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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/gender/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2026 01:42:55 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
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	<title>News on Gender</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/gender/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Just transition remains elusive for Kenyan women despite robust policies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/just-transition-remains-elusive-for-kenyan-women-despite-robust-policies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/just-transition-remains-elusive-for-kenyan-women-despite-robust-policies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2026 14:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ouma Elvine Tina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/21065949/50792721872_35c376ac24_6k-kenya-solar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333396</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Community Development, Community Forests, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fellows, Gender, Governance, Just Transition, Politics, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Anna Fatuma is a 31-year-old woman who runs a kibandaski in Tumboni village, Kitui county in eastern Kenya. Kibandaski is Kenyan urban slang for an affordable, open-air urban eatery, often a small shack made of iron sheets, 3-ply wood or canvas. They are popular with low-income customers. Inside, smoke from firewood beneath simmering pots hangs [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Anna Fatuma is a 31-year-old woman who runs a kibandaski in Tumboni village, Kitui county in eastern Kenya. Kibandaski is Kenyan urban slang for an affordable, open-air urban eatery, often a small shack made of iron sheets, 3-ply wood or canvas. They are popular with low-income customers. Inside, smoke from firewood beneath simmering pots hangs in the air, while dark stains from settled soot mark the walls around cooking areas. The heat from the food, the smoke and the cramped space make the kibandaski humid and uncomfortable. Fatuma&#8217;s kibandaski is one of these small roadside eateries. She opens every day at 6 a.m., cooking and serving meals until about 8:30 p.m. The most expensive meal on her menu costs 250 Kenyan shillings, about $2. She started the business in 2024, hoping it would improve her financial situation and that of her husband, Sam. &#8220;Cooking gas is expensive. I can&#8217;t afford to buy and use it here,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Kuni, firewood is easier to find and cheaper to use. Charcoal is my preferred option, though it is expensive.&#8221; Fatuma often collects the firewood herself. The work leaves her with a persistent backache. On some days, she pays someone to collect it so she can arrive early enough to open the &#8220;hotel,&#8221; as she calls it. &#8220;Kamgongo kanauma. My back aches,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Paying someone to collect firewood isn&#8217;t ideal, but sometimes I am forced to. It&#8217;s also to make sure I open the hotel early.&#8221; Her routine might seem far removed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/just-transition-remains-elusive-for-kenyan-women-despite-robust-policies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/just-transition-remains-elusive-for-kenyan-women-despite-robust-policies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333396</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Delegates at biodiversity COP17 should follow the lead of Global South women (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/delegates-at-biodiversity-cop17-should-follow-the-lead-of-global-south-women-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/delegates-at-biodiversity-cop17-should-follow-the-lead-of-global-south-women-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2026 00:40:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Valentina Figuera Martínez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/24184300/Captura-de-pantalla-2025-06-26-a-las-1.57.38-p.m-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333386</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity credits, Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Finance, Gender, Governance, Nature-based climate solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As global leaders convene in Armenia this week for the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference of the parties (COP17), it is difficult to ignore how women’s oppression is deeply intertwined with the exploitation of ecosystems. After almost two decades of pledges, biodiversity action remains underfunded, forest loss continues to be a growing threat, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As global leaders convene in Armenia this week for the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference of the parties (COP17), it is difficult to ignore how women’s oppression is deeply intertwined with the exploitation of ecosystems. After almost two decades of pledges, biodiversity action remains underfunded, forest loss continues to be a growing threat, socio-ecological transitions are a low priority, and ecosystems are spiraling toward collapse. The impacts of resulting climate disasters and biodiversity destruction are not felt equally, yet gender justice issues also remain unresolved within these international talks. In Yerevan, Armenia, countries will consider the first global review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which was the first formal assessment to measure progress since its adoption in 2022. COP17 is also poised to advance efforts on biodiversity finance under the umbrella of common but differentiated responsibilities. But progress cannot be measured only in targets, financial commitments and international mechanisms. We should also ask a more basic question: What can we learn from the people who are already protecting biodiversity in their territories? Women leading agroecology and community conservation initiatives in Zambia. Image courtesy of Kapyanga Women Association &amp; Zamsof. While hundreds of policymakers spend long hours negotiating decisions to promote false solutions and powerful corporate actors lobby to continue profiting from biodiversity destruction and obstruct environmental regulations, women from the Global South continue working without big cameras or fancy social media presences to protect what is left of their territories. They are ensuring the continuation of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/delegates-at-biodiversity-cop17-should-follow-the-lead-of-global-south-women-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/delegates-at-biodiversity-cop17-should-follow-the-lead-of-global-south-women-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333386</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The women keeping Uttarakhand’s native bees alive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2026 17:58:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Swati Thapa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/19172030/Indian-Honey-Bee-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bees, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Natural Resources, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PITHORAGARH, Uttarakhand, India — The world comes alive during summers in Himalayan states like Uttarakhand. The forests are budding with new green leaves, and almost every trail is lined on both sides with flowers of many shapes, sizes and colors. With the flora, fauna comes to life as well. Saraswati Devi, 80, sits in her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PITHORAGARH, Uttarakhand, India — The world comes alive during summers in Himalayan states like Uttarakhand. The forests are budding with new green leaves, and almost every trail is lined on both sides with flowers of many shapes, sizes and colors. With the