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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=el-nino&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/el-nino/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:36:06 +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 El Nino</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/el-nino/</link>
	<width>32</width>
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				<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s wildfire season surges as haze spreads into Malaysia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 14:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/13132905/image0-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326174</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Sarawak, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Disasters, El Nino, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Destruction, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Mammals, Monkeys, Orangutans, Pollution, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Threats To Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Haze from fires in Indonesian Borneo has drifted across the border into the Malaysian portion of the island, pushing air pollution there to “very unhealthy levels” and causing school closures. On Aug. 12, Sarawak’s Tebedu district, near the Indonesia-Malaysia border, recorded an air pollution index (API) exceeding 200, considered “very unhealthy,” prompting the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Haze from fires in Indonesian Borneo has drifted across the border into the Malaysian portion of the island, pushing air pollution there to “very unhealthy levels” and causing school closures. On Aug. 12, Sarawak’s Tebedu district, near the Indonesia-Malaysia border, recorded an air pollution index (API) exceeding 200, considered “very unhealthy,” prompting the government to close six schools and shift classes online. IQAir, a Swiss-based air quality technology company, ranked Kuching, the capital of Malaysia’s Sarawak state, as the most polluted major city in the world on Aug. 11. Air quality map of Southeast Asia on Aug. 11, 2026. Image courtesy of IQAir. According to Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS), 11 areas in Sarawak recorded unhealthy API readings on Aug. 11, up from eight on Aug. 9. The worsening air quality in Sarawak comes as fires intensify in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, which neighbors the Malaysian state. The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), which monitors and assesses wildfires and transboundary haze in the Southeast Asia region, observed smoke drifting from West Kalimantan into western Sarawak across several days in July. A map from the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showing haze coverage and wind direction in the southern ASEAN region on Aug. 11, 2026. Image courtesy of ASMC. As haze blanketed parts of West Kalimantan, authorities in the provincial capital, Pontianak, have suspended schools indefinitely and shifted classes online. Fires also affected parts of Sumatra. Haze from the western Indonesian island has historically drifted north to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326174</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Urban heat islands have solutions; many tropical cities can’t afford them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/urban-heat-islands-have-solutions-many-tropical-cities-cant-afford-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/urban-heat-islands-have-solutions-many-tropical-cities-cant-afford-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 00:34:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Adam Litchkofski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/12214622/5-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326095</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, China, East Asia, Global, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jakarta, Nigeria, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Tropics, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Biodiversity, Cities, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Development, Disasters, Earth Science, Economics, El Nino, Energy, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Plants, Poverty, Public Health, Research, Science, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Temperatures, Trees, Tropical Conservation Science, urban ecology, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Urban heat islands pose a growing global health threat. But in tropical cities, the peril is surging. Already burdened by hot-humid equatorial weather, global warming, intense poverty, rapid urbanization, and a lack of cooling infrastructure, tropical city officials now face a powerful 2026-2027 El Niño that could put millions of vulnerable urban dwellers at risk. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Urban heat islands pose a growing global health threat. But in tropical cities, the peril is surging. Already burdened by hot-humid equatorial weather, global warming, intense poverty, rapid urbanization, and a lack of cooling infrastructure, tropical city officials now face a powerful 2026-2027 El Niño that could put millions of vulnerable urban dwellers at risk. Heat islands form because artificial surfaces, like roads and rooftops, trap heat by day and release it by night, never giving highly-urbanized spaces time to cool. When climate change-induced heat domes stall over cities, temperatures can soar for weeks into the triple digits. Every “city has a rhythm, it has a metabolism,” Matthias Roth, a National University of Singapore researcher, told Mongabay in a video interview. “The metabolism of each city — especially how incoming solar energy is divided between heating surfaces, warming the air, evaporating water, and being stored in the ground and buildings — influences how much energy heats up buildings, surfaces, and air. The prevalence of concrete and asphalt and the absence of vegetation creates a heat island.” But not all tropical urban heat islands (UHIs) are created equally, with the severity of their heat burdens dependent on innovative city planning and the financial clout to keep pace with global warming. In wealthy Singapore (which has devoted high levels of funding to curb UHI effects), air temperatures can still swell; compact high-rise building complexes there can see outdoor temperatures 4.3° Celsius (7.9° Fahrenheit) above rural areas. But in poorer cities, like Lagos,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/urban-heat-islands-have-solutions-many-tropical-cities-cant-afford-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/urban-heat-islands-have-solutions-many-tropical-cities-cant-afford-them/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326095</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New fire satellites offer hope for Amazon and other biomes, but local barriers remain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-fire-satellites-offer-hope-for-amazon-and-other-biomes-but-local-barriers-remain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-fire-satellites-offer-hope-for-amazon-and-other-biomes-but-local-barriers-remain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2026 07:44:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Swift]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/29232759/Benjamin-Swift_APC_0045-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324873</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Disasters, Drought, El Nino, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Satellite Imagery, Solutions, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Record wildfires devastated South America in 2024, raging out of control in biomes where fire is a natural part of the ecosystem, but also entering rainforests that had never burned before. Driven by expanding industrial agriculture, an El Niño episode, and droughts worsened by global climate change, the thick smoke from the wildfires grounded flights, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Record wildfires devastated South America in 2024, raging out of control in biomes where fire is a natural part of the ecosystem, but also entering rainforests that had never burned before. Driven by expanding industrial agriculture, an El Niño episode, and droughts worsened by global climate change, the thick smoke from the wildfires grounded flights, shuttered schools, and caused lasting health problems. After favorable weather led to a reprieve from the most destructive fires worldwide last year, fire experts expect major wildfires to return to South America in 2026 and 2027. With fire season beginning in the continent, park rangers and firefighters hope that a trio of satellites launched in early July will provide more precise, rapidly updated data to wildland firefighters worldwide. The first three operational satellites from Earth Fire Alliance are meant to help improve global fire detection by providing frequent high-resolution wildfire data. These are part of the nonprofit’s FireSat program, which aims to deploy about 50 low-orbit satellites by 2030. The satellites are still being tested and calibrated, but in a few months, a first cohort of early adopters will gain access to the data. Once fully operational, the system could help fire agencies reduce emissions from wildfires worldwide by 5-10% yearly, according to Paul Bodnar, director of clean industry and special projects at the Bezos Earth Fund, which provided a $26 million grant to the program. The new satellites launch as the world enters an El Niño climate pattern that will likely mean drought and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-fire-satellites-offer-hope-for-amazon-and-other-biomes-but-local-barriers-remain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-fire-satellites-offer-hope-for-amazon-and-other-biomes-but-local-barriers-remain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324873</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Sri Lanka braces for El Niño, national parks are a concern amidst encroachment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 08:47:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21084441/sambar-in-sri-lanka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323944</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Human-wildlife Conflict, Impact Of Climate Change, National Parks, Parks, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Around 14% of Sri Lanka’s total land area is dedicated to wildlife protected areas, which includes more than 20 national parks. However, due to natural and anthropogenic factors, protected species such as leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) and elephants (Elephas maximus maximus) living in these protected areas face continuous threats as their habitats continue [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Around 14% of Sri Lanka’s total land area is dedicated to wildlife protected areas, which includes more than 20 national parks. However, due to natural and anthropogenic factors, protected species such as leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya) and elephants (Elephas maximus maximus) living in these protected areas face continuous threats as their habitats continue to shrink. Wildlife authorities say they have worked hard to strengthen law enforcement in the past decade to reduce encroachment of national parks and other protected areas but have had limited success. As Sri Lanka braces for an El Niño that is expected to hit the Indian Ocean island hard in November, wildlife enthusiasts and conservationists are expressing concern over managing animal populations inside these protected areas. A decade of encroachments The history of encroachment in Sri Lankan national parks dates to the colonial era and resettlement pressures following the armed conflict, which ended in May 2009. Srinath Dissanayake, a wildlife ranger with the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), said that over the past 10 years, there had been limited encroachments in most national parks except for parks situated near the former conflict zones in the island’s North and East. “The boundaries of most nature reserves and national parks were demarcated according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance (FFPO) No. 2 of 1937, which came into operation in 1938,” he told Mongabay. For example, the boundaries of Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve were demarcated in 2019, according to new regulations.“The DWC offices were established during&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/as-sri-lanka-braces-for-el-nino-national-parks-are-a-concern-amidst-encroachment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323944</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s only penguin species at risk from upcoming El Niño and bird flu, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 11:11:02 +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/20/2026/07/20110117/8SJ4530_%C2%A9AndreBaertschi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323856</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Science, Conservation, El Nino, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine Conservation, Penguins, Research, Science, Seabirds, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAN JUAN DE MARCONA, Peru — First, there was the H5N1 avian influenza of 2022, then El Niño arrived in 2023, disrupting coastal waters and fish availability. For Peru’s Humboldt penguins, the only species of penguins that breeds in the country, the burden was too heavy: Its population dropped by two-thirds between 2022 and 2025. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAN JUAN DE MARCONA, Peru — First, there was the H5N1 avian influenza of 2022, then El Niño arrived in 2023, disrupting coastal waters and fish availability. For Peru’s Humboldt penguins, the only species of penguins that breeds in the country, the burden was too heavy: Its population dropped by two-thirds between 2022 and 2025. Still recovering, the species is now facing a super El Niño that could further undermine its future. In early June, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned: “The science is clear: El Niño is arriving on our doorstep in the coming months with 90% certainty. The world must treat it as the urgent climate warning it is. El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.” Scientists studying the Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) in Peru say that they are already feeling the impact of the 2026 El Niño as warmer coastal waters drive the cold current carrying the main prey fish, Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens) or anchoveta, deeper and further offshore. That means the penguins and other seabirds are forced to undertake longer fishing trips to get enough food to breed or feed chicks. Scientists studying El Niño say the gaps between the events are getting smaller and the effects are more unpredictable. “Climate change is driving more frequent and more severe El Niño events,” Andres Lescano, director of Clima, the Latin American Center of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323856</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Costa Rica&#8217;s extreme climate changes the social behaviors of white-faced capuchin</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-costa-ricas-extreme-climate-changes-the-social-behaviors-of-white-faced-capuchin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-costa-ricas-extreme-climate-changes-the-social-behaviors-of-white-faced-capuchin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2026 18:15:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Adam Litchkofski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/16221627/6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323804</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, Global, Latin America, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Disasters, Drought, Dry Forests, Earth Science, Ecosystems, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Science, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COSTA RICA: Dawn is yet to break when primatologist Susan Perry and her field research team move through Costa Rica’s tropical dry forest for a day in the field studying Central American white-faced capuchin monkeys. Despite the darkness, the forest is humming. Perry calls this juncture “the changing of the guard,” when nocturnal animals end [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COSTA RICA: Dawn is yet to break when primatologist Susan Perry and her field research team move through Costa Rica’s tropical dry forest for a day in the field studying Central American white-faced capuchin monkeys. Despite the darkness, the forest is humming. Perry calls this juncture “the changing of the guard,” when nocturnal animals end their day and diurnal species are just beginning theirs. As the team approaches the site where the capuchin (Cebus imitators) sleep, the location of which changes nightly, spiders&#8217; glittering eyeshine emblazons the ungraspable dark of the forest. Perry, an evolutionary anthropology professor at UCLA, has researched capuchin monkeys living in and near the Lomas de Barbudal Biological Reserve for the past 33 years. She documents their complex social behaviors and group dynamics with a revolving team of scientists, capturing the intricacies of capuchin society while remaining on the periphery. A new study analyzing Perry’s observations of 12 neighboring capuchin groups over her 33 years in the field documents how extreme climate events, such as El Niño, alter the costs and benefits of living in large groups for capuchins. In the field, the researchers go through a highly intentional process to remain separate: Perry leaves her study subjects untagged and uncollared, and instead, identifies and gets to know each individual. These monkeys are listed as vulnerable by IUCN. They live in one of the most endangered and biodiverse habitats in the world:tropical dry forest. Due to deforestation and fire damage, just 1% of the original primary&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-costa-ricas-extreme-climate-changes-the-social-behaviors-of-white-faced-capuchin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323804</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Zambia’s bumper harvest masks likely food insecurity amid geopolitics and climate threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2026 13:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chisapi Kumbutso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/03133435/5433664321_547a088000_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322469</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change Denial, Climate Science, El Nino, Environment, Fertilizers, Finance, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Nutrition, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUSAKA, Zambia — The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, has prompted warnings that disruptions to the supply of fuel and fertilizer shipped through the Strait of Hormuz could cause food insecurity in some African countries. While experts say it will take time for the effects of the conflict to be felt in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUSAKA, Zambia — The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, has prompted warnings that disruptions to the supply of fuel and fertilizer shipped through the Strait of Hormuz could cause food insecurity in some African countries. While experts say it will take time for the effects of the conflict to be felt in Zambia, they also point to vulnerabilities in the country&#8217;s food system and suggest greater resilience to possible stresses. Zambia&#8217;s food security is generally understood to rest on a single crop: maize. Zambia Statistics Agency reports that the price of a 25-kilogram bag of breakfast mealie meal declined slightly from April to May. In fact, the price of mealie meal is 15% lower than it was this time last year. The FAO&#8217;s April 2026 country briefing for Zambia said good rains since last October point to a second consecutive year of above-average harvests of maize. The rains are also expected to support a rebound of wheat harvest, as full reservoirs mean a steady supply of hydroelectric power that will allow the crop’s growers (primarily large-scale, industrial farmers) to irrigate their fields. The briefing reported that reference prices for maize were 25% lower year-on-year in March, thanks to plentiful domestic supply and a strengthening of the currency. Maize meal prices also declined by 15%, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency. Drawing on the IPC classification, the FAO said the number of Zambians facing &#8220;crisis&#8221; levels of acute food insecurity in the six months to March 2026 was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322469</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A possible strong El Niño fuels fears for fires across Indonesian tropical peatlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 07:49:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rendy Tisna]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/02073825/peat-fire-in-borneo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Peatlands, Temperatures, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia&#8217;s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia&#8217;s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is the rice paddy cultivation activity that is being carried out on peatlands,” said Janang Palanungkai, who runs the Central Kalimantan office of Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi. Central Kalimantan is one of five Indonesian provinces on Borneo, a forested island twice the size of Germany shared by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have both determined that a strong El Niño is likely this year. An El Niño is declared when equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures remain more than 0.5° Celsius above average for several months. This warmer surface water sets off a global chain of climatic reactions, including hotter and drier conditions over Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands. “There is a 50% to 60% chance of a moderate El Niño starting mid-year, and the 2026 dry season is predicted to be drier than usual,&#8221; the BMKG’s Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan said in mid-June. Traditional fishermen are active in the peatland areas of Central Kalimantan. Image by Rendy Tisna/ Mongabay Indonesia. Satellite imagery from NASA&#8217;s FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) shows the distribution of hotspots in the West Kalimantan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322321</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South America’s farms depend, in part, on a healthy Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2026 08:30:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/22052817/amazon_201362-26x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321533</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Drought, Ecosystem Services, El Nino, Environment, Environmental Policy, Environmental Services, Fires, forest degradation, Forests, Hydroelectric Power, Natural Capital, Nature-based climate solutions, Precipitation, Rainforests, Restoration, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Soy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; The Amazon is often described in terms of how much carbon it stores. It also moves vast amounts of water. Its trees draw moisture from the soil and return it to the air through transpiration. Some rain caught by the canopy also evaporates back into the atmosphere. That moisture falls again, some of it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; The Amazon is often described in terms of how much carbon it stores. It also moves vast amounts of water. Its trees draw moisture from the soil and return it to the air through transpiration. Some rain caught by the canopy also evaporates back into the atmosphere. That moisture falls again, some of it inside the basin and some of it far downwind. For much of South America, the forest helps sustain rainfall, farming, hydropower, and urban water supplies. A recent paper in Nature, by Nico Wunderling and colleagues, gives this hydrological role greater weight in the climate case for the Amazon. The authors used a dynamical systems model and atmospheric moisture tracking to estimate how deforestation and warming interact across the basin. Without deforestation, their model finds a critical global warming threshold of about 3.7 to 4.0 degrees Celsius, beyond which up to a third of the Amazon forest risks losing stability. When deforestation is included, the risk becomes much larger at a lower level of warming. Under deforestation of 22% to 28% of the biome and warming of 1.5 to 1.9 degrees Celsius, the model finds a near system-wide transition affecting 62% to 77% of the forest. Rain over the Amazon. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler Those numbers should be treated carefully. The Amazon is not a single ecological unit. Western forests, southern forests, flooded forests, upland forests, secondary forests, and fire-damaged edges differ in species composition, rainfall, soils, and drought tolerance. A model cannot capture every&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-americas-farms-depend-in-part-on-a-healthy-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321533</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists fear fires could erase years of orangutan habitat recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 10:34:30 +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/20/2017/01/02083516/sabah_3982-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318990</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Great Apes, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Rainforests, Reforestation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires have burned part of a decade-long orangutan habitat restoration site in Indonesian Borneo, raising fears among conservationists that another severe fire season could wipe out years of recovery efforts before the dry season has even fully begun. A decade ago, Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI), the Indonesian affiliate of International Animal Rescue, began [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires have burned part of a decade-long orangutan habitat restoration site in Indonesian Borneo, raising fears among conservationists that another severe fire season could wipe out years of recovery efforts before the dry season has even fully begun. A decade ago, Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI), the Indonesian affiliate of International Animal Rescue, began restoring degraded orangutan habitat in Pematang Gadung village in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province, after villagers repeatedly reported orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) entering farms and eating crops. The incursions were driven by habitat loss. Large parts of the surrounding forest had already been degraded, including during Indonesia’s catastrophic 2015 fire season, when more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of land in and around the village were burned. Since then, YIARI, together with the government and local communities, have worked to restore the damaged landscape by planting trees that provide food for orangutans, with the hope that if enough food is available in the forest, the critically endangered apes will stop venturing into farmland. As of early 2026, the group had restored around 300 hectares (740 acres) with 150,000 trees, including fruit-bearing species favored by orangutans. Local community members planting trees at the restoration site of orangutan habitat in Pematang Gadung village in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan. Image courtesy of YIARI. The work is especially important because the remaining orangutan habitat in the area has become increasingly fragmented. Illegal gold mining operations now surround much of the forest, leaving wildlife confined to shrinking patches of habitat. “Once&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318990</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 17:55:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/29175125/drc_2606697x-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318421</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Congo Basin, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Analysis, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The rate of tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, reversing the record highs of the year before. On paper, it looks like progress. In reality, the dip is likely only a temporary reprieve. The decline followed an exceptional year for wildfires. In 2024, drought helped drive some of the largest fire-related losses on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The rate of tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, reversing the record highs of the year before. On paper, it looks like progress. In reality, the dip is likely only a temporary reprieve. The decline followed an exceptional year for wildfires. In 2024, drought helped drive some of the largest fire-related losses on record. In 2025, those climatic pressures eased, and the area lost to fire dropped with them. But the root causes—commodity-driven agricultural expansion, patchy enforcement, and growing climate stress—remain stubbornly in place. A single year’s improvement does not shift that fundamental footing. Tropical primary forest loss by year since 2002 What stands out is the pattern of loss. Forest loss is becoming less predictable, moving in sharper swings tied to weather as much as policy. Fire now accounts for a large share of global tree cover loss, and its behavior tracks temperature and rainfall extremes. When conditions align, losses surge. When they do not, they fall back. But the needle barely moves on the long-term trend: forest loss remains persistently high. Fire does not simply clear land; it hollows out forests in ways that make further loss more likely. Repeated burns thin canopies and dry the forest floor, eroding the processes that allow forests to recover. In parts of the Amazon, clearing has given way to a self-reinforcing cycle of decay, where degradation serves as a precursor to total forest loss. Climate is an increasingly active factor. Forecasts point to a likely El Niño in 2026,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-good-year-for-forests-changes-less-than-it-seems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Heat, fires and agribusiness squeeze traditional Amazon açaí harvesters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2026 07:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carla Ruas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/23204151/e.-GP0STPODX_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318072</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bees, Bioeconomy, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Farming, Fires, Food, Forests, Heatwave, Indigenous Peoples, Monocultures, Rainforests, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global craze for açaí is driving a plantation boom that leaves the forest’s original harvesters behind.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACARÁ, Brazil — “I’ve spent my whole life working with açaí,” said Eliseu Carvalho, 57, who cultivates the berry in a floodplain area next to his home in the municipality of Acará, in the Brazilian state of Pará. “I’ve always made a living from it.” But after a devastating wildfire near his community, Carvalho is now considering abandoning açaí harvesting altogether. Acará is one of the most productive açaí regions in the state of Pará, with thousands of small-scale producers working in forest patches and along riverbanks. In 2024, the municipality was severely affected by an intense wildfire season. More than 18 million hectares (44.5 million acres) — an area the size of Cambodia — burned in the Amazon that year, according to the Brazilian collaborative research network MapBiomas. Most of the burning occurred in forest areas, threatening frontline communities. Carvalho said he watched the flames burn for more than 20 days and consume almost 30 hectares (74 acres) of forestland. Prolonged drought conditions had left the humid vegetation unusually dry, leaving it much more susceptible to fire. “The flames spread through roots and organic matter,” he told Mongabay in Acará. “We would put them out on the surface, but they kept burning underground.” Açaí farmer Eliseu Carvalho shows his land in Acará, where a devastating wildfire burned down their açaí production in 2024. Image by Carla Ruas. When firefighters and volunteers finally managed to control the fire, about 2 hectares (5 acres) of açaí palms had burned to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/heat-fires-and-agribusiness-squeeze-traditional-amazon-acai-harvesters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318072</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 04:12:41 +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/20/2023/10/05111107/student-in-haze-kalimantan-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317563</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Health, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, 20 times higher than the same period last year — even before the dry season has fully set in. Scientists say this early surge could signal the start of a more intense fire season, especially as climate forecasts point to the possible return of El Niño. Some global forecasts suggest the event could become one of the strongest in at least a decade, raising the risk of prolonged drought and widespread fires, although significant uncertainty remains over how intense it will ultimately be. A strong El Niño would also likely reshape global weather patterns and could push global temperatures to record levels in 2027, due to the lagged warming effect the phenomenon has on the climate system. El Niño refers to a warming of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather patterns worldwide. In Indonesia, it is typically associated with drier conditions and heightened fire risk. Indonesian agencies have at times referred to the potential event as a Godzilla El Niño, a nonscientific term used to describe an unusually strong episode that could significantly intensify drought and fire risk. Indonesia’s meteorological agency, BMKG, says there is a 50-80% chance of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317563</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropics take the brunt as hotter oceans drive large-scale humid heat waves: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 14:01:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Adam Litchkofski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/10120444/0-Sunset_over_the_Pacific_Ocean_from_Maui_Hawaii-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317334</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Health, Heatwave, Ocean Warming, Planetary Health, Public Health, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As climate change intensifies, people around the world are learning firsthand how dangerous high temperatures can be. But prolonged heat becomes even more dangerous, and deadly, when paired with high humidity — a one-two punch known as a humid heat wave. Scientists report that humid heat waves have intensified rapidly over recent decades and are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As climate change intensifies, people around the world are learning firsthand how dangerous high temperatures can be. But prolonged heat becomes even more dangerous, and deadly, when paired with high humidity — a one-two punch known as a humid heat wave. Scientists report that humid heat waves have intensified rapidly over recent decades and are projected to worsen, raising the risk of significantly more heat-related mortalities. But quantifying the origins of these extreme weather events has remained challenging. A new study published in Nature Geoscience has identified and quantified a likely cause. It traced a strong connection between coastal waters heated by climate change and the development of humid heat waves that spread out over large areas inland — an effect especially pronounced in the tropics. “Compared with mid-to-high latitudes, the tropics encompass most [humid heat wave] high-risk areas and exhibit stronger land-ocean linkages, highlighting the critical role of tropical oceans,” according to the study conducted by researchers from Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Princeton University in the U.S., and Sun Yat-sen University in China. Humid heat waves — periods when high temperatures couple with high humidity — are particularly dangerous for human survival, Fenying Cai, study lead author with PIK, told Mongabay in a phone interview. Previous research indicated that even young, healthy people can experience dangerous heat stress when a wet-bulb thermometer (measuring ambient temperature plus relative humidity) has readings exceeding 31° Celsius (87.8° Fahrenheit), a point at which the body can no longer effectively&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropics-take-the-brunt-as-hotter-oceans-drive-large-scale-humid-heat-waves-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317334</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Is the Galápagos damselfish extinct?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/is-the-galapagos-damselfish-extinct/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/is-the-galapagos-damselfish-extinct/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2026 01:06:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/05013742/Galapagos_damselfish-Azurina_eupalama-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316982</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Galapagos, Latin America, Pacific Ocean, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, El Nino, Endangered Species, Extinction, Fish, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; A small, blue-gray fish that once gathered in loose schools along the rocky shores of the Galápagos Islands has become the subject of a more precise question: whether it is already gone. The Galápagos damselfish (Azurina eupalama) has not been recorded since 1983. Before that, it was regularly encountered. Specimens were collected by nearly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; A small, blue-gray fish that once gathered in loose schools along the rocky shores of the Galápagos Islands has become the subject of a more precise question: whether it is already gone. The Galápagos damselfish (Azurina eupalama) has not been recorded since 1983. Before that, it was regularly encountered. Specimens were collected by nearly every major scientific expedition to the islands across the 20th century, and divers could expect to find it at multiple sites. Its disappearance has therefore drawn attention not only for its outcome, but for its abruptness. Azurina eupalama, engraving of type specimen from Heller &#038; Snodgrass (1903). A recent paper by Jack Stein Grove and Benjamin Victor revisits the evidence and concludes that the species is now likely extinct. The paper, published in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, assembles historical records, ecological context, and decades of unsuccessful searches to argue that the absence is no longer plausibly explained by oversight. The timing points to a specific event. The last confirmed sighting came in the aftermath of the 1982–83 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), one of the most intense on record. During such episodes, the cold, nutrient-rich upwelling that sustains the Galápagos marine ecosystem weakens or stops. Warmer, less productive water spreads across the archipelago, reducing plankton availability and disrupting food webs. For a species like the Galápagos damselfish, this would have been consequential. It was an obligate planktivore, dependent on the steady supply of microscopic organisms that thrive under normal upwelling conditions. It&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/is-the-galapagos-damselfish-extinct/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/is-the-galapagos-damselfish-extinct/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316982</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil surge sharpens calls for Indonesia to shift away from fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 03:23:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01031350/5A269589-C332-4BC2-B240-4088D4141843-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316691</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biofuels, Carbon Tax, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Coal, Conflict, El Nino, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Just Transition, Oil, Palm Oil, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay for the transition. The crisis is already testing the country’s energy system. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil flows, have constrained supply, sending prices sharply higher from around $70 a barrel before the war began at the end of February. For Indonesia, the impact has been immediate. The country of 280 million people has been a net oil importer since 2003, and its economy remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels to power transport, industry and electricity. That dependence is now translating into rising fiscal pressure, currency risks and broader economic vulnerability. Yet the same shock is also sharpening calls to speed up the transition to renewable energy, even as policymakers move to secure more fossil fuel supplies and ramp up coal output at home. The ongoing global energy crisis, which the International Energy Agency (IEA) describes as the worst in recorded history, has laid bare the risks of Indonesia’s energy mix. The country consumes around 1.5 million barrels of oil per day but produces less than 700,000 barrels, leaving it highly reliant on imports. That exposure carries a direct cost. An analysis by the Institute for Development of Economics and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316691</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lanka sweats in scorching heat, but reasons ‘unlikely due to El Niño’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lanka-sweats-in-scorching-heat-but-reasons-unlikely-due-to-el-nino/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lanka-sweats-in-scorching-heat-but-reasons-unlikely-due-to-el-nino/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 05:44:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31051809/1000302421-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316616</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Heatwave, Public Health, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; COLOMBO — Amid the hustle and bustle of Pettah, one of the busiest marketplaces in the Colombo district, Sri Lanka’s commercial region, Sandya Jayasekara was busy cutting king coconuts for her customers. Despite the heat, Sandya must engage in her business outdoors to earn a living and to fund her medical treatment. “I have [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; COLOMBO — Amid the hustle and bustle of Pettah, one of the busiest marketplaces in the Colombo district, Sri Lanka’s commercial region, Sandya Jayasekara was busy cutting king coconuts for her customers. Despite the heat, Sandya must engage in her business outdoors to earn a living and to fund her medical treatment. “I have been selling king coconuts [Cocos nucifera var. aurantiaca] from a very young age,” Sandya tells Mongabay. “But sales are exceptionally low now because the price of a king coconut varies,” from 200-220 rupees ($ 0.63-$0.70). The heat is unbearable and sometimes my skin turns red, but I can’t afford to stay at home,” the vendor says. Sri Lanka has been experiencing warmer temperatures for a couple of weeks now, and the dry heat is making people avoid outdoors as much as they can. The latest heat advisory issued by the Meteorology Department shows an amber alert for several provinces, including the Western province. On Saturday, March 28, the highest temperature was recorded from the north-central district of Anuradhapura, at 39° Celsius (102° Fahrenheit), while Colombo recorded 39°C. Marimuththu Maheshwaran blames the heat for the reduction in fruit sales. Image by Kamanthi Wickramasinghe. Sweltering heat Meril Mendis, director at forecasting and decision support at the Meteorology Department, says the amber warning is meant for people to be prepared. “We use three colors: yellow is for people to be aware, amber to be prepared or the caution level and red to take action. But usually, warm weather prevails during&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lanka-sweats-in-scorching-heat-but-reasons-unlikely-due-to-el-nino/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lanka-sweats-in-scorching-heat-but-reasons-unlikely-due-to-el-nino/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316616</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thailand’s Hat Yai picks up the pieces in wake of devastating floods (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thailands-hat-yai-picks-up-the-pieces-in-wake-of-devastating-floods-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thailands-hat-yai-picks-up-the-pieces-in-wake-of-devastating-floods-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2026 02:29:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pakamas ThinphangaRichard Friend]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/04164536/Hat-Yai-2-MGBY-10-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313720</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Impact Of Climate Change, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HAT YAI, Thailand — Largely forgotten by the public, politicians and the media, the flood crisis that Hat Yai, the largest city in the south of Thailand, experienced in November 2025 is far from over. The waters have receded, but the recovery has only just begun. That the flood occurred should not have come as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HAT YAI, Thailand — Largely forgotten by the public, politicians and the media, the flood crisis that Hat Yai, the largest city in the south of Thailand, experienced in November 2025 is far from over. The waters have receded, but the recovery has only just begun. That the flood occurred should not have come as a surprise. Hat Yai has experienced devastating floods before, particularly in 2000 and 2010. The south of Thailand experiences seasonal heavy rainfall events, but with this being a La Niña year, additionally heavy rainfall was widely predicted. This time the flood came in two waves, with three-day accumulated rainfall reaching 630 millimeters (nearly 25 inches). On the morning of Nov. 21, it appeared the worst was over. According to Khun Nit, a 70-year-old resident of the low-lying Khet 8 area of Hat Yai, the streets were flooded just below knee level, but this appeared to be the full extent of the flooding. He was out in the street in front of his house posing and taking photos with his wife standing in the water, all smiles. This level of flooding is not uncommon, and while certainly a major inconvenience, nothing out of the ordinary. By the early hours of Nov. 22, heavy rain had begun to fall again, and through to the next day the floodwaters rapidly rose. At the same time, the news coming from the local government was that everything would be fine. The nearby warning system of color-coded flags on a bridge&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thailands-hat-yai-picks-up-the-pieces-in-wake-of-devastating-floods-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thailands-hat-yai-picks-up-the-pieces-in-wake-of-devastating-floods-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313720</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A &#8216;new baseline&#8217;: Study captures accelerating sea-level rise in Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2026 20:35:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/30190306/5-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313548</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Benin, Cameroon, Central Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, El Nino, Environment, Erosion, Flooding, Freshwater, Global Warming, Ice Shelves, Oceans, Sea Levels, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study. The study, published Dec. 15 in the journal Communications Earth &#38; Environment, found that sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study. The study, published Dec. 15 in the journal Communications Earth &amp; Environment, found that sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, on average, than they had in the 1990s. The primary reason was additional water mass from polar melt, rather than other phenomena that can cause sea-level rise, the authors found. “When you have ice-free summer [at high latitudes], it means that the water went somewhere,” Franck Ghomsi, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba in Canada and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “The glacier moved from ice to water, and it [water] started migrating. And it is the tropics [that] are now … getting this outflow of water.” The impacts include flooding, erosion of coastal land, displacement of coastal communities and intrusion of salty seawater into freshwater drinking sources. People in Africa are responsible for only a tiny proportion of human-caused global warming and yet face severe effects from the resulting sea-level rise, said Ghomsi, who is from Cameroon, calling this a “climate injustice.” He said that emissions from countries in the Global North are having a “huge impact” on countries in the Global South, including in Africa. Monthly sea level for Africa from 1993-2023. Annual means are shown in red. Sea-level rise accelerated over the 31-year period, with the rate during&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-new-baseline-study-captures-accelerating-sea-level-rise-in-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313548</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ocean set ‘alarming’ new temperature record in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/ocean-set-alarming-new-temperature-record-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/ocean-set-alarming-new-temperature-record-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2026 01:43:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/15195134/4-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Global, Pacific Ocean, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, El Nino, Environment, Global Warming, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every calendar year since 2019, ocean temperatures have reached new record highs. 2025 was no exception, according to a new study. The study, published Jan. 9 in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, found that the ocean heat content (OHC) in the upper 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) of the water column had increased by a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every calendar year since 2019, ocean temperatures have reached new record highs. 2025 was no exception, according to a new study. The study, published Jan. 9 in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, found that the ocean heat content (OHC) in the upper 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) of the water column had increased by a larger amount than in any year since 2017. “Holy shit, the oceans are hot,” John Abraham, a professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas in the U.S. and a coauthor of the study, told Mongabay. “I would say it’s an exceptionally large [heat] increase, and it’s surprisingly large and it’s alarmingly large,” he added. Global ocean heat content (OHC) changes for the upper 2,000 m (6,562 ft) of ocean waters since 1958, according to the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). A 1981-2010 average is set as the reference level. The black curves represent monthly changes while the columns show yearly changes. The green bars represent uncertainty estimates. Image by Pan et al., 2025 (CC BY 4.0). Lijing Cheng, a professor at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, seated in the green chair, led the multi-team study on ocean temperatures for calendar year 2025. Image courtesy of Chenhao Guo. The study was undertaken by 55 scientists in 10 research teams located all over the world and led by Lijing Cheng of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/ocean-set-alarming-new-temperature-record-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forest roots show strain as changes aboveground filter below</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/tropical-forest-roots-show-strain-as-changes-aboveground-filter-below/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/tropical-forest-roots-show-strain-as-changes-aboveground-filter-below/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2025 16:59:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Petro Kotzé]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/15090836/1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302479</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central America, Costa Rica, Global, Latin America, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Singapore]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, carbon, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystems, El Nino, Environment, forest degradation, Forests, Fungi, Plants, Precipitation, Rainforests, Research, Symbiotic Relationships, Trees, Tropical Forests, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The destruction of tropical rainforests — seen in shocking images of huge wildfires, vast clear-cuts and dying drought-stressed trees — is unfolding annually before the world&#8217;s eyes. But some serious changes in growing forests are occurring unseen, below the surface. As aboveground changes in those forests intensify, those effects are also filtering underground, and researchers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The destruction of tropical rainforests — seen in shocking images of huge wildfires, vast clear-cuts and dying drought-stressed trees — is unfolding annually before the world&#8217;s eyes. But some serious changes in growing forests are occurring unseen, below the surface. As aboveground changes in those forests intensify, those effects are also filtering underground, and researchers are sounding the alarm due to potentially adverse changes to tropical forest roots. Roots are key to how rainforest trees and soils capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide, especially as climate change progresses, says Daniela F. Cusack, associate professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability at Colorado State University. The hidden world of plant roots, and the impacts of human-caused stressors on them, is not yet well understood, but important clues are emerging. An overlooked science While underground plant growth is more difficult to study than what’s happening aboveground, roots are no less important than forest floor to canopy processes, explains Cusack, who is also a research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Scientists began looking at the complex tropical forest underworld about 40 years ago. Today, they know tropical tree species’ roots grow in a mat on the forest floor to collect nutrients from composting vegetative matter. Some trees have shallow root systems that run for more than 100 meters (325 feet) to steady the tall trees, especially since strong winds often rock the canopy. Others have evolved large, thin extensions of the trunk that begin some 6 m (20 ft)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/tropical-forest-roots-show-strain-as-changes-aboveground-filter-below/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/tropical-forest-roots-show-strain-as-changes-aboveground-filter-below/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302479</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2025 22:02:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/21213531/IF_Quilpue_24_2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299460</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, Republic of Congo, South America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Habitat Loss, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory, made available on World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. The data indicate a record 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory, made available on World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. The data indicate a record 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) of primary tropical forest was destroyed in 2024 — an area almost the size of Panama. Nearly half of this forest loss was driven by fire, according to WRI’s analysis of the data. Five times more tropical forest burned in 2024 than in the previous year. That made fire, not agricultural expansion, the primary driver of tropical forest loss for the first time. Non-fire related tropical forest loss was also up, by 14% compared with 2023. “The 2024 numbers must be a wake-up call to every country, every bank, every international business,” Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of GFW said during a press conference. “Continuing down this path will devastate economies, people’s jobs and any chance of staving off climate change’s worst effects.&#8221; In 2024, the Amazon experienced the worst drought — and fire season — in decades. Fires are normally rare in humid tropical ecosystems. But in hot dry conditions, agricultural fires, many lit to clear land, can quickly spread, driving forest loss in the Amazon and other parts of Latin America. The data revealed that in the Congo Basin, shifting cultivation remained the primary driver of tropical forest loss, with rates of forest loss in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299460</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global ocean temperatures set new record in 2024</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/global-ocean-temperatures-set-new-record-in-2024/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/global-ocean-temperatures-set-new-record-in-2024/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jan 2025 14:55:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/27153854/bleachedcoral-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, El Nino, Environment, Global Warming, Marine Conservation, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Average temperatures across the world’s oceans reached an all-time high in 2024, a new multi-team study shows. The temperatures surpassed even those of 2023, which themselves represented a marked uptick over any previous years on record, according to the study published Jan.10 in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. The ocean stores about 90% of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Average temperatures across the world’s oceans reached an all-time high in 2024, a new multi-team study shows. The temperatures surpassed even those of 2023, which themselves represented a marked uptick over any previous years on record, according to the study published Jan.10 in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. The ocean stores about 90% of the excess heat from human-caused global warming and is therefore viewed as a measure of planetary health. The ocean data “continue to indicate unabated trends in global heating,” says the study, which had 54 authors led by Lijing Cheng of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. “To know what is happening to the climate, the answer is in the ocean,” John Abraham, a thermal scientist at the University of St. Thomas in the U.S. and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. Ocean temperatures have risen steadily since the 1950s, when modern measurements were first taken. The graph shows the global ocean heat content (OHC) for the upper 2,000 meters (6,562 feet), relative to a 1981–2010 baseline. The energy unit is zettajoules (ZJ). One ZJ equals 10^21 joules. The within-year variation of OHC is shown in the inner box, with 2024 values shown in red. Image courtesy of Cheng et al. The long-term rise in ocean temperatures isn’t just an effect of climate change but also a cause. “[T]he weather is becoming more affected by warming oceans because the warmer waters add heat and moisture to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/global-ocean-temperatures-set-new-record-in-2024/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/global-ocean-temperatures-set-new-record-in-2024/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Severe drought in Peruvian Amazon isolated more than 130 Indigenous communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/severe-drought-in-peruvian-amazon-isolated-more-than-130-indigenous-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/severe-drought-in-peruvian-amazon-isolated-more-than-130-indigenous-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Dec 2024 10:27:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/18101153/Instituto-Chaikuni-Fotografia-Sophie-Pinchetti-Cuninico-Peru-Amazonia-Loreto-04-768x512-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291209</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Diseases, Drinking Water, Drought, Ecosystems, El Nino, Environment, Food, food security, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 130 Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon were left isolated after a severe drought caused rivers used for transport to dry up, leaving families with little food, water or health care access. This affected the livelihoods of communities that rely on fish for food and trade, as well as crops and native plants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 130 Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon were left isolated after a severe drought caused rivers used for transport to dry up, leaving families with little food, water or health care access. This affected the livelihoods of communities that rely on fish for food and trade, as well as crops and native plants and trees, a report by the country’s Ombudsman’s Office said. “It has been very difficult,” Apu Roberto Tafur Shupingahua, president of the Federation of Native Communities of the Tapiche and Blanco River, told Mongabay over a phone call. “I could not visit a health center because there are no roads around here. We are completely cut off.” The dry season usually runs from August to October, but this year it arrived in July, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru reported. According to the agency, the drought was a result of the El Niño phenomenon, which caused a change in the humidity of the Amazon, resulting in irregular rainfall during the flood season. This led to a reduction in river levels, and the dry season started with a deficit of 2 meters (6.5 feet). Major variations in the Amazon River&#8217;s levels can have dire consequences for communities depending on its waters. Image by Ryan Biller. Both El Niño and climate change have contributed to the lack of rainfall in the region, ongoing since mid-2023, but climate change also led to extremely high temperatures and increased water evaporation, according to a report from World Weather&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/severe-drought-in-peruvian-amazon-isolated-more-than-130-indigenous-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/severe-drought-in-peruvian-amazon-isolated-more-than-130-indigenous-communities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291209</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rainwater reserves a tenuous lifeline for Sumatran community amid punishing dry season</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/rainwater-reserves-a-tenuous-lifeline-for-sumatran-community-amid-punishing-dry-season/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/rainwater-reserves-a-tenuous-lifeline-for-sumatran-community-amid-punishing-dry-season/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Apr 2024 22:07:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Suryadi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/11134221/Muhammad-Erlangga-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Justice, Conservation, Drinking Water, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Public Health, Water, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[INDRAGIRI HILIR, Indonesia — Dahniar starts worrying after a few days without rain during the dry season here on the northeast coast of Sumatra. Traders selling water will complain of supplies drying up. Even Dahniar’s neighbors are reluctant to sell their water when the heat is on and anxiety begins to drip through Kuala Selat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[INDRAGIRI HILIR, Indonesia — Dahniar starts worrying after a few days without rain during the dry season here on the northeast coast of Sumatra. Traders selling water will complain of supplies drying up. Even Dahniar’s neighbors are reluctant to sell their water when the heat is on and anxiety begins to drip through Kuala Selat village. “It&#8217;s difficult if there&#8217;s no water — it’s even hard to buy,” Dahniar, a small business owner in her 50s, told Mongabay Indonesia. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, recorded a months-long drought last year across most of the archipelagic nation. The 2023 dry season was exacerbated by the El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole climate patterns, leaving much of Sumatra praying for rain well into October. Across the world, climate change is worsening the water stress felt in villages like Kuala Selat. Some 436 million children live in areas of high or extreme water stress, while three-quarters of all natural disasters from 2001-2018 were water related, according to UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s fund. Kuala Selat and other communities lacking access to piped water or viable wells are sustained mainly by the rain. A jerrican of rainwater here fetches between 15,000 and 80,000 rupiah (roughly $1-$5) depending on the size of the drum. And some families go to significant lengths to ensure they will meet their basic needs. Water buckets belonging to residents of Kuala Selat yellow and rusty because the ground water from the drilled well is not suitable. Image by Suryadi/Mongabay Indonesia.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/rainwater-reserves-a-tenuous-lifeline-for-sumatran-community-amid-punishing-dry-season/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As fires ravaged Indonesia in 2023, some positive trends emerged, data show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-fires-ravaged-indonesia-in-2023-some-positive-trends-emerged-data-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-fires-ravaged-indonesia-in-2023-some-positive-trends-emerged-data-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2024 16:22:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/08/23042411/indonesia_20150465-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280776</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Air Pollution, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, El Nino, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Carbon, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — 2023 saw the worst fire season in Indonesia since 2019, with an area the size of Qatar going up in flames, according to official government data. A total of 1.16 million hectares (2.87 million acres) of land and forest were burned last year, with an intense El Niño weather pattern a major factor. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — 2023 saw the worst fire season in Indonesia since 2019, with an area the size of Qatar going up in flames, according to official government data. A total of 1.16 million hectares (2.87 million acres) of land and forest were burned last year, with an intense El Niño weather pattern a major factor. The fires led to 13,260 hectares (32,800 acres) of primary forest loss, according to data from the University of Maryland available at the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform administered by the World Resources Institute (WRI). These figures, while alarming on their own, are much lower than the acreage burned and primary forest loss from 2019, when the country experienced a milder El Niño. That’s an indication that Indonesia is heading in the right direction in terms of fire prevention and mitigation, said Arief Wijaya, the program director at the WRI Indonesia. “Indeed, the government and the private sector already have strong commitments for [mitigating] fires,” Arief told Mongabay. “Even large concessions are working together with the people to tackle fires.” Hilman Afif, a campaigner at the environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara, said the new data highlight another, more disturbing trend: that major fire seasons are now routinely recurring every five years. One of the most severe fire seasons in Indonesia occurred in 2015, followed by a less intense one in 2019. That means the country can expect another major fire episode four years from now, Hilman said, with that four-year cycle potentially becoming shorter and more&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-fires-ravaged-indonesia-in-2023-some-positive-trends-emerged-data-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/as-fires-ravaged-indonesia-in-2023-some-positive-trends-emerged-data-show/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280776</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Another catastrophe’: Flooding destroys Indigenous agroforestry projects in Peru’s Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/another-catastrophe-flooding-destroys-indigenous-agroforestry-projects-in-perus-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/another-catastrophe-flooding-destroys-indigenous-agroforestry-projects-in-perus-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2024 14:55:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/26110609/Relief-Effort-in-the-Ene-March-2024.-Credit-CARE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280256</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Agroforestry and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Congo Basin, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agroforestry, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Rivers, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Flooding caused by heavy rains in central Peru in March displaced hundreds of Indigenous families and destroyed their sustainable agroforestry projects, raising concerns about how they’ll recover and what steps need to be taken to protect against future extreme weather events. Heavy rains likely caused by El Niño began flooding the Ene River the first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Flooding caused by heavy rains in central Peru in March displaced hundreds of Indigenous families and destroyed their sustainable agroforestry projects, raising concerns about how they’ll recover and what steps need to be taken to protect against future extreme weather events. Heavy rains likely caused by El Niño began flooding the Ene River the first week of March, with waters reaching around 2 feet high and spreading across 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of land occupied by around 300 Indigenous Asháninka families. The flood destroyed their crops and forced them to relocate to nearby communities. It represents a major setback for an embattled Indigenous group that has managed to develop sustainable agroforestry projects and protect surrounding natural habitats. The flood destroyed around 300 Indigenous Asháninka families&#8217; crops and forced them to relocate to nearby communities. Image courtesy of CARE. “Many of us have had our products affected, our crops,” said Ángel Pedro Valerio, resident of the Asháninka Central Indigenous Organization of the Ene River. “We have to start over again from scratch.” The Ene River, a tributary of the Amazon River, hadn’t flooded for nearly 16 years, catching the communities off guard despite the increasing frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change and El Niño. Five Asháninka communities have been most affected. Many lost their homes as well as years of work on the agroforestry projects, which included cacao, coffee and timber, among other products. For more than a decade, their cooperative, Kemito Ene, has been working with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/another-catastrophe-flooding-destroys-indigenous-agroforestry-projects-in-perus-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280256</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Studies still uncovering true extent of 2019-20 Australia wildfire catastrophe</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/studies-still-uncovering-true-extent-of-2019-20-australia-wildfire-catastrophe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/studies-still-uncovering-true-extent-of-2019-20-australia-wildfire-catastrophe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2024 01:28:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Haze Beat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/08132802/Kangaroo-Island-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279629</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Palm Oil, Plantations, Poaching, Research, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fresh research published in early 2024 continues to uncover the true cost on biodiversity, the economy and public health triggered by unprecedented wildfires that swept Australia in late 2019 and early 2020. “These results are an illustration of what can be expected in the future not only in Australia, but in other nations that are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fresh research published in early 2024 continues to uncover the true cost on biodiversity, the economy and public health triggered by unprecedented wildfires that swept Australia in late 2019 and early 2020. “These results are an illustration of what can be expected in the future not only in Australia, but in other nations that are vulnerable to climate-change driven disasters,” said Vivienne Reiner, the lead author of an economic study published in the journal Economics of Disasters and Climate Change. On Jan. 31 Reiner and colleagues published the results of their input-output study, a standardized method of assessing changes to goods and services in an economy. The researchers found that the catastrophic fires likely erased A$2.8 billion ($1.8 billion) from output in Australia’s tourism sector, an amount greater than the economy of Guinea-Bissau, according to World Bank calculations of the West African country of more than 2 million people. The input-output study was the first occasion in which researchers have documented changes throughout Australia’s entire supply chain. As a result, the researchers’ A$2.8 billion conclusion represented a 61% increase on the direct damages previously identified to tourism as a result of the fires. This total cost of the bushfires to tourism determined by Reiner and colleagues was higher than the amount Australia will spend over five years on increases to rent assistance for 1.1 million low-income households, according to Australia’s current national budget. “I expect that the impact of the globally unprecedented 2019-20 bushfires in Australia could continue to be&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/studies-still-uncovering-true-extent-of-2019-20-australia-wildfire-catastrophe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/studies-still-uncovering-true-extent-of-2019-20-australia-wildfire-catastrophe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279629</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Harsh dry season sours harvest prospects for Java coffee farmers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2024 15:18:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Moh. Tamimi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Pablourrutia]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/23093009/coffee-berries-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279128</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Coffee, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JEMBER, Indonesia — In good weather, Saturi’s coffee field here on a hillside on the east of Indonesia’s Java Island will produce around 2.5 metric tons of coffee beans over the course of a season. This year, he expects to get less than a ton. “The weather has meant there have been a lot of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JEMBER, Indonesia — In good weather, Saturi’s coffee field here on a hillside on the east of Indonesia’s Java Island will produce around 2.5 metric tons of coffee beans over the course of a season. This year, he expects to get less than a ton. “The weather has meant there have been a lot of fires,” Saturi told Mongabay Indonesia at his home in Jember district in December. Saturi’s story reflects the plight of farmers more broadly in the world’s fourth-largest coffee-producing nation, where the weather has lurched from extreme rainfall caused by a La Niña climate pattern that lasted from 2020-2022, to a punishing drought sparked last year by El Niño. This year’s coffee harvest in Indonesia is forecast to be the lowest in more than a decade. Jember farmers blame El Niño, in which above-average temperatures in the Pacific produce dangerously dry weather over Southeast Asia. Torrential rain over a long period can easily drown coffee flowers before they produce beans, while sustained heat and a deficit of water typically stunt coffee flowers and dry up the tree’s leaves. Indonesia recorded coffee output of almost 12 million 60-kilogram sacks during the season that spans 2022 and 2023, but total production in the current year is expected to plummet to less than 10 million as El Niño induces feverish temperatures across low-lying coffee areas. Saturi examining his coffee plants in Jember. Image by Moh Tamimi/ Mongabay Indonesia. Extreme weather has brought challenges to a diverse basket of food crops&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279128</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku farmers sweat El Niño drought as Indonesia rice prices surge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2024 07:19:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaya Barends]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/25064658/Marmi-a-rice-farmer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Rice, Tropical Forests, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers here on Buru Island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku region, 53-year-old Tamami set aside his field after the availability of water dried up. “There’s no rain,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers here on Buru Island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku region, 53-year-old Tamami set aside his field after the availability of water dried up. “There’s no rain,” Tamami told Mongabay Indonesia in Savana Jaya village. “The reservoir is empty because of the long dry season.” In a normal year, rice farmers begin planting the third and final rice crop of the year in October and November. But the emergence of the El Niño climate pattern made 2023 the hottest year on record, and extended Indonesia’s main dry season beyond October. Sutiah, a farmer from Waitele village, said planting on her 4 hectares (10 acres) of rice fields had failed owing to the extreme weather and water scarcity. The write-off will cost her family tens of millions of rupiah, she said. “What’s going on with this weather?” she asked. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, documented extremely low levels of rainfall in much of eastern Indonesia during the second half of 2023, including on the island where Sutiah and Tamami grow rice. From August to October, monthly rainfall in the Maluku region was consistently recorded in the low range of 0-100 millimeters (0-4 inches). Yeli Sarvina, a climate researcher at Indonesia’s national research agency, BRIN, said drought had decimated rice harvests across Buru Island. A farmer in Waeapo, Buru, leveling the grain from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>2023 fires increase fivefold in Indonesia amid El Niño</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/2023-fires-increase-fivefold-in-indonesia-amid-el-nino/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/2023-fires-increase-fivefold-in-indonesia-amid-el-nino/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2024 05:44:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/03052617/firefighter-peat-indonesia-army-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277520</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Air Pollution, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforests, Savannas, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires razed nearly 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) of lands and forests in Indonesia in 2023, as the country suffered from unusually scorching weather due to El Niño and burning for new plantations. Data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry show that as many as 994,313.18 hectares — an area 15 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires razed nearly 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) of lands and forests in Indonesia in 2023, as the country suffered from unusually scorching weather due to El Niño and burning for new plantations. Data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry show that as many as 994,313.18 hectares — an area 15 times the size of Jakarta — burned from January to October 2023. This means the 2023 fire season is the worst since 2019, when fires burned 1.65 million hectares (4.07 million acres). The size of the 2023 fires represents a fivefold increase from the 204,894 hectares (506,300 acres) of burned lands in 2022. But it still represents a 30.80% decline compared with the same period in 2019, when the El Niño weather phenomenon also brought a prolonged dry season. “We compared 2023 with 2019 because the El Niño is relatively the same. 2023 was even drier than 2019. But Alhamdulillah [Thank God] we can supress the fires to be significantly less than 2019,” the ministry’s climate change director-general, Laksmi Dhewanthi, said during an event at the ministry’s office in Jakarta on Dec. 27. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said she estimated the size of the fires would grow by the end of 2023, since the figure of 994,313.18 hectares represented fires as of October 2023. “I estimated that by the end of November 2023, the size of fires would grow by more than 200,000 hectares [494,200 acres],” she said during the event. “But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/2023-fires-increase-fivefold-in-indonesia-amid-el-nino/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277520</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>2024 outlook for rainforests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/outlook-for-rainforests-2024/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/outlook-for-rainforests-2024/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2024 05:16:36 +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/20/2024/01/03051316/indonesia_sulawesi_171067_24header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277302</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ghana, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, Forests, Green, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Tropical Forests, Year-end review, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last week, Mongabay published a recap of the major trends in the world’s tropical rainforests for 2023. Here’s a glimpse into some of the key issues to monitor in 2024. Brazil The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has declined significantly during President Lula&#8217;s first year of his third term, following the reinstatement of various [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last week, Mongabay published a recap of the major trends in the world’s tropical rainforests for 2023. Here’s a glimpse into some of the key issues to monitor in 2024. Brazil The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon has declined significantly during President Lula&#8217;s first year of his third term, following the reinstatement of various rainforest protection programs. However, Lula faces substantial opposition from Congress and state governments regarding his environmental policies. Despite these challenges, international support for the Amazon is bolstering his administration&#8217;s conservation efforts. Elections in DRC and Indonesia Presidential elections will loom large in two countries with extensive tropical forests, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Indonesia. In the DRC, President Felix Tshisekedi was re-elected in December amid controversy, with observers and opposition claiming the vote was neither free nor fair. Given Tshisekedi&#8217;s presidency coincided with persistently high deforestation rates and strong demand for the country’s minerals, his re-election likely indicates little substantial change in the current trend. However, escalating instability in the East, potentially aggravating the existing humanitarian crisis, could introduce further uncertainty. In Indonesia, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has emerged as the presidential frontrunner. Prabowo, a vocal critic of the E.U.’s Zero Deforestation Regulation, has drawn concerns from NGOs about the future of environmental protection in Indonesia. The nation&#8217;s consistent, albeit underrecognized, reduction in deforestation since raises questions about its continuation under Prabowo’s potential leadership. Wallace&#8217;s Passage in Indonesia&#8217;s West Papua. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler Carbon Markets After a challenging year marked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/outlook-for-rainforests-2024/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277302</doi>				</item>
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