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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/environmental-heroes/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 18:49:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Environmental Heroes</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/environmental-heroes/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>He survived a deadly attack, now he is calling for better working conditions for rangers in DRC</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/he-survived-a-deadly-attack-now-he-is-calling-for-better-working-conditions-for-rangers-in-drc/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/he-survived-a-deadly-attack-now-he-is-calling-for-better-working-conditions-for-rangers-in-drc/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2026 16:43:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/19160902/IMG_4438-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319725</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Governance, National Parks, Parks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, protecting nature can cost you your life. For years, rangers operating in parks such as Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega have worked amid armed groups, illegal natural resource trafficking, community tensions, and chronic violence that has already claimed the lives of hundreds of their colleagues. Yet despite their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, protecting nature can cost you your life. For years, rangers operating in parks such as Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega have worked amid armed groups, illegal natural resource trafficking, community tensions, and chronic violence that has already claimed the lives of hundreds of their colleagues. Yet despite their central role in protecting biodiversity and some of the world’s most important forests, many continue to work with little support, low salaries, and highly precarious conditions. For Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo, this reality is deeply personal. A former Virunga ranger who is now an official at Kahuzi-Biega National Park, he survived a deadly ambush in 2018 by a community-based militia group known locally as Mai-Mai. Several of his colleagues were killed in the ambush. Shot, psychologically traumatized, and later prosecuted in a military court in a case linked to park protection, he could have walked away. Instead, Bahati chose to tell his story in a book titled Conservation at the Cost of My Youth: The Survival of a Ranger, a raw account of the sacrifices, fears, political pressures, and often invisible realities faced by forest rangers in eastern DRC. In this interview with Mongabay, Emmanuel Bahati Lukoo reflects on his journey, the ambush that nearly killed him, the trauma experienced by rangers, the conflicts between conservation and local community survival, and the political interference complicating the protection of protected areas. Beyond the personal story, however, his testimony is also a call to action: to finally recognize&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/he-survived-a-deadly-attack-now-he-is-calling-for-better-working-conditions-for-rangers-in-drc/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/he-survived-a-deadly-attack-now-he-is-calling-for-better-working-conditions-for-rangers-in-drc/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319725</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Hope is rooted in action’: Interview with Jane Goodall’s grandson Merlin Van Lawick</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/hope-is-rooted-in-action-interview-with-jane-goodalls-grandson-merlin-van-lawick/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/hope-is-rooted-in-action-interview-with-jane-goodalls-grandson-merlin-van-lawick/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 06:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliette Chapalain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://news.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/105_JANE_GOODALL_CHANGE_NOW_HD_©_MARYLOU_MAURICIO-1-e1778208414564-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318970</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, and Jane Goodall]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Five months after the passing of conservation icon Jane Goodall in 2025, Mongabay met her grandson, Merlin Van Lawick, at the ChangeNOW 2026 environmental forum in Paris. It was a first trip to the French capital for Van Lawick, who was born, raised and lives today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He has been connected [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Five months after the passing of conservation icon Jane Goodall in 2025, Mongabay met her grandson, Merlin Van Lawick, at the ChangeNOW 2026 environmental forum in Paris. It was a first trip to the French capital for Van Lawick, who was born, raised and lives today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He has been connected to the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), the conservation organization founded by his grandmother, for “as long as he can remember,” he says. Now, working for the institute’s conservation science and communications team, Van Lawick’s involvement has grown over the last several years. That’s even more so now that his grandmother has passed, he tells Mongabay. Before starting his MBA at Arden University in the U.K., he spent a lot of time “learning through doing” in the field in Tanzania, connecting with communities and seeing firsthand the complexity of conservation work. In this interview with Mongabay’s Juliette Chapalain, Van Lawick talks about his relationship with his grandmother, how he developed a strong interest in storytelling, and new ways of thinking to scale up impact in a quickly changing world, whether the obstacles are biodiversity loss or the difficulty NGOs face in obtaining funding. He also spoke of the challenges and hope of the JGI in engaging more communities and people in the “environmental mission.” Jange Goodall (second from left) and Merlin Van Lawick (far left) at a Roots and Shoots event in Dar es Salaam. She is accompanied by her other grandchild Nick Van Lawick (second&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/hope-is-rooted-in-action-interview-with-jane-goodalls-grandson-merlin-van-lawick/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/hope-is-rooted-in-action-interview-with-jane-goodalls-grandson-merlin-van-lawick/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318970</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>George Schaller: The field biologist who helped redefine conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2026 12:08:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13210433/Art31_52830005-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317452</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Brazil, China, Global, India, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Bears, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Books, Cats, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Endangered Species, Environmental Heroes, Gorillas, Great Apes, Jaguars, Lions, Mammals, Pandas, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Snow Leopards, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some lives seem to belong less to a nation or a profession than to a disposition. George B. Schaller’s was one of them. He belonged, above all, to animals—gorillas, lions, tigers, snow leopards, pandas—and to the landscapes that still made room for them. In Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some lives seem to belong less to a nation or a profession than to a disposition. George B. Schaller’s was one of them. He belonged, above all, to animals—gorillas, lions, tigers, snow leopards, pandas—and to the landscapes that still made room for them. In Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller, Miriam Horn attempts something both straightforward and unusually difficult: to write a full biography of a man who spent most of his life turning his attention away from himself. Schaller is not obscure. He is widely regarded as the most important field biologist of the twentieth century, a figure whose work reshaped zoology, conservation biology, and the way humans think about animal lives. Yet he remains oddly resistant to biography. He disliked introspection, avoided publicity, and wrote sparingly about his own emotions even when describing moments of extreme danger or revelation. Horn’s achievement is to take this reticence seriously rather than try to overcome it. The result is a book that is expansive without being intrusive, admiring without being reverential, and alert to ambiguity even when recounting an extraordinary career. The arc of Schaller’s life has the shape of an adventure story, though Horn is careful not to write one. Born in Berlin in 1933 to an American mother and a German diplomat father, Schaller’s early years were marked by displacement, war, and a persistent sense of not quite belonging. His childhood moved across Nazi Germany, occupied Europe, and eventually the United States. These experiences&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317452</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Today is Jane Goodall Day. Her movement continues.</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 00:30:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02221614/jane-planting-trees-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316892</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Global, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Jane Goodall, Restoration, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she set in motion. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[April 3 now carries a different kind of weight. It was always Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it is also a marker—a point in the year when people are asked not just to remember her, but to do something with what she set in motion. The idea behind the first Jane Goodall Day is simple. Take one action. It can be small. It should be real. The intent is to treat her life as something still in motion and to see those habits she cultivated continue in others. That framing feels appropriate. Goodall resisted the idea that her work belonged to her alone. Even at the height of her recognition, she redirected attention outward—toward the forests she had studied, the chimpanzees whose lives she had made visible, and the people who would decide what came next. In later years, when asked what she wanted to be remembered for, she returned to two things: changing how we see animals, and starting Roots &amp; Shoots. The second of those matters more than it first appears. Roots &amp; Shoots was designed as a way of distributing responsibility. It asked young people, and eventually adults, to look at their immediate surroundings and act on what they saw. It requires no permission and begins at any scale. The premise was that agency begins locally, and that it grows through repetition. Jane Goodall. Courtesy of Moby Anna Rathmann, who leads the Jane Goodall Institute in the United States, describes Jane Goodall Day in similar terms. The goal,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/today-is-jane-goodall-day-her-movement-continues/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A decade after the death of Berta Cáceres, we can no longer tolerate threats to environmental activists (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-decade-after-the-death-of-berta-caceres-we-can-no-longer-tolerate-threats-to-environmental-activists-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-decade-after-the-death-of-berta-caceres-we-can-no-longer-tolerate-threats-to-environmental-activists-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 14:43:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Sutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/28101014/8_0314-honoring-river-defenders-brazils-munduruku-people-AmazoWatch-copy-e1773674548672-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315779</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Global, Honduras, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Conflict, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Organized Crime, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental activist Berta Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for successfully halting the Agua Zarca project, a massive hydropower development along the Gualcarque River in her native Honduras. On March 3, 2016, 10 years ago this month, gunmen hired by executives of the company building the dam assassinated her for her activism. Since [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental activist Berta Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for successfully halting the Agua Zarca project, a massive hydropower development along the Gualcarque River in her native Honduras. On March 3, 2016, 10 years ago this month, gunmen hired by executives of the company building the dam assassinated her for her activism. Since then, Berta has become a global symbol of courage and sacrifice in the face of greed and violence. Her legacy is powerful, but her martyrdom for simply protecting her community is unacceptable. In January, an independent group of experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a comprehensive report on the assassination. They found that Berta’s murder was the result of a coordinated criminal operation to defeat opposition to the Agua Zarca project. Worse, international development funds intended for the hydroelectric project were diverted to the purchase of Indigenous land, surveillance, armed incursions, and Berta’s murder. Berta’s assassination is not an isolated case. Many environmental defenders’ stories resemble David vs. Goliath, as they frequently tangle with powerful, well-funded industries and governments — and the webs of corruption that sometimes link them. According to Global Witness, 2,253 environmental activists have been killed worldwide since 2012, and many more have been victimized. In September 2025, Global Witness reported that at least 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or disappeared in 2024, with a plurality in Latin America. According to the World Economic Forum, at least 175 park rangers were killed in the line of duty across 41 countries in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-decade-after-the-death-of-berta-caceres-we-can-no-longer-tolerate-threats-to-environmental-activists-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315779</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental defenders &#038; conservationists who died in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 02:14:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/21212401/obituaries-2025-2560px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311798</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Welfare, Conservation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Murdered Activists, Violence, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I write short obituaries for people who spent their lives protecting parts of the natural world. I work on them in the margins of other responsibilities, yet they have become a constant. In 2025, I produced over 70. The people I write about are often described as conservationists, scientists, activists, or defenders. Those labels are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I write short obituaries for people who spent their lives protecting parts of the natural world. I work on them in the margins of other responsibilities, yet they have become a constant. In 2025, I produced over 70. The people I write about are often described as conservationists, scientists, activists, or defenders. Those labels are accurate, but incomplete. What unites them is not a profession so much as a posture: they stood between something living and the forces wearing it down. They did so for decades, usually without much recognition and often at personal cost. Some of the names will be widely recognized. Others will mean little to most readers. That imbalance is part of the point. Public memory tends to favor visibility over impact, and charisma over endurance. Yet many of the most consequential figures in environmental protection work far from cameras and conferences. They negotiate land boundaries, calm conflicts, train rangers, translate science, or stay when leaving would be easier. Their influence is cumulative, and it rarely lends itself to headlines. Writing about death has a clarifying effect. Obituaries strip away what is temporary. What remains is a record of choices. Again and again, the lives I wrote about this year followed a similar arc: an encounter with a place or species, a long commitment to its survival, and years of persistence within systems that were often indifferent or hostile. Success, where it came, was partial. Failure was common. Quitting was always an option, and usually declined. These&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311798</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At her memorial, a call to carry Jane Goodall’s hope forward</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/at-her-memorial-a-call-to-carry-jane-goodalls-hope-forward/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/at-her-memorial-a-call-to-carry-jane-goodalls-hope-forward/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Nov 2025 23:59:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/13011530/RS0257-37-s-JGI-Mary-Paris-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309424</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Green, Hope and optimism, and Jane Goodall]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Today the nave of Washington National Cathedral was filled for Jane Goodall’s celebration of life, drawing scientists, activists, diplomats, and children alike. The service opened not in mourning but in gratitude. “This cathedral is a house of prayer for all people,” said Dean Randy Hollerith. “Jane was one of the world’s most remarkable human beings.” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Today the nave of Washington National Cathedral was filled for Jane Goodall’s celebration of life, drawing scientists, activists, diplomats, and children alike. The service opened not in mourning but in gratitude. “This cathedral is a house of prayer for all people,” said Dean Randy Hollerith. “Jane was one of the world’s most remarkable human beings.” Few could disagree. Procession at the conclusion of Jane Goodall&#8217;s service in Washington D.C. on November 12, 2025. Photo by the Washington National Cathedral. Goodall’s life spanned ninety-one years and an era of transformation in how humans see the natural world. The girl who once hid in a henhouse to watch eggs being laid became the scientist who revealed that chimpanzees use tools and express emotions long thought uniquely human. Yet the tributes this morning were less about what she discovered than how she lived: her patience, her wit, and her unrelenting belief that hope was not a sentiment but a discipline. Anna Rathman speaking at Jane Goodall&#8217;s celebration of life in Washington D.C. on November 12, 2025. Photo by the Washington National Cathedral. The quiet force Anna Rathman, executive director of the Jane Goodall Institute USA, described a woman who led with restraint rather than volume, whose strength lay in conviction rather than command. “Jane was never the loudest in the room,” Rathman said. “But her powerful message spoke volumes.” Jane Goodall. Photo by Vincent Calmel Goodall, she reminded the audience, saw her institute as an ecosystem: a network of people working toward balance&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/at-her-memorial-a-call-to-carry-jane-goodalls-hope-forward/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309424</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jane Goodall quotes: Words from a reluctant global icon </title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-quotes-words-from-a-reluctant-global-icon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-quotes-words-from-a-reluctant-global-icon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Oct 2025 22:29:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/03222810/jane-goodall_DSC0551-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307064</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, and Jane Goodall]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over the years, Mongabay staff and contributors have conducted numerous interviews with Jane Goodall. The following is a recap of her ideas and reflections, organized by theme. A list of the interviews and other pieces appears at the end. When Jane Goodall died on October 1st at the age of 91, the tributes were immediate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over the years, Mongabay staff and contributors have conducted numerous interviews with Jane Goodall. The following is a recap of her ideas and reflections, organized by theme. A list of the interviews and other pieces appears at the end. When Jane Goodall died on October 1st at the age of 91, the tributes were immediate and global. Presidents recalled her counsel, children spoke of her visits to their classrooms, and conservationists remembered how she made them feel less alone in the struggle to save wild places. For many, she was a scientist who revolutionized primatology. For others, an advocate who insisted on the dignity of animals. For still more, a cultural icon who embodied the possibility of grace in an age of crisis. But to those who knew her, she was also someone who could crouch to a child’s level, pull up a video of rats doing tricks on YouTube, and exclaim with delight, “Aren’t they marvelous?” That moment captures something essential: she never lost her capacity for wonder. Jane Goodall in 2024. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute. Over more than six decades, Goodall carried a message that was consistent, clear, and insistent: humanity’s fate is bound to the fate of the natural world, and hope is not an indulgence but a duty. Her legacy cannot be reduced to one discovery or one campaign. She was a scientist who redefined animals, a thinker who refused the split between reason and reverence, a pragmatist who weighed tools and compromises, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-quotes-words-from-a-reluctant-global-icon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307064</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to carry Jane Goodall’s light forward</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2025 12:23:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/02121556/jane-goodall-7-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306966</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, and Jane Goodall]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I find it hard to believe Jane Goodall is gone. She was more than an icon to me. She was a friend, a mentor, and someone whose presence—whether with presidents, students, or my own children—felt like both a gift and a lesson. Our friendship began in the most Jane way possible: an email that opened, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I find it hard to believe Jane Goodall is gone. She was more than an icon to me. She was a friend, a mentor, and someone whose presence—whether with presidents, students, or my own children—felt like both a gift and a lesson. Our friendship began in the most Jane way possible: an email that opened, “Yes, this is the real Jane Goodall,” followed by a request that I not share her “secret email address.” She said she admired Mongabay and wanted to meet. That message was the start of thirteen years of laughs, tears, and conversations that often stretched late into the night over vegan Indian food and a glass of whisky in her hotel room—even though I rarely drink or stay out late. Jane Goodall. Photo courtesy of JGI Jane had a way of making every encounter feel personal. When she first met my children, she lit up as if she had been waiting her whole life for them to enter the room. She crouched to their level, told stories, and pulled up YouTube videos of rats performing clever tricks. “Aren’t they marvelous?” she said, with the same awe she once expressed for the chimpanzees of Gombe. She told my son he was an inspiration for starting a trash cleanup at his school. It was a small thing, but Jane noticed. She always noticed. She believed hope was not simply a feeling but a tool. Hope, she would tell me, creates agency. The larger the crisis, the more powerless people feel. But small,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306966</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jane Goodall (1934–2025): primatologist, conservationist, and messenger of hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2025 23:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/01215754/Jane-Goodall-credit-Michael-Neugebauer-2560x1720-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306934</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Global, Tanzania, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, Jane Goodall, Obituary, and Primates]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall, who revealed the intimate lives of chimpanzees and gave the modern world a language of hope, has died at the age of 91. Over the course of six decades, she moved from an unlikely young researcher in the forests of East Africa to one of the most recognizable scientists and conservationists of her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall, who revealed the intimate lives of chimpanzees and gave the modern world a language of hope, has died at the age of 91. Over the course of six decades, she moved from an unlikely young researcher in the forests of East Africa to one of the most recognizable scientists and conservationists of her time. Her patient fieldwork at Gombe transformed primatology, overturning entrenched beliefs about the uniqueness of humans and forcing science to reckon with animal minds. She went on to found the Jane Goodall Institute, launch sanctuaries and community programs across Africa, and inspire millions through her Roots &amp; Shoots movement for young people. Her influence reached far beyond science: she became a United Nations Messenger of Peace, an advocate for animal welfare, and a tireless voice for conservation at a time of mounting global crisis. Yet through all of this she remained known simply as “Jane,” a figure who insisted that hope was not naïve but necessary. Jane Goodall in 2024. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute. When she stepped into the forests of Gombe, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania in 1960, she carried little more than a notebook, binoculars, and an unlikely determination. She was not a scientist by training, but a young woman from Bournemouth with a childhood fascination for Africa, encouraged by a mother who told her never to give up. Within a few years she had overturned long-held certainties. Her observations showed that chimpanzees were not mere instinctive creatures&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-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-306934</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In eastern Congo’s war-torn forests, Augustin Basabose gave hope to gorillas and people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/in-eastern-congos-war-torn-forests-augustin-basabose-gave-hope-to-gorillas-and-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/in-eastern-congos-war-torn-forests-augustin-basabose-gave-hope-to-gorillas-and-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2025 00:56:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/25003304/Augustin-K-Basabose-gorillas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304855</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Gorillas, Great Apes, Obituary, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;He was almost always smiling.&#8221; In eastern Congo, where war and poverty have long eroded hope, that smile and the restless energy behind it mattered as much as any conservation plan. Dr. Augustin Kanyunyi Basabose, who died suddenly on August 18th, 2025, gave communities and colleagues the sense that protecting gorillas was not only a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;He was almost always smiling.&#8221; In eastern Congo, where war and poverty have long eroded hope, that smile and the restless energy behind it mattered as much as any conservation plan. Dr. Augustin Kanyunyi Basabose, who died suddenly on August 18th, 2025, gave communities and colleagues the sense that protecting gorillas was not only a duty but a possibility. In the Mikeno Sector of Virunga National Park, where mountain gorillas have endured despite decades of conflict, many credited his outlook with helping people believe that endurance was worth sustaining. Born on Idjwi Island in Lake Kivu, he grew up with his grandmother’s tales about animals, which instilled in him the idea that his life’s work lay with nature. A PhD in zoology at Kyoto University confirmed it. His thesis on chimpanzee ecology made him one of the first Congolese primatologists. That rarity brought responsibility. “I felt myself responsibility to go back home and inspire those young ones so that they can continue the research and the conservation and help the whole world to understand what is happening in DRC,” he said. He did so with resolve. At the International Gorilla Conservation Program he strengthened ranger-based monitoring across the Virunga Massif and Bwindi. Later, he founded Primate Expertise (PEx), a Congolese NGO that placed equal weight on science and people. Gorillas could not be saved without communities, he argued, so PEx dismantled snares, tracked apes with cameras, and planted food and medicinal trees germinated from seeds in gorilla dung. His “Ape&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/in-eastern-congos-war-torn-forests-augustin-basabose-gave-hope-to-gorillas-and-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/in-eastern-congos-war-torn-forests-augustin-basabose-gave-hope-to-gorillas-and-people/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304855</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The forest guardians along Nepal-India border leading red panda conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/the-forest-guardians-along-nepal-india-border-leading-red-panda-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/the-forest-guardians-along-nepal-india-border-leading-red-panda-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2025 13:53:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Deepak Adhikari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/04112441/Wildlingz-20240512-RedPandaNetwork-FabianMuehlberger-8-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301922</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Cute, Environmental Heroes, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Pandas, Reforestation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TAPLEJUNG, Nepal — In the misty hills of eastern Nepal near the border with India, 48-year-old farmer Surya Bhattarai patrols the steep slopes of Sudap Community Forest in Taplejung district. Braving remoteness, treacherous terrain and wild animals, he is tracking red pandas, an elusive and endangered species native to the eastern Himalayas. Trained in field [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TAPLEJUNG, Nepal — In the misty hills of eastern Nepal near the border with India, 48-year-old farmer Surya Bhattarai patrols the steep slopes of Sudap Community Forest in Taplejung district. Braving remoteness, treacherous terrain and wild animals, he is tracking red pandas, an elusive and endangered species native to the eastern Himalayas. Trained in field data collection, Bhattarai, one of 128 Forest Guardians, carries a GPS tracker, a mobile phone, a notebook, a pen, a measuring tape and a vernier scale to document signs of the animal. Forty-four Forest Guardians operate within the Panchthar–Ilam–Taplejung (PIT) Corridor, a vital 11,500-square-kilometer (4,440-square-mile) habitat that shelters roughly a quarter of Nepal’s red panda (Ailurus fulgens) population. In Taplejung, Bhattarai monitors designated forest blocks, walking transects to look for scat, claw marks or other signs of red panda. Monitoring takes place four times a year — in February, May, August and November — timed around key stages in the red panda’s life cycle, like breeding and mating seasons. Patrolling during the summer months also helps deter poaching, says Bhattarai. Globally, fewer than 10,000 red pandas remain across India, Bhutan, China and Nepal, which hosts between 500 and 1,000 in its temperate bamboo forests across 25 districts. The shy, elusive species is quietly slipping toward extinction due to rapid development like road building and hydropower expansion and habitat degradation from human activities that are fragmenting the bamboo forests they depend on. Red panda photographed on a tree in eastern Nepal. Image courtesy of Fabian Muehlberger/&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/the-forest-guardians-along-nepal-india-border-leading-red-panda-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/the-forest-guardians-along-nepal-india-border-leading-red-panda-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301922</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reshu Bashyal becomes fourth Nepali in as many years to win Whitley Award</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/botanist-reshu-bashyal-becomes-fourth-nepali-in-as-many-years-to-win-whitley-award/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/botanist-reshu-bashyal-becomes-fourth-nepali-in-as-many-years-to-win-whitley-award/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 May 2025 00:50:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/01004758/2025_Whitley_Fund_For_Nature-16-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298398</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Botany, Conservation, Environmental