025/11/17205718/dodo-bird-icon-256x90-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309675</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Invasive Species, Islands, Mass Extinction, Overexploitation, Pollution, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, biologists have warned that humanity is precipitating a sixth mass extinction. By some estimates, species are vanishing at up to a thousand times the natural background rate. Yet a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests the picture is more complicated. Extinctions, it finds, may have peaked a century ago—and declined [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, biologists have warned that humanity is precipitating a sixth mass extinction. By some estimates, species are vanishing at up to a thousand times the natural background rate. Yet a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests the picture is more complicated. Extinctions, it finds, may have peaked a century ago—and declined since. Kristen Saban and John Wiens of the University of Arizona examined 912 documented extinctions among plants and animals over the past 500 years. Their analysis, covering nearly two million assessed species, shows that losses rose steeply through the 1800s and early 1900s before slowing. Extinction rates for vertebrates, arthropods, and plants have generally decreased over the past century. The trend runs counter to the popular narrative of an accelerating biodiversity collapse. The number of extinctions are shown for each century since 1500. From Saban and Wiens (2025) &nbsp; Extinctions over time. The number of extinctions are shown for each decade since 1800 (b). For each time period, Saban and Wiens give the number of species that were inferred to have gone extinct in that time period, based primarily on the dates when each species was last seen. From Saban and Wiens (2025) That finding, however, offers little comfort. The apparent lull in recorded extinctions may reflect where and how humans look, not a reprieve for nature. Most known extinctions occurred on islands, where invasive rats, pigs, and goats devastated native fauna and flora. Today’s drivers—deforestation, pollution, and climate change—are concentrated on continents, where declines&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309675</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia falls short in bid to increase its share of southern bluefin tuna catch</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 16:13:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/16080810/bluefin-tune-australia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Bycatch, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Regulations, Seabirds, Tuna, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Japan dominate fishing of southern bluefin tuna, but Indonesia is pushing for a larger share of the global catch. However, its request was not officially acted on at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the multilateral body that manages the stock, which Indonesia hosted from Oct. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Japan dominate fishing of southern bluefin tuna, but Indonesia is pushing for a larger share of the global catch. However, its request was not officially acted on at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the multilateral body that manages the stock, which Indonesia hosted from Oct. 6-9 on the island of Bali. CCSBT members instead kept each nation’s share unchanged. Indonesia expressed disappointment in the result, having argued that the allotment system is inequitable and unfair to developing countries. “Indonesia views that the current allocation system has not paid due regard to the principles of equity and fairness in international law, which the preamble of the CCSBT Convention emphasizes,” Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Indonesia’s fisheries minister, said in a statement at the meeting, according to the meeting’s official report viewed by Mongabay. Indonesia’s fleet has been cited for compliance-related issues — not following the fishery’s rules — which other parties raised as an issue in the discussion over the country’s share. While much attention at the meeting was on Indonesia’s request, the parties also dealt with other matters. They kept the total allowable catch (TAC) for all parties the same for 2026 as 2025, and they agreed to once again fully fund a key stock monitoring program. They also set up a future meeting for discussion of seabird protection in the fishery. There are more than a dozen regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) in the world, with some overlapping geographically but managing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protein for a crowded planet: An interview with the Good Food Institute&#8217;s Nigel Sizer</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2025 18:24:21 +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/20/2025/09/02204816/CC-BY_Ivy-Farm_Tacos_credit-Ivy-Farm-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306757</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative proteins, Animal Welfare, Climate Change, Consumption, Environment, Food, food security, Green, Interviews, Livestock, and Meat]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades Nigel Sizer has orbited the front lines of environmental policy. His résumé spans forest conservation in Amazonia, the launch of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute, and campaigns on human rights, climate change, and even pandemic preparedness. The arc of that career has led him to an unglamorous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades Nigel Sizer has orbited the front lines of environmental policy. His résumé spans forest conservation in Amazonia, the launch of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute, and campaigns on human rights, climate change, and even pandemic preparedness. The arc of that career has led him to an unglamorous but decisive arena: what the world eats. “While our food system is a major driver of many crises, it also has huge potential to be part of the solution,” he says. The way meat is produced touches national security, biodiversity, public health, and the climate all at once. Sizer has just taken the helm at the Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit dedicated to speeding the shift from conventional animal protein to plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat. He sees the role as “a chance to work at the root-cause level of the exact challenges I’ve spent my life tackling.” If alternative proteins become mainstream, he argues, they can relieve pressure on forests, protect wildlife, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and improve resilience to global health shocks. His past posts have prepared him for a job built on coalition building. Whether designing satellite-driven tools to monitor forests or mobilizing resources for restoration, Sizer has specialized in convening disparate actors around common goals. GFI’s work, he notes, will require the same skills: international collaboration, new partnerships, and a diversity of approaches across regions to transform how the world produces protein. “Scaling impact and unlocking critical resources,” he says,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306757</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How we probed a maze of websites to tally Brazilian government shark meat orders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-we-probed-a-maze-of-websites-to-tally-brazilian-government-shark-meat-orders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-we-probed-a-maze-of-websites-to-tally-brazilian-government-shark-meat-orders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Sep 2025 09:58:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kuang Keng Kuek SerPhilip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/26100228/DSC03643-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306612</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Shark Meat Nation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Governance, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Public Health, Sharks, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay recently published an investigation revealing widespread Brazilian government purchases of shark meat to feed schoolchildren, hospital patients, prisoners and more. The series has generated public debate in the South American country, which, perhaps surprisingly, is the world’s largest consumer and importer of shark meat. The procurements raise concerns because sharks are being overfished — [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay recently published an investigation revealing widespread Brazilian government purchases of shark meat to feed schoolchildren, hospital patients, prisoners and more. The series has generated public debate in the South American country, which, perhaps surprisingly, is the world’s largest consumer and importer of shark meat. The procurements raise concerns because sharks are being overfished — globally, their populations in the open ocean have declined by an estimated 71% over the past half-century — and their meat tends to contain high levels of heavy metals, which can be especially dangerous for young children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and other vulnerable groups. As part of the research, we spent months combing through dozens of websites where Brazilian government agencies are legally required to publish their procurement records. It was challenging work, hunting down droplets of relevant data cataloged with inconsistent search terms across multiple obscure portals. In this article, we’ll tell you how we went about it in hopes of inspiring and easing the way for other journalists and researchers to continue this line of inquiry. Because it was also richly rewarding: We uncovered 1,012 shark meat tenders issued since 2004, and identified 5,900 public institutions — preschools, homeless shelters, maternity wards, military bases, elderly care facilities, governor’s residences, and more — that potentially received shark meat as part of these procurements. (Brazil-based Mongabay reporters Karla Mendes and Fernanda Wenzel also played key roles in the investigation, following up leads on the ground turned up by our data work.) The impetus for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-we-probed-a-maze-of-websites-to-tally-brazilian-government-shark-meat-orders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/how-we-probed-a-maze-of-websites-to-tally-brazilian-government-shark-meat-orders/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306612</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pet sharks have become cool, but is owning them ethical?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2025 16:53:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hallie Lieberman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/17123307/Transitional-zebra-shark-Aquarium-of-the-Pacific-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Coral Reefs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Pet Trade, Pets, Predators, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Top Predators, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Laurie was a kid, she had recurrent nightmares that featured her getting eaten by a shark. Decades later, Laurie goes to sleep next to them (or at least in the same house). She’s the proud owner of two epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) in her 1,135-liter (300-gallon) tank: bottom-dwelling spotted sharks up to 0.6 meters [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Laurie was a kid, she had recurrent nightmares that featured her getting eaten by a shark. Decades later, Laurie goes to sleep next to them (or at least in the same house). She’s the proud owner of two epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) in her 1,135-liter (300-gallon) tank: bottom-dwelling spotted sharks up to 0.6 meters (2 feet) long that are known as “walking sharks” because they use their fins to crawl on the bottom of the ocean. Laurie acquired them from an owner who no longer wanted them. “I can’t release them because our waters are different than their habitat, but I can give them a good home and appreciate them while respecting Mother Nature,” says Laurie, a U.S. resident who asked to be identified by her first name. She adds that the sharks give her a feeling of Zen. Home shark tanks are no longer just the province of tech bros or celebrities who spend millions on 38,000-l (10,000-gal) aquariums full of apex predators. Now middle-class aquarium owners are adding smaller, bottom-dwelling sharks to their home aquariums. These sharks are benthic, meaning they hang out on the ocean floor. Many can breathe while lying down by pumping water through their gills in contrast to pelagic sharks like whitetips (Carcharhinus longimanus) and tigers (Galeocerdo cuvier), which swim the open ocean and must keep moving to breathe. A growing aquarium industry is serving home shark tank owners’ needs by providing bamboo (Hemiscylliidae spp.), epaulette, zebra (Stegostoma tigrinum) and catsharks (Scyliorhinidae spp.).