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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/covid-19/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2026 12:05:37 +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 COVID-19</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/covid-19/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Community programs linked to lower forest loss in Indonesia’s Borneo during COVID-19</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 02:03:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/12215106/kalbar_drone_190946a_sungai_utik-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327673</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, COVID-19, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Logging, Logging, NGOs, Pandemics, Protected Areas, Reduced Impact Logging, Research, Solutions, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Villages in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan saw less forest loss during the COVID-19 pandemic when conservation groups provided health and livelihood support, a new study has found, suggesting social safety nets can help protect forests during economic crises. The peer-reviewed study, published last month in Lancet Planetary Health, suggests forest loss in West Kalimantan province on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Villages in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan saw less forest loss during the COVID-19 pandemic when conservation groups provided health and livelihood support, a new study has found, suggesting social safety nets can help protect forests during economic crises. The peer-reviewed study, published last month in Lancet Planetary Health, suggests forest loss in West Kalimantan province on the Indonesian part of Borneo fell sharply during the pandemic, as weak timber demand and travel restrictions made logging less profitable and harder to carry out. At the same time, villages with access to alternative livelihoods and other support were less reliant on forests for income, the paper adds. The researchers say their study is among the first to combine household surveys with detailed satellite data to examine how the pandemic affected rural livelihoods and forest loss in the same communities, offering a closer look at how economic shocks and social support can influence pressure on tropical forests. “As the pandemic started, we expected economic hardships to cause illegal logging to increase again,” Skylar Hopkins, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University and the lead author for the new study, said in a statement. Mapping deforestation trends Before the pandemic, average forest loss was 52% lower in NGO-affiliated villages than in unaffiliated villages, the study finds. Indonesia has the world’s third-largest tropical forest area, a major store of biodiversity and carbon, long threatened by logging, agricultural expansion and fires. The researchers surveyed 10 villages in West Kalimantan in late 2021: six communities supported by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327673</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian women sustain seaweed traditions in a changing climate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-women-sustain-seaweed-traditions-in-a-changing-climate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-women-sustain-seaweed-traditions-in-a-changing-climate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2025 22:29:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maddy Bolt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/09113813/IMG_3108-e1749469134299-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300402</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bali, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Oceania, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, algae, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Reefs, COVID-19, Culture, Development, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Restoration, Tourism, Traditional Knowledge, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NUSA PENIDA, Indonesia — Storm clouds loom overhead as Nyoman Mitri peers out at rows of seaweed lines stretching across the shallow tidal waters of Nusa Penida. Her weathered hands move with practiced ease as she secures a strand of green seaweed to a rope. “It never used to be like this,” she says. “It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NUSA PENIDA, Indonesia — Storm clouds loom overhead as Nyoman Mitri peers out at rows of seaweed lines stretching across the shallow tidal waters of Nusa Penida. Her weathered hands move with practiced ease as she secures a strand of green seaweed to a rope. “It never used to be like this,” she says. “It’s only been the last 10 years or so that rain has begun to seriously damage the seaweed.” Ibu Mitri, or Mrs. Mitri, as she’s known by her community, is sharing her seaweed cultivation techniques with a few tourists. Together, they sort through fresh seaweed, discarding damaged strands and carefully tying healthy green ones onto lengths of rope, preparing them to be returned to the sea and fastened to wooden posts, where they’ll continue growing until the next harvest. As she ties hundreds of strands of seaweed back onto the lines, lulled into a methodical rhythm, she begins to share her concerns: the changing climate, increasing development, and the growing unreliability of each harvest. With a shy smile, she speaks of how increased rainfall and more frequent storms have threatened traditions once guided by the seasons, not by storms. Nyoman Mitri (right) and a visiting volunteer gather freshly harvested seaweed in the shallows of Nusa Penida before bringing it ashore for sorting and quality control. Ecotourism provides seaweed farmers with an additional way to sustain traditions.  Image by Maddy Bolt for Mongabay. &nbsp; Nestled between the rocky shores of Lombok and the popular vacation destination of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-women-sustain-seaweed-traditions-in-a-changing-climate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-women-sustain-seaweed-traditions-in-a-changing-climate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300402</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Why WHO’s pandemic prevention draft agreement takes a nature-centric, One Health approach (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/why-whos-pandemic-prevention-draft-agreement-takes-a-nature-centric-one-health-approach-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/why-whos-pandemic-prevention-draft-agreement-takes-a-nature-centric-one-health-approach-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2025 17:56:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chris WalzerChristine FranklinSusan Lieberman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/16123624/amazon_201024-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299023</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, COVID-19, Diseases, Environment, Governance, Health, One Health, Pandemics, Planetary Health, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At 4 a.m. CET on April 16, 2025, in Geneva, after years of negotiation and a final day of intense deliberation, the World Health Organization&#8217;s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body reached consensus on a Draft Pandemic Agreement. This historic agreement lays the groundwork for how the world will prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. More [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At 4 a.m. CET on April 16, 2025, in Geneva, after years of negotiation and a final day of intense deliberation, the World Health Organization&#8217;s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body reached consensus on a Draft Pandemic Agreement. This historic agreement lays the groundwork for how the world will prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. More than just a document, the agreement represents a global commitment to multilateralism and collaboration across borders and disciplines. It acknowledges a long-standing elemental truth: that human health is interdependent and deeply intertwined with the health of animals and our shared environment. Building on decades of global health engagement — from the pioneering 2004 Manhattan Principles to the 2019 Berlin Principles on One Health, and our influential international policy work through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) — we have had the privilege, over the past three years, to represent the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in the pandemic agreement negotiations. From the earliest drafts, when One Health was unfamiliar to many delegates and prevention was little more than an afterthought, we have consistently championed a transformative vision that commits to actions to prevent pandemics at the source — those interfaces in nature where viral pathogens first make outside contact. We’ve championed a holistic One Health approach rather than merely responding once it&#8217;s too late. Today, that vision is embedded in a legally binding agreement. Pandemic detection and prevention team at work. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/why-whos-pandemic-prevention-draft-agreement-takes-a-nature-centric-one-health-approach-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/why-whos-pandemic-prevention-draft-agreement-takes-a-nature-centric-one-health-approach-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299023</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stalemate: WTO talks again fail to end overfishing subsidies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/stalemate-wto-talks-again-fail-to-end-overfishing-subsidies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/stalemate-wto-talks-again-fail-to-end-overfishing-subsidies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Mar 2024 21:34:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/19143713/2-trawler-fish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279521</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, COVID-19, Developing Countries, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, International Trade, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, Subsidies, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ambitions to finalize a two-part treaty to equitably stop governments from funding overfishing were dashed again at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, which ended in the early hours of March 2. “This outcome is not just disappointing; it’s a dire blow to global marine biodiversity,” Daniel Skerritt, a senior analyst [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ambitions to finalize a two-part treaty to equitably stop governments from funding overfishing were dashed again at the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, which ended in the early hours of March 2. “This outcome is not just disappointing; it’s a dire blow to global marine biodiversity,” Daniel Skerritt, a senior analyst at U.S.