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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/environment/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sun, 27 Sep 2026 06:01:21 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Environment</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/environment/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>NGOs call on Vantara to end all wild animal imports permanently</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:09:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25130359/Vantara-Ambani-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330863</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Ethics, Governance, Illegal Trade, NGOs, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of 27 global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations urged Vantara to permanently end all wild animal imports. The billionaire-run zoo in India, funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country&#8217;s largest corporation, has been under for fire for questionable acquisitions of its animals. In an open letter dated Sep. 22, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A coalition of 27 global wildlife conservation and animal welfare organizations urged Vantara to permanently end all wild animal imports. The billionaire-run zoo in India, funded by the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, the country&#8217;s largest corporation, has been under for fire for questionable acquisitions of its animals. In an open letter dated Sep. 22, 2026, and addressed to Mr. Amit Aggarwal, president of regulatory affairs at Vantara, the NGOs offer Vantara “suggestions for strengthening your practices and improving outcomes.” The letter came in response to a press statement from Vantara on Aug. 19, 2026, where it announced “voluntary commitments” including a 12-month moratorium on all animal imports, backdated to June 5, 2026. It said it has withdrawn all pending import applications and will not make any fresh applications. The statement also included a letter addressed to India’s CITES Management Authority, which oversees international commerce in endangered plants and animals listed under CITES, a global wildlife trade treaty. After the one-year moratorium expires, Vantara said it would import animals only from “a recognised and accredited zoological facility,” a “CITES registered facility” or for “a conservation breeding programme undertaken in cooperation with a range State.” It also announced an “independent” governing council headed by John Scanlon AO, the former CITES Secretary General, and a “mandatory three-stage review” will oversee any future animal acquisition. Vantara has acquired Tapanuli orangutans, one of the rarest apes in the world. Image by Tim Laman via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Vantara’s announcement came after investigations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/ngos-call-on-vantara-to-end-all-wild-animal-imports-permanently/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330863</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To tackle environmental crime, track profits through the whole supply chain (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:07:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ilona Szabó de CarvalhoRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/08201639/3.-mongabay_Image-by-Ibama-via-Wikimedia-Commons-CC-BY-SA-2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Mining, Natural Resources, Organized Crime, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is emerging on the assumption that intact ecosystems can generate enough economic value to protect them. A more destructive economy has been putting a price on nature for much longer. It makes money by extracting and selling it. Land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking are usually treated as environmental offenses, so responsibility falls to park rangers, customs officials and specialized police. That view badly underestimates what is happening. In a new paper for the Brookings Institution, we argue that environmental crimes are a serious drag on both sustainable development and climate action. They damage ecosystems and weaken the institutions charged with governing them. They also drain revenue from legitimate companies and public coffers. Enforcement alone will not solve a problem that runs through trade, finance and local political economies. An IBAMA agent participates in a raid on an illegal logging and mining operation within an Indigenous reserve. Image courtesy of IBAMA. Global criminal economy No one knows exactly how large this economy has become. A widely cited estimate puts annual proceeds at between $110 billion and $281 billion, but the true figure is probably far higher, perhaps in the trillions. What makes the business&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Farmers in South Africa’s Limpopo face unpredictable rainfall, uncertain futures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bernard Chiguvare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25133859/feeding-his-goats-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330882</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Fellows, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Mongabay.org, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MALALA DRIFT, South Africa — In Malala Drift, near the town of Musina in South Africa’s Limpopo province, drought and unreliable access to water are threatening the livelihoods of farmers. Some have abandoned crop production after struggling to secure enough water, while others continue farming under increasingly difficult conditions. The farms lie along the Limpopo [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MALALA DRIFT, South Africa — In Malala Drift, near the town of Musina in South Africa’s Limpopo province, drought and unreliable access to water are threatening the livelihoods of farmers. Some have abandoned crop production after struggling to secure enough water, while others continue farming under increasingly difficult conditions. The farms lie along the Limpopo River, which separates South Africa from Zimbabwe. But even with a major river nearby, access to reliable water supply is not guaranteed. Farmers say rainfall has become increasingly unpredictable in the past decade, and when the river level falls, they sometimes pay an excavation company to dig into the riverbed to reach water, adding to the cost of keeping their farms operating. The effects of the water scarcity are visible at one of the farms Mongabay visits. Poles that once supported tomato plants are scattered across the property, while irrigation pipes are obscured by overgrown grass. No crops are growing. Kanny Ndou, who used to work here as a laborer and now takes care of the property, said the farm previously produced potatoes, butternut squash and tomatoes for sale in Musina. But after 10 years, Ndou said, the owner stopped farming in 2025 because of unreliable water supply. “We used to grow a variety of vegetables for sale in Musina, but due to inconsistent water supply, the farm decided to stop farming last year,” he said. For years, farmers had faced unpredictable outcomes: a good harvest one season, a bad one the next, he said. Some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/farmers-in-south-africas-limpopo-face-unpredictable-rainfall-uncertain-futures/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330882</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists clone Southern Africa’s wild fruit trees as forests disappear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 15:56:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25122455/Loquat_coppice-edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330841</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Malawi, Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Food, food security, Forests, Natural Resources, Nutrition, Plants, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plant geneticist Alice Muchugi recalls meeting a group of furious fruit sellers on the side of a dusty road not far from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, in 2024. They told her that a group of men armed with chainsaws had felled some of the district’s most prolific fruit trees, robbing the women of a steady source [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plant geneticist Alice Muchugi recalls meeting a group of furious fruit sellers on the side of a dusty road not far from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, in 2024. They told her that a group of men armed with chainsaws had felled some of the district’s most prolific fruit trees, robbing the women of a steady source of income: the trees’ sweet, yellow, apricot-sized berries. The men wanted the wood from the trees to burn in brick-making kilns, Muchugi said. Muchugi, leader for tree diversity and productivity at the Landscape Alliance, an international forestry and agroforestry research organization, immediately knew which trees the women were referring to. They were wild loquats (Uapaca kirkiana), cloned more than 20 years ago from superior mother trees in 25 different geographical locations across four countries within the region and growing at her organization’s field gene bank in Domboshava, around 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of Harare. The sweet fruit of the wild loquat tree is highly popular throughout Southern and East Africa. Image courtesy of Brian Nduw. Once data on the trees had been collected by staff at the gene bank — essentially an orchard dedicated to growing clones of especially fruitful wild trees — the women had been given permission to harvest the fruit for sale, Muchugi said. The loss of the trees after the loggers stole onto the gene bank’s land under cover of darkness highlighted the challenges facing both fruit collectors and plant geneticists. “One night you can wake up and find everything&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-clone-southern-africas-wild-fruit-trees-as-forests-disappear/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330841</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global coral reefs get less time to recover as oceans heat up, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-coral-reefs-get-less-time-to-recover-as-oceans-heat-up-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-coral-reefs-get-less-time-to-recover-as-oceans-heat-up-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 15:48:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25123746/a.