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306102</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cruise industry expansion collides with Cozumel’s coral reef</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2025 20:22:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fritz Pinnow]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29052345/Black-grouper-at-Palancar-Reef-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305108</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Consumption, Coral Reefs, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Industry, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Tourism, Travel, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Villa Blanca Reef off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to emblematic and endangered species, and is the site of a coral restoration project with 35 platforms growing different species of coral. Now, it&#8217;s ground zero in a fierce local battle — one that pits residents of the island of Cozumel and scientists against cruise ship [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Villa Blanca Reef off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to emblematic and endangered species, and is the site of a coral restoration project with 35 platforms growing different species of coral. Now, it&#8217;s ground zero in a fierce local battle — one that pits residents of the island of Cozumel and scientists against cruise ship developers planning to build a kilometer-long (0.6-mile) pier directly through the reef. Cozumel, a small island off the southeastern coast of Mexico, is one of the most popular cruise ship destinations in the world. More than 4.5 million tourists visit every year, according to the Cozumel municipal government, averaging between 385,000 and 250,000 per month on an island with only around 100,000 inhabitants. Most tourists disembark from one of the three existing piers, leading into a maze of privatized beaches, nightclubs, restaurants and hotels catering to the constant influx of tourists. In December 2021, the company Muelles del Caribe S.A. de C.V. received environmental authorization from SEMARNAT, the Mexican environment ministry. Soon after, it was granted the concession to build a fourth pier by SICT, the transport and infrastructure ministry. In May 2025, the company deployed a testing platform near the reef; on June 10, it publicly announced that construction was underway. “When we researched and inquired about the construction of the pier, the exact location was purposely kept imprecise at the announcement,” said Rodrigo Huesca, one of the leading activists in Cozumel and representative for the Cozumel Island Citizen Collective. Huesca said it took&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/cruise-industry-expansion-collides-with-cozumels-coral-reef/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305108</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As plastics treaty talks break down, are there paths to a breakthrough?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-plastics-treaty-talks-break-down-are-there-paths-to-a-breakthrough/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-plastics-treaty-talks-break-down-are-there-paths-to-a-breakthrough/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2025 16:06:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Pekow]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29125200/6-sfWKxnWg-MarieJacquemin_Greenpeace-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305152</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Consumption, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Microplastics, Oil, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Politics, Pollution, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Events this August raise a critical question: Can the United Nations process to combat global plastic pollution ever reach agreement? Or is some other way forward necessary? The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) set a goal in 2022 of a legally binding treaty by the end of 2024. But the INC missed its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Events this August raise a critical question: Can the United Nations process to combat global plastic pollution ever reach agreement? Or is some other way forward necessary? The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) set a goal in 2022 of a legally binding treaty by the end of 2024. But the INC missed its own deadline this month. Negotiators from 184 nations strived at the 10-day summit in Geneva, Switzerland, only to yet again fail to even come close to reaching consensus on a treaty draft. Some delegates and observers left in frustration after the 6th official INC summit (known as INC-5.2) and wondered if the process will ever work. Others cited incremental progress and looked forward with some hope to another negotiating session at a yet-to-be determined time and place. Not only do numerous treaty specifics still need to be worked out, but countries can&#8217;t even agree on the basics: Should the agreement be binding or voluntary? Should it encompass the full life cycle of plastic from creation to disposal, limit production and ban some toxic chemicals, or should it just focus almost exclusively on reuse and recycling? The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), now totaling more than 75 nations, seeks a legally binding, cradle-to-grave treaty that reduces production and consumption and provides an adequately financed enforcement mechanism. “The negotiations on the global plastics treaty are not just any technical debate. It&#8217;s about deciding whether we&#8217;re going to stop pollution at its source, regulating the entire life cycle of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-plastics-treaty-talks-break-down-are-there-paths-to-a-breakthrough/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305152</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Africa pays the price for rich world’s fast fashion fix, new