-based conservation NGO Oceana, said in a statement. “The WTO’s continued failure to prohibit subsidy-driven overcapacity and overfishing jeopardizes the lives of millions of people who depend on healthy fish populations for their livelihoods and food security.” Governments around the world pump an estimated $22 billion annually into so-called “harmful” fisheries subsidies, blamed for depletion of global fish stocks and distorted market dynamics. WTO member states have been trying to negotiate a deal to end them for 22 years. The WTO’s 12th ministerial conference, MC12, in June 2022 finally brought a partial result. Delegates hustled a truncated deal, dubbed Fish One, over the line at the last minute, but only by putting off crucial aspects for resolution at this year’s meeting, MC13. Delegates to MC13 worked hard to do that, but agreement on Fish Two remained out of reach despite a 36-hour extension of the meeting. “We came so close, but at the end of the day the one or two matters we could not bridge need more consultation … more thought, more engagement,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO’s director-general, said in her closing statement. “It makes me wonder if the WTO is ever going&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/stalemate-wto-talks-again-fail-to-end-overfishing-subsidies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/stalemate-wto-talks-again-fail-to-end-overfishing-subsidies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279521</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s crackdown on illegal gold mining a success, but only briefly, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/perus-crackdown-on-illegal-gold-mining-a-success-but-only-briefly-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/perus-crackdown-on-illegal-gold-mining-a-success-but-only-briefly-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Dec 2023 11:28:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dan Collyns]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/10/01185156/peru_aerial_0166-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276280</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Law Enforcement, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between 2019 and 2020, the Peruvian government cracked down on illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, its southeastern Amazon region, through an unprecedented initiative dubbed “Operation Mercury.” But according to a recent study, miners have been returning to the areas that the operation had driven them from, as enforcement eased partly due to the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between 2019 and 2020, the Peruvian government cracked down on illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, its southeastern Amazon region, through an unprecedented initiative dubbed “Operation Mercury.” But according to a recent study, miners have been returning to the areas that the operation had driven them from, as enforcement eased partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coordinated government effort resulted in a big win for the Peruvian state versus miners in La Pampa, a 100,000-hectare (250,000-acre) area located in the buffer zone of Tambopata National Reserve, an Amazonian park bursting with biodiversity. The zone sits on the southern side of the Interoceanic Highway, which connects Peru’s Pacific ports with Brazil’s Atlantic coast. Artisanal gold mining, 90% of it illegal or informal, accounts for at least half of the economy in the sparsely populated region of Madre de Dios, and sustains around 50,000 miners, according to a 2022 study by USAID. But the destructive activity has deforested at least 100,000 hectares of the Amazon Rainforest in Madre de Dios between 1990 and 2020, and it’s estimated that about 78% of adults in Puerto Maldonado, the state’s capital, have mercury levels above safe international standards, due to poor mining practices, according to the USAID study. Deforestation in La Pampa caused by more than a decade of illegal mining. Image by Jason Houston for the International League of Conservation Photographers. Since the start of Operation Mercury, which deployed 1,200 police officers, 300 soldiers and 70 prosecutors, deforestation caused by illegal mining dropped&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/perus-crackdown-on-illegal-gold-mining-a-success-but-only-briefly-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/perus-crackdown-on-illegal-gold-mining-a-success-but-only-briefly-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276280</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia crackdown on climate protesters grows amid fight against gas project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/australia-crackdown-on-climate-protesters-grows-amid-fight-against-gas-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/australia-crackdown-on-climate-protesters-grows-amid-fight-against-gas-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2023 14:43:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tessa Fox]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/31133108/protest-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274832</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Archeology, Arts, Business, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, COVID-19, Culture, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, History, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Protests, Social Justice, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BRISBANE, Australia — Formed billions of years ago from volcanic magma, the red rocks and hills of Murujuga arise in striking contrast to the surrounding green native grasses. This area, in what is known today as Western Australia (WA), holds the world’s largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs, dating back at least 40,000 years. Described [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BRISBANE, Australia — Formed billions of years ago from volcanic magma, the red rocks and hills of Murujuga arise in striking contrast to the surrounding green native grasses. This area, in what is known today as Western Australia (WA), holds the world’s largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs, dating back at least 40,000 years. Described as a “bible” for local Indigenous groups, some of the rocks even depict the now-extinct Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Murujuga also encompasses 42 islands that are surrounded by passageways for various migratory whale and dolphin species. All this dynamic land is tied together by the Turtle Dreaming story. It details how the freshwater meets the ocean through the acts of a turtle, says Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and former board member of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. This is one of the greatest creation stories for the Indigenous groups, referred to as original custodians — as in caretakers — of Murujuga. “We have an enormous responsibility in terms of creating a safe space for all plant life, land animals, marine animals and the underwater systems and especially the &#8230; connection with the rock art,” Cooper tells Mongabay. And part of this landscape is an expanding industrial site that protrudes from the rich, red earth. Environmentalists and Indigenous advocates say the sacred site is threatened by the upcoming expansion planned by Australia’s largest petroleum company, Woodside Energy. The project entails expanding two processing plants and building two new offshore gas fields in what will produce billions&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/australia-crackdown-on-climate-protesters-grows-amid-fight-against-gas-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/australia-crackdown-on-climate-protesters-grows-amid-fight-against-gas-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Do virus-detecting ants hold the key to preventing zoonotic diseases?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2023 21:20:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/23210707/Ants-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272520</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, COVID-19, Deforestation, Ebola, Forests, Rainforests, Research, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An international team of researchers is analysing army ants collected in forests in northeastern Gabon, to better understand zoonotic diseases. According to the World Health Organization, Africa experienced a 63% increase in outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like Ebola, monkeypox, and Marburg virus between 2012 and 2022, compared to the previous decade. According to researcher Sophie [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An international team of researchers is analysing army ants collected in forests in northeastern Gabon, to better understand zoonotic diseases. According to the World Health Organization, Africa experienced a 63% increase in outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like Ebola, monkeypox, and Marburg virus between 2012 and 2022, compared to the previous decade. According to researcher Sophie Muset, this is due to deforestation leading to increased human contact with wildlife. Muset is technical coordinator of a research project called Ebo-Sursy, set up in 2017 to better understand, predict and prevent future epidemics. It’s a partnership between the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), the Research Institute for Development (IRD), the Pasteur Institute and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD). Ebo-Sursy researchers collected ants from 29 colonies in the forest in Gabon. Image by Gregoire Dubois via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Eric Leroy is a virologist specialising in zoonoses at the IRD. His work for Ebo-Sursy involves looking for new viruses likely to pass from the animal world to humans, both in the laboratory and in the field, across the 47 million hectares of forest in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Conducting scientific research in these forests is a logistical challenge. “Working in the Congo Basin is complicated because vegetation is very important in this ecosystem. The forests are difficult to access, especially during the rainy season. Most of these territories are totally unexplored, and only a limited number of animals can be captured, sampled, and analysed.” Further complicating&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/do-virus-detecting-ants-hold-the-key-to-preventing-zoonotic-diseases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272520</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>SE Asia’s COVID legacy is less wildlife trade, but more hunting, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/se-asias-covid-legacy-is-less-wildlife-trade-but-more-hunting-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/se-asias-covid-legacy-is-less-wildlife-trade-but-more-hunting-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Mar 2023 16:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/07142445/pangolin-asia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266206</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Illegal Wildlife Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, COVID-19, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Food, Hunting, Pandemics, Poaching, Protected Areas, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The COVID-19 pandemic, which began spreading in a seafood and poultry market in Wuhan, China, shone a spotlight on zoonotic diseases and the risks that markets selling wild meat can pose to human health. Following the outbreak, some countries like China temporarily closed down wet markets, while others like Vietnam banned the wildlife trade outright. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The COVID-19 pandemic, which began spreading in a seafood and poultry market in Wuhan, China, shone a spotlight on zoonotic diseases and the risks that markets selling wild meat can pose to human health. Following the outbreak, some countries like China temporarily closed down wet markets, while others like Vietnam banned the wildlife trade outright. A WWF survey found that the overall consumption of wildlife dropped by 30% in Southeast Asia and the U.S. On the surface, the pandemic may seem to have deterred people from consumption and trade of wildlife due to restrictions and awareness about zoonoses. However, a new study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice reveals a more complex picture. The study, part of a bigger livelihood survey of hunting communities in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, interviewed hunters living near protected areas to understand how COVID-19 has impacted their livelihoods. The survey found that the wildlife trade declined during the pandemic, but hunting and forest visits in protected areas increased to make up for lost jobs and to supplement income. “The study aims to get a more holistic picture of hunting and trying to put conservation into practice, so we could intervene positively to reduce hunting and also ensure these communities are stable,” says lead author Elizabeth Davis, a researcher at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. A muntjac. Many communities hunt incidentally, killing wild animals like deer, mongoose, squirrels, rabbits, bush pigs or muntjacs when they encounter them in the forest, or setting traps&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/se-asias-covid-legacy-is-less-wildlife-trade-but-more-hunting-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/se-asias-covid-legacy-is-less-wildlife-trade-but-more-hunting-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266206</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For tigers in Nepal, highways are a giant roadblock best avoided</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/for-tigers-in-nepal-highways-are-a-giant-roadblock-best-avoided/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/for-tigers-in-nepal-highways-are-a-giant-roadblock-best-avoided/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2023 13:28:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/27133137/tiger-crosses-road-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265950</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Carnivores, COVID-19, Endangered Species, GPS, Infrastructure, Predators, Roadkill, Roads, Tigers, Top Predators, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — It starts off like the premise for a joke: “Why did the tigers cross the road?” But for researchers and conservationists in Nepal, the spread of roads throughout the big cats’ habitat is no laughing matter. A new study underscores just how serious the problem is, showing that road traffic impedes tiger movements [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — It starts off like the premise for a joke: “Why did the tigers cross the road?” But for researchers and conservationists in Nepal, the spread of roads throughout the big cats’ habitat is no laughing matter. A new study underscores just how serious the problem is, showing that road traffic impedes tiger movements within their habitat. But it also shows that the animals can adapt quickly when traffic volume eases, pointing to measures that can be taken to mitigate road impacts not just on tigers, but on wildlife in general. For their study, the researchers focused on Nepal’s East-West Highway, which runs through both Bardiya National Park and Parsa National Park, each of which is home to growing tiger populations (125 in Bardiya as of 2022, and 41 in Parsa). They fitted a female tiger in Bardiya with a GPS collar, and did the same with a male tiger in Parsa, then observed how the highway and its traffic affected the animals’ movements, space use and habitat selection. Study co-author Babu Ram Lamichhane, from the National Trust for Nature Conservation, a semi-governmental body, said the study was especially important as the government prepares to expand the two-lane East-West Highway to four lanes. The researchers began their observations in early 2021, before a second COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in Nepal. The lockdown, and its conclusion, ultimately allowed the researchers to compare any differences in the tigers’ movements in the periods before, during, and after the associated traffic restrictions. “We&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/for-tigers-in-nepal-highways-are-a-giant-roadblock-best-avoided/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/for-tigers-in-nepal-highways-are-a-giant-roadblock-best-avoided/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265950</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous youths lured by the illegal mines destroying their Amazon homeland</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2022 16:45:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jean-Mathieu AlbertiniVictor Raison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/30152659/yanomami_territory_DSC_5850-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263079</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Artisanal Mining, Global Commodities, and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, COVID-19, Crime, Culture, Drinking Water, Environment, Fish, Gold Mining, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Malaria, Mercury, Mining, Pollution, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was produced with the funding support of the Rainforest Journalism Investigations Network (RIN) of the Pulitzer Center. WAIKAS, Brazil — From up above, long, massive, yellowish stains tear apart the green blanket of the Amazon. In the northern part of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory near Brazil’s border with Venezuela, these illegal gold mines, known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was produced with the funding support of the Rainforest Journalism Investigations Network (RIN) of the Pulitzer Center. WAIKAS, Brazil — From up above, long, massive, yellowish stains tear apart the green blanket of the Amazon. In the northern part of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory near Brazil’s border with Venezuela, these illegal gold mines, known locally as garimpos, blanket the banks of the Uraricoera River. The pilot flies his Cessna aircraft low but doesn’t get too close. He fears the armed garimpeiros, or gold diggers, on the ground as much as the other small planes swooping through the tree canopy to avoid the police radars and supply the mining camps. On the ground, the Indigenous village of Waikas is in sight. This is home to the Yek&#8217;wana, one of the eight ethnic groups who live in this territory the size of Portugal. &#8220;Illegal mining, the garimpo, has destroyed everything. Our river has become muddy and contaminated. We can&#8217;t fish anymore, and the animals have fled far away from the noise of the [mining] generators and machines,&#8221; says Julio Yek&#8217;wana, one of the community&#8217;s leaders in Brazil’s Roraima state. There are currently around 20,000 illegal miners in the Indigenous territory, according to the Federal Public Ministry. Deep inside the forest, the boat traffic carrying men and supplies to the garimpos is relentless. The entire structure of Julio’s society has been shaken to its foundation, he tells Mongabay. Illegal mining and the fortunes promised by gold miners is swaying Indigenous youth in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/indigenous-youths-lured-by-the-illegal-mines-destroying-their-amazon-homeland/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263079</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wild cats threatened by ‘underrecognized’ risk of spillover disease</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/wild-cats-threatened-by-underrecognized-risk-of-spillover-disease/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/wild-cats-threatened-by-underrecognized-risk-of-spillover-disease/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Oct 2022 14:54:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/13130851/5-guigna-Leopardus-guigna-South-Americas-smallest-wild-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261459</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Borneo, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Global, India, Malaysia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Big Cats, Cats, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Deforestation, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Health, Jaguars, Leopards, Mammals, Predators, Research, Small Cats, Tigers, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildtech, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Diseases affecting domestic animals, such as canine distemper, are increasingly infecting tropical wildlife, including wild felids, presenting a threat to biodiversity; so far solutions are few and funding is scarce.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Starting in 2020, the global coronavirus pandemic brought the threat posed by zoonotic diseases into sharp focus in the public mind. But across the tropics and beyond, scientists had long warned that shrinking habitats and the narrowing distance between human populations, livestock, domestic animals and wildlife was increasing possible points of contact, risking the spillover and spread of disease between species. That spillover is a two-way street — just as likely to flow from the wild to humans, as from humans to the wild. Earlier this year, a study published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research reported the infection of a wild leopard cub in India with SARS-CoV-2. Found dead, likely killed by another wild cat, the cub showed “typical signs” similar to an infection in humans, says study author and wildlife pathologist Gaurav Sharma. The virus in the leopard cub was analyzed and found to be the Delta variant. Sharma and his team tested other animals in the area but found no other positive cases, leading to the conclusion that the cub’s infection was an isolated incident. Nonetheless, the researchers raised a warning that such infections should be monitored in the wild. “At this particular point of time, we don&#8217;t believe that this is a reservoir host,” said Sharma. “What we understand is that this is the case of spillover infection.” With the astronomical expansion of human society into the wild areas of the Amazon, Congo Basin and Southeast Asia, all biodiversity hotspots, it is now increasingly clear&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/wild-cats-threatened-by-underrecognized-risk-of-spillover-disease/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/wild-cats-threatened-by-underrecognized-risk-of-spillover-disease/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261459</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Remix it and let it evolve’: Q&#038;A with FieldKit developer Shah Selbe</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/remix-it-and-let-it-evolve-qa-with-fieldkit-developer-shah-selbe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/remix-it-and-let-it-evolve-qa-with-fieldkit-developer-shah-selbe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2022 11:26:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/23111608/3-whale-with-drone-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259493</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri WildTech Reporting Fellowship]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation Technology, COVID-19, Environment, Fellows, Interviews, Supply Chain, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Shah Selbe and his team were all set to unveil their new product in April 2020. The plan was to launch FieldKit, an open-source environmental sensor platform for conservation researchers, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Hundreds of FieldKits were ready to go. And then, just over a month ahead of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Shah Selbe and his team were all set to unveil their new product in April 2020. The plan was to launch FieldKit, an open-source environmental sensor platform for conservation researchers, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Hundreds of FieldKits were ready to go. And then, just over a month ahead of the launch, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Before Selbe knew it, flights were grounded, travel restrictions were imposed, and the world effectively shut down, putting a damper on his plans and any prospect of fieldwork. Then, almost a year later, when the situation seemed to be improving, a new problem arose. The transportation hurdles, labor shortages, manufacturing backlogs and increased consumer demand during lockdowns had caused a global supply chain crisis that continues to snarl manufacturing and trade even now. For Selbe, the shortage of parts required to build his product further slowed down his plan to launch FieldKit. The ongoing supply chain crisis has had an impact on almost every aspect of the global economy. Brands big and small have had to reimagine their workflow. Ikea hiked prices because of shortages caused by the crisis. Automobile giants have had to slash production because of a shortage of semiconductors. The crisis even forced McDonalds to take milkshakes off its menu in the U.K. and ration french fries in Japan. Makers of conservation technology have been equally impacted by the shortage of parts, making it difficult for many to develop and manufacture products that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/remix-it-and-let-it-evolve-qa-with-fieldkit-developer-shah-selbe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/remix-it-and-let-it-evolve-qa-with-fieldkit-developer-shah-selbe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259493</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Brazil’s Indigenous people, slavery born of colonization still hasn’t ended</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/for-brazils-indigenous-people-slavery-born-of-colonization-still-hasnt-ended/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/for-brazils-indigenous-people-slavery-born-of-colonization-still-hasnt-ended/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2022 11:35:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lais Modelli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/04112813/SCuffe_BrazilIndigenous_Guarani-Kaiowa_big-e1657207545730-768x417.