Heroes, Medicinal Plants, Orchids, and Plants]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepali conservationist Reshu Bashyal has been named one of the six recipients of this year’s prestigious Whitley Award in recognition of her work to tackle widespread poaching of orchids and yews. Bashyal is the fourth Nepali in as many years to win the award, dubbed the “Green Oscars,” for which she will receive [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepali conservationist Reshu Bashyal has been named one of the six recipients of this year’s prestigious Whitley Award in recognition of her work to tackle widespread poaching of orchids and yews. Bashyal is the fourth Nepali in as many years to win the award, dubbed the “Green Oscars,” for which she will receive 50,000 pounds (nearly $67,000) from the U.K.’s Princess Anne, patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature. The award ceremony was held on April 30 in London. “Orchids and yews are very special because they stand out as evolutionarily distinct plants that have lured people not just because of their beauty but also with their medicinal values,” said Bashyal, research and program lead at the Kathmandu-based NGO Greenhood Nepal. The Whitley Fund for Nature said the award recognizes Bashyal’s pioneering work in understanding the extent of commercial harvesting of yews and orchids in Nepal by carrying out baseline research on harvesters’ motivation and techniques. Orchids, members of the plant family Orchidaceae, are known for their colorful and fragrant blooms, and Nepal is believed to be home to around 500 of the roughly 30,000 species known to science. Also referred to as the “tigers of the plant world,” orchids have long been subjected to unsustainable harvesting and international trade, both for ornamental purposes and for use in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine. Another Nepal-native species, Maire&#8217;s yew (Taxus mairei), is also sought out for use in medicine; a compound derived from the plant’s shoots is used to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/botanist-reshu-bashyal-becomes-fourth-nepali-in-as-many-years-to-win-whitley-award/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298398</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Searching for peace, finding hope: A new film explores rural conflict in Kenya</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/searching-for-peace-finding-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/searching-for-peace-finding-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2025 09:43:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leonie Joubert]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/13154856/N.Gormley_Searching-for-Amani_01493816_01043056-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295763</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Development, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Habitat, Mammals, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A moving coming-of-age story of two Kenyan teenagers brought together in friendship by a murder, the documentary film Searching for Amani opens a window into complex tensions between conservationists, crop-growing farmers and pastoralists in Kenya as extreme drought throws them into conflict over dwindling resources. “When there is peace, people are not being killed,” says [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A moving coming-of-age story of two Kenyan teenagers brought together in friendship by a murder, the documentary film Searching for Amani opens a window into complex tensions between conservationists, crop-growing farmers and pastoralists in Kenya as extreme drought throws them into conflict over dwindling resources. “When there is peace, people are not being killed,” says 18-year-old Simon Ali, whose father, a safari guide, was murdered on the job at a wildlife conservancy five years ago. “I know how peace is very important, because we are victims of conflict.” The timbre of Ali’s voice hints at the time that has passed since he got the news that his father had been shot while guiding tourists through a wilderness area in Laikipia County in central Kenya. Simon Ali, Laikipia County, Kenya. Image courtesy Backroads Pictures. Since then, Ali has journeyed through five years of grief and adolescence while working on the film project, produced by Backroads Pictures and Nicole Gormley Films, in which he goes in search of answers to how, why and by whom his father was killed. Meanwhile, the backdrop to this story is an enduring drought described as the worst to have hit the region in 40 years. As Ali steps in front of the camera in Searching for Amani — amani is the Swahili word for peace — he holds his own camera as he takes on the role of a budding investigative journalist. Under the mentorship of the film crew, he learns the ropes of journalism, grills&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/searching-for-peace-finding-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-295763</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lives worth living: Elephants, Iain Douglas-Hamilton and the fight for coexistence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/lives-worth-living-elephants-iain-douglas-hamilton-and-the-fight-for-coexistence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/lives-worth-living-elephants-iain-douglas-hamilton-and-the-fight-for-coexistence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2025 17:14:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leonie Joubert]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/13164358/IainDouglas-Hamilton1970s_Kenya_SaveTheElephants-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295749</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the screen: DCEFF]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At this point in history, the hubristic belief that people are above nature has allowed humans to bring immeasurable change to the natural systems that all of life depends upon for survival. The documentary A Life Among Elephants — a collaboration between filmmakers Maramedia, elephant “whisperer&#8221; Iain Douglas-Hamilton, his family, and their organization Save the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At this point in history, the hubristic belief that people are above nature has allowed humans to bring immeasurable change to the natural systems that all of life depends upon for survival. The documentary A Life Among Elephants — a collaboration between filmmakers Maramedia, elephant “whisperer&#8221; Iain Douglas-Hamilton, his family, and their organization Save the Elephants — could not be more timely. When Jane Goodall and Iain Douglas-Hamilton sat to compare notes at the start of their careers in the early 1960s, it wasn’t as scientists. Their conversation sprang from their shared and growing wonder at the individuals they were encountering in their work in East Africa. There was a sense of personhood that Goodall saw as she grew to know the chimpanzees she studied, and the elephants that Douglas-Hamilton could have called his family. Douglas-Hamilton’s work led him to a growing realization that each elephant has personality, individuality, and sentience, Goodall says in A Life Among Elephants. “Iain is devoted to conserving them because he knows each of them as an individual with a life worth living,” she says in the film. More than simply studying elephants, Douglas-Hamilton spent a lifetime communing with African elephants, before he went on to champion their conservation as a frenzy of poaching took off in the 1970s and 1980s. He knew individual elephants not just by their unique ear profiles or the slant of their tusks. He knew them by their unique personalities, too. Iain Douglas-Hamilton. Image courtesy Save the Elephants. Goodall and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/lives-worth-living-elephants-iain-douglas-hamilton-and-the-fight-for-coexistence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/lives-worth-living-elephants-iain-douglas-hamilton-and-the-fight-for-coexistence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295749</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Randy Borman (1955-2025): An unlikely guardian of the Amazon rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/randy-borman-1955-2025-an-unlikely-guardian-of-the-amazon-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/randy-borman-1955-2025-an-unlikely-guardian-of-the-amazon-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2025 23:35:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/20155750/RandyBorman-header-obit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Obituary, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Randy Borman was never meant to be Cofán. And yet, from the moment he was born in 1955, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, he belonged to them. His parents, American missionaries, had come to translate the Bible into the Cofán language, but their eldest son took to the forest as though it were written into [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Randy Borman was never meant to be Cofán. And yet, from the moment he was born in 1955, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, he belonged to them. His parents, American missionaries, had come to translate the Bible into the Cofán language, but their eldest son took to the forest as though it were written into his bones. While his parents pored over scripture, Randy learned to track tapirs, fish with a harpoon, and wield a blowgun with quiet precision. He spoke A’ingae, the language of the Cofán, before he spoke English. The rainforest was his cradle, his school, and in the end, his charge. It was a world already slipping away. When Randy was a boy, the Cofán still lived as they had for centuries, hunting and fishing along the Aguarico River, moving lightly through a landscape they understood with an intimacy that few outsiders could fathom. By the time he reached adolescence, the first seismic thuds of an oil-rig drill had shattered the silence. The arrival of Texaco in the late 1960s, and the roads and colonists that followed, turned the Cofán homeland into a wasteland of blackened rivers and felled trees. Randy, shuttled between his village and missionary school in Quito, found himself straddling two irreconcilable worlds: one vanishing, the other indifferent. At 18, he left for Michigan State University, a brief attempt at a life in the land of his ancestors. It did not take. Everything felt regulated, fenced in, he later recalled. I needed the forest.