flora, fauna comes to life as well. Saraswati Devi, 80, sits in her courtyard with bees buzzing in and out of the wall hive where the colony lives in her home. “Bees are considered so sacred and an important part of people’s lives that we have faag songs about them,” Saraswati says. Faag are traditional songs sung at joyous and auspicious occasions like weddings and festivals in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. She and her fellow women hum a melody that Saraswati sang at weddings. Bees come to those homes where children play; But at homes with no children, the bees won’t stay. For centuries here, people’s lives have been intertwined with the bees, creating a unique interdependence. In rural Uttarakhand, many households share their homes with an indigenous species, Apis cerana indica, commonly known as the Indian honey bee or Himalayan honey bee. However, factors like climate change, introduction of new bee species for more honey production, habitat fragmentation and inadequate nutrition are among the reasons for a decline in their population. As rearing bees is a natural part of household duties, women’s role becomes central in the conservation of this species. Saraswati Devi, along with her family, standing beneath the opening of the wall hive, with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-women-keeping-uttarakhands-native-bees-alive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian women cash in on mangrove restoration: Interview with community leader Wisye Sahambangung</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesian-women-cash-in-on-mangrove-restoration-interview-with-community-leader-wisye-sahambangung/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesian-women-cash-in-on-mangrove-restoration-interview-with-community-leader-wisye-sahambangung/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2026 07:57:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annisa Dinulislam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/16144823/Photo-2-Wisye-Sahambangung-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332892</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sulawesi, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Gender, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine, Restoration, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Wisye Sahambangung is a fisher, community leader, and mangrove conservationist from Sarawet, a coastal Indonesian village in North Sulawesi province. Since 2022, the 45-year-old has led Rhizopora, a women’s group that restores mangroves and helps create economic opportunities for women in the village. Rhizopora, named after the Rhizophora genus of mangrove trees, has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Wisye Sahambangung is a fisher, community leader, and mangrove conservationist from Sarawet, a coastal Indonesian village in North Sulawesi province. Since 2022, the 45-year-old has led Rhizopora, a women’s group that restores mangroves and helps create economic opportunities for women in the village. Rhizopora, named after the Rhizophora genus of mangrove trees, has become a community-based conservation movement. Its members collect mangrove propagules and seedlings, support restoration projects, monitor coastal areas, and teach other villagers how to plant mangroves. They revive the mangrove forest that is home to crabs and fish, which are their primary source of income. In collaboration with the NGOs Yayasan Bumi Tangguh and CARE Indonesia, Rhizopora helped plant 30,000 mangrove trees during an eight-month restoration project this year. For Wisye, protecting mangroves is about protecting the people who depend on the coast. The group sells seedlings, collects and sells mud crabs, and runs savings-and-loans activities that boost their incomes. Her work has taken her from Sarawet’s muddy coastal areas to an international forum in Australia, where she shared the women’s experiences of protecting their coastal environment. “Since Rhizopora was established, Sarawet has become more widely known nationally and internationally,” she said proudly. Wisye Sahambangung in Australia during her trip to Melbourne for Women Deliver 2026. Image courtesy of Wisye Sahambangung. Wisye spoke with Mongabay via video call about how she leads Rhizopora in protecting coastal ecosystems while creating income opportunities for women in the community, the challenges of community-led conservation, and the impact on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesian-women-cash-in-on-mangrove-restoration-interview-with-community-leader-wisye-sahambangung/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesian-women-cash-in-on-mangrove-restoration-interview-with-community-leader-wisye-sahambangung/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The uplifting story of one of Zimbabwe’s pioneering women rangers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-uplifting-story-of-one-of-zimbabwes-pioneering-women-rangers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-uplifting-story-of-one-of-zimbabwes-pioneering-women-rangers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2026 19:03:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/16191522/W2iBT42Q-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333004</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Gender, Governance, Politics, Rainforests, Solutions, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto, one of the most memorable moments of becoming a wildlife ranger was a trip to town. She and her fellow recruits walked through the streets in their new uniforms, on their way to open bank accounts. Soon, they would receive their first salaries. For a woman who had struggled to make [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto, one of the most memorable moments of becoming a wildlife ranger was a trip to town. She and her fellow recruits walked through the streets in their new uniforms, on their way to open bank accounts. Soon, they would receive their first salaries. For a woman who had struggled to make ends meet in rural Zimbabwe, it was an extraordinary moment. “We were very proud,” she recalled. Hoto, 34, grew up in Huyo, a village in Zimbabwe’s Lower Zambezi Valley, where her family depended largely on growing and selling vegetables. Money was scarce, and although she had done well at school, she could not afford to continue her education beyond secondary school. Marriage, she hoped, might offer a better life. Instead, she says, she endured nearly four years with a violent husband before deciding to leave. She returned to her parents’ home with her young daughter and resumed working in the family garden. Her fortunes changed in 2017, when the International Anti-Poaching Foundation began recruiting local women for Akashinga, a new wildlife protection initiative. Hoto was among 16 women selected from roughly 100 applicants. Many men in her community doubted that women could confront poachers or withstand the demands of ranger work. She went anyway. Within a few years, she had become a ranger sergeant, leading other women on patrol. She later returned to university, graduating in 2023 with a degree in wildlife, ecology and conservation. Today, she works as a biodiversity officer with Akashinga, using&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-uplifting-story-of-one-of-zimbabwes-pioneering-women-rangers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-uplifting-story-of-one-of-zimbabwes-pioneering-women-rangers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333004</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Enclosed river:’ Women shellfish gatherers fight for access to mangroves in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/enclosed-river-women-shellfish-gatherers-fight-for-access-to-mangroves-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/enclosed-river-women-shellfish-gatherers-fight-for-access-to-mangroves-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2026 15:38:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolina de Marchi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/16152749/adriana_cata_ostras-1800x1012-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332916</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Development, Environment, Food, Gender, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mangroves, Natural Resources, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Adriana Hora dos Santos stands waist-deep in the water. Her dark hair is tied in a single braid; her arms and torso covered by a pink Lycra shirt. The thick mangrove mud reaches her thighs. Using a machete just over 40-centimeters (16-inches) long, she pries dozens of oysters from the twisted roots with a steady [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Adriana Hora dos Santos stands waist-deep in the water. Her dark hair is tied in a single braid; her arms and torso covered by a pink Lycra shirt. The thick mangrove mud reaches her thighs. Using a machete just over 40-centimeters (16-inches) long, she pries dozens of oysters from the twisted roots with a steady cadence: Not too fast, not too slow. Across the Vaza-Barris river, the buildings of Sergipe’s state capital Aracaju seem otherworldly. Here, one hears the lapping of the water, the strike of the blade and Santos’s voice: “I am, I am a shellfish gatherer / Queen of the mangrove, I am a warrior! / I am, I am a shellfish gatherer / A fighting woman, a striver / It’s the wind that gives it to me / It’s the river, it’s the mangrove, it’s the sea / My chest aches, enclosed river / My chest aches with no fish caught / Come, woman, fight, emancipate yourself / We are Sergipe’s shellfish gatherers!” This is the anthem of the Movement of Women Shellfish Gatherers of Sergipe (MMS), a grassroots collective that has resisted continuous environmental degradation and cultural erasure for decades. Acting as guardians of the mangrove, they do environmental protection work while facing pressures that put their own survival at risk. To hear one of these women is to hear many: Their verbs almost always come in the plural. “We are always in a flock,” Santos says. And it was as a flock that they introduced&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/enclosed-river-women-shellfish-gatherers-fight-for-access-to-mangroves-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/enclosed-river-women-shellfish-gatherers-fight-for-access-to-mangroves-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332916</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous women bring leadership, creativity &#038; joy to clean water action (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Oct 2026 16:23:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justine Apodaca]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/12160042/Indigenous-woman-and-daughter-with-water-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332259</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Culture, Drinking Water, Environment, Freshwater, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Natural Resources, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s honor the leadership and contributions of Indigenous women in water. Women – and particularly Indigenous women – are underrepresented in the water workforce and make up less than one in three voices in water governance. Yet, the water sector has much to learn from women&#8217;s leadership. Women have always led, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s honor the leadership and contributions of Indigenous women in water. Women – and particularly Indigenous women – are underrepresented in the water workforce and make up less than one in three voices in water governance. Yet, the water sector has much to learn from women&#8217;s leadership. Women have always led, and women get things done. Across the water community, women bring people together, build partnerships, solve problems, and move important work forward every day. Their leadership takes many forms. Some lead through community engagement and relationship building. Others advance technical solutions, policy, research, infrastructure, public health, or education. Many do all of these things at once. Different perspectives help turn vision into action. Women lead in complementary ways, and that collaboration often drives meaningful progress. Indigenous women and girls gather stones to make water filters to provide their community with safe water in Ecuador. Image courtesy of Yachana Foundation. In working alongside Indigenous leaders such as Emma Robbins and Crystal Tulley-Cordova, I have seen how community knowledge, technical expertise, and relationship-building complement one another. Throughout this work, women continue to champion Indigenous knowledge, environmental stewardship, water justice, and community resilience. They advance conversations about water rights, water hauling, universal access to clean water, public health, policy, research, and infrastructure. They also recognize that solving water challenges requires more than technical expertise: Real progress happens when communities, researchers, educators, advocates, and decision-makers come together around shared goals. Women play a leading role in creating and sustaining&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indigenous-women-bring-leadership-creativity-joy-to-clean-water-action-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332259</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Preserving wildlife DNA for the future: Interview with the Frozen Zoo’s Katie Heineman</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/preserving-wildlife-dna-for-the-future-interview-with-the-frozen-zoos-katie-heineman/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/preserving-wildlife-dna-for-the-future-interview-with-the-frozen-zoos-katie-heineman/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2026 13:28:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/28132011/Banner-Image-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331055</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, DNA, Environment, Gender, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Plants, Research, Science, Solutions, Species, Species recovery, Wildlife, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Kurt, a Przewalski&#8217;s horse, was born at in Texas in August 2020. Less than three years later, Ollie followed. Out in the wild, their species had gone extinct in the 1960s. Both individuals, born of a surrogate mother — a domestic horse — were the first Przewalski&#8217;s horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) to be successfully cloned [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Kurt, a Przewalski&#8217;s horse, was born at in Texas in August 2020. Less than three years later, Ollie followed. Out in the wild, their species had gone extinct in the 1960s. Both individuals, born of a surrogate mother — a domestic horse — were the first Przewalski&#8217;s horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) to be successfully cloned from another of their species whose DNA had been preserved at the San Diego Zoo for 40 years. At the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo, the largest initiative of its kind in the world, genetic materials from animals and plants are stored — cryopreserved using liquid nitrogen at temperatures as low as -196° Celsius (-320° Fahrenheit) — for posterity. But the Frozen Zoo is only part of the alliance’s broader biodiversity banking initiative, which also includes a native plant gene bank and a tissue and DNA bank. “I think of it as saving DNA for the future,” Katie Heineman, conservation program leader for biodiversity banking at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA), told Mongabay in a video interview. “It really is an optimistic act to conserve biodiversity for a time where we&#8217;ve solved the threats facing nature.” Applications are aplenty. Biodiversity banking can help not just in the recovery of threatened species, but also in preserving genetic diversity. It’s also crucial for scientific research. However, given the pace of habitat degradation