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258884</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Environment, Environmental Policy, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Slavery, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At least 1,640 Indigenous people have been rescued from slave-like work conditions in Brazil since 2004, or an average of 90 rescues every year over the past 18 years. That’s the key finding from a Mongabay analysis of official records, corroborated by interviews with labor inspectors. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 115 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At least 1,640 Indigenous people have been rescued from slave-like work conditions in Brazil since 2004, or an average of 90 rescues every year over the past 18 years. That’s the key finding from a Mongabay analysis of official records, corroborated by interviews with labor inspectors. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 115 Indigenous workers have been rescued from modern slavery in Brazil, according to data from DETRAE, the division within the Ministry of the Economy responsible for tackling slave labor practices. The data show that forced labor among Indigenous people is closely linked to the farming and cattle-ranching sectors: of the 303 Indigenous people rescued between 2010 and May 2022, 287 fell into the DETRAE category of “agricultural, forestry or fisheries workers.” Of those rescued in 2022, 77% worked in farming and cattle ranching; 18% were migrant laborers (general helpers in agriculture, such as fence builders, bark peelers, weeders, etc.), and 5% were sex workers. The Brazilian state with the highest number of Indigenous people subjected to forced labor is Mato Grosso do Sul. Lúcia Helena Rangel, an anthropologist with the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI), says the main factor here is the historic process of expropriation of Indigenous lands for use by agribusiness. “Historically, agribusiness has pushed Indigenous communities onto small pieces of land. Over the years, the situation has worsened as Indigenous populations have grown but their territories haven’t,” Rangel says. A case in point is that of the Guarani-Kaiowá people. A report by the Instituto&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/for-brazils-indigenous-people-slavery-born-of-colonization-still-hasnt-ended/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/for-brazils-indigenous-people-slavery-born-of-colonization-still-hasnt-ended/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258884</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Farmer-to-farmer agroecology: Q&#038;A with Chukki Nanjundaswamy of Amrita Bhoomi Learning Centre</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/farmer-to-farmer-agroecology-qa-with-chukki-nanjundaswamy-of-amrita-bhoomi-learning-centre/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/farmer-to-farmer-agroecology-qa-with-chukki-nanjundaswamy-of-amrita-bhoomi-learning-centre/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2022 16:17:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Lappé]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/10220700/smallholder-in-Lao_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258847</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Corporate Social Responsibility, COVID-19, Education, Green, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nestled in a verdant valley in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, about a four-hour drive southwest of Bengaluru, the agroecology learning center Amrita Bhoomi is one of dozens of farmer-to-farmer training hubs around the world focused on agroecology. The center was born out of organizing efforts of the local farmers’ movement KRRS (Karnataka Rajya [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nestled in a verdant valley in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, about a four-hour drive southwest of Bengaluru, the agroecology learning center Amrita Bhoomi is one of dozens of farmer-to-farmer training hubs around the world focused on agroecology. The center was born out of organizing efforts of the local farmers’ movement KRRS (Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha) founded by Professor Mahantha Devaru Nanjundaswamy in the early 2000s. The movement’s leadership envisioned a teaching center where farmers could share their agroecological practices, learn new techniques, and situate themselves in a Gandhian tradition of organizing for social justice. In 2002, movement leadership purchased the land that the center still occupies today, a biodiversity haven home to 80 cultivated acres growing dozens of varieties of crops from dryland horticulture – like mangoes and jackfruit – to coconuts and bananas, modeling rainfed farming in lieu of expensive irrigation. Shortly after breaking ground, Nanjundaswamy passed away, but his daughter Chukki Nanjundaswamy, who was 22-years old at the time and having been raised in the movement, joined the center’s leadership and has been growing the organization ever since, working to create an organization that can be an inspiration for local farmers, and many more who visit from around the world. As part of a series on agroecology for Mongabay, author and sustainable food advocate Anna Lappé had a chance to catch up with Nanjundaswamy. The two last met in person in early 2020 just before COVID-19 lockdown, when Lappé traveled to Amrita Bhoomi as part of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/farmer-to-farmer-agroecology-qa-with-chukki-nanjundaswamy-of-amrita-bhoomi-learning-centre/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/farmer-to-farmer-agroecology-qa-with-chukki-nanjundaswamy-of-amrita-bhoomi-learning-centre/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258847</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>WTO finally nets deal curbing fisheries subsidies, but tables key bits for later</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/wto-finally-nets-deal-curbing-fisheries-subsidies-but-tables-key-bits-for-later/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/wto-finally-nets-deal-curbing-fisheries-subsidies-but-tables-key-bits-for-later/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2022 23:09:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/18005049/14981581864_6b771acf13_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257455</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, COVID-19, Developing Countries, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, International Trade, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, Subsidies, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Talks aimed at curbing harmful subsidies for fisheries concluded in Geneva in the first multilateral trade agreement the World Trade Organization (WTO) has struck in almost a decade. The body’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) was scheduled for June 12–15, but overtime negotiations didn’t conclude until early June 17. It is the first time WTO members [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Talks aimed at curbing harmful subsidies for fisheries concluded in Geneva in the first multilateral trade agreement the World Trade Organization (WTO) has struck in almost a decade. The body’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) was scheduled for June 12–15, but overtime negotiations didn’t conclude until early June 17. It is the first time WTO members have ever concluded a deal “with environmental sustainability at its heart,” WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in her closing speech. The fisheries agreement is a global solution that “will help ensure ocean resources are used in a sustainable way that drives economic growth and development while maintaining a healthy ocean for the benefit of biodiversity, nature, and people,” Dona Bertarelli, special adviser for the blue economy with the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, told Mongabay. The 6 a.m. closing ceremony of MC12 in Geneva on June 17, 2022. Image by Jay Louvion courtesy of WTO. The new agreement bans government subsidies that support the fishing of already-overfished stocks and curbs those that contribute to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. But in the interest of reaching a deal, the WTO’s 164 member states put off dealing with certain subsidies where agreement proved elusive: those that contribute to building fleets with capacity to fish unsustainably and other forms of overfishing. Negotiators say they will re-open talks on those issues at the WTO’s next ministerial conference, possibly in late 2023. “This is a historic step forward,” Claire Nouvian, founder of the Paris-based marine conservation group&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/wto-finally-nets-deal-curbing-fisheries-subsidies-but-tables-key-bits-for-later/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/wto-finally-nets-deal-curbing-fisheries-subsidies-but-tables-key-bits-for-later/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257455</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wage-related abuses in fishing industry exacerbated by pandemic response</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/wage-related-abuses-in-fishing-industry-exacerbated-by-pandemic-response/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/wage-related-abuses-in-fishing-industry-exacerbated-by-pandemic-response/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2022 17:04:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/12161446/Thailand-fisherman-migrant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Pacific Ocean, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Crime, Diseases, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Fish, Fisheries, Food Industry, Forced labor, Governance, Human Migration, Human Rights, Law, Oceans, Pandemics, Politics, Saltwater Fish, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lower incomes and loss of employment were among the most urgent issues faced by fishing and seafood-processing workers in Asia and the Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an April 2022 brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO). In some countries, employment and hours worked fell by 10-15% in the first months of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lower incomes and loss of employment were among the most urgent issues faced by fishing and seafood-processing workers in Asia and the Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an April 2022 brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO). In some countries, employment and hours worked fell by 10-15% in the first months of the pandemic, leaving many of the already vulnerable workers and their families without financial support. The brief, authored by Cornell University researchers for the ILO’s Ship to Shore Rights South-East Asia project, examined how workers were impacted by the pandemic in the fishing and seafood-processing industries of Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, which employ an estimated 125,000 migrant workers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. The brief analyzed workers’ experiences during the period from March 2020 to March 2021 based on recent literature, trade and employment data, and interviews, although the authors acknowledged that Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan were oversampled due to a greater availability of information. Although some sections of the fishing and