-fish-on-reef-24175296337_7fdf5baf6e_o1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330827</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, El Nino, Fish, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s coral reefs are losing both hard coral cover and, just as critically, the time they need to recover between increasingly frequent marine heat waves, according to the most comprehensive global reef assessment yet. Released Aug. 31 by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s coral reefs are losing both hard coral cover and, just as critically, the time they need to recover between increasingly frequent marine heat waves, according to the most comprehensive global reef assessment yet. Released Aug. 31 by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025” draws on 21.1 million observations from 87,299 surveys at 36,886 sites across 123 reef-bearing countries, territories and economies, collected between 1980 and 2024. The report estimates that global hard coral cover, defined as the proportion of reef surface covered by living hard corals, fell from an average of 30.2% during a 1980-2009 reference period to an average of 27.3% between 2020 and 2024. That represents a decline of 2.9 percentage points, or 9.5% relative to the reference period. The assessment characterizes this estimate as conservative: Monitoring began after many reefs had already been degraded, and uneven data coverage can limit comparisons across regions. Hard coral cover dropped further to 25.8% in 2024. The report focuses on hard coral cover because hard corals are ecosystem engineers, and their cover is readily measured, easily understood and consistently monitored worldwide, allowing comparisons across regions and over time. A variety of fish species swim above a patch reef 24 meters (80 feet) deep at French Frigate Shoals, a large coral atoll in the Hawaiian Islands. Image by Andrew Gray/NOAA via Flickr (Free to use). From April 2023 to mid-2025, coral reefs experienced a fourth global bleaching event, declared by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/global-coral-reefs-get-less-time-to-recover-as-oceans-heat-up-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330827</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps become increasingly vulnerable to landslides</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 12:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/25114122/rohingya-camp-in-monsoon-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330815</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Governance, Human Rights, Landslides, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[According to a report by the Bangladeshi government, released on Sept. 16, more than 150,000 Rohingya people fleeing persecution in Myanmar have entered the country’s 33 Rohingya camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya areas of Cox’s Bazar in the last few months. The camps, spread across roughly 24 square kilometers (9.2 square miles), officially host 1,170,978 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[According to a report by the Bangladeshi government, released on Sept. 16, more than 150,000 Rohingya people fleeing persecution in Myanmar have entered the country’s 33 Rohingya camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya areas of Cox’s Bazar in the last few months. The camps, spread across roughly 24 square kilometers (9.2 square miles), officially host 1,170,978 dwellers — more than (more than 124,300 people per square mile) — making the densely packed settlements increasingly congested and vulnerable to collapse as new arrivals continue to enter the limited space, according to the report by the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC). Several studies show that the camps, built on sandy hill slopes after large areas of reserved forest were cleared, are also highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Every year, heavy monsoon downpours trigger landslides in Rohingya camps. This year, between July 4 and 19, more than 200 landslides occurred in the Rohingya camps, killing at least 15 people, including five adolescent girls. Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya, Cox&#8217;s Bazar. Amid recurring landslides, growing numbers of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are being forced to adapt to increasingly limited camp space. Image by Md shameem ul islam via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told Mongabay on Sept. 8, “The refugee community demands camp expansion with continued influx from Myanmar. But any expansion means destruction of new forests and hills, and Bangladesh cannot afford it anymore.” The Rohingya influx in 2017 initially caused&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/bangladeshs-rohingya-refugee-camps-become-increasingly-vulnerable-to-landslides/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330815</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pakistan expands protected habitat for Indus River dolphin as recovery offers hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pakistan-expands-protected-habitat-for-indus-river-dolphin-as-recovery-offers-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pakistan-expands-protected-habitat-for-indus-river-dolphin-as-recovery-offers-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 21:28:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhammad Talal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24130618/%D9%BE%D8%A7%DA%A9%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%DA%A9%D8%A7_%D9%82%D9%88%D9%85%DB%8C_%D8%A2%D8%A8%DB%8C_%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C_%D9%85%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%DB%8C%DB%81-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330706</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Pakistan, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Freshwater, Habitat, Mammals, Mongabay.org, Rivers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between 11 million and 16 million years ago, during the high sea levels of the middle Miocene period, the ancestors of the Indus River dolphin entered the muddy waters of what is the Indus Basin today. Over millennia, they adapted to their new environment through extraordinary evolutionary shifts, developing sophisticated echolocation while gradually losing their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between 11 million and 16 million years ago, during the high sea levels of the middle Miocene period, the ancestors of the Indus River dolphin entered the muddy waters of what is the Indus Basin today. Over millennia, they adapted to their new environment through extraordinary evolutionary shifts, developing sophisticated echolocation while gradually losing their eyesight. Today, these blind mammals, living mostly in Pakistan (with a small population in northwestern India), navigate the river&#8217;s shallow, dry-season waters by swimming on their sides. Yet, these evolutionary marvels offer little defense against the modern transformation of their habitat. That habitat is fragmented by vast networks of dams, human-made canals and irrigation barrages. Consequently, the Indus River dolphin (Platanista minor), locally known as the bhulan, has seen its historical range slashed by approximately 80%. The species, which boasted an estimated population of 10,000 in the late 19th century, plummeted to just 617 individuals by 2001 before rebounding to around 2,000 over the next decade. The Indus River dolphin is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In response, Pakistan&#8217;s government has officially created the Punjnad Indus River Dolphin Sanctuary in June 2026, safeguarding nearly 200 kilometers (123 miles) of the river in Punjab. This new zone connects with an existing protected area in Sindh province, southeastern Pakistan, that creates a contiguous 400-km (249-mi) stretch of legally protected habitat, offering a critical lifeline to one of the world&#8217;s rarest freshwater dolphins. The timing of this legal protection is of the essence, as a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/pakistan-expands-protected-habitat-for-indus-river-dolphin-as-recovery-offers-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330706</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s tropical forest fund races to raise $2.7 billion before deadline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 17:43:29 +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/20/2026/09/24114238/I.-Orange-winged-amazon-Amazona-amazonica-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330616</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Latin America, South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Finance, Forests, Funding, Governance, Politics, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A historic billion-dollar rainforest pledge can collapse if global donors fail to act by December.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a new investment fund launched at COP30 by Brazil, has attracted about $7.3 billion in initial sponsor capital. The initiative aims to compensate tropical forest countries for preserving forest areas. But despite recent pledges, the fund remains short of its $10 billion fundraising goal for the end of 2026. After the 2025 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, TFFF received a wave of political support, with over 60 nations endorsing its launch declaration and five countries announcing investments. Since then, the pace of financial commitments has been slower. Only Luxembourg and the U.K. have made government pledges this year, totaling around $600 million, while the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy committed another $5 million. The fund has now less than four months to raise $2.7 billion and meet its target. The $10 billion benchmark is especially important because Norway’s $3 billion pledge — part of that total — will only be released once the goal is met. “I’m in a period of anticipation right now, but also optimistic that we’ll get there,” Carlos Rittl told Mongabay. Rittl is the director of public policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has contributed to TFFF’s environmental design. “There is no indication that the system itself is in doubt. But for countries to sign checks, the rules need to be very clear.