and biodiversity loss, Heineman said there’s an urgency to build capacity around the world to ensure more samples are collected and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/preserving-wildlife-dna-for-the-future-interview-with-the-frozen-zoos-katie-heineman/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331055</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Nepal, women seek ownership rights to the lands they tend</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2026 16:50:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Haven Sager]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/23143406/paddy-field-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330580</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Culture, Environment, Farming, Gender, Land Rights, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — Before Binita Bishwokaarma understood Nepal’s property laws, she understood the work required to sustain a farm. Growing up in the village of Sindhupalchok, east of the capital, Kathmandu, she spent much of her time helping her mother around the house and in the fields while her father worked in the city. It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POKHARA, Nepal — Before Binita Bishwokaarma understood Nepal’s property laws, she understood the work required to sustain a farm. Growing up in the village of Sindhupalchok, east of the capital, Kathmandu, she spent much of her time helping her mother around the house and in the fields while her father worked in the city. It’s a common scenario in Nepal, where gendered divisions of agricultural labor are widespread. For Bishwokaarma, that meant she and her mother grew maize, potatoes, garlic and other vegetables. She participated in the entire agricultural cycle, from preparing fields and planting crops to harvesting them. She enjoyed plowing the most, but it was physically demanding because the family lacked modern machinery. “We didn&#8217;t have tractors,” she said. “So, everything, start to ending, we had to do with our own hands. It was really hard.” It’s what many women and girls experience. And yet, their prospects for owning the land they tend are slim: Despite gender equality under the law, in Nepal, property rights rest mostly with men. Still, it’s women — accounting for nearly 70% of the country’s farming population — whom Bishwokaarma credits most with caring for the land. Throughout her childhood, she saw how dedicated women were to conserving their environment. She explained that many women learn from childhood how to keep the soil healthy and reduce pests naturally through mixed cropping, crop rotation and intercropping. Farmers harvest paddy at Bhaktapur, Nepal. Agriculture is the main source of food, income and employment for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-nepal-women-seek-ownership-rights-to-the-lands-they-tend/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330580</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sickles, sarees and smoke: Women on the frontlines of Uttarakhand forest fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 20:50:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Swati Thapa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08160244/Lila-Devi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329123</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Gender, Governance, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these woods for survival, the aftermath of wildfire means their daily chores take twice as long, forcing them deeper into the forest just to gather basic fodder and firewood when those closer to home are unusable. Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, with increased fire incidence in the region coinciding with high-altitude warming that exceeds the global rate. Beyond individual fire events, the fire season itself is expanding. While the season usually lasts for about 12 weeks starting in mid-March, Uttarakhand now experiences winter fires, an alarming shift from what was previously snow season, hinting at a deeper ecosystem-level impact. This trend has only escalated, with the state recording a sharp spike in forest fire activity during the first four months of 2026. This period is not just witnessed but experienced through each of the human senses. Trails of grey smoke engulf the bright blue sky. Along with the fog-like situation, the air carries soot, sometimes covering the roofs of houses with snow-like ash. “We are all coughing our lungs out; during that time, our eyes are bloodshot, irritated by all the smoke, and it’s hard to breathe in the thick&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How women farmers are helping elephants and forests in a Sumatran national park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2026 14:22:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[SuryadiYenni Kwok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/14132827/Ernita-farmer-and-member-of-womens-group-Perbani-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326257</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Elephants, Environment, Gender, Human-wildlife Conflict, National Parks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUBUK KEMBANG BUNGA, Indonesia — Tesso Nilo National Park, located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, often makes headlines due to human-wildlife conflict — a byproduct of illegal encroachment and deforestation by oil palm plantations. However, there is a ray of hope, thanks to female farmers who live in a buffer zone of the national [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUBUK KEMBANG BUNGA, Indonesia — Tesso Nilo National Park, located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, often makes headlines due to human-wildlife conflict — a byproduct of illegal encroachment and deforestation by oil palm plantations. However, there is a ray of hope, thanks to female farmers who live in a buffer zone of the national park. In the village of Lubuk Kembang Bunga, in the buffer zone next to the park, women are leading an initiative to plant fruit trees that both serve a conservation purpose and provide extra income. To prevent elephants from destroying their fruit plantations, the villagers plant citrus trees, which repel the pachyderms. Elsewhere, they also plant fruits beloved by these large animals, such as jackfruit, its cousin cempedak, and stink beans, known in Indonesian as petai. Ernita, a 33-year-old farmer, said she can now breathe easy after planting citrus trees on the perimeter of her oil palm farm. “Before we had the citrus trees, elephants always ate our oil palm fruits,” she told Mongabay Indonesia. “We had to replant the trees four or five times … Praise be to God, since we planted the citrus trees, the elephants haven’t eaten our oil palm fruits.” Ernita’s farm lies just outside Tesso Nilo, so she can grow various crops, including oil palm. But other parts of Lubuk Kembang Bunga village fall within the park’s borders, where, technically at least, oil palm cultivation isn’t permitted. Ernita, a farmer and member of Perbani, grows citrus trees on the perimeter&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-women-farmers-are-helping-elephants-and-forests-in-a-sumatran-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326257</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meet the Indigenous women restoring Kenya’s Mau Forest — and reshaping gender roles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/meet-the-indigenous-women-restoring-kenyas-mau-forest-and-reshaping-gender-roles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/meet-the-indigenous-women-restoring-kenyas-mau-forest-and-reshaping-gender-roles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Aug 2026 19:41:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliet Akoth Ojwang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/10080513/13-Ntoiye-Kimorgo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325754</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Environment, Forests, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Landscape