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/randy-borman-1955-2025-an-unlikely-guardian-of-the-amazon-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/randy-borman-1955-2025-an-unlikely-guardian-of-the-amazon-rainforest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jane Goodall is coming to San Francisco. Her event is sold out, but students can still get free tickets</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/jane-goodall-is-coming-to-san-francisco-her-event-is-sold-out-but-students-can-still-get-free-tickets/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/jane-goodall-is-coming-to-san-francisco-her-event-is-sold-out-but-students-can-still-get-free-tickets/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2024 20:08:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/30195730/mongabay-25-years-goodall-event-1600x900-v2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286816</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment and Jane Goodall]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall is coming to San Francisco. On September 16th, Climate One will host primatologist Jane Goodall and myself to mark two milestones: the conservation icon’s 90th year and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary. Greg Dalton of Climate One will moderate a discussion focused on our respective journeys and the reasons for hope in the face of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall is coming to San Francisco. On September 16th, Climate One will host primatologist Jane Goodall and myself to mark two milestones: the conservation icon’s 90th year and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary. Greg Dalton of Climate One will moderate a discussion focused on our respective journeys and the reasons for hope in the face of environmental crises. This event presents an opportunity to hear directly from Goodall, whose decades-long influence on conservation is globally recognized. Goodall’s research on chimpanzees in Gombe, which began in the 1960s, fundamentally changed our understanding of primates and, by extension, ourselves. Beyond her scientific contributions, Goodall has become a global ambassador for environmental stewardship through the Jane Goodall Institute, Roots &amp; Shoots programs, and numerous books and films. Her work consistently advocates for the protection of chimpanzees and their habitats and raises awareness about the interdependence of all living things. At 90, Goodall remains as committed as ever to the cause she has championed for over half a century. Her role as a UN Messenger of Peace and her ongoing advocacy for sustainable living have made her not just a figure of scientific importance, but a symbol of hope in an increasingly uncertain world. In an era of relentless environmental challenges, Goodall’s message stands out with a simple yet profound optimism: that each individual has the power to make a difference. To increase the accessibility of this event, we have secured a block of tickets, available at no cost to middle and high school students,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/jane-goodall-is-coming-to-san-francisco-her-event-is-sold-out-but-students-can-still-get-free-tickets/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/jane-goodall-is-coming-to-san-francisco-her-event-is-sold-out-but-students-can-still-get-free-tickets/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286816</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental protests under attack: Interview with UN special rapporteur Michel Forst</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/environmental-protests-under-attack-interview-with-un-special-rapporteur-michel-forst/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/environmental-protests-under-attack-interview-with-un-special-rapporteur-michel-forst/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2024 16:25:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Speetjens]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/24151914/dakota-pipeline-protest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283569</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Protests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Events in February felt like a legal double whammy for the environment and its defenders. First, the United Nations Environment Assembly declined a Bolivian proposal to grant rights to nature and Mother Earth. Then, Michel Forst, the U.N. special rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention, raised the alarm with his new paper: “State [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Events in February felt like a legal double whammy for the environment and its defenders. First, the United Nations Environment Assembly declined a Bolivian proposal to grant rights to nature and Mother Earth. Then, Michel Forst, the U.N. special rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention, raised the alarm with his new paper: “State Repression of Environmental Protest and Civil Disobedience: A Major Threat to Human Rights and Democracy.” Although the right to protest is safeguarded by universal human rights like freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, Forst signals a worrisome rise in police brutality in dealing with environmental defenders. Meanwhile, courts tend to hand them heftier fines and heavier sentences. In Italy, the anti-mafia law was dusted off to deal with activists, while Britain introduced draconic new laws, which allowed one man to be sentenced to six months in prison for slow walking on a public road. The Aarhus Convention guarantees environmental defenders the right to access information, partake in decision-making, including the right to protest, and a fair trial. The treaty was ratified by the European Union and all its member states, as well as Britain. Other member states are mainly found in Central Asia. Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the Escazú Agreement instead, which, like the Aarhus Convention, guarantees environmental defenders access to information, participation in decision-making and justice when it comes to environmental issues. “In terms of freedom of speech and the right to protest, certainly in regards to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/environmental-protests-under-attack-interview-with-un-special-rapporteur-michel-forst/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/environmental-protests-under-attack-interview-with-un-special-rapporteur-michel-forst/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283569</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Trial begins for Mother Nature Cambodia activists on conspiracy charge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/trial-begins-for-mother-nature-cambodia-activists-on-conspiracy-charge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/trial-begins-for-mother-nature-cambodia-activists-on-conspiracy-charge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2024 08:32:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/29080419/IMG_0070-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282606</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Cities, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, timber trade, and urban ecology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — The trial against Mother Nature Cambodia, one of the country’s last environmental activism groups, kicked off at the Phnom Penh Court of First Instance on the morning of May 29. Ten environmental activists are on trial for allegedly plotting against the government, a charge that carries a prison sentence of between five [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — The trial against Mother Nature Cambodia, one of the country’s last environmental activism groups, kicked off at the Phnom Penh Court of First Instance on the morning of May 29. Ten environmental activists are on trial for allegedly plotting against the government, a charge that carries a prison sentence of between five and 10 years. Of the 10, only five attended court, dressed in traditional Cambodian burial attire: Yim Leanghy, Ly Chandaravuth, Thun Ratha, Phuon Keoreaksmey and Long Kunthea. Leanghy is among three Mother Nature Cambodia activists on trial for both plotting against the government and insulting the king. (Left to right) Ly Chandaravuth, Long Kunthea, Phuon Keoreaksmey, Thun Ratha and Yim Leanghy of Mother Nature Cambodia say farewell to supporters before entering the court on May 29, 2024. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. The second charge could add between one and five years to his sentence if found guilty. Spanish national Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, the group’s founder, and Sun Ratha were also charged under Cambodia’s lèse-majesté laws for insulting the king after a Zoom call from May 14, 2021, was leaked. Neither Gonzalez-Davidson nor Ratha attended court. Gonzalez-Davidson, the group’s original founder, was deported from Cambodia in 2015 and remains banned from entering the country. Three others — Minh Piseth, Rai Raksa and Pok Khoey — were charged with plotting and did not appear before the court. The start of the trial saw only Leanghy take the stand for questioning, after which the court was adjourned&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/trial-begins-for-mother-nature-cambodia-activists-on-conspiracy-charge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/trial-begins-for-mother-nature-cambodia-activists-on-conspiracy-charge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282606</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Owl conservationist Raju Acharya wins Whitley Award in hat trick for Nepal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 May 2024 01:06:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/03010432/Raju_Acharya_2024_Nepal_Whitley_Award_presented_by_HRH_The_Princess_Royal2-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281662</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environmental Heroes, Owls, Poaching, Raptors, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Raju Acharya, a Nepali conservationist, has been named one of the six winners of this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, also known as the “Green Oscars” for grassroots conservation work, in recognition of his work protecting and campaigning for owls. Acharya, the third Nepali to win the award in as many years, is the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Raju Acharya, a Nepali conservationist, has been named one of the six winners of this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, also known as the “Green Oscars” for grassroots conservation work, in recognition of his work protecting and campaigning for owls. Acharya, the third Nepali to win the award in as many years, is the founder and executive director of Friends of Nature, a Kathmandu-based NGO. The resident of Pokhara, a town in western Nepal, has campaigned for the conservation of the birds of prey for more than 15 years, despite facing numerous challenges, such as stereotypes of local people toward the raptors and their conservation. “In my society [the] owl is seen as a lazy and dull creature; when you advocate for their conservation, you are labeled the same way,” Acharya said, addressing the award ceremony. “When I was chosen to represent the World Owl Trust in Nepal, I received ironic congratulations from those around me. Despite the discouragement, I was determined to learn about owls,” said Acharya, also the brains behind the annual Owl Festival, one of the largest conservation events in Nepal. Raju Acharya in the remote field in Accham district, western Nepal. Image © Bikash Ghimire. According to the Whitley Fund for Nature, the U.K. nonprofit that administers the annual award, Acharya will use the prize money of 50,000 pounds ($62,600) to boost initiatives in central Nepal, home to 19 of the country’s 23 owl species. Acharya’s plan is to conduct training to increase the capacity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281662</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous leader Danilo Villafañe dies at 49 in trying to save drowning women in Colombia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/indigenous-leader-danilo-villafane-dies-at-49-in-trying-to-save-drowning-women-in-colombia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/indigenous-leader-danilo-villafane-dies-at-49-in-trying-to-save-drowning-women-in-colombia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2023 17:11:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/30160235/Danilo-Villafane-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277231</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a mountain range revered by Colombia’s Indigenous peoples, the death of Danilo Villafañe has left a conspicuous void. An Arhuaco leader and former governor of his community, he died on Christmas Day at the age of 49 while attempting to rescue two young women from the turbulent waters [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a mountain range revered by Colombia’s Indigenous peoples, the death of Danilo Villafañe has left a conspicuous void. An Arhuaco leader and former governor of his community, he died on Christmas Day at the age of 49 while attempting to rescue two young women from the turbulent waters where the Palomino River meets the Caribbean Sea. One of them, 15-year-old Erika Izquierdo Chaparro, also drowned. Danilo Villafañe in the Sierra Madre in Colombia in 2010. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Mr. Villafañe was best known as a defender of the Sierra Nevada, which the Arhuaco regard as the “Heart of the World.” For decades he worked to safeguard its forests and rivers from deforestation, colonization, and the incursions of narcotics traffickers. His path was shaped by the fate of his father, Adalberto, who was assassinated in 1996 while reclaiming Indigenous territories from coca growers. Following in those footsteps, Danilo dedicated his life to keeping the Sierra intact for both its people and the planet. His activism brought him into conflict with powerful interests. Paramilitaries, guerrillas, drug traffickers, and land speculators all sought to exploit the region. Yet he pressed on, advocating for Indigenous rights at home and abroad. Earlier in December he had spoken at the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, carrying the message of his people to a global stage. At home, he worked to integrate Arhuaco communities into the management of Tayrona National Park, a jewel of the Colombian Caribbean coast,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/indigenous-leader-danilo-villafane-dies-at-49-in-trying-to-save-drowning-women-in-colombia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shrinking civil space and persistent logging: 2023 in review in Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2023 14:40:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn CowanGerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/12064247/Garment-Deforestation_Mongabay_Andy-Ball_Story-3-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277151</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests and Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Law, Logging, Military, Murdered Activists, Murdered Journalists, Politics, Protests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Surveillance, Traditional People, Tropical Deforestation, Violence, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, making it a pivotal region for global efforts to address the biodiversity crisis and climate change. But intense development pressure and global consumption are transforming the region’s landscapes, fragmenting forests, degrading waterways and depleting the natural resources on which countless species and millions of people depend. There have been both losses and gains for the environment and conservation across the region in 2023. The year was marked by ever-increasing repression against environmental activists, unabated logging pressure even within protected areas, and regional haze crises generated by El Niño-driven forest fires and agricultural burning. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Reforestation and ecosystem restoration efforts are coming to the forefront of conservation planning at local, national and regional scales, and mechanisms to make farming practices more sustainable, efficient and profitable are being widely explored throughout the region. Here’s a closer look at some of the conservation trends and developments across Southeast Asia that Mongabay covered during 2023. Repression ramps up across the region Southeast Asia has never been an easy place for activists, but a worrying trend emerged over the course of 2023 that saw environmental and Indigenous activists increasingly placed in the crosshairs of authoritarian governments as a result of their activism. In Cambodia, the transition of power from former prime minister Hun Sen to his eldest son, Hun Manet, has done little to open up the rapidly shrinking civil space. The ongoing crackdown on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/shrinking-civil-space-and-persistent-logging-2023-in-review-in-southeast-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277151</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists in Nepal say government must step up in coming years</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2023 13:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/24080525/fishing-cats-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277025</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Cats, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environmental Heroes, Governance, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Owls, Pangolins, Protected Areas, Small Cats, Traditional Knowledge, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A rich diversity of life abounds across Nepal, from iconic big cats like the tiger and the snow leopard, to less celebrated creatures like vultures and macaques. And behind many of these species are the scientists, conservationists and activists working tirelessly to better understand and ultimately save them from a litany of threats. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A rich diversity of life abounds across Nepal, from iconic big cats like the tiger and the snow leopard, to less celebrated creatures like vultures and macaques. And behind many of these species are the scientists, conservationists and activists working tirelessly to better understand and ultimately save them from a litany of threats. Throughout 2023, Mongabay had the privilege of meeting several of these dedicated individuals and bringing their success, setbacks and still-to-dos to a wider audience. As diverse as their species of concern, most nonetheless touched on a common theme: the need for the government to do more to institutionalize and sustain hard-won conservation gains. This includes more efforts to ramp up community-based conservation work, especially in community forests and areas outside protected areas in Nepal, as well as raising greater awareness among community members that conservation isn’t just about earning money from tourism, but also about saving the environment and resources for future generations. The following are some of the highlights from our interviews over the past year. Conservation success lies with governments, not NGOs: Q&amp;A with Hem Sagar Baral In October, prominent Nepali ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral, who had recently stepped down as the country representative of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), shared with Mongabay his experience setting up the organization’s office in Nepal, the challenges and achievements of working with various stakeholders, and the role of NGOs in conservation. He highlighted that NGOs can’t replace the government’s role in conservation, but can only&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/conservationists-in-nepal-say-government-must-step-up-in-coming-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277025</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jane Goodall and Dax Dasilva partner with Amazon Indigenous youth for new Roots &#038; Shoots program</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/jane-goodall-and-dax-dasilva-partner-with-amazon-indigenous-youth-for-new-roots-shoots-program/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/jane-goodall-and-dax-dasilva-partner-with-amazon-indigenous-youth-for-new-roots-shoots-program/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2023 18:21:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/24180453/Dax-and-Jane-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275855</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Jane Goodall, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall is bringing her youth program, Roots &#38; Shoots, to the Brazilian Amazon in partnership with Indigenous leaders and tech entrepreneur and conservationist Dax Dasilva. The goal is to better equip local youth to protect their ancestral lands. Goodall announced the new Amazon chapter of Roots &#38; Shoots after her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall is bringing her youth program, Roots &amp; Shoots, to the Brazilian Amazon in partnership with Indigenous leaders and tech entrepreneur and conservationist Dax Dasilva. The goal is to better equip local youth to protect their ancestral lands. Goodall announced the new Amazon chapter of Roots &amp; Shoots after her first-ever in-depth visit to the Amazon alongside Dasilva, founder of the environmental organization Age of Union. (Editor’s note: Goodall is a member of Mongabay’s advisory council.) Observing Goodall’s tireless advocacy on the trip was personally impactful, Dasilva told Mongabay. “The thing I experienced being with her day and night was just the power of stories,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She&#8217;s just such a master storyteller and really takes the time to connect with people.&#8221; While visiting the Amazon, Goodall and Dasilva met with Juma Xipaya, founder of the Juma Institute within the Xipaya Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s Pará state. Juma led a successful resistance against a massive dam project in her territory and continues to resist the incursion of illegal loggers and miners. Indigenous activist Juma Xipaya (and her baby) met with Jane Goodall and Dax Dasilva in the Xipaya Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon. Photo courtesy of Age of Union. “What we inherited from our ancestors is this ancient knowledge, that people call ecological intelligence, and this rich forest that produces 20% of the planet’s freshwater and 25% of its terrestrial biodiversity,” Juma Xipaya said in a statement. “The forest is threatened, it’s essential to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/jane-goodall-and-dax-dasilva-partner-with-amazon-indigenous-youth-for-new-roots-shoots-program/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275855</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Communities track a path of destruction through a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2023 04:23:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnMeng Kroypunlok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/09043143/RESIZED-Preah-Roka_Mongabay_Andy-Ball-19-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273942</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Journalism, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Logging, Military, Mongabay Data Studio, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Sometime after 10 a.m. on Friday, April 21, sweat poured down the face of veteran environmental activist San Mala as he crawled through the forest undergrowth, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep in the heart of Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia. Rangers from the Ministry of Environment were closing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Sometime after 10 a.m. on Friday, April 21, sweat poured down the face of veteran environmental activist San Mala as he crawled through the forest undergrowth, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) deep in the heart of Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia. Rangers from the Ministry of Environment were closing in and were calling out for the activists to give themselves up. The rangers had appeared as the camp of community patrollers Mala had accompanied were preparing breakfast. Mala and a handful of his team were already in the forest and managed to escape. Now, the activists were dragging themselves through the foliage as silently as they could. Footsteps crunched close and the rangers’ walkie-talkies crackled unseen through the thick greenery. The humidity and the fear of arrest made for a heady mix, but Mala remained calm. This was not his first flight from the authorities while trying to defend Cambodia’s forests. Veteran Cambodian environmentalist San Mala hides from Ministry of Environment rangers that aimed to detain him in Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary in April 2023. Image by Chasing Deforestation / Mongabay. Mala turned and silently ordered the group to stop. He held his finger to his lips, gesturing at Mongabay reporters, who had joined him and the Prey Preah Roka Community Network — a grassroots activism group comprised of volunteers from communities near the wildlife sanctuary — on one of their patrols through the protected forest to gather data on illegal logging. Insects swarmed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/communities-track-a-path-of-destruction-through-a-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, Chepang take up the challenge to revive their cultural keystone tree</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2023 23:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/31164159/dhanikram-praja-chepang-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269264</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bats, Bees, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environmental Heroes, Erosion, Flowers, Indigenous Peoples, Meat, Traditional Knowledge, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SILINGE, Nepal — On a sunny afternoon, 70-year-old Dhanikram Praja squats on top of a hillock overlooking the lush green rows of trees dotting his farm, distinct from his other trees, which have already shed their leaves. The chiuri (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) saplings he planted three decades ago on his farm in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SILINGE, Nepal — On a sunny afternoon, 70-year-old Dhanikram Praja squats on top of a hillock overlooking the lush green rows of trees dotting his farm, distinct from his other trees, which have already shed their leaves. The chiuri (Diploknema butyracea or Indian butter tree) saplings he planted three decades ago on his farm in Silinge, central Nepal, are now in their full glory. “For Chepangs like us, the chiuri plant is everything,” said Nita Praja, Dhanikram’s grandaughter-in-law. Like Dhanikram, Nita is a member of the Chepang tribe, which has been living in Nepal’s hills in Chitwan, Makwanpur, Dhading and Gorkha for centuries. “We often talk about Chepang chiuri and chamero [bats], and the way they work together.” According to folklore, each member of the trio is necessary for the survival of the other two. The Chepang people are needed to look after the chiuri trees; the trees give the Chepang tribe butter, timber and fuelwood that they can sell or use; the bats pollinate the chiuri flowers to produce fruit and are also a traditional delicacy for the people. Prajwol and Nita Praja from the Chepang community with their chirui trees. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay However, despite the role the trees play in their culture, growing chirui trees has fallen out of popularity and the community has seen a militarized conservation model restrict their access to protected areas, farmlands and resources. The community finds itself in dire need of additional livelihoods outside of protected areas and subsistence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/in-nepal-chepang-take-up-the-challenge-to-revive-their-cultural-keystone-tree/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepali pangolin conservationist Tulshi Suwal among winners of Whitley Awards</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/nepali-pangolin-conservationist-tulshi-suwal-among-winners-of-whitley-awards/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/nepali-pangolin-conservationist-tulshi-suwal-among-winners-of-whitley-awards/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2023 15:32:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/18060716/Tulshi-Suwal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267990</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environmental Heroes, Mammals, Pangolins, Wildlife Trafficking, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Tulshi Laxmi Suwal, a Nepali conservationist, has been named one of the seven winners of this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, known as the “Green Oscars,” in recognition of her work protecting the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Suwal is the founder of the Small Mammals Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF) and has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Tulshi Laxmi Suwal, a Nepali conservationist, has been named one of the seven winners of this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, known as the “Green Oscars,” in recognition of her work protecting the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Suwal is the founder of the Small Mammals Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF) and has been involved in pangolin conservation for the past 15 years, despite facing numerous challenges such as traditional gender stereotypes in academia and a lack of resources to fund her research. According to the Whitley Fund for Nature, the U.K. nonprofit that administers the annual award, Suwal will use the prize money of 40,000 pounds ($50,000) to conduct Nepal’s first impact assessment of the effects of fires on the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), and create 10 community pangolin conservation groups in three districts in Bagmati province. Her project will also plant 20,000 local mixed broad-leaved trees and reach 200,000 people through an awareness campaign. “Over my 15 years in conservation, I have always felt a strong connection with the Chinese pangolin with its dark brown skin, a flat nose, carrying a baby on its back just like I did,” Suwal said at the award ceremony. “The recognition … will make all the difference for the sustainable conservation of these species and their habitat,” she added. In an interview with Mongabay in January this year, Suwal said that when she decided to take up research into pangolins during her university days, convincing her professors to allow her&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/nepali-pangolin-conservationist-tulshi-suwal-among-winners-of-whitley-awards/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267990</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s wild yaks ‘need more conservation than research’: Q&#038;A with Naresh Kusi</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/nepals-wild-yaks-need-more-conservation-than-research-qa-with-naresh-kusi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/nepals-wild-yaks-need-more-conservation-than-research-qa-with-naresh-kusi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2022 07:43:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/15070457/Photo_7-1-e1668496047918-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262615</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Nepal, South Asia, and Tibetan Plateau]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environmental Heroes, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mountains, Over-hunting, and Trophy Hunting]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU – Wild yaks (Bos mutus) are believed to have once roamed the regions north of Nepal’s Himalayas. The iconic large bovine, considered the ancestor of the domesticated yak (Bos grunniens), is native to the mountains and had a deep relationship with the people living north of the tallest mountains in the world. However, even [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU – Wild yaks (Bos mutus) are believed to have once roamed the regions north of Nepal’s Himalayas. The iconic large bovine, considered the ancestor of the domesticated yak (Bos grunniens), is native to the mountains and had a deep relationship with the people living north of the tallest mountains in the world. However, even the sighting of the animal, now categorized as “vulnerable” by IUCN, the global conservation authority, has been rare in Nepal since the dawn of the new millennium — although they are still found in numbers in neighboring Tibet. As the red list says that its presence in Nepal is uncertain, researchers and wildlife photographers alike feel excited to catch a glimpse of them. Naresh Kusi in Upper Mustang during a wild yak research expedition in 2017. Image by Prajwol Manandhar Researcher Naresh Kusi is no exception. He, along with researcher Geraldine Werhahn, were thrilled to encounter three wild yaks (known as dong in Tibetan) in Humla district of Nepal in July this year. This was a sight to behold for the duo, who were the first to sight the animal in 2014, decades after they were believed to have gone extinct. Following their discoveries, the IUCN plans to conduct a reassessment of the distribution map of the animal to possibly include Nepal. Kusi, now country program director at the Himalayan Wolves Project, has relentlessly studied wild yaks since 2014. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi met Kusi in Kathmandu recently to talk about the status of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/nepals-wild-yaks-need-more-conservation-than-research-qa-with-naresh-kusi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262615</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The war on journalists and environmental defenders in the Amazon continues (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/the-war-on-journalists-and-environmental-defenders-in-the-amazon-continues-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/the-war-on-journalists-and-environmental-defenders-in-the-amazon-continues-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2022 23:45:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/29083646/violence-against-Indigenous-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257397</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Controversial, Corruption, Crime, Culture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Forests, Green, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Mining, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Saving Rainforests, Social Justice, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since I became an environmental journalist six years ago, my family, friends and acquaintances all labeled me “crazy”. Why? Because they were extremely scared after  reading my articles and hearing my testimonies of field investigative reporting experiences in the Brazilian Amazon. The question that I have always heard since then was: “Aren’t you afraid of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Since I became an environmental journalist six years ago, my family, friends and acquaintances all labeled me “crazy”. Why? Because they were extremely scared after  reading my articles and hearing my testimonies of field investigative reporting experiences in the Brazilian Amazon. The question that I have always heard since then was: “Aren’t you afraid of the work you do?” Until June 5, I’ve automatically responded: “No.” But now I am afraid. And ravaged, angry, and sad. Journalists in Brazil and around the world are devastated — and scared — about the tragic end of a 10-day search for British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira in the Amazon rainforest near the Brazil-Peru border in northern Amazonas state. Bodies believed to be theirs were found on June 15 after a huge outcry against the federal government’s inaction following their disappearance. Indigenous patrols bravely conducted their own search while the government did little. Vigil for Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo Pereira at the Brazilian Embassy in London. Image courtesy of Chris J Ratcliffe/Greenpeace. Dom and Bruno had gone missing June 5 as they returned from a visit to Indigenous territory in the Javari River Valley, where about 6,000 Indigenous people live, including some of the last groups living in voluntary isolation from the outside world. This area has lately become known as one of the “most dangerous” in Brazil due to the onslaught of violence against Indigenous peoples by illegal land invaders, drug traffickers, miners, loggers, and fishermen. I was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/the-war-on-journalists-and-environmental-defenders-in-the-amazon-continues-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257397</doi>				</item>
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					<title>‘Protecting snow leopards benefits other species’: Q&#038;A with Rinzin Phunjok Lama</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/protecting-snow-leopards-benefits-other-species-qa-with-rinzin-phunjok-lama/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/protecting-snow-leopards-benefits-other-species-qa-with-rinzin-phunjok-lama/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2022 04:32:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/23175248/Snow-leopard-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256991</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environmental Heroes, Grasslands, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Think of big cats in Nepal, and you’ll probably picture a Bengal tiger. And while the country is famous for the Panthera tigris that prowl its southern plains — and for its efforts in doubling their population over the past decade — there’s another, lesser-known, big cat in the country’s north, lurking high [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Think of big cats in Nepal, and you’ll probably picture a Bengal tiger. And while the country is famous for the Panthera tigris that prowl its southern plains — and for its efforts in doubling their population over the past decade — there’s another, lesser-known, big cat in the country’s north, lurking high in the craggy Trans-Himalayan mountains. Ask Rinzin Phunjok Lama, and he’ll tell you everything there is to know about the snow leopard (Panthera uncia). Based in Humla, a district on Nepal’s border with Tibet, Lama is a conservation biologist who’s been working in the field since 2014. He’s studied snow leopards for years, and today trains others on how to study them: how to use surveys and camera traps to better their odds of catching a glimpse of this elusive predator at nose-bleeding altitudes. There are an estimated 300-400 snow leopards in Nepal, out of a global population that’s thought to range from roughly 4,700-8,700. That’s more than the country’s tiger population, at about 250, but you wouldn’t know it going by numbers of live sightings alone. “Even people working on their conservation see them only once or twice in their careers,” Lama says. He adds the snow leopard is considered an indicator of a healthy environment: where the apex predator thrives, other species all the way down the food chain also do well. But it faces mounting threats, largely from conflict with humans and climate change. The former stems from the snow leopards preying&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/protecting-snow-leopards-benefits-other-species-qa-with-rinzin-phunjok-lama/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256991</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Josefina Tunki: ‘If we have to die in defense of the land, we have to die’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/josefina-tunki-if-we-have-to-die-in-defense-of-the-land-we-have-to-die/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/josefina-tunki-if-we-have-to-die-in-defense-of-the-land-we-have-to-die/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jan 2022 12:39:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina Basantes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/01/05123231/Josefina-Tunki-Ecuador-Indigenous-mining-conservation-activism-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251461</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Conservation, Indigenous-led conservation, and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gender, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Mountains, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, Social Justice, Violence, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Josefina Tunki is a mother, even though she doesn’t have any biological children. In 2019, she became the first president of the Shuar Arutam People (Pueblo Shuar Arutam, PSHA, in Spanish). The PSHA is an Indigenous organization that unites about 12,000 people living in the Condor mountain range in southeastern Ecuador. From the moment Tunki [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Josefina Tunki is a mother, even though she doesn’t have any biological children. In 2019, she became the first president of the Shuar Arutam People (Pueblo Shuar Arutam, PSHA, in Spanish). The PSHA is an Indigenous organization that unites about 12,000 people living in the Condor mountain range in southeastern Ecuador. From the moment Tunki became president, her protective instincts toward her community and their land strengthened her vital commitment. Her voice firm and confident, Tunki says she would never order any armed action. However, if the Indigenous Shuar people need to defend themselves against the pressure and violence of mining companies and the Ecuadoran government, Tunki says she would put herself at the forefront to protect the mountains, forests and waterfalls that her people have taken care of for centuries. Tunki adds she’s not afraid of armed police or soldiers, or swayed by the death threats she’s received from mining companies. Instead, she says she fears that members of her community will lose their home. “What concerns me most is that at the moment we least expect it, there could be evictions or confrontations,” Tunki says. Josefina Tunki walks in traditional clothes through the streets of the Maikiuants community, where the PSHA headquarters are. Image courtesy of Lluvia Communication. According to the NGO Amazon Watch, the Ecuadoran government has granted 165 mining concessions that occupy 56% of the 230,000 hectares (about 568,000 acres) of PSHA territory. Since the 1990s, these concessions have been granted to Solaris Resources of Canada,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/josefina-tunki-if-we-have-to-die-in-defense-of-the-land-we-have-to-die/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251461</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Colombia, threatened women of the Wayuú community continue to fight rampant mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/in-colombia-threatened-women-of-the-wayuu-community-continue-to-fight-rampant-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/in-colombia-threatened-women-of-the-wayuu-community-continue-to-fight-rampant-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2021 12:39:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carol Sánchez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/13113702/Mujeres_Wayuu-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250516</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation and Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Education, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gender, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Pollution, Protected Areas, Resource Conflict, Social Justice, Violence, Water, Water Pollution, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was written in partnership with Mongabay Latam and Rutas del Conflicto. Leaving the headquarters of the Wayuú Women’s Force, Mülo’u took the first taxi she saw. It was a little after 10 at night in 2008: fear of the paramilitaries was everywhere in La Guajira. Arriving at her destination, she received a threat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was written in partnership with Mongabay Latam and Rutas del Conflicto. Leaving the headquarters of the Wayuú Women’s Force, Mülo’u took the first taxi she saw. It was a little after 10 at night in 2008: fear of the paramilitaries was everywhere in La Guajira. Arriving at her destination, she received a threat from the driver: “You’re safe today, but it won’t be for long. I waited for you and brought you here, just like I have with the others that come out of your meetings. We haven’t killed you because we don’t want to, but we can shoot you all in those hammocks that you sleep in. Now get out of my taxi!” Mülo’u obeyed the order. Shaking, she packed her bags and left. By then, the Wayuú Women’s Force —an Indigenous organization that Mülo’u had been a part of since its formation — was already known in Colombia for publicly denouncing environmental and human rights violations committed in her territory. The two years they had been working had been enough to put its members in the crosshairs of violent actors like the paramilitaries and other criminal groups. Since then, the threats haven’t stopped. They continued year after year, seemingly uncountable. The most recent one occurred in March 2020, when a quarantine began in Colombia, the names of various members of the group appeared in a pamphlet signed by the “Black Eagles,” a loosely structured armed group that had not completely demobilized in 2006. In the pamphlet,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/in-colombia-threatened-women-of-the-wayuu-community-continue-to-fight-rampant-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250516</doi>				</item>
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