seafood-processing industry experienced growth during the pandemic, such as seafood for pet food, the researchers found that such growth did not translate into increased wages for workers. The proliferation of wage-related abuses was exacerbated by the pandemic — but not created by it. Reports by the Environmental Justice Foundation on the distant-water fishing fleets of China, Taiwan and South Korea have found that more than 90% of workers had experienced or witnessed withholding of wages in all three&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/wage-related-abuses-in-fishing-industry-exacerbated-by-pandemic-response/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/wage-related-abuses-in-fishing-industry-exacerbated-by-pandemic-response/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘A risky business’: Online illegal wildlife trade continues to soar in Myanmar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/a-risky-business-online-illegal-wildlife-trade-continues-to-soar-in-myanmar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/a-risky-business-online-illegal-wildlife-trade-continues-to-soar-in-myanmar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2022 05:25:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/04043001/Pangolin_RhettAButler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254414</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Forest, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, COVID-19, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Diseases, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law, Law Enforcement, Pandemics, Pangolins, Poaching, Social Media, Technology, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amid lockdowns, travel restrictions and wet market closures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, wildlife traders shifted their business online. A trade once dominated by face-to-face interactions now sees sellers and buyers chat via social media, conduct mobile banking transactions, and deliver live animals or their parts by courier — often without fear of legal repercussions. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amid lockdowns, travel restrictions and wet market closures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, wildlife traders shifted their business online. A trade once dominated by face-to-face interactions now sees sellers and buyers chat via social media, conduct mobile banking transactions, and deliver live animals or their parts by courier — often without fear of legal repercussions. New research from WWF shows that this trend has taken root in Myanmar. The report, based on monitoring in the Southeast Asian country during 2021, shows that trade in protected wild animals and their body parts via Facebook is escalating. Beyond the impact of the trade on the country’s biodiversity, the report highlights the risks to public health from the trade of several high-risk species, namely civets and pangolins, that are considered to be potential vectors in passing zoonotic, or animal-borne, diseases to humans. It also lays out the mechanisms that facilitate the trade and presents possible ways to curb it. An Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) advertised for sale in a Facebook post in Myanmar during 2021. Image © WWF Asia-Pacific “With Asia’s track record as a breeding ground for many recent zoonotic diseases, this sharp uptick in online trade of wildlife in Myanmar is extremely concerning,” said Shaun Martin, WWF regional lead on illegal wildlife trade cybercrime and report co-author. Martin added that despite widespread knowledge of the biodiversity crisis and the lessons learned over the past few years about the virus spillover risk inherent in the wildlife trade, evidence shows that animals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/a-risky-business-online-illegal-wildlife-trade-continues-to-soar-in-myanmar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/a-risky-business-online-illegal-wildlife-trade-continues-to-soar-in-myanmar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254414</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An Indigenous basket-weaving tradition keeps a Philippine forest alive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/an-indigenous-basket-weaving-tradition-keeps-a-philippine-forest-alive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/an-indigenous-basket-weaving-tradition-keeps-a-philippine-forest-alive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2022 15:14:02 +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/20/2022/03/06143923/IMG-5864-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253409</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arts, Climate Change, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Culture, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALAWAN, Philippines — On a fine day at the onset of the dry season, Sublito Tiblak wakes up very early to the sounds of birds. They’re perched on trees surrounding his home in Kamantian, an upland village tucked in the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape in the southern part of the Philippines’ Palawan province. Tiblak, 46, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALAWAN, Philippines — On a fine day at the onset of the dry season, Sublito Tiblak wakes up very early to the sounds of birds. They’re perched on trees surrounding his home in Kamantian, an upland village tucked in the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape in the southern part of the Philippines’ Palawan province. Tiblak, 46, eats boiled bananas for breakfast and prepares his tukew (bolo knife) to gather raw materials for tingkep, the Pala’wan people’s traditional handcrafted basket, whose designs and uses are reflective of their deep relationship with the forest. “You have to leave before 7 in the morning because you don’t want to walk for hours under the scorching midday sun,” says Tiblak, one of Kamantian’s 65 traditional basketry cultural bearers. Later on, the tribal leader (penglima) and father of two finds himself deep in Mantalingahan’s forests, trimming native species of bamboo (binsag), palm (buldung and busnig), and vine (gehid), among other non-timber forest products used in making tingkep. Tiblak ties the cuttings together with vines. Walking uphill and downhill, he’s drenched in sweat while carrying the bundle on his shoulder. Sublito Tiblak preparing materials for tingkep. Shaving bamboo is delicate work, as each strip must be uniform and even to form a sturdy basket. Image courtesy of Brooke&#8217;s Point Tourism, Culture and Arts Office. Back home, his wife, Labin, 31, waits for him to begin the laborious weaving process of tingkep. This can take three days to a week, depending on the basket’s size, the couple says.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/an-indigenous-basket-weaving-tradition-keeps-a-philippine-forest-alive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/an-indigenous-basket-weaving-tradition-keeps-a-philippine-forest-alive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Call for COVID rules that reduced infections in gorilla parks to remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2022 13:55:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/24132418/Rwanda-Mountain-Gorillas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253064</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Health, Mammals, Pandemics, Protected Areas, Solutions, Tourism, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Stricter measures implemented to protect endangered mountain gorillas from COVID-19 should be made permanent long after the pandemic has passed, conservationists say, citing a significant drop in respiratory infections among human-habituated gorillas in one major park in Rwanda. Respiratory infections recorded among mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP) dropped from an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Stricter measures implemented to protect endangered mountain gorillas from COVID-19 should be made permanent long after the pandemic has passed, conservationists say, citing a significant drop in respiratory infections among human-habituated gorillas in one major park in Rwanda. Respiratory infections recorded among mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP) dropped from an average of 5.4 outbreaks among family groups per year between January 2015 and February 2020, to just 1.6 per year after the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to veterinarians from Gorilla Doctors. The group works to protect the two subspecies of eastern gorillas — mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) — in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The drop correlates with the decline in the number of tourists visiting the park, and stricter guidelines for viewing gorillas. VNP was shut in March 2020 as COVID-19 spread around the globe. When it reopened three months later, tourists had to wear face masks and maintain a distance of at least 10 meters (33 feet) from the gorillas, an increase from 7 m (23 ft) before the pandemic. Wearing a mask was previously not mandatory for tourists visiting the park. When Volcanoes National Park reopened three months after a lockdown, tourists had to wear face masks and maintain a distance of at least 10 meters (33 feet) from the gorillas. Image by Peter Prokosch/GRID-Arendal via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). “As the Omicron viral variant surges and tourism returns, we consider&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/call-for-covid-rules-that-reduced-infections-in-gorilla-parks-to-remain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253064</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Preventing the next pandemic is vastly cheaper than reacting to it: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/preventing-the-next-pandemic-is-vastly-cheaper-than-reacting-to-it-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/preventing-the-next-pandemic-is-vastly-cheaper-than-reacting-to-it-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2022 19:06:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/04182043/Banner-image-768x456.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252348</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Deforestation, Diseases, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Pandemics, Planetary Health, Politics, Public Health, Research, Science, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Humanity’s response to pandemics to date is similar to our climate change response: mitigation rather than prevention. A new study says preemption could save trillions of dollars and millions of lives; but preparation is grossly underfunded.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the novel COVID-19 coronavirus swept the planet in early 2020, researchers scrambled to find effective treatments and vaccines. Within a year, there was a clarion call from heads of state, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other agencies to create an international “pandemic preparedness and response” treaty. WHO noted that COVID-19 offered “a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe” from zoonotic disease outbreaks. While these actions are extremely important, a new study in the journal Science Advances emphasizes the critical, largely overlooked need to prevent disease outbreaks before they occur. The average yearly cost in human lives and lost productivity can be in the trillions. These researchers show, in hard numbers, that boosting surveillance and curbing high risk human activities, such as the destruction of tropical forests, will save many lives and vast sums of money. “We are grossly underestimating the economic harms [of pandemics], and prevention is far cheaper than a cure,” says lead author Aaron Bernstein, a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital and a researcher at Harvard University’s Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment. A simulated COVID-19 patient in the ICU room at a central Java hospital, Indonesia. While the world’s healthcare workers have responded to the pandemic with great courage and global pharmaceutical companies have responded with lightning-fast vaccine development, none of that might have been necessary had preemeptive strategies been in place to detect and stop the disease before it spread. Image by Mufid Majnun at unsplash.