Restoration, Restoration, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Before dawn breaks over Eor Ewaso, a village in southwestern Kenya, Judy Mukut is already awake. By 6:30 a.m., she has fetched water, milked the family&#8217;s cattle, prepared breakfast, cleaned the house and seen her children off to school. Only then does she leave home for a resource center run by the Paran Indigenous women&#8217;s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Before dawn breaks over Eor Ewaso, a village in southwestern Kenya, Judy Mukut is already awake. By 6:30 a.m., she has fetched water, milked the family&#8217;s cattle, prepared breakfast, cleaned the house and seen her children off to school. Only then does she leave home for a resource center run by the Paran Indigenous women&#8217;s organization, where another day&#8217;s conservation work begins. For Mukut, conservation of the Mau Forest is squeezed into the few hours left after fulfilling the responsibilities expected of her as a Maasai wife and mother. Yet it is this balancing act that reflects a quieter transformation taking place across one of Kenya&#8217;s most important forest ecosystems. As Indigenous women restore degraded sections of the Mau Forest, they are also earning independent incomes, participating in household decisions and reviving traditional ecological knowledge that once sustained their communities for generations before going dormant. Founded in 2005, the Paran Women Group has grown into a network of 64 registered Indigenous women&#8217;s groups, mostly drawn from Maasai and Ogiek communities in Narok county, as well as communities in West Pokot and Samburu counties. Through community-managed tree nurseries, kitchen gardens, village savings groups, beekeeping and landscape restoration, the organization has linked environmental conservation with women&#8217;s empowerment. To coordinate its expanding network, Paran established seven community resource centers. Rather than functioning as offices, the centers serve as demonstration sites where women raise seedlings, receive technical training and exchange traditional knowledge. &#8220;The work has taught us how to organize ourselves,&#8221; Mukut said. &#8220;Even&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/meet-the-indigenous-women-restoring-kenyas-mau-forest-and-reshaping-gender-roles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325754</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Doña Oscarina, master ceramicist, documented Indigenous knowledge along the Tiquié River</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dona-oscarina-master-ceramicist-documented-the-knowledge-of-the-tiquie/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dona-oscarina-master-ceramicist-documented-the-knowledge-of-the-tiquie/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 08:41:11 +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/20/2026/07/28234156/Oscarina-Caldas-Azevedo-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324719</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Culture, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; Before clay could be taken from the earth, permission had to be sought. “Grandmother, are you there?” the potter would ask. “I am your granddaughter. I have come to find you.” The words were addressed to Di’i Mahso, Grandmother Clay, who taught women how to find the right material and craft the first cooking [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; Before clay could be taken from the earth, permission had to be sought. “Grandmother, are you there?” the potter would ask. “I am your granddaughter. I have come to find you.” The words were addressed to Di’i Mahso, Grandmother Clay, who taught women how to find the right material and craft the first cooking vessels. Oscarina Caldas Azevedo knew these words and the deep ecological obligations behind them. A master ceramicist of the Desana people, farmer, and pioneering Indigenous environmental researcher, Azevedo died on July 4th in her home community of Cunuri, in the Brazilian Amazon. Known as Doña Oscarina, her life’s work proved that traditional Amazonian cosmology, women&#8217;s agricultural knowledge, and modern climate science were inseparable. Born in 1967 in Santa Ana do Médio Tiquié, in the upper Rio Negro region of Amazonas state, she grew up in Cunuri beside the Tiquié River—a landscape where communities are linked by waterways, family ties, and shared languages. She entered the local school at five. At 13, she moved to the Salesian mission school in Pari Cachoeira. During a holiday two years later, she met Rafael Azevedo. They were advised to marry and spent more than four decades together. Their home became a place of farming, research, ceremony, and instruction. Oscarina cultivated cassava, medicinal plants, and other crops. She made ceramics and taught younger women how to find and prepare clay, shape vessels, and fire them. Rafael carried knowledge of ritual practice. Their work was closely shared. Oscarina’s skill as a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/dona-oscarina-master-ceramicist-documented-the-knowledge-of-the-tiquie/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324719</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community conservation under fire: Interview with Myanmar’s Clean Mountains founder</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/community-conservation-under-fire-interview-with-myanmars-clean-mountains-founder/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/community-conservation-under-fire-interview-with-myanmars-clean-mountains-founder/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 18:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Esther J]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13175110/4-Local-community-in-Karenni-collect-garbage-2025-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323228</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Environment, Fellows, forest degradation, Gender, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mongabay.org, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar experienced a military coup in February 2021. In the aftermath, widespread repression by the military regime fueled the emergence of armed resistance movements across the country, pushing an ongoing conflict to its most intense level in decades. Starting from 2024, the military&#8217;s conscription law has further threatened the lives and futures of young people, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar experienced a military coup in February 2021. In the aftermath, widespread repression by the military regime fueled the emergence of armed resistance movements across the country, pushing an ongoing conflict to its most intense level in decades. Starting from 2024, the military&#8217;s conscription law has further threatened the lives and futures of young people, forcing thousands to leave the country. Meanwhile, environmental degradation continues to worsen. People are facing multiple crises, including environmental destruction caused by the overexploitation of natural resources, natural disasters, armed conflict, and human rights violations by the military regime. The democratic freedoms that used to exist during the five years of semi-civilian government before the coup have disappeared. Within this context, environmental activism and conservation efforts have widely faded. Yet, against this backdrop, the environmental group Clean Mountains was established in 2024 and is based in the conflict-affected states of Karenni (Kayah) and Karen (Kayin), areas controlled by resistance forces. The organization — funded through grants and donations — is a small, women-led team of four members between the ages of 22 and 28. The group&#8217;s founder, Ou Ou, 27, leads Clean Mountains in implementing community-based conservation in conflict-affected mountainous regions, focusing on waste management, water conservation, sustainable agriculture and forest conservation. Ou Ou, founder of Clean