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attend the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility. Image by © UN&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/brazils-tropical-forest-fund-races-to-raise-2-7-billion-before-deadline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330616</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, women seek ownership rights to the lands they tend</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 16:50:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Haven Sager]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23143406/paddy-field-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330580</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Culture, Environment, Farming, Gender, Land Rights, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — Before Binita Bishwokaarma understood Nepal’s property laws, she understood the work required to sustain a farm. Growing up in the village of Sindhupalchok, east of the capital, Kathmandu, she spent much of her time helping her mother around the house and in the fields while her father worked in the city. It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — Before Binita Bishwokaarma understood Nepal’s property laws, she understood the work required to sustain a farm. Growing up in the village of Sindhupalchok, east of the capital, Kathmandu, she spent much of her time helping her mother around the house and in the fields while her father worked in the city. It’s a common scenario in Nepal, where gendered divisions of agricultural labor are widespread. For Bishwokaarma, that meant she and her mother grew maize, potatoes, garlic and other vegetables. She participated in the entire agricultural cycle, from preparing fields and planting crops to harvesting them. She enjoyed plowing the most, but it was physically demanding because the family lacked modern machinery. “We didn&#8217;t have tractors,” she said. “So, everything, start to ending, we had to do with our own hands. It was really hard.” It’s what many women and girls experience. And yet, their prospects for owning the land they tend are slim: Despite gender equality under the law, in Nepal, property rights rest mostly with men. Still, it’s women — accounting for nearly 70% of the country’s farming population — whom Bishwokaarma credits most with caring for the land. Throughout her childhood, she saw how dedicated women were to conserving their environment. She explained that many women learn from childhood how to keep the soil healthy and reduce pests naturally through mixed cropping, crop rotation and intercropping. Farmers harvest paddy at Bhaktapur, Nepal. Agriculture is the main source of food, income and employment for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330580</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New report reveals the environmental cost of USAID’s destruction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-report-reveals-the-environmental-cost-of-usaids-destruction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-report-reveals-the-environmental-cost-of-usaids-destruction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 14:36:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24142704/USAID-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330732</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Foreign Aid, Politics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two years after U.S. President Trump’s decision to dismantle international development agency USAID removed nearly $1 billion from global conservation and environment funding, the agency’s absence is being felt across the world, a new analysis says. The abrupt termination of around 5,200 contracts in early 2025 ended support for activities as varied as plastic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two years after U.S. President Trump’s decision to dismantle international development agency USAID removed nearly $1 billion from global conservation and environment funding, the agency’s absence is being felt across the world, a new analysis says. The abrupt termination of around 5,200 contracts in early 2025 ended support for activities as varied as plastic waste collection from beaches in East Africa, wildlife ranger patrols in Vietnam and crop substitution for coca farmers in the Amazon. Without USAID’s support, long-running projects intended to protect landscapes and support environmental policymaking have floundered or collapsed, according to the authors of the new report. “It’s a more fragmented and less-coordinated approach to solving global environmental problems, and we’re leaving communities and people behind because of that,” said Monica Bansal, co-author and former director of USAID’s Center for Energy, Infrastructure, and Cities. The 166-page report is the first comprehensive review of the impact of USAID’s closure on its nature-related initiatives. It was produced by consultancy firm One Earth Partners, which was founded in 2025 by Bansal and former USAID Natural Climate Solutions Division chief Hadas Kushnir. The report uses survey data and interviews with 150 people connected to USAID’s work in Bangladesh, Peru, Kenya, Colombia and Vietnam. In the 2024 fiscal year, USAID spent $365.75 million on biodiversity conservation, $256.5 million on climate adaptation, $247 million on clean energy, and an additional $232.25 million on natural climate solutions, ocean plastics, and pollution. Morris Wamah, the director for the Liberian Initiative for Development Services, who&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-report-reveals-the-environmental-cost-of-usaids-destruction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330732</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Lost’ bird reappears in West Africa’s forests after more than a decade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lost-bird-reappears-in-west-africas-forests-after-more-than-a-decade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lost-bird-reappears-in-west-africas-forests-after-more-than-a-decade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 14:27:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23125402/Ghana-Cuckooshrike1_Stephanie-Bartlett-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330560</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Protected Areas, Rediscovered Species, Research, Species, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Paulo Ditzel first laid eyes on the bird, he knew he’d seen something special: a vibrant orange body with yellow and black wings and tail feathers, topped by a dark head set off by almost-whimsical splashes of copper on its cheek. &#8220;My brain registered, it&#8217;s the Ghana cuckooshrike,&#8221; Ditzel, a field research fellow with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Paulo Ditzel first laid eyes on the bird, he knew he’d seen something special: a vibrant orange body with yellow and black wings and tail feathers, topped by a dark head set off by almost-whimsical splashes of copper on its cheek. &#8220;My brain registered, it&#8217;s the Ghana cuckooshrike,&#8221; Ditzel, a field research fellow with the International Bird Conservation Partnership (IBCP), tells Mongabay. A surge of excitement rippled through him, he says. Still, the sighting also immediately sparked &#8220;the most chaotic calm,&#8221; as he stood next to his partner and teammate Stephanie Bartlett on a bridge not far from an ecological research station in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park. &#8220;OK, what do I do?&#8221; he says he remembers thinking. &#8220;Priority right now is that Stephanie gets a picture.&#8221; Over the next few moments, Ditzel locked onto the bird with his binoculars and called out its movements to Bartlett, also an IBCP field research fellow. In almost-choreographed coordination, Bartlett trained her camera lens on the branches across the stream and pressed the shutter button. &#8220;I got a photo of the bird before I saw it,&#8221; Bartlett says. In six months of bird surveys in West Africa supported by U.S.-based IBCP, she says, she&#8217;d come to expect only fleeting glances of the region&#8217;s birds. &#8220;They&#8217;re scared of you. You don&#8217;t get to get close to them, and so often you have to use the camera as a tool for identification.&#8221; &#8220;If I had seen that bird with anyone else, it wouldn&#8217;t have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/lost-bird-reappears-in-west-africas-forests-after-more-than-a-decade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330560</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Earth life support systems are flashing red, warns 2026 Planetary Health Check</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 13:55:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24123717/Hurricane-Melissa-as-seen-from-the-International-Space-Station-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330685</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Boundaries, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Human activities continue eroding the planet’s stability, resilience and life-support functions, the third edition of the Planetary Health Check released in September warns. The “scary” part of the 2026 report, says lead co-author Levke Caesar, is that the trends are largely going in the wrong direction. “We still have seven out of the nine planetary [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Human activities continue eroding the planet’s stability, resilience and life-support functions, the third edition of the Planetary Health Check released in September warns. The “scary” part of the 2026 report, says lead co-author Levke Caesar, is that the trends are largely going in the wrong direction. “We still have seven out of the nine planetary boundaries are transgressed, and actually for those seven, the pressure is increasing,” she told Mongabay in an interview. The report is co-published by the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Planetary Guardians, an NGO. Last year, ocean acidification became the seventh planetary boundary to pass its safe limit, alongside the already transgressed climate change, biosphere integrity, novel entities, freshwater, land use change, and biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorous pollution) boundaries. All seven continue heading further into the danger zone based on recent data featured in the report. Meanwhile, the stratospheric ozone depletion boundary remains stable, though the new report underlines that the recovery of the atmospheric ozone layer appears to have plateaued. Atmospheric aerosol loading risk — due to emissions of a wide range of polluting particulates — is declining globally, but regionally South Asia remains beyond safe limits and that trend is worsening. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries have now been breached, threatening the safe operating space for humanity, according to scientists. Image courtesy of Planetary Health Check 2026. The “solemn, silent message” of the 2026 report is that the global situation is still far&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/earth-life-support-systems-are-flashing-red-warns-2026-planetary-health-check/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330685</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s geothermal push runs into local fears at Mount Ungaran</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 13:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Triyo Handoko]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/24124550/7488ea4d-a47b-4173-8648-2d577f41d37a-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330698</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Alternative Energy, Conflict, Conservation, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environment, Geothermal Energy, Human Rights, Natural Resources, Protests, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Communities living near Mount Ungaran in Indonesia’s Central Java province have slammed plans to revive a geothermal power project there, saying it could threaten water supplies and farming livelihoods. The latest opposition follows a decision in August by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources allowing the state-owned electricity utility, PLN, to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Communities living near Mount Ungaran in Indonesia’s Central Java province have slammed plans to revive a geothermal power project there, saying it could threaten water supplies and farming livelihoods. The latest opposition follows a decision in August by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources allowing the state-owned electricity utility, PLN, to conduct geothermal exploration and development at Mount Ungaran. Local opposition to the plans began in 2008, shortly after the ministry first designated Ungaran, an active volcano, as a geothermal working area. The latest decision has revived the long-running dispute between the government and local communities. Rahman, coordinator of the Semarang Menggugat Alliance (ASM), said communities around Mount Ungaran depended on farming and local water sources, and feared the project could affect both. “We can already make a living from farming,” Rahman, a resident of Bawen subdistrict, said in early September. “If geothermal development goes ahead, we are concerned that our water sources could decline or become polluted, affecting agriculture.” Mount Ungaran’s peak as seen from the Tanggul Lawang hiking trail. Image by Triyo Handoko/Mongabay Indonesia. Indonesia sits in one of the most seismically active zones in the world, which gives it massive potential to generate electricity from geothermal energy: an estimated 23.2 gigawatts, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The ministry describes Indonesia as having the world’s largest geothermal resource potential, ahead of countries including the United States and the Philippines. But the country’s total installed geothermal capacity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indonesias-geothermal-push-runs-into-local-fears-at-mount-ungaran/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330698</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Planned US tech hub in Philippines hit over environmental and Indigenous land concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 22:04:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Beltran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23152143/Protest-at-grand-hyatt-and-clashes-with-police-21-of-25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330602</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Conflict, Law, Protests, and Resource Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also gathered, carrying signs that read “No to Pax Silica!” The scene reflected both the government’s ambitious [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived at the Grand Hyatt Manila on Sept. 10 to address hundreds of foreign business representatives assembled for the Luzon Economic Corridor investors’ forum. Outside the hotel, hundreds of demonstrators had also gathered, carrying signs that read “No to Pax Silica!” The scene reflected both the government’s ambitious plans to ride the artificial intelligence wave, and deep ambivalence in civil society. Police confronted the crowd, shoving them with riot shields and batons on the street outside the hotel lobby. Activists say police injured at least 27 protesters and arrested five. Police, meanwhile, reported minor cuts and injuries to 16 personnel. Protester Jona Yang, from the activist-scientist group AGHAM, said she was negotiating with the police to cool tensions when they arrested her. “We want the Marcos government and investors to see the outrage all of this has caused,” Yang told Mongabay. “They’re taking away our resources and our lands.” Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) investors’ forum on Sept. 10. Image by Michael Beltran for Mongabay. Pax Silica The Luzon Economic Corridor, or LEC, is an economic initiative focused on the Philippines’ biggest island, begun in 2024. Pax Silica, the U.S.-led global pact for an AI and semiconductor supply chain not reliant on China, includes the LEC. In April 2026, Washington and Manila announced plans to build a 1,620-hectare (4,000-acre) high-tech manufacturing hub in the Central Luzon region. Pax Silica has become a lightning rod for political and environmental&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/planned-us-tech-hub-in-philippines-hit-over-environmental-and-indigenous-land-concerns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330602</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As fires spread in Indonesia, Bornean orangutans run out of forest to flee</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-fires-spread-in-indonesia-bornean-orangutans-run-out-of-forest-to-flee/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-fires-spread-in-indonesia-bornean-orangutans-run-out-of-forest-to-flee/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 05:21:56 +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/20/2026/09/09065744/Orangutan-kalimantan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330531</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Climate, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, El Nino, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Mammals, National Parks, Orangutans, Parks, Primates, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As fires continue to engulf large swaths of forest in Indonesian Borneo, orangutans have increasingly fewer places to flee, with fires either surrounding them or eliminating the forest on which they depend. Fires are spreading across a connected but heavily fragmented forest landscape and the habitat of critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As fires continue to engulf large swaths of forest in Indonesian Borneo, orangutans have increasingly fewer places to flee, with fires either surrounding them or eliminating the forest on which they depend. Fires are spreading across a connected but heavily fragmented forest landscape and the habitat of critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in West Kalimantan, including Gunung Palung National Park and the Mendawak Biodiversity Corridor. Gunung Palung National Park is one of the most important remaining strongholds for the Central Bornean orangutan, supporting a population historically estimated at around 2,500 animals and hosting one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild orangutans. Its importance derives from both its population size and its unusually diverse forest habitats, which support long-term ecological research and a range of other species. The adjacent Mendawak Biodiversity Corridor has a complementary role. Although it is not yet a continuous or fully secured corridor, it encompasses additional orangutan habitat outside the national park and provides a framework for maintaining, restoring and reconnecting forest patches across a fragmented landscape. Despite their ecological importance, both areas have been burning during this year’s dry season, as an exceptionally strong El Niño has contributed to hot and dry conditions across Indonesia. A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Photo by Rhett A. Butler National park on fire Spatial analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap shows that hotspots started appearing in Gunung Palung National Park on Aug. 27. TheTreeMap has also identified hotspots that appear to overlap with the park’s core zone,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-fires-spread-in-indonesia-bornean-orangutans-run-out-of-forest-to-flee/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reptiles, gold and money: How Australia is cracking down on wildlife trafficking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/reptiles-gold-and-money-how-australia-is-cracking-down-on-wildlife-trafficking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/reptiles-gold-and-money-how-australia-is-cracking-down-on-wildlife-trafficking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 01:31:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Johan Augustin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/16154054/3.-Shingleback-lizard-1-scaled-e1789573380877-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329866</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, Hong Kong, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Australia in May 2026, Yang Zeng, a 28-year-old Chinese national who was unlawfully in the country, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Zeng was convicted on nine charges related to the illegal export of native wildlife to Hong Kong, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Australia in May 2026, Yang Zeng, a 28-year-old Chinese national who was unlawfully in the country, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Zeng was convicted on nine charges related to the illegal export of native wildlife to Hong Kong, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), the government agency in charge of wildlife. The animals targeted included saw-shelled turtles (Myuchelys latisternum), Cooper Creek turtles (Emydura macquarii emmotti), blue-tongued lizards and magnificent tree frogs (Pelodryas splendida). Investigators found that the man used a fake animal keeper license to obtain the reptiles. Between September 2024 and May 2025, Zeng used couriers and international companies to handle international shipping and customs, according to DCCEEW. The animals were stuffed into socks and hosiery, wrapped in foil and hidden inside parcels alongside items including bags of dog food. Environmental crime investigators also seized five native turtles — three saw-shelled turtles and two long-necked turtles (Chelodina longicollis) — that were found swimming in a bathtub during a search of a property in a suburb of Sydney. Under Australian law, exporting native wildlife, including eggs, without a permit is illegal. A joint federal and state operation in Australia uncovered alleged Sydney wildlife trafficking ring and confiscated reptiles, cash, and silver and gold bullion worth around $300,000. Image courtesy of the National Environmental Protection Agency. The case offers a glimpse into an illegal trade that often remains hidden until animals are intercepted at the border, at airports&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/reptiles-gold-and-money-how-australia-is-cracking-down-on-wildlife-trafficking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/reptiles-gold-and-money-how-australia-is-cracking-down-on-wildlife-trafficking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329866</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>California Tribes receive beach and ancestral village site back from transportation authority</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/california-tribes-receive-beach-and-ancestral-village-site-back-from-transportation-authority/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/california-tribes-receive-beach-and-ancestral-village-site-back-from-transportation-authority/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 19:21:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22191052/KaiPomo_2024-Picture-Mussel-Rock--768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330494</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment and Green]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the Northern California coast, where the tall trees meet the sea, ancestors of the Coast Yuki people lie buried in an old village site above the bluffs in the U.S. state. Yet despite its cultural significance, the land has been owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) until very recently. A deed recorded [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the Northern California coast, where the tall trees meet the sea, ancestors of the Coast Yuki people lie buried in an old village site above the bluffs in the U.S. state. Yet despite its cultural significance, the land has been owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) until very recently. A deed recorded July 6 transferred 55 hectares (136 acres) of that coastline to Kai Poma, a nonprofit founded by representatives of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, the Ancestral Descendants of Coastal Yuki and Yuki. It is the first time land held by Caltrans has been returned to Indigenous ownership, according to Kai Poma. &#8220;We always felt this was ours,&#8221; Eddie Knight, chairman of Kai Poma and historic preservation officer for Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, who is of Coastal Yuki descent, told Mongabay. &#8220;It may have been owned privately by somebody, but we still knew it was ours.&#8221; The property sits just south of the small community of Westport, California, about 187 miles (300 kilometers) north of San Francisco. Visitors know the beach here as Blues Beach, but a major village site there is called K&#8217;etim by the Coast Yuki and Pomo lineages. K&#8217;etim, according to the tribe&#8217;s traditional stories, is &#8220;where Seaweed Woman who lived at Mussel Rock met and fell in love with Coyote,&#8221; Kai Poma explained in a press release. This origin story &#8220;explains the creation of the coastline and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/california-tribes-receive-beach-and-ancestral-village-site-back-from-transportation-authority/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330494</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A rare slow loris may have a much larger population in China than scientists thought</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-rare-slow-loris-may-have-a-much-larger-population-in-china-than-scientists-thought/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-rare-slow-loris-may-have-a-much-larger-population-in-china-than-scientists-thought/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 18:58:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Matthew Burkhart]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22080314/pygmy-loris-2460-1384_wideexact_2460-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329890</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, and East Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Mammals, Primates, Research, Science, Slow Loris, Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Plump, fuzzy and venomous, with wide eyes, a button nose and sharp teeth, northern pygmy slow lorises were thought to reside almost exclusively in Vietnam and Laos. However, new research has documented 98 of the endangered primates in Guangxi, China, in what could be the country&#8217;s largest known population of the species. The finding, published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Plump, fuzzy and venomous, with wide eyes, a button nose and sharp teeth, northern pygmy slow lorises were thought to reside almost exclusively in Vietnam and Laos. However, new research has documented 98 of the endangered primates in Guangxi, China, in what could be the country&#8217;s largest known population of the species. The finding, published in the journal Integrative Zoology by researchers at Guangxi Normal University, expands the known range of the nocturnal primate and suggests that a substantial population may have gone undetected in Guangxi&#8217;s rugged karst forests. The species, Xanthonycticebus intermedius, was previously thought to number just over 100 individuals in China, primarily in Yunnan province. Its known range also extends south into northern Vietnam, reaching as far as Hai Van Pass. Anna Nekaris, a professor of ecology, conservation and environment at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K. and founder of the Little Fireface Project that focuses on lorises, said she’s excited by the discovery and hopes it will inspire research on this understudied species. “A lot of these nocturnal animals — they&#8217;re so little known in the wild, they’re so little researched, that when you actually do go look for them and you find them, that’s incredible,” Nekaris said. Pygmy slow lorises are native to Southeast Asia. Xanthonyticebus intermedius, the northern pygmy slow loris, was only recognized as a distinct species in 2023 after genetic and morphological research separated it from its close relative, the southern pygmy slow loris (Xanthonycticebus pygmaeus). The northern pygmy slow loris, was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/a-rare-slow-loris-may-have-a-much-larger-population-in-china-than-scientists-thought/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329890</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Critics question oil and gas spending in Mexico’s proposed climate budget</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/critics-question-oil-and-gas-spending-in-mexicos-proposed-climate-budget/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/critics-question-oil-and-gas-spending-in-mexicos-proposed-climate-budget/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 16:23:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22161442/c.-Kidzania_Plaza_Cuicuilco_-_05-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330356</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Corporations, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Law, Mitigation, Natural Resources, Oil, Oil Drilling, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — President Claudia Sheinbaum this month presented a draft fiscal budget for 2027, outlining the national government’s plans for everything from tax rates and health care to infrastructure, education and defense spending. When it comes to funding for climate policies, Sheinbaum has increased spending in some areas while decreasing it in others, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — President Claudia Sheinbaum this month presented a draft fiscal budget for 2027, outlining the national government’s plans for everything from tax rates and health care to infrastructure, education and defense spending. When it comes to funding for climate policies, Sheinbaum has increased spending in some areas while decreasing it in others, and included projects that appear to have little or nothing to do with the environment. Some parts of the climate budget, which still needs Congressional approval, continue to pump spending into fossil fuels, critics said. They expressed concern about the budget’s lack of detail and how the government will use the money. “The fact that these programs appear [under climate change adaptation] doesn’t, in itself, demonstrate that all their expenditures can be considered mitigation or adaptation measures,” the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry (CCMSS) said in Sept. 11 statement. The proposed 252-page budget allocates 20.3 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) to the national energy transition strategy, an increase from the 17.9 billion pesos ($1 billion) allocated for 2026. Around 8.8 billion pesos ($510 million) of that budget would go to strengthening “energy self-sufficiency, sovereignty and security,” as well as “sustainable development.” The Olmeca oil refinery stands at the Dos Bocas port in Paraiso, Tabasco state, Mexico. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) Included in that effort is 2.5 million pesos ($145,000) for the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for environmental certification of companies. Another 11.4 billion pesos (664 million) would be allocated to &#8220;strategic renewable energy projects&#8221; and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/critics-question-oil-and-gas-spending-in-mexicos-proposed-climate-budget/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330356</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photographing Sri Lanka’s human-elephant conflict — Interview with Federico Borella</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/photographing-sri-lankas-human-elephant-conflict-interview-with-federico-borella/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/photographing-sri-lankas-human-elephant-conflict-interview-with-federico-borella/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 15:05:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22131409/HECMongabay-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity Hotspots, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Elephants, Encroachment, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Interviews, Land Use Change, Mammals, Media, National Parks, Parks, Photos, Protected Areas, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – For award-winning Italian photographer Federico Borella, capturing Sri Lanka’s human-elephant conflict on camera is more than just a photographic assignment. Keen to record the complexity of the battle, he has been focusing on Sri Lanka for four years — documenting not just the conflict, but also the unique relationship between people and elephants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – For award-winning Italian photographer Federico Borella, capturing Sri Lanka’s human-elephant conflict on camera is more than just a photographic assignment. Keen to record the complexity of the battle, he has been focusing on Sri Lanka for four years — documenting not just the conflict, but also the unique relationship between people and elephants with the gravitas it deserves. “I have seen something close to veneration toward elephants, and even after being victims of elephant attacks, people are often kind to them,” Borella says. “Not everyone wants to retaliate or harm elephants, which is also a part of their relationship.” For Borella, his current work is not only about the elephants in Sri Lanka, “but also about the kind of relationship we are building with the natural world everywhere.” In a career studded with achievements, his work on the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka won him the prestigious Picture of the Year International (POYi) award under the environmental category in 2024. He won the prestigious Photographer of the Year award at the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards and the top award in the documentary category for his Five Degrees project, a moving visual documentary of the tragic link between climate change, severe drought and high rates of suicide among South India’s male farmers. In 2022, he came second in the wildlife and nature category of the Sony World Photography Award for his series, “Exotic appetite: Inside the Italian exotic animal trade”. In the 2026 awards, he took third place&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/photographing-sri-lankas-human-elephant-conflict-interview-with-federico-borella/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Copper boom fueling energy transition puts Earth’s wildlands at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/copper-boom-fueling-energy-transition-puts-earths-wildlands-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/copper-boom-fueling-energy-transition-puts-earths-wildlands-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 14:19:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/22082311/Vicugna_vicugna_Salar_de_Chalviri-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330409</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Business, Copper, Critical Minerals, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Health, Industry, Mining, Natural Resources, Planetary Boundaries, Pollution, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the high Andes of Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, you can still find the vicuña, a shy, elusive camelid, revered by Indigenous people. It has reasons to be cautious of humans. Long-prized for its fine wool, European colonists hunted it relentlessly. Flocks in the millions were reduced to 6,000 individuals by the 1960s. Indigenous-driven [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the high Andes of Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, you can still find the vicuña, a shy, elusive camelid, revered by Indigenous people. It has reasons to be cautious of humans. Long-prized for its fine wool, European colonists hunted it relentlessly. Flocks in the millions were reduced to 6,000 individuals by the 1960s. Indigenous-driven conservation efforts helped bring the species back from the brink, but the vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) still walks a knife-edge. “Its survival remains precarious due to a complex interplay of threats to its habitat,” James Murray wrote for the U.S. Institute for Environmental Research and Education. The vicuña today is a victim of a Latin America biodiversity crisis that has seen a 95% decline in wildlife between 1970 and 2020, according to the WWF’s 2024 Living Planet Report. A key driver of that decline is mineral extraction. During the Inca empire, an estimated two million vicuñas roamed the Andes. The population fell to 6,000 by 1974 primarily due to intensive hunting for wool. Today’s numbers have risen to about 350,000 due to legal protections, community-based conservation, and bans on international trade. The species’ namesake, the proposed Vicuña mining district, if not managed properly, could reverse that recovery. Image by Renzo Tirado via Wikipedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Vicuña is also the name given to a vast $18 billion metallurgical planning district that could devastate and transform endangered vicuña habitat. Straddling the border of Argentina’s San Juan province and Chile’s Atacama region, this high-altitude Andes region represents&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/copper-boom-fueling-energy-transition-puts-earths-wildlands-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/copper-boom-fueling-energy-transition-puts-earths-wildlands-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tourism has the potential to reverse coral decline at Bali travel hotspot: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2026 02:01:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21153916/Image-by-Anett-SzasziOcean-Image-Bank-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330326</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Coral Reefs, Development, Ecotourism, Fishing, Funding, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Rehabilitation, Research, Restoration, Solutions, Tourism, and Travel]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sanur is where tourism took off in Bali. A coastal town overlooking the Lombok Strait where the Pacific Ocean flows into the Indian Ocean, artists and travelers began frequenting its shores in the 1920s. Today, the local economy still depends on income from visitors seeking its sun-kissed sands and cozy waters that hold the promise [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sanur is where tourism took off in Bali. A coastal town overlooking the Lombok Strait where the Pacific Ocean flows into the Indian Ocean, artists and travelers began frequenting its shores in the 1920s. Today, the local economy still depends on income from visitors seeking its sun-kissed sands and cozy waters that hold the promise of encounters with all manner of tropical marine life. But new research indicates all is not well with Sanur’s precious marine ecosystems. Its coral reefs are steadily degrading, despite multiple efforts to rehabilitate them by planting coral fragments or building artificial reefs. The recent study, published in Ocean &amp; Coastal Management, found reef restoration initiatives in Sanur often take place without first addressing the primary drivers of coral decline, such as sediment runoff and wastewater discharge. “People see the visible impact on the coral reef, so they feel it’s urgent to do something about it there,” study lead author Min Chung, a master’s student at the University of Tokyo, told Mongabay in an interview. “But in reality, and efficiency wise, it&#8217;s obviously more effective to address the more fundamental drivers [of coral loss].” By analyzing reef health data and interviews with 18 stakeholders who have influence over the use and management of Sanur’s reefs, Chung and her colleagues identified complex and competing interests between many different groups, from government agencies, local authorities and community organizations to academics, fishers and tourism operators. “There are differing views on how to preserve coral reefs and the role tourism&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tourism-has-potential-to-slow-coral-decline-at-bali-travel-hotspot-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330326</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For wild rivers like the Karnali, Nepal&#8217;s disaster is a warning and an answer (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 21:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gary WocknerMegh Ale]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21210715/Karnali_river-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330371</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Clean Energy, Commentary, Dams, Development, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Energy, Environment, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Rivers, Tourism, Travel, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Recently, a glacial collapse on the Tibetan Plateau sent a wall of water and debris roaring across the Nepal-China border. As of this publication, more than 1,000 people are confirmed dead and over 4,000 remain missing in Nepal and China combined. Rescue crews are still digging through mud to find hundreds of workers believed trapped [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Recently, a glacial collapse on the Tibetan Plateau sent a wall of water and debris roaring across the Nepal-China border. As of this publication, more than 1,000 people are confirmed dead and over 4,000 remain missing in Nepal and China combined. Rescue crews are still digging through mud to find hundreds of workers believed trapped inside the tunnels of hydropower projects on the Trishuli River — tunnels large enough to drive trucks through, now choked with silt. This is not simply a natural disaster. It is a preview of what climate change has in store for the Himalaya, and a wakeup call for Nepal&#8217;s headlong rush to dam nearly every river in the country. One of us has spent three decades running rivers and building river-conservation movements from a basecamp in Kathmandu. The other has spent an equal number of years fighting to protect rivers in the American West and around the world. We come from different countries and different rivers, but we have arrived at the same conclusion: Nepal&#8217;s flood catastrophe is a warning that must change how the country — and the international financiers underwriting its hydropower boom — think about all of our rivers, but especially the Karnali River, the last major river in Nepal that has never been dammed. The Karnali is one of the world’s top rivers for whitewater rafting, as it is un-dammed and features many class 5 rapids. Image courtesy of International Rafting Federation. Disaster written in the mountains The floods that just&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/for-wild-rivers-like-the-karnali-nepals-disaster-is-a-warning-and-an-answer-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330371</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How freediving helps Indonesia&#8217;s Bajau preserve traditions and conserve marine life</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 18:18:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maddy Bolt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21115236/Bajau-PELITA-member-Well-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330277</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Nusa Tenggara]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Culture, Education, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POTO TANO, Indonesia — Mahari sits at the front of the boat, cigarette in hand, surveying the conditions of the waters off Poto Tano, a small fishing community on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. As ketua, the leader of this group of Bajau octopus fishers, Mahari decides which tool they will use today. He silently [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POTO TANO, Indonesia — Mahari sits at the front of the boat, cigarette in hand, surveying the conditions of the waters off Poto Tano, a small fishing community on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. As ketua, the leader of this group of Bajau octopus fishers, Mahari decides which tool they will use today. He silently surveys the waters while the rest of the group sits back and waits for his cue. The Bajau people are an Indigenous ethnic group spanning Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Traditionally living mostly on boats, Bajau people have harvested from the sea through traditional freediving for generations. In Sumbawa, a recent ban on dives assisted by an air compressor, a dangerous diving technique that provides the diver with continuous air, means these traditional methods have become more valuable than ever. With the right skills, freediving can be gentler on both the environment and the body than more destructive modern practices. Through expeditions like this one, Mahari and the other fishermen in his community work in cooperation with local NGOs to ensure this knowledge is passed to new generations. Day octopus (Octopus cyanea). Image by © Stergios Vasilis via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). &#8216;Pocong time&#8217; Depending on current and water visibility, Bajau fishers typically use one of two methods to catch octopus. If there is low visibility or a strong current, they will use a “shell” tool adorned with hooks, which they let go in the water and trail behind their boat. If there is better&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-freediving-helps-indonesias-bajau-preserve-traditions-and-conserve-marine-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330277</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>46% of wild-caught fish could be fed to farmed fish and shrimp by 2040, says report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 16:44:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21135229/Sri-Lanka-fishers1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330337</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine Animals, Natural Resources, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ROME — Nearly half of the wild-caught fish harvested globally could be used to produce feed for farmed aquaculture products by 2040 if the industry were to grow exponentially in line with a roadmap developed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), according to a report published Sept. 4. The report was published by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ROME — Nearly half of the wild-caught fish harvested globally could be used to produce feed for farmed aquaculture products by 2040 if the industry were to grow exponentially in line with a roadmap developed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), according to a report published Sept. 4. The report was published by UK-based NGO the Changing Markets Foundation on the eve of the 37th meeting of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI), held Sept. 7–11 at the FAO’s headquarters in Rome. At the biennial intergovernmental meeting, policymakers set the direction for developing the fisheries and aquaculture sectors globally. The publication has intensified debate over support for aquaculture, which involves cultivation of aquatic organisms, including plants, fish and shellfish, in marine or fresh water. Aquaculture is currently the fastest-growing food industry in the world. Since 2022, it has accounted for half of the global seafood supply, but representatives of artisanal fisher organizations attending COFI described it as a “destructive” industry. “What we found is that it really depends on what species are chosen to be farmed,” Tara Ganesh, a senior campaigner at Changing Markets Foundation, told Mongabay in Rome. “Based on that, the impact varies dramatically.” Atlantic salmon aquaculture in Tasmania, Australia. Image by rod cuthbert via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). The report, produced together with researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada, analyzes how the use of wild-caught fish to produce fish feed would change if the aquaculture sector were to reach a “milestone” set out&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/45-of-wild-caught-fish-could-be-fed-to-farmed-fish-and-shrimp-by-2040-says-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330337</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal mines threaten biodiversity and drinking water in Ghana’s Atewa Forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 14:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mabel Adorkor Annang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21135635/IllegalMiners_AtewaGhana_ARochaGhana-11_20260919_122540_0010-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330304</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every day, scores of illegal miners on motorbikes swarm into the Atewa Forest Reserve, in eastern Ghana — ignoring the handful of Forestry Commission guards charged with keeping them out. Inside the reserve, the miners have stripped forest cover and excavated pits, their passage marked by abandoned equipment and temporary camps and muddy and polluted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every day, scores of illegal miners on motorbikes swarm into the Atewa Forest Reserve, in eastern Ghana — ignoring the handful of Forestry Commission guards charged with keeping them out. Inside the reserve, the miners have stripped forest cover and excavated pits, their passage marked by abandoned equipment and temporary camps and muddy and polluted streams. Their actions jeopardize the drinking water of as many as five million Ghanaians. “We say this based on a lot of records coming from the Forestry Commission staff, some court records as well,” says Daryl Bosu, deputy national director of operations at conservation initiative A Rocha Ghana, which has been monitoring Atewa and other forested areas for a decade. A Rocha played a key role in a civil society coalition opposing government plans to mine for bauxite in the reserve. Bosu says A Rocha has observed that many of the rivers and streams in the area, which previously ran clear, have turned brown with sediment since the miners overran the reserve. Miners, he says, have cut down trees along water courses, which he fears have been contaminated with mercury, cyanide and arsenic  — all widely used in illegal mining operations. “The Forestry Commission team is complaining of the unprecedented attack on the Atewa forest because of mining and how they are seriously overwhelmed as a result of pressure which they have never experienced,” he tells Mongabay. Aerial view of a mine site in Atewa. Image courtesy of A Rocha Ghana. The critically endangered Atewa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330304</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tight Brazil election challenges fragile gains for Amazon conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 07:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda WenzelKarla MendesLucas Berti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18210229/Curvas_do_Parque_Nacional_de_Anavilhanas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330151</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Politics, Tropical Deforestation, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As South America turns right, Brazil’s vote could leave the Amazon without conservation leaders.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As voters in Brazil prepare to head to the polls on Oct. 4, forest guardians and environmental analysts are bracing for a high-stakes presidential contest that could abruptly shift the nation&#8217;s environmental policy. The election presents a stark choice between maintaining current conservation strategies, experts say, or risking a policy U-turn that could reverse recent progress in lowering deforestation rates across the Amazon rainforest and other biomes. The election is shaping up to be a tight race between left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who was arrested and blocked from running for office after being sentenced in a failed coup d’ètat trial. According to polls, the two are very likely to face off in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 25. Lula&#8217;s administration managed to drop deforestation in the Amazon to its lowest level in a decade — Brazil holds 60% of the biome. However, experts and conservationists warn that these gains are fragile, hanging by a thread that could snap if Flávio Bolsonaro brings back his father’s policies, favoring agribusiness and mining, and slashing Indigenous rights and support. In a detailed analysis of the candidates&#8217; environmental platforms, the Climate Observatory, a prominent coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations, concluded that issues related to climate and the environment are receiving far less attention than necessary. The exception is Lula’s plans, where the only area of concern is energy — which was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tight-brazil-election-challenges-fragile-gains-for-amazon-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘How did you come to be here?’ Study digs into origins of Zambian wildlife crime</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2026 21:22:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Megerle]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17070507/Elephants_Zambia_Fawaz_Tairou-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329983</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Global, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Environment, Governance, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law, Mammals, Organized Crime, Pangolins, Poaching, Rhinos, Trade, trafficking, Ungulates, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The man in the Zambian prison recalled how he ended up there. He’d been approached by someone who had an uncle in the capital, Lusaka, who was willing to buy ivory and pangolin scales. He gave the man a phone and a number to reach him. “He promised that the money I would get would [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The man in the Zambian prison recalled how he ended up there. He’d been approached by someone who had an uncle in the capital, Lusaka, who was willing to buy ivory and pangolin scales. He gave the man a phone and a number to reach him. “He promised that the money I would get would enable me to build a house and take my children to school,” the man said. The story of this inmate — who was eventually arrested and incarcerated for an elephant-related offense — drives home an important truth. Wildlife crime is a multifaceted industry fueled by various participants with a slew of motives, ranging from local people who may occasionally capture and sell an animal to middlemen who handle logistics to heavily armed poaching gangs and the kingpins that rule over large international syndicates. The lower-level links in the chain are simpler to catch and prosecute, but are easily replaceable, so their arrest does little to stop poaching. The NGO Wildlife Crime Prevention (WCP) Zambia, in partnership with Copperbelt University, recently interviewed more than 300 inmates imprisoned for wildlife offenses in the country to learn how and why people on the lower rungs of the industry took their first steps into wildlife crime. “We wanted to understand better the drivers of the more grassroots-levels offenders and why they get involved — and how we might avoid them being involved again,” said one of the study&#8217;s authors, who needed to remain anonymous so not to endanger their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-did-you-come-to-be-here-study-digs-into-origins-of-zambian-wildlife-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329983</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rooftop rainwater sprinkler systems could help cool warming cities, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rooftop-rainwater-sprinkler-systems-could-help-cool-warming-cities-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rooftop-rainwater-sprinkler-systems-could-help-cool-warming-cities-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 