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/preventing-the-next-pandemic-is-vastly-cheaper-than-reacting-to-it-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/preventing-the-next-pandemic-is-vastly-cheaper-than-reacting-to-it-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252348</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rainforests in 2022: A look at the year ahead</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/rainforests-in-2022-a-look-at-the-year-ahead/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/rainforests-in-2022-a-look-at-the-year-ahead/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jan 2022 00:04:32 +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/20/2022/01/03211529/sumatra_0542_2022-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251400</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Palm Oil, Politics, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between rising deforestation in the Amazon, new financial and political commitments to reduce deforestation, and growing interest in “nature-based solutions” like conservation and reforestation, 2021 may prove to be a fateful year for the world’s tropical rainforests. Take a look at The year in rainforests 2021, published last week, if you&#8217;d like to catch up [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between rising deforestation in the Amazon, new financial and political commitments to reduce deforestation, and growing interest in “nature-based solutions” like conservation and reforestation, 2021 may prove to be a fateful year for the world’s tropical rainforests. Take a look at The year in rainforests 2021, published last week, if you&#8217;d like to catch up on some of the key developments from last year. What should we expect in 2022? Below is a brief look at what may be some of the major storylines for tropical forests in the coming year. Rainforest in Indonesia. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay Post COVID recovery The post COVID recovery was also the first item on last year’s list and plenty of questions still remain on how the economic rebound–or lack thereof, depending on the place–will impact tropical forests. For example, measures enacted to stimulate economic output during the worst of the pandemic–like decisions in Indonesia and Brazil to roll back environmental regulations and subsidize agribusiness and extractive industries–could start to affect forests more as on-the-ground activities scale up. Commodity prices As is always the case, macroeconomic factors will be important in decision-making around how forest lands and resources are used. Commodity prices have surged since bottoming out during the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020. By the end of 2021, the price of palm oil was 109% above the April 2020 level, soybeans 53%, rubber 44%, and beef 34%. Rising commodity prices can be an incentive to clear forests&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/rainforests-in-2022-a-look-at-the-year-ahead/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/rainforests-in-2022-a-look-at-the-year-ahead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251400</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay&#8217;s Top 10 Indigenous News Stories of 2021</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/the-top-10-indigenous-news-stories-from-2021/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/the-top-10-indigenous-news-stories-from-2021/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2021 15:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/28225556/51652337954_7b1c26687e_k-e1640732222363-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251231</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, COVID-19, Culture, Endangered Species, Environment, Finance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tourism, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[To date, 2021 has proved to be one of the most consequential years for Indigenous rights and participation in global climate and conservation efforts. As biodiversity loss mounted and urgency was added to mitigating climate change, Indigenous environmental stewardship was put centre-stage, conservation efforts continued to displace communities, and extractive industries resumed operations on ancestral [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[To date, 2021 has proved to be one of the most consequential years for Indigenous rights and participation in global climate and conservation efforts. As biodiversity loss mounted and urgency was added to mitigating climate change, Indigenous environmental stewardship was put centre-stage, conservation efforts continued to displace communities, and extractive industries resumed operations on ancestral lands. Some of the world’s largest international conferences saw Indigenous issues and stewardship put under the spotlight. At the United Nations climate summit, known as COP26, Indigenous leaders pushed for Indigenous land rights as a climate mitigation solution. Philanthropists, investors and governments later pledged billions to the cause. As the Convention of Biological Diversity’s (CBD) released the first draft of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, human rights groups heavily criticized and campaigned against one of its proposals to expand protected areas. Indigenous communities fear this new target will lead to the displacement of millions from their ancestral territories. Across the globe, Indigenous peoples saw both support for their conservation efforts grow and were confronted with steep challenges to their land rights. To wrap up this year of highs and lows, Mongabay presents the top 10 Indigenous news stories from 2021. 1. ‘They will die’: Fears for the last Piripkura as Amazon invasion ramps up Piripkura men Baita and Tamandua, photographed during an encounter with a FUNAI unit. The two men, who are uncle and nephew, have had sporadic interactions with the local FUNAI team, but returned to live in the forest. Image courtesy of Bruno&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/the-top-10-indigenous-news-stories-from-2021/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/the-top-10-indigenous-news-stories-from-2021/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservation deaths in 2021</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/conservation-deaths-in-2021/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/conservation-deaths-in-2021/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2021 00:05:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/29191023/ca_redwoods_16871-obit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251279</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, COVID-19, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Green, Murdered Activists, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This list acknowledges some of the deaths in 2021 that are significant to the broader conservation community. Did we miss a death that occurred in 2021 that&#8217;s notable in conservation? Please reach out via this form. 6 Congolese rangers: Six Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) rangers working at Virunga National Park in the eastern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This list acknowledges some of the deaths in 2021 that are significant to the broader conservation community. Did we miss a death that occurred in 2021 that&#8217;s notable in conservation? Please reach out via this form. 6 Congolese rangers: Six Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) rangers working at Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were killed in an ambush by a local militia group in January. They were: SuruMwe Burhani Abdou, 30; Alexis Kamate Mundunaenda, 25; Reagan Maneno Kataghalirwa, 27; Eric Kibanja Bashekere, 28; Innocent Paluku Budoyi, 28; and Prince Nzabonimpa Ntamakiriro, 27. More. Ann Croissant, 81 (United States): An environmental activist, educator, and botanist who worked to protect native plants like Brodiaea filifolia in California&#8217;s San Gabriel Mountains via the Glendora Community Conservancy, which she founded in 1991. More. Aruká Juma, 88 (Brazil). Aruká Juma, the last of the Juma people in Brazil, died of Covid-19. More. Betty White, 99 (United States). An American actress and entertainer who was a champion for animals. White was the 2009 Recipient of the Jane Goodall Institute Global Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement. More Bob Scholes, 63 (South Africa). A professor of systems ecology at Wits who served as the Director of the Global Change Institute (GCI) and was one of the world’s leading scientists on climate change. More Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, 99 (Canada): The landscape architect sometimes known as the ‘Queen of Green’, Oberlander embraced sustainable design before it was fashionable and was an advocate for rewilding.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/conservation-deaths-in-2021/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251279</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay’s top Amazon stories from 2021</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabays-top-amazon-stories-from-2021/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabays-top-amazon-stories-from-2021/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Dec 2021 15:03:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/04142040/brazil_GP1SVODS_PressMedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251254</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Cattle, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Conservation Solutions, Controversial, COVID-19, Crime, Culture, Deforestation, Disasters, Diseases, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Ethnocide, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Green, Health, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Innovation, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Logging, Mining, National Parks, Parks, Pasture, Photos, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Public Health, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Research, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For the Amazon, 2021 was yet another year under the pandemic where the onslaught against nature never seemed to end. Deforestation continues, surging at year’s end Deforestation continued in the Brazilian Amazon, surging at the year’s end to reach its highest level since 2006. Agriculture is the primary culprit. In the Amazon, forests are cleared [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For the Amazon, 2021 was yet another year under the pandemic where the onslaught against nature never seemed to end. Deforestation continues, surging at year’s end Deforestation continued in the Brazilian Amazon, surging at the year’s end to reach its highest level since 2006. Agriculture is the primary culprit. In the Amazon, forests are cleared and burned largely to make way for cattle and soy. More than 13,235 square kilometers (5,110 square miles) of rainforest — an area three times the size of the city of São Paulo — was cleared between Aug. 1, 2020, and July 31, 2021, according to data released by the Brazilian government in November. Deforestation hotspots across the Amazon in 2021 (as of September 18). Data: University of Maryland (GLAD), Amazon Conservation Association/MAAP. Image courtesy of MAAP. This year, Mongabay reported on forest loss driven by illegal logging, palm oil, mining, roads, and some unlikely offenders, including açaí (the fruit in your smoothie bowl) and ayahuasca. Most of the deforestation in Brazil was clustered around roads. Satellite-based mapping of seven of Brazil’s nine Amazonian states shows the “terrifying” progression of logging toward the core of the Amazon. Experts say that lack of transparency around logging makes it difficult to determine how much of that logging is illegal. And so did the fires After the slash comes the burn. Fires don’t occur naturally in the Amazon, but are set deliberately to clear felled trees and plants, making way for crops and cattle. Overall, 76% of Amazon&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabays-top-amazon-stories-from-2021/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/mongabays-top-amazon-stories-from-2021/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251254</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>2021’s top ocean news stories (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/2021s-top-ocean-news-stories-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/2021s-top-ocean-news-stories-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2021 15:18:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Callie SteffenDouglas McCauleyEmma CritchleyMolly Morse]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/27050449/8.-Algal_bloom-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251144</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Commentary, Conservation, COVID-19, Critically Endangered Species, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Economics, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, New Discovery, Oceans, Overfishing, Plastic, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Science, Shipping, Social Justice, Species Discovery, Transparency, Water Pollution, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[1. The ocean-climate nexus The presence of the ocean was felt more strongly than ever at this year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 26), held Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. In fact, the COP designated an entire day as “ocean day.” Importantly, the negotiating language explicitly mentioned the ocean for the first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[1. The ocean-climate nexus The presence of the ocean was felt more strongly than ever at this year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 26), held Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. In fact, the COP designated an entire day as “ocean day.” Importantly, the negotiating language explicitly mentioned the ocean for the first time. Many countries included commitments to conserve, restore and sustainably manage coastal marine ecosystems that store “blue carbon,” such as mangrove habitats, seagrass meadows and coral reefs, as part of their nationally determined contributions. Simon Kofe, the foreign minister of Tuvalu, illustrated just how critical the link between climate and ocean is by delivering his speech knee-deep in rising seawater surrounding the Pacific island. A coalition of ocean advocates and heads of state, the Blue Leaders, also called for immediate action to address the impacts of climate change on the ocean. With 2021 marking the start of the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science, the increased focus on the ocean at COP26 was timely. Tuvalu’s foreign minister, Simon Kofe, addresses COP 26. Image courtesy of Ministry of Justice, Communication and Foreign Affairs, Tuvalu Government. 2. Big investments for conservation This was a year that big donors stepped up big for oceans and the planet. Jeff Bezos pledged to donate $1 billion to ocean and land conservation over the next decade as part of the Bezos Earth Fund. Some of the programs in the fund include ocean carbon sequestration projects, such as mangrove restoration and seaweed farming.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/2021s-top-ocean-news-stories-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/2021s-top-ocean-news-stories-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251144</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What has the pandemic done to forest policies? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2021 03:55:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aida Greenbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/22235551/natural-forest-vs-oil-palm-plantation_indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251035</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Forest Carbon, Forests, Greenwashing, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I have not traveled anywhere these past 2 years. I couldn’t travel even if I wanted to since Australia, where I live, closed its borders in March 2020 in a bid to contain the spread of the COVID-19. One of my cancelled trips this year was to attend the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow. I was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I have not traveled anywhere these past 2 years. I couldn’t travel even if I wanted to since Australia, where I live, closed its borders in March 2020 in a bid to contain the spread of the COVID-19. One of my cancelled trips this year was to attend the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow. I was a virtual participant instead, and was actually happy to not go. In addition to fewer emissions, the last thing I wanted to do was to be in a conference packed with 40,000 people during a pandemic. Considering the circumstances, I was hoping that the outcomes of the COP26 would be a drastic wake up call to act to save our forests and environment. Many scientists have written about how the current pandemic is closely linked to natural habitat destruction, deforestation, and the climate crisis. Based on that alone, one would think that regulations and policies which have been issued during the pandemic would be tightened to ensure that the state of the environment will not worsen. Right? At COP26, I was closely monitoring the development of the texts of the Glasgow Leaders&#8217; Declaration on Forests and Land Use, and was generally happy with the final version, especially the parts that state that signees are committed to ‘halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030’, and that signatories will strengthen their efforts to ‘not drive deforestation and land degradation’. But just like many happy moments, like the feeling after buying a new pair of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/what-has-the-pandemic-done-to-forest-policies-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251035</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lockdown underscores Uganda’s overreliance on tourism to fund conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/lockdown-underscores-ugandas-overreliance-on-tourism-to-fund-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/lockdown-underscores-ugandas-overreliance-on-tourism-to-fund-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2021 11:01:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nangayi Guyson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/21105049/Adult-Black-gorilla-Photo-by-Jo-Anne-McArthur_-UnboundProject-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250858</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Conservation Finance, COVID-19, Critically Endangered Species, Diseases, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Health, Mammals, Pandemics, Planetary Health, Protected Areas, Tourism, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA, Uganda — Tour guide Patrick Kataama relied heavily on income from leading gorilla-trekking tours in Uganda&#8217;s national parks. These tours were abruptly shut down in late March 2020, after the first COVID-19 cases were reported in Uganda and the country was placed under lockdown. “This came as a shock to me,&#8221; Kataama tells Mongabay. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAMPALA, Uganda — Tour guide Patrick Kataama relied heavily on income from leading gorilla-trekking tours in Uganda&#8217;s national parks. These tours were abruptly shut down in late March 2020, after the first COVID-19 cases were reported in Uganda and the country was placed under lockdown. “This came as a shock to me,&#8221; Kataama tells Mongabay. “I had just confirmed three tours to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park when I learned that Uganda was closing national parks. This meant that my income had been halted.” The Uganda Wildlife Authority closed all the country&#8217;s parks on March 26 to protect wildlife, employees and visitors. The authority said it would put measures in place to safeguard and conserve the country&#8217;s wildlife resources. “During the period when tourism was prohibited, the primary goal was to keep the gorillas habituated [to human presence]. As a result, we&#8217;re keeping track of all of those gorilla groupings,” Nelson Guma, chief warden at Bwindi National Park Service, tells Mongabay. Like humans, Bwindi&#8217;s mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are susceptible to COVID-19. UWA&#8217;s trackers were trained to wear masks, wash their hands thoroughly with soap or alcohol-based sanitizer, and maintain a safe distance from the apes to prevent the spread of infection from humans to wildlife. A mother and baby gorilla. Image courtesy of Ryoma Otsuka. Nature-based tourism Uganda has seen a tremendous increase in overall tourist numbers over the last two decades. In 2001, the country welcomed 205,000 visitors; in 2018, that number had&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/lockdown-underscores-ugandas-overreliance-on-tourism-to-fund-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/lockdown-underscores-ugandas-overreliance-on-tourism-to-fund-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250858</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal mangrove logging surges in Indonesia&#8217;s Batam amid economic hardship</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/illegal-mangrove-logging-surges-in-indonesia-amid-economic-hardship/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/illegal-mangrove-logging-surges-in-indonesia-amid-economic-hardship/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2021 15:27:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yogi Eka Sahputra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/10080822/Ribuan-kayu-bakau-di-amankan-polisi-yang-akan-di-Seludupakan-ke-Singapura-foto-Polda-Kepri-1200x661-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250442</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau Islands, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, COVID-19, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Pandemics, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BATAM, Indonesia — Indonesian officials in Sumatra’s Riau Islands province have reported a 280% increase in seizures of mangrove wood from would-be smugglers this year, attributing the surge in illegal logging to economic hardship among local fishers. Provincial police said they had confiscated 21,186 mangrove logs so far in 2021, up from 7,647 logs in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BATAM, Indonesia — Indonesian officials in Sumatra’s Riau Islands province have reported a 280% increase in seizures of mangrove wood from would-be smugglers this year, attributing the surge in illegal logging to economic hardship among local fishers. Provincial police said they had confiscated 21,186 mangrove logs so far in 2021, up from 7,647 logs in all of 2020. They said much of this mangrove wood came from the main island of Batam, with the logs destined for nearby Malaysia and Singapore. Police estimated the illegal sale of the logs would have deprived the state of 234 million rupiah ($16,300) in revenue. Logging of mangroves is illegal in Indonesia and punishable by up to five years in prison and 2.5 billion rupiah ($174,000) in fines. Mangrove wood seized from would-be smugglers in the Riau Islands. Image courtesy of the Riau Islands Police. A resident who asked not to be identified said a growing number of fishermen had turned to cutting and selling mangrove trees to earn a living because of declining fish catches. Customs officials said the economic hardship wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic has also compounded the problem. Hendrik, a coordinator of Akar Bhumi, a Batam-based NGO focusing on mangrove rehabilitation, said the illegal logging of mangroves was contributing to environmental damage across the Riau Islands, a small archipelago between the eastern edge of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. “Fish and shrimps lay their eggs between the mangroves, and if they’re cut down, then there won’t be a place for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/illegal-mangrove-logging-surges-in-indonesia-amid-economic-hardship/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/illegal-mangrove-logging-surges-in-indonesia-amid-economic-hardship/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250442</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Latest delay casts pall over WTO bid to end harmful fishing subsidies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/latest-delay-casts-pall-over-wto-bid-to-end-harmful-fishing-subsidies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/latest-delay-casts-pall-over-wto-bid-to-end-harmful-fishing-subsidies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Dec 2021 15:01:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/01145935/Fisherman-on-board-the-FU-YUANG-YU-380-Chinese-fishing-boat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250084</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, COVID-19, Developing Countries, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, International Trade, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, Subsidies, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Twenty years is a long time to talk about fish. But hopes that World Trade Organization (WTO) members would finally reach a meaningful agreement to ban subsidies that enable overfishing at the Ministerial Conference (MC12) this year were dashed Friday when organizers postponed the event indefinitely, due to concerns over the novel Omicron COVID-19 variant. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Twenty years is a long time to talk about fish. But hopes that World Trade Organization (WTO) members would finally reach a meaningful agreement to ban subsidies that enable overfishing at the Ministerial Conference (MC12) this year were dashed Friday when organizers postponed the event indefinitely, due to concerns over the novel Omicron COVID-19 variant. “This does not mean that negotiations should stop,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO’s director-general, said in a press release about the postponement. “On the contrary, delegations in Geneva should be fully empowered to close as many gaps as possible. This new variant reminds us once again of the urgency of the work we are charged with.” The global trade regulator is grappling with how to keep itself relevant amid rising calls for reform of trade rules made last century that observers say no longer fit present-day economic conditions. Many observers saw MC12, formally the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference and scheduled to run Nov. 30 through Dec. 3 in Geneva, Switzerland, as a chance for the WTO to prove its ability to conclude major trade deals and to reform its dispute settlement and negotiation pillars. Other major agenda items for the meeting were the waiver of trade-related intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and reform of the WTO’s organizational process. Okonjo-Iweala had emphasized the importance of the fisheries subsidies negotiation at an April meeting of delegation heads: “[C]oncluding these negotiations is a top priority for this organization, not only for the fisheries, but also for the WTO&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/latest-delay-casts-pall-over-wto-bid-to-end-harmful-fishing-subsidies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250084</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia slashes 2021 mangrove restoration target, vows to make up in 2022</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/indonesia-slashes-2021-mangrove-restoration-target-vows-to-make-up-in-2022/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/indonesia-slashes-2021-mangrove-restoration-target-vows-to-make-up-in-2022/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2021 14:04:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/17135504/WhatsApp-Image-2021-10-19-at-2.14.20-PM-1536x1139-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249582</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, COVID-19, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Pandemics, Politics, Rehabilitation, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BALI — Indonesia has revised down its 2021 target for rehabilitating mangroves in light of &#8220;technical hurdles&#8221; brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, according to the nation’s mangrove restoration agency. The new target is 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres), down from 83,000 hectares (205,000 acres), according to Hartono Prawiraatmadja, the head of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BALI — Indonesia has revised down its 2021 target for rehabilitating mangroves in light of &#8220;technical hurdles&#8221; brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, according to the nation’s mangrove restoration agency. The new target is 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres), down from 83,000 hectares (205,000 acres), according to Hartono Prawiraatmadja, the head of the Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency. The larger plan to rehabilitate 630,000 hectares  (1.55 million acres) by 2024 remains unchanged, he said. In 2022, &#8220;the technical hurdles that we encountered in 2021 will no longer be there,&#8221; Hartono told journalists during a virtual press conference in October. Indonesia is home to more than a quarter of the world’s mangroves — gnarled trees and shrubs that grow in sheltered, tropical coasts, where they buffer coastal communities against storm surges, tsunamis and sea-level rise, and bolster local livelihoods. Mangroves also serve as carbon sinks, storing up to four times as much carbon as other tropical forests, research shows. But the archipelago country has lost 40% of its mangroves in three decades as people harvest the trees for timber and clear them to make way for fish and shrimp farms, the Center on International Forestry Research (CIFOR) said in 2018. A mangrove ecosystem that feeds into Bali&#8217;s Benoa Bay. Image by Anton Muhajir/Mongabay-Indonesia. Last year, President Joko Widodo’s administration announced the nation would rehabilitate mangroves spanning an area four times the size of London by 2024. The president sought to promote the program through recent visits to rehabilitation sites&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/indonesia-slashes-2021-mangrove-restoration-target-vows-to-make-up-in-2022/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249582</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous guides warn of repercussions if we don’t fix our relationship with nature</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/indigenous-guides-warn-of-repercussions-if-we-dont-fix-our-relationship-with-nature/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/indigenous-guides-warn-of-repercussions-if-we-dont-fix-our-relationship-with-nature/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2021 16:27:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hernán VilchezTracy L. Barnett]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/28154604/Arhuacos-7-of-31-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248703</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Conservation, COVID-19, Culture, Degraded Lands, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Pollution, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When news of the COVID-19 pandemic came to the white-clad peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, nobody was very surprised. The Kogis, Arhuacos, Wiwas and Kankuamos, four Indigenous groups who reside in the region and refer to themselves as the Elder Brothers, had already received numerous warnings of viral diseases from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When news of the COVID-19 pandemic came to the white-clad peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, nobody was very surprised. The Kogis, Arhuacos, Wiwas and Kankuamos, four Indigenous groups who reside in the region and refer to themselves as the Elder Brothers, had already received numerous warnings of viral diseases from their spiritual guides, the Mamos, and their female counterparts, the Sagas. Trained since birth in looking toward nature for guidance, these spiritual mentors of the Sierra Nevada predicted an emerging pandemic and other ongoing crises decades ago. The Mamos warned that the Earth would be plagued with “unknown illnesses” — along with climate change and water and food shortages — as a consequence of the environmentally destructive practices of the “Younger Brothers,” meaning non-Indigenous society. According to the guides, humanity must return to the Law of Origin, the original instructions on how to live harmoniously with other life-forms on the planet, or be subjected to increasing levels of crises. The traditional clothing of the Arhuaco is woven with white maguey fibers to represent purity, together with conical hats that represent the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra. Image courtesy of The Esperanza Project. The first of four pandemics Since the Spanish conquest, the Elder Brothers have defended their land that borders the Caribbean coast of Colombia and extends to the peaks of the highest coastal massif in the world, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It is home to coral reefs, tundra, and the largest number&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/indigenous-guides-warn-of-repercussions-if-we-dont-fix-our-relationship-with-nature/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248703</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>COVID could wreak havoc on gorillas, but they social distance better than we do</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2021 09:17:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/22085800/gorillas-rwanda-volcanoes-national-park-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248444</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, East Africa, and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: The journal article discussed in this report, &#8220;Exploring the potential effect of COVID-19 on an endangered great ape,&#8221; was formally retracted by its authors Jan. 25, 2022. According to the retraction note, which can be read in full here, the authors made an error in their simulations and as a result &#8220;significantly overestimated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: The journal article discussed in this report, &#8220;Exploring the potential effect of COVID-19 on an endangered great ape,&#8221; was formally retracted by its authors Jan. 25, 2022. According to the retraction note, which can be read in full here, the authors made an error in their simulations and as a result &#8220;significantly overestimated the chances of extinction of the population should a COVID-19 outbreak occur.&#8221; Endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s famous Volcanoes National Park could face &#8220;population collapse&#8221; within 50 years if some of them contract COVID-19, new research suggests. There are only around 1,000 mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) left in the wild, all in protected areas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and tourists come from all over the world to see them. Although they&#8217;re susceptible to COVID-19 infection because they share a similar physiology to humans, there has been no recorded outbreak among wild gorillas. But outbreaks among closely related western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in zoos in the United States and the Czech Republic show that transmission between humans and great apes is possible and alarming. &#8220;It is crucial to anticipate the potential impact of emergent diseases such as COVID-19 on the dynamics of small populations of endangered primates,&#8221; researchers write in a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. The research, led by Fernando Colchero from the University of Southern Denmark&#8217;s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, used more than 50 years of gorilla population data gathered from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/covid-could-wreak-havoc-on-gorillas-but-they-social-distance-better-than-we-do/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248444</doi>				</item>
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