Mountains, attends an awareness session on waste management in Bago region, 2025. Image courtesy of Clean Mountains. Through both her previous organization and Clean Mountains, waste management systems have been established in more than 130 villages, including 15&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/community-conservation-under-fire-interview-with-myanmars-clean-mountains-founder/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/community-conservation-under-fire-interview-with-myanmars-clean-mountains-founder/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323228</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Waste, women &#038; environmental justice: Interview with Nubian activist Malasen Hamida</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/waste-women-environmental-justice-interview-with-nubian-activist-malasen-hamida/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/waste-women-environmental-justice-interview-with-nubian-activist-malasen-hamida/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 18:30:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ouma Elvine Tina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/14131540/img5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323283</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Fellows, Gender, Interviews, Mongabay.org, NGOs, Social Justice, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Malasen Hamida, a Nubian Muslim woman from Kibera, in Nairobi, is an aspiring politician and an environmental activist with more than 25 years of advocacy behind her. Kibera, which was named by Nubians, meaning “land of forests,” is Kenya’s largest informal settlement and sits on land that the British colonial government allocated to the Nubian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Malasen Hamida, a Nubian Muslim woman from Kibera, in Nairobi, is an aspiring politician and an environmental activist with more than 25 years of advocacy behind her. Kibera, which was named by Nubians, meaning “land of forests,” is Kenya’s largest informal settlement and sits on land that the British colonial government allocated to the Nubian community after their forebears served as soldiers in the King’s African Rifles. That allocation once covered 1,698 hectares (4,197 acres). Today, due to urbanization, forced evictions, land-grabbing and successive government projects, only 116 hectares (288 acres) remain under Nubian ownership, with no compensation ever offered. Through the Mazingira Women Initiative, Hamida has spent those years organizing around waste management, smart farming, land rights and women’s leadership. (“Mazingira” is a Swahili word for environment or nature.) She is also a three-time parliamentary candidate for the Kibera constituency and intends to run again in 2027. Hamida spoke with Mongabay on a cold Saturday afternoon, just as she was leaving the largest mosque in Kibera constituency. Her offices are a short walk away. As we moved toward them, several people stopped to greet her. She responded to each, “salaam aleikum,” paused to chat, and cupped a small girl’s face in her hands. She led me through a corrugated iron gate into a quiet compound of mud-walled, iron-roofed houses. The area was noticeably clean, with no stagnant water or litter in sight, unlike the typical sight in Kibera. We settled on the veranda of her home. Malasen Hamida addresses&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/waste-women-environmental-justice-interview-with-nubian-activist-malasen-hamida/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323283</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The women leading a quiet conservation revolution in a Nigerian gorilla sanctuary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-women-leading-a-quiet-conservation-revolution-in-a-nigerian-gorilla-sanctuary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-women-leading-a-quiet-conservation-revolution-in-a-nigerian-gorilla-sanctuary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2026 19:06:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Orji Sunday]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/06183609/IMG_5299_UlomWomen-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322651</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Gender, Gorillas, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Logging, Mammals, Primates, Rivers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOKI, Nigeria — The morning light fills Ulom with warmth and radiance. A dome of mountains, their green vegetation spread out like giant green walls, is visible at the edge of this serene village in Nigeria’s southeast. In the king’s palace, a women&#8217;s group kicks off its monthly meeting with prayers and choruses. Today’s meeting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOKI, Nigeria — The morning light fills Ulom with warmth and radiance. A dome of mountains, their green vegetation spread out like giant green walls, is visible at the edge of this serene village in Nigeria’s southeast. In the king’s palace, a women&#8217;s group kicks off its monthly meeting with prayers and choruses. Today’s meeting centers on river pollution, a significant issue being addressed as part of a broader initiative to save Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS), a 100-square-kilometer (39-square-mile) wildlife hotspot situated near Ulom. Gazetted in 2000, the sanctuary is inhabited by the critically endangered Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) and drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus); porcupines; duikers; and dozens of bird, bat, and butterfly species. Afi is the shared heritage of 16 villages, including Ulom, broadly known as the sanctuary’s landlords. Together, these communities have set up initiatives and bylaws aimed at protecting the hotspot, often in collaboration with nonprofits and other stakeholders. The women&#8217;s collective meeting here today is one signal of a growing surge of women’s conservation leadership across the host communities. Asu Margaret, the group secretary, reads aloud from a notebook. &#8220;In our previous meeting we discussed how to prevent wildfires in the Afi Mountains,” she says. “We rejected the felling of trees. We maintain the ban on timber dealers.” Only about 300 Cross River gorillas are estimated to survive in the wild; roughly 100 of them live in a patchwork of interconnected protected areas that includes Afi, Mbe Mountains,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-women-leading-a-quiet-conservation-revolution-in-a-nigerian-gorilla-sanctuary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322651</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Southeast Asia, peer-support network boosts women’s well-being in conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-southeast-asia-peer-support-network-boosts-womens-well-being-in-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-southeast-asia-peer-support-network-boosts-womens-well-being-in-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2026 08:21:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/06075921/Banner_Group-sharing-at-a-women-support-network-meeting.