14:16:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Ruggia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17115305/02024_1205_Wasservorhang_-_Hitzewelle_in_Bielsko-Biala-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330065</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate, Climate Change, Earth Science, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Health, Heatwave, Impact Of Climate Change, Planetary Health, Public Health, Research, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s a hot summer day in the city. The sun beats down relentlessly on asphalt and concrete, while tall buildings mercilessly snuff out any hope of a cooling breeze, intensifying urban heat island impacts. Urbanites around the world know the feeling well. And with an increasing number of potentially deadly heat wave days due to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[It’s a hot summer day in the city. The sun beats down relentlessly on asphalt and concrete, while tall buildings mercilessly snuff out any hope of a cooling breeze, intensifying urban heat island impacts. Urbanites around the world know the feeling well. And with an increasing number of potentially deadly heat wave days due to a warming climate, it’s only becoming more familiar. But ask the same city dwellers how they feel when the barometer drops and a soft summer rain breaks the heat. That relief is something a group of researchers hope to artificially replicate using widely distributed rainwater collection tanks and smart rooftop sprinkler systems. The team, led by Zhonghua Zheng, an associate professor of urban climate and environmental data science at the University of Manchester in the U.K., used machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a new model that can help cities bring down internal temperatures in buildings and even cool outdoors during heat waves. Their proposed system includes a rooftop rainwater collection tank and a sprinkler system that activates at a specific outdoor temperature threshold to water the roof. Evaporation cools roof temperatures, Zheng explained in a Mongabay interview. “It has a dual benefit to cool both the indoor temperature and outdoor temperature.” The researchers used Tokyo as a case study due to Japan’s temperate climate, seasonal changes, and leadership in rainwater collection. The model found that the strategy would indeed bring down high surface and air temperatures if widely adopted across an urban setting.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rooftop-rainwater-sprinkler-systems-could-help-cool-warming-cities-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330065</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Five orangutans found in India face long road back home to Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 11:26:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18111302/Orangutan-Sumatera-baby-swinging-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330216</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indonesia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Orangutans, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ACEH, Indonesia — The five infant orangutans found roaming a woodland in India’s Odisha state earlier this month may have been trafficked across several international borders — and now face a long journey home through the different legal and bureaucratic systems of India and Indonesia, conservationists say. “This starts with hunting in the wild, separating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[ACEH, Indonesia — The five infant orangutans found roaming a woodland in India’s Odisha state earlier this month may have been trafficked across several international borders — and now face a long journey home through the different legal and bureaucratic systems of India and Indonesia, conservationists say. “This starts with hunting in the wild, separating babies from their mothers, and transporting them across various regions, then selling them or keeping them as exotic pets,” said M. Indra Kurnia, director of conservation at the Sumatran Orangutan Lestari Foundation–Orangutan Information Center (YOSL-OIC). The five youngsters were found on Sept. 8 by locals near the Bichitrapur forest area in Balasore district, Odisha, a state on India’s east coast formed out of the ancient Kalinga region. Authorities are investigating how the animals came to be there, and the possible involvement of an international wildlife trafficking network. Only Indonesia and Malaysia have native orangutan populations, with the Indonesian island of Sumatra around 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) across the Indian Ocean from Odisha. The Bornean species lives in Indonesia and Malaysia, while the Sumatran and Tapanuli species are found only in Indonesia. “We mustn’t just see this as a local case in the country where the animals were found,” Indra said. This infant Sumatran orangutan is being cared for at the Sumatra Rescue Alliance (SRA) primate center Besitang district, North Sumatra. The infant is a victim of the illegal wildlife trade. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. Questions over wildlife smuggling route This isn’t the first time&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/five-orangutans-found-in-india-face-long-road-back-home-to-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330216</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US move to loosen restrictions on fishing could harm vital ecosystems, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/us-move-to-loosen-restrictions-on-fishing-could-harm-vital-ecosystems-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/us-move-to-loosen-restrictions-on-fishing-could-harm-vital-ecosystems-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 10:13:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jules Struck]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17141756/a.-BANNER-2-AP24197590776091-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330081</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Endangered Species Act, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The federal agency that oversees U.S. fisheries released a list of priorities on Sept. 2, advancing the Trump administration’s promise to deregulate the domestic industry. The list of 34 priorities was published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, which oversees scientific research, data collection and regulation of commercial fishing operations in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The federal agency that oversees U.S. fisheries released a list of priorities on Sept. 2, advancing the Trump administration’s promise to deregulate the domestic industry. The list of 34 priorities was published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, which oversees scientific research, data collection and regulation of commercial fishing operations in the United States alongside regional and tribal councils. The list outlines the agency’s intention to loosen restrictions on where, when and with what gear fishers are allowed to fish. U.S. fisheries are globally recognized as some of the most heavily-regulated and sustainable in the world. Conservationists say the agency’s new priorities are the latest signal from an administration intent on deregulating and defunding the agency. They warn that deregulation will open the door to overfishing and do lasting harm to ecosystems that support ocean health and sustain fisheries. “If we are reducing regulations and overfishing some really valuable fisheries this year or next year, it may take years for those fisheries to get back on track to healthy [stock] levels,” Reggie Paros, senior director of public affairs at the New York-based NGO Environmental Defense Fund, told Mongabay by phone. “The outcomes we would see on the water would be particularly damaging.” A pile of young Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) on the deck of the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based fishing vessel Selje, collected during a NOAA survey to help track scallop abundance, distribution, ages, lengths, weights, sex, maturity and disease presence. Image by Catherine Foley/NOAA Fisheries.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/us-move-to-loosen-restrictions-on-fishing-could-harm-vital-ecosystems-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330081</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Now exempt from EU deforestation rules, leather industry moves to repair reputation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 04:30:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elisângela Mendonça]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/18012102/IMG_2200-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330162</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Forestry, Governance, leather, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PARIS — The prestigious Maison de la Chimie in central Paris hummed with confidence as leather representatives gathered to discuss the industry’s next steps to tackle what they call an unfair “negative perception” attributed to the material. On Sept. 7, around 400 international tanners, luxury-brand representatives and meatpacking executives gathered for the eighth Sustainable Leather [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PARIS — The prestigious Maison de la Chimie in central Paris hummed with confidence as leather representatives gathered to discuss the industry’s next steps to tackle what they call an unfair “negative perception” attributed to the material. On Sept. 7, around 400 international tanners, luxury-brand representatives and meatpacking executives gathered for the eighth Sustainable Leather Forum. Speaking to their peers, panelists presented leather as a cornerstone of the circular economy: A way to make use of bovine hides that might otherwise go to waste. Beyond the ornate halls of the 18th-century mansion, after intense lobbying, the EU has exempted leather from its landmark deforestation law while simultaneously keeping restrictions on beef. Critics say this creates a regulatory contradiction: Products from the same cow will be allowed to enter Europe under two very different sets of rules. This juxtaposition has sharpened a long-simmering debate: If beef importers must prove their products are deforestation-free, why would hides from the same animals enter Europe with no equivalent oversight? Environmental and supply chain researchers argue the exemption creates a loophole that effectively splits responsibility for a single production system and this ultimately weakens the law. For industry representatives interviewed by Mongabay, the sector faces a reputational crisis. The EUDR did a “disservice” to a well-intentioned sector that benefits the environment by recycling a byproduct that otherwise would be discarded, a tannery executive said. Indeed, according to the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA), a U.S. trade association, around 40% of cowhides produced globally&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330162</doi>				</item>
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