French bill targets brands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-africa-pays-the-price-for-rich-worlds-fast-fashion-fix-new-french-bill-targets-brands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-africa-pays-the-price-for-rich-worlds-fast-fashion-fix-new-french-bill-targets-brands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Aug 2025 06:35:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/08150927/13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303985</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fashion industry, Health, Overconsumption, Pollution, Public Health, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI — Mountains of waste stretch as far as the eye can see, smoking in places, giving off an acrid stench that stings the eyes and catches in the throat. These are the first sensations that overwhelm you upon arrival at the Dandora dump in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, one of the largest open-air landfills [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI — Mountains of waste stretch as far as the eye can see, smoking in places, giving off an acrid stench that stings the eyes and catches in the throat. These are the first sensations that overwhelm you upon arrival at the Dandora dump in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, one of the largest open-air landfills in Africa. Starting early each morning, men, women and marabou storks — huge, vulture-like birds —scavenge the site to find enough to sustain them through another day. Plastic bottles to resell, a bone to gnaw on … But there’s something else here: A close look reveals countless scraps of fabric from discarded apparel. Most of these clothes didn’t originate in Kenya. An investigation by the Changing Markets Foundation reveals that more than 900 million items of used clothing were exported to Kenya from Europe, the U.K., the U.S., Canada and China in 2021 alone. Of these items, more than half were considered waste, unsellable, and more than a third likely contained plastic-based fibers that don’t biodegrade. Instead, they break down into ever smaller microfibers that can contaminate food or be breathed into the lungs. Gikomba market, Nairob. Image by Elodie Toto. “Plastic is so cheap to make that we can now find plastic making the majority of our clothes,” says Imogen Napper, a marine scientist at the University of Plymouth, U.K. “And it was only invented 100 years ago. We know it under the name of polyester, acrylic, nylon …” Napper initiated the first study&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-africa-pays-the-price-for-rich-worlds-fast-fashion-fix-new-french-bill-targets-brands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/as-africa-pays-the-price-for-rich-worlds-fast-fashion-fix-new-french-bill-targets-brands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303985</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Upmarket fish maw trade in Singapore &#038; Malaysia includes endangered species: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2025 15:33:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/06151613/15430637796_4791d70d4c_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303862</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, Malaysia, and Singapore]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Marine, Marine Conservation, Natural Resources, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Research, Saltwater Fish, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fish maw — the dried swim bladder of ray-finned fishes — is prized across East and Southeast Asia as a culinary delicacy and symbol of wealth and status. In Chinese culture, it’s served at family and business gatherings. Beyond tradition, maw is promoted for supposed health and beauty benefits, from aiding recovery after childbirth to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fish maw — the dried swim bladder of ray-finned fishes — is prized across East and Southeast Asia as a culinary delicacy and symbol of wealth and status. In Chinese culture, it’s served at family and business gatherings. Beyond tradition, maw is promoted for supposed health and beauty benefits, from aiding recovery after childbirth to reducing signs of aging due to its high collagen content. As demand has surged with urbanization and rising incomes, fish maw trade has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry. In Hong Kong alone, studies have found maw imports were worth up to $394 million between 2015 and 2018, with some single bladders selling for nearly half a million dollars. Rare species fetch the highest prices, but once processed, maw is hard to identify — this opens the door to mislabeling and substitutions that mislead buyers. “Given the value of the trade, it is surprising that we do not really know what species are involved or where they are coming from,” Benjamin Wainwright, a marine biologist at the National University of Singapore, told Mongabay by email. A new study, published in Conservation Letters in June 2025, sheds light on the fish maw trade in Singapore and Malaysia. Led by Wainwright and marine taxonomist Seah Ying Giat of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, the study used DNA barcoding to identify the species behind the trade — revealing, among others, the presence of two vulnerable, four endangered and two critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List, including the European eel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303862</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As UN plastic treaty talks face possible deadlock, what are the ways forward?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-un-plastic-treaty-talks-face-possible-deadlock-what-are-the-ways-forward/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-un-plastic-treaty-talks-face-possible-deadlock-what-are-the-ways-forward/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2025 18:01:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tosca Ballerini]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/31145526/angela-compagnone-g1xoeXbfuTw-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303512</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Consumption, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Microplastics, Oil, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Politics, Pollution, Regulations, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Historically, most United Nations agreements have been reached by consensus. But based on recent events, this no longer seems likely for achieving a fully effective global treaty on plastic pollution, according to many analysts. The fifth resumed session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2) will take place Aug. 5-14 in Geneva, Switzerland. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Historically, most United Nations agreements have been reached by consensus. But based on recent events, this no longer seems likely for achieving a fully effective global treaty on plastic pollution, according to many analysts. The fifth resumed session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2) will take place Aug. 5-14 in Geneva, Switzerland. The impending summit’s outcome remains highly uncertain, with two groups of countries holding strongly opposing views on the agreement’s scope: The High Ambition Coalition, along with other nations, totaling 106 member states, is seeking a binding treaty with global caps on plastics production and a ban of the most toxic chemicals used in plastics. The so-called “Like-minded countries” (Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, India) and other countries, including Brazil and the United States, want a voluntary treaty focused only on waste management, especially recycling. Treaty negotiations began hopefully in 2022 and were scheduled to conclude with a final document by 2024 following UNEA Resolution 5/14. But at each new session, oil- and plastic-producing countries (including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, India, and Brazil) exploited unresolved procedural rules to delay negotiations, used obstructionist tactics to slow down progress and insisted on consensus for all decisions — effectively vetoing majority agreements, observers of the U.N. process say. Tired of the lack of progress in negotiations, on Dec. 1, 2024, the last day of INC-5.1, more than 100 countries came together at a press conference as a coalition of the willing, declaring “No treaty is better than a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-un-plastic-treaty-talks-face-possible-deadlock-what-are-the-ways-forward/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303512</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysia’s turtle egg buyback scheme saved thousands — but is it sustainable?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2025 05:02:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/28141435/leatherback-turtle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303290</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the moonlit beaches of Terengganu state, on Malaysia’s east coast, green sea turtles have been returning for generations to lay their eggs. For just as long, people have collected, sold and eaten the eggs as a delicacy, supporting coastal livelihoods but stressing turtle populations. As a conservation compromise to balance livelihoods and turtle protection, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the moonlit beaches of Terengganu state, on Malaysia’s east coast, green sea turtles have been returning for generations to lay their eggs. For just as long, people have collected, sold and eaten the eggs as a delicacy, supporting coastal livelihoods but stressing turtle populations. As a conservation compromise to balance livelihoods and turtle protection, the state’s Department of Fisheries (DoF) introduced a licensing system in 1951, auctioning rights to harvest eggs from designated beaches. In 1961, it added a buyback scheme, paying licensed collectors to hand over eggs for relocation to protected hatcheries. With limited resources, the DoF partnered with NGOs like Marine Conservation and Research Organisation Malaysia (PULIHARA), which has run buyback efforts since 2016. While the scheme helped divert eggs from markets, it also faced financial and logistical challenges — especially until 2022, when Terengganu expanded its leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) egg ban to cover all species, ending legal egg sales altogether. Now, a study published in Ocean &amp; Coastal Management in May 2025 offers the clearest picture yet of the buyback model’s conservation impact — and its limits — in this new legal landscape. “We wanted to better understand the conservation impact of our efforts &#8230; and whether such a model could remain viable in the long term,” said lead author Seh Ling Long, who conducted the study while at PULIHARA and now works as a senior program officer at wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC. During the five-year study period, from 2016 to 2021, PULIHARA bought more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/malaysias-turtle-egg-buyback-scheme-saved-thousands-but-is-it-sustainable/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303290</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Large-scale illegal wildlife shops in Laos found scamming Chinese tourists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/large-scale-illegal-wildlife-shops-in-laos-found-scamming-chinese-tourists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/large-scale-illegal-wildlife-shops-in-laos-found-scamming-chinese-tourists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2025 08:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/21121045/AP760576283416-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302848</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Consumption, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law, Law Enforcement, Mongabay investigation, Organized Crime, Poaching, Tourism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUANG PRABANG, Laos — “No coffee, no coffee,” repeated the security guard. His smile stood in stark contrast to his faded camouflage fatigues and the machine gun slung over his shoulder. Few cafés in the sleepy Laotian tourist town of Luang Prabang boast armed guards, but Kin Liao Coffee is not the average café. While [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUANG PRABANG, Laos — “No coffee, no coffee,” repeated the security guard. His smile stood in stark contrast to his faded camouflage fatigues and the machine gun slung over his shoulder. Few cafés in the sleepy Laotian tourist town of Luang Prabang boast armed guards, but Kin Liao Coffee is not the average café. While it’s unclear if Kin Liao Coffee actually serves coffee, the café situated on the side of the road near the Kuang Si waterfall has been found to illegally sell a wide array of ivory, rhino horn and bear bile products, as well as Angong Niuhuang Wan — a traditional Chinese medicine that is often manufactured in North Korea using powdered rhino horn. Kin Liao Coffee is just one of more than 20 locations across Luang Prabang and the Laotian capital of Vientiane identified in a joint investigation between Mongabay and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) as selling illegal wildlife products at scale. These shops appear to exclusively cater to Chinese tourists, specifically those visiting Laos on pre-arranged low-budget package tours. The tours target elderly Chinese nationals, promising them all-inclusive trips to explore the historic ties between the two countries, often via the China-Laos railway. Upon arrival, tour groups are ferried from one shop to another, where sellers — mostly Chinese nationals themselves — use coercive and manipulative sales tactics to pressure tourists into buying illegal wildlife products, most of which are sold at inflated prices, the investigation found. Large ivory carvings, some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/large-scale-illegal-wildlife-shops-in-laos-found-scamming-chinese-tourists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302848</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bitcoin boom comes with huge intensifying environmental footprint</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2025 16:36:18 +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/20/2025/06/24142940/miami-bull-bitcoin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301253</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Consumption, data, E-waste, Energy, Environment, Finance, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Politics, Social Justice, Technology, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While much has been written about bitcoin, many people still find it a hard topic to comprehend, even as promoters like U.S. President Donald Trump rave about it being a revolutionary digital currency that will rapidly replace hard currency. However, unlike money, there’s currently no bank or government to back up, insure and regulate bitcoin, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While much has been written about bitcoin, many people still find it a hard topic to comprehend, even as promoters like U.S. President Donald Trump rave about it being a revolutionary digital currency that will rapidly replace hard currency. However, unlike money, there’s currently no bank or government to back up, insure and regulate bitcoin, or protect small holders. It’s an unregulated tool for speculators, not savers, according to critics. Bitcoin today dominates the world of cryptocurrencies: digital “money” based on cryptography, a form of complex mathematics using secret codes that require decryption to achieve worth. Ultimately, bitcoin’s value comes down to something akin to fantasy or faith, it merely being a series of ones and zeros anonymously laced across the internet and “mined” by those few with the financial clout and tech capacity to do so. As such, bitcoin flourishes in a speculative crypto marketplace, posing high risk of boom or bust. But, unlike Holland&#8217;s wildly speculative 17th century tulipmania market bubble, (which upon collapse at least left investors with a garden full of pretty flowers), a bitcoin bust leaves the holder with naught but ones and zeros. Bitcoin does, however, possess an enduring real-world footprint: The greater the perceived value bitcoin achieves, the more environmentally destructive its mining becomes, as it demands ever escalating amounts of energy (with accompanying carbon emissions) to crack the increasingly complex crypto code. Donald Trump originally spoke out against cryptocurrencies, but during his 2024 presidential campaign he wholeheartedly embraced bitcoin, and he continues&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301253</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With areca leaves and rice bran, Bangladesh replaces single-use plastic tableware</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/with-areca-leaves-and-rice-bran-bangladesh-replaces-single-use-plastic-tableware/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/with-areca-leaves-and-rice-bran-bangladesh-replaces-single-use-plastic-tableware/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2025 14:35:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/30141024/areca-plates-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299955</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Consumption, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Industry, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bangladeshi people love to throw a party, as the disposable tableware industry has increasingly seen. They get together or organize social gatherings often, be it to celebrate festivals or go on group trips to touristy attractions. And all these occasions call for food and drinks. Single-use plastic tableware has become the go-to option at these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bangladeshi people love to throw a party, as the disposable tableware industry has increasingly seen. They get together or organize social gatherings often, be it to celebrate festivals or go on group trips to touristy attractions. And all these occasions call for food and drinks. Single-use plastic tableware has become the go-to option at these occasions. However, for the last couple of years, plates made from areca palm (Areca catechu) leaves have been gradually replacing plastic. As per people involved in the industry, entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are producing about half a million areca leaf plates every month. Though the number is almost negligible compared to the single-use plastic plates, they said they believe that the popularity of such products is increasing among users. Currently, about 10 local companies produce such biodegradable tableware. Ecovalley, Bright Areca and Shodeshi are some of them. “As the industry is new and we do not have exact statistics, I assume that, currently, the total monthly plate production is about half a million. My company produces about 100,000 plates in a month based on demand,” said Imran Hossain, one of the partners of the country’s first and largest areca leaf tableware producer Bright Areca. Similar statistics came from another major producer, Eco Valley, as the company’s director, Md Kamal, told Mongabay that they are producing about 60,000 plates every month. “We started the production in 2021 with a monthly demand of around 20,000 pieces of plates. In four years, the production [increased] three-fold,” he said regarding&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/with-areca-leaves-and-rice-bran-bangladesh-replaces-single-use-plastic-tableware/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299955</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global agarwood trade heavily dependent on wild, threatened trees: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/global-agarwood-trade-heavily-dependent-on-wild-threatened-trees-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/global-agarwood-trade-heavily-dependent-on-wild-threatened-trees-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2025 16:42:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/28055245/galen-crout-4xUxkAyQ2jY-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298080</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Illegal Wildlife Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Consumption, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, data, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Overconsumption, Plantations, Regulations, Research, Timber, timber trade, Trade, Trees, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Agarwood, a fragrant resinous wood commonly referred to as oud, is a prized constituent in incense, perfumes, medicines and ornaments and remains in high demand across East Asia and the Middle East–North Africa region. A new study has found that, despite international protections, the multibillion-dollar trade relies heavily on wild-harvested endangered tree species — some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Agarwood, a fragrant resinous wood commonly referred to as oud, is a prized constituent in incense, perfumes, medicines and ornaments and remains in high demand across East Asia and the Middle East–North Africa region. A new study has found that, despite international protections, the multibillion-dollar trade relies heavily on wild-harvested endangered tree species — some not even covered by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention. The paper, published in March this year in Global Ecology and Conservation by researchers from the Hong Kong-based Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, analyzed data from CITES and customs records between 2010 and 2020. They found that about 70% of the global agarwood trade relies on two species that are threatened under the global wildlife conservation authority IUCN: the critically endangered Aquilaria malaccensis and the vulnerable Aquilaria filaria.  Despite their threatened status, the study found, nearly 97% of A. filaria and 57% of A. malaccensis came from the wild between 2010 and 2020. “It&#8217;s quite clearly not sustainable,” agarwood trade expert Ian Thompson, who is not part of the study, told Mongabay on a phone call. “Until they get good data on enforcement and populations, the trees are going to continue to decline.” A new study has found that, despite international protections, the multibillion-dollar trade relies heavily on wild-harvested endangered tree species. Image courtesy of Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Undocumented trade, overlooked markets The study highlighted discrepancies between CITES and customs data. “Significant trade volumes from Indonesia to Africa remain undocumented in CITES records,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/global-agarwood-trade-heavily-dependent-on-wild-threatened-trees-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/global-agarwood-trade-heavily-dependent-on-wild-threatened-trees-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298080</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New EU plastic pellet rules greeted with caution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-eu-plastic-pellet-rules-greeted-with-caution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-eu-plastic-pellet-rules-greeted-with-caution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2025 06:44:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Shaw]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21093409/6168627154_8b8a4f0693_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297870</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Consumption, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Microplastics, Oil, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Politics, Pollution, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of leading European environmental groups has cautiously welcomed a “landmark” agreement by lawmakers in Brussels on new rules aimed at curbing a major source of microplastic pollution in the world’s oceans. The provisional deal, reached last week between the European Council and the European Parliament, introduces binding EU-wide legislation on handling plastic pellets [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of leading European environmental groups has cautiously welcomed a “landmark” agreement by lawmakers in Brussels on new rules aimed at curbing a major source of microplastic pollution in the world’s oceans. The provisional deal, reached last week between the European Council and the European Parliament, introduces binding EU-wide legislation on handling plastic pellets or “nurdles,” pea-sized granules used to make plastic products. The regulation covers the entire supply chain, from production to shipping, and is expected to take effect two years after it is formally adopted. The Rethink Plastic alliance, which includes Greenpeace, the Environmental Investigation Agency and ClientEarth, called the deal a “meaningful first step” in a joint statement, but warned that loopholes and delays would weaken its impact. “This agreement represents a tremendous show of EU leadership in the global fight against microplastic pollution,” said Amy Youngman, legal and policy specialist at the EIA. “Now is the time to back bold words with bold action and ensure this law is delivered in practice.” As much as 184,000 metric tons of pellets pollute the environment across Europe each year, equivalent to up to 7,300 truckloads. Just last month, a shipping collision off the English coast spilled thousands of pellets, contaminating beaches and conservation areas. Once in the ocean, the granules linger for decades, leaching toxins and harming marine life. The new rules say companies and transporters must focus on stopping such accidents. And if a spill happens, they must follow clear steps to clean it up. Each&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/new-eu-plastic-pellet-rules-greeted-with-caution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297870</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-continues-promotion-of-biodegradable-bags-amid-battle-against-polythene/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-continues-promotion-of-biodegradable-bags-amid-battle-against-polythene/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2025 13:45:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mohammad Al-Masum Molla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/01134157/vegetable-and-plastic-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296823</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Law Enforcement, Microplastics, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Politics, Pollution, Regulations, Toxicology, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a busy morning in November 2024, a dramatic scene unfolded in a supermarket in Banani, Dhaka. Government officials, armed with security personnel, launched a joint operation to crack down on the widespread use of plastic bags. As the supermarket employees wrapped goods in the familiar crinkling plastic, officers moved in, ready to seize the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a busy morning in November 2024, a dramatic scene unfolded in a supermarket in Banani, Dhaka. Government officials, armed with security personnel, launched a joint operation to crack down on the widespread use of plastic bags. As the supermarket employees wrapped goods in the familiar crinkling plastic, officers moved in, ready to seize the items. A clash of voices filled the air. Employees and customers alike protested, arguing that the alternatives were simply too costly and that banning plastic bags would bring significant everyday inconveniences. This moment encapsulated the ongoing struggle Bangladesh has faced since becoming the first country in the world to ban plastic bags in 2002. While the intention — tackling the environmental and health crises caused by plastic waste — was noble, implementing the law has proved to be far more challenging than expected, shows a 2022 study. The groundbreaking law was enforced too loosely over the two decades, allowing plastic bags to gradually creep back into the market. The study mentions that, by 2006, as the government encouraged alternatives like jute and cloth bags, plastic bags had nearly disappeared from major retailers. However, the lack of strict enforcement left a gap that enabled plastic bags to re-emerge, first in large retail outlets and then in local markets. A growing crisis: Plastic waste overwhelms Dhaka A report by World Bank shows that Bangladesh’s per capita plastic consumption in urban areas increased to 9 kilograms (20 pounds) for the year 2020, from 3 kg (6.6 lbs.) in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/bangladesh-continues-promotion-of-biodegradable-bags-amid-battle-against-polythene/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296823</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/microplastic-within-humans-now-a-health-crisis-interview-with-plastic-people-filmmakers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/microplastic-within-humans-now-a-health-crisis-interview-with-plastic-people-filmmakers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2025 12:53:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/19115137/PlastIcPeople_1920x1080_20240103-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296052</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Film, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Industry, Interviews, Media, Microplastics, Nutrient Pollution, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Poisoning, Pollution, Public Health, Research, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a lab in Türkiye, researcher Sedat Gündoğdu zooms in on the image of a small red fiber. For the first time on film, viewers are witnessing microplastics in the human brain. The moment is emblematic of an emerging environmental and health crisis affecting nearly every corner of life on Earth, from the deepest depths [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a lab in Türkiye, researcher Sedat Gündoğdu zooms in on the image of a small red fiber. For the first time on film, viewers are witnessing microplastics in the human brain. The moment is emblematic of an emerging environmental and health crisis affecting nearly every corner of life on Earth, from the deepest depths of the ocean to the blood in our veins. Microplastics, it seems, are everywhere. The award-winning documentary Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics follows science journalist Ziya Tong as she examines her own body for microplastic contamination and traces the latest microplastic science and solutions around the globe. The thesis: we are all becoming “plastic people.” “I was surprised at the ubiquity of microplastics in the human body,” Rick Smith, executive producer of the documentary, said in an interview with Mongabay. The film grew out of Smith’s 2020 reporting for The Globe and Mail, in which he worked with scientists to test his own body for microplastics. “The question isn’t, ‘do we have microplastics in us?’” Smith said. “The question is, ‘how much?’ And the question isn’t where in the human body microplastics exist. The question is, ‘where doesn’t it exist?’ We haven’t actually found a human organ without measurable microplastic levels yet.” The film takes viewers on a global journey, tracking researchers who are finding microplastics not only in the environment but in human bloodstreams, brains and placentas. Recent studies confirm these findings, showing that microplastics have infiltrated virtually every part of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/microplastic-within-humans-now-a-health-crisis-interview-with-plastic-people-filmmakers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296052</doi>				</item>
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