-Image-courtesy-of-ASAP-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322529</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Gender, Health, Solutions, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Jessa Cabaay began working in marine conservation in the Philippines, she frequently found she was the only woman in the room. Her isolation meant she often felt anxious while presenting at stakeholder meetings, sensing her audience questioned her credibility. “Most of the fishing communities I was working with were older and male,” Cabaay says, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Jessa Cabaay began working in marine conservation in the Philippines, she frequently found she was the only woman in the room. Her isolation meant she often felt anxious while presenting at stakeholder meetings, sensing her audience questioned her credibility. “Most of the fishing communities I was working with were older and male,” Cabaay says, describing her experience of discussions on planning out marine protected areas (MPAs). “They didn’t listen the first few times I tried to talk to them.” Cabaay says she observed that her male colleagues were rarely under the same pressure to prove their competence. Now the technical manager of Community Centered Conservation (C3), a Philippine-based nonprofit, she says the fishers’ skepticism likely reflected cultural beliefs held in many Philippine coastal communities that place women in domestic roles rather than professional ones. “There are expectations that as a woman, you follow; you cannot lead,” she says. Lacking female colleagues to turn to for support and advice, Cabaay persevered largely alone through her early-career struggles. Now, however, she finds strength and encouragement through a peer-support network that links female conservation professionals across Southeast Asia. Connecting with other women facing similar challenges has been a game changer, she says: “I realized I’m not struggling alone. We all feel the same.” The initiative, the Network of Women (NOW), is led by the Asian Species Action Partnership (ASAP), a Singapore-based interagency coalition that focuses on critically endangered species of land and freshwater vertebrates. Launched in 2021, the program combines in-person leadership&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/in-southeast-asia-peer-support-network-boosts-womens-well-being-in-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322529</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Java, a women’s collective is helping save gibbons through forest-inspired textiles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-java-a-womens-collective-is-helping-save-gibbons-through-forest-inspired-textiles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-java-a-womens-collective-is-helping-save-gibbons-through-forest-inspired-textiles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2026 02:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Falahi Mubarok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01143027/Kain-ecoprint-di-Basecamp-Ambu-Halimun-Foto_-Falahi-Mubarok-3--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320422</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gibbons, Industry, Natural Resources, Primates, Wildlife, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOR, Indonesia — In a village bordering Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park on the Indonesian island of Java, local people browse a row of fabrics carrying impressions of plants and the silhouette of the forest’s silvery gibbon. They are made by the women-led Ambu Halimun collective, whose name translates to “mothers of Halimun” in the local [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOR, Indonesia — In a village bordering Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park on the Indonesian island of Java, local people browse a row of fabrics carrying impressions of plants and the silhouette of the forest’s silvery gibbon. They are made by the women-led Ambu Halimun collective, whose name translates to “mothers of Halimun” in the local dialect. The project focused on boiling and pressing distinctive local plants into motifs on fabric, which drew women like Mirna Maharani into closer observation of the vegetation surrounding the village of Citalahab. Species once overlooked, even dismissed as weeds, have since acquired new value as sources of color, pattern and identity, Mirna explained. “Now, we are preserving them,” said Mirna, 30, a mother of two. Formed in 2020 during the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, the goal of Ambu Halimun was to engage women in conservation while providing an arena to uplift economic agency and professional development. Ambu Halimun is a women&#8217;s empowerment group that produces eco-friendly textiles in Bogor, West Java. Image by Falahi Mubarok/Mongabay Indonesia. Primatologist Rahayu Oktaviani, co-founder of the Kiara Foundation, which came up with the Ambu Halimun initiative, said she wanted to seed an original approach to conservation that would benefit women in Citalahab. “The forest isn’t something that is separate to them,” Rahayu told Mongabay Indonesia. “That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re building a sense of ownership.” Last year, Rahayu received the Whitley Award in recognition of her organization’s grassroots conservation work with Java’s silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch), which included the work&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-java-a-womens-collective-is-helping-save-gibbons-through-forest-inspired-textiles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320422</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Nigerian teen is turning agricultural waste into biodegradable sanitary pads</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2026 07:36:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/28073436/665830-PantiPads-8f54a6-original-1775732022-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320234</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Circular Economy, Innovation, Prizes, Waste, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For many Nigerian women, access to sanitary pads remains a challenge. Even those who can obtain them, the prevalence of single-use menstrual products creates problems of its own. They contain plastics and chemicals and are not eco-friendly generating large amounts of waste. After learning that many traditional sanitary pads used contain up to 90% plastic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For many Nigerian women, access to sanitary pads remains a challenge. Even those who can obtain them, the prevalence of single-use menstrual products creates problems of its own. They contain plastics and chemicals and are not eco-friendly generating large amounts of waste. After learning that many traditional sanitary pads used contain up to 90% plastic and can take hundreds of years to decompose, Nigerian teenager Raheema Auwal-Panti saw an opportunity to support women while helping the environment. The 15-year-old decided to use low-grade agricultural waste to make sanitary pads. She was motivated by a desire “to sweep up plastic pollution” in Nigeria. “[Even] if no one does something about it, I could do something about it,” said Auwal-Panti, who hails from Minna, the capital of Niger state in Nigeria. She founded ‘PantiPads’ in 2025. Auwal-Panti’s project was selected in a shortlist of 35 global teams for the 2026 Earth Prize, organized by the Earth Foundation, a Switzerland-based nonprofit that empowers, educates and inspires young people to tackle environmental challenges. In northern Nigeria, cassava processing generates significant agricultural waste, which poses environmental risks, particularly to soil quality. The waste includes solid and liquid components, such as cassava peelings, dried with non-dried banana leaves and corn husks. The biomass-rich waste, if poorly managed, can lead to environmental degradation, including organic pollution of water bodies and soil contamination. “Using these wastes to develop eco-friendly pads is currently helping to address menstrual stigma which remains a significant public health challenge that affects girls&#8217; education and overall well-being&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/a-nigerian-teen-is-turning-agricultural-waste-into-biodegradable-sanitary-pads/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320234</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Solar brings power to women entrepreneurs in Borneo, but rural energy inequality remains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 10:36:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yuda Almerio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14100334/solar-panels-and-cacti-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319421</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Gender, Governance, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in Muara Enggelam acquired diesel generators, bringing electric lighting for the first time to the timber stilt houses that still line the last mile of the river where the Enggelam meets Borneo’s Lake Melintang. The Kutai Kartanegara district government here later expanded this basic electrification program, but residents paid several times more for power than a grid-connected urban household. Moreover, the generators ran only from dusk to dawn and would frequently break down, plunging Muara Enggelam back into the void Asniah recalled on moving here three decades earlier as a child. “We were just grateful — things had been harder before,” Asniah, a mother of three now in her early 40s, told Mongabay Indonesia at her home. “Even though there was 24-hour electricity in the city at the time,” she added. Stable energy access provides greater scope for women to develop businesses and contribute to the family economy. Image by Yuda Almerio/Mongabay Indonesia Remote work Uneven access to electricity has abetted inequality in what is now Indonesia ever since Dutch colonialists introduced captive coal plants in the 19th century to power their plantation operations. Indonesia’s Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, records the wealth gap between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2026 14:46:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaRhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/19152433/ivonne-kienast-2026-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316782</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Central African Republic, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Education, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Primates, Rainforests, Research, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildtech, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the far southwest of the Central African Republic, where dense forest gives way to a broad clearing, elephants gather in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. The place is known as Dzanga Bai. Forest elephants are among the least visible large mammals in Africa. In closed-canopy rainforest, they move in small groups, often at night, communicating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the far southwest of the Central African Republic, where dense forest gives way to a broad clearing, elephants gather in numbers rarely seen elsewhere. The place is known as Dzanga Bai. Forest elephants are among the least visible large mammals in Africa. In closed-canopy rainforest, they move in small groups, often at night, communicating over long distances through low-frequency calls that travel beyond human hearing. Much of their social life unfolds out of sight. Dzanga Bai is one of the few places where that pattern breaks. Here, elephants emerge from the forest to feed on minerals in the soil. They linger. Families converge, separate, and return. Individuals can be recognized over years. Behaviors that are otherwise inferred—through tracks, fragments of sound, or brief encounters—can be followed more directly. Dzanga Bai in Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler For decades, the clearing has drawn researchers trying to understand a species that resists easy study. Long-term work here, including that of researchers such as Andrea Turkalo, has shaped much of what is known about forest elephants. Ivonne Kienast is part of that effort. She leads the Dzanga Forest Elephant Project, part of the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University. Her work combines long-term behavioral observation with passive acoustic monitoring. The objective is to understand how forest elephants live and to detect early signs of change. In practice, this means continuous field presence, physically demanding work, and coordination across a network of relationships that extend well beyond&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/studying-the-worlds-largest-gathering-of-forest-elephants-with-sound-and-field-observation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316782</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ethiopian women plant trees, restoring lands &#038; livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 20:37:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01202432/IWDOMembersPlanting_SidamaEthiopia_RuhamaGetahun-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316752</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Environment, Forests, Fuelwood, Landscape Restoration, NGOs, Solutions, Sustainability, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the southern Ethiopian region of Sidama, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation. In response, members of the Integrated Women’s Development Organization are planting indigenous trees, bananas and vegetables as well as desho (Pennisetum glaucifolium) and elephant grass (Cenchrus purpureus) for cattle fodder in an effort to restore damaged [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the southern Ethiopian region of Sidama, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation. In response, members of the Integrated Women’s Development Organization are planting indigenous trees, bananas and vegetables as well as desho (Pennisetum glaucifolium) and elephant grass (Cenchrus purpureus) for cattle fodder in an effort to restore damaged farmland and build more resilient livelihoods. In an email interview, IWDO’s general manager, Ruhama Getahun, told Mongabay that the women and youth who make up the NGO’s membership have planted more than 1,250 hectares (3,080 acres) since 2020. She said these initiatives have begun generating income for community members — particularly women — helping them rely less on forest products such as charcoal and firewood for survival. Negasi Solomon, a land and environment researcher at Tigray Institute of Policy Studies in Mek’ele, Ethiopia, told Mongabay that rapid population growth means the average size of a household’s land in the Sidama region has shrunk. This has pushed farmers to expand their plots onto fragile and steep hillsides. Solomon told Mongabay in an email that women are — or should be — central to land use and land restoration decisions in Sidama, and in Ethiopia in general, because of the role they play in day‑to‑day farm management. He noted, however, that many women in Ethiopia still face obstacles to taking up leadership roles. “Patriarchal norms and customary systems often concentrate land ownership and key decision‑making in men, while limiting women’s inheritance and control over land even where&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ethiopian-women-plant-trees-restoring-lands-livelihoods/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316752</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A profession built on hope, strained by loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-emotional-price-of-conservation-work/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-emotional-price-of-conservation-work/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2026 22:50:49 +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/20/2026/03/26143802/the-cost-of-caring-in-a-dying-world-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316338</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Gender, and Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, Jeremy Hance’s “‘An epidemic of suffering’: Why are conservationists breaking down?” and the follow-up commentary “Emotional and psychological stresses beleaguer conservation professionals” by Vik Mohan and Nerissa Chao gave fresh urgency—and language—to a crisis many in conservation have been naming quietly for years. This piece builds on their reporting and reflections, and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, Jeremy Hance’s “‘An epidemic of suffering’: Why are conservationists breaking down?” and the follow-up commentary “Emotional and psychological stresses beleaguer conservation professionals” by Vik Mohan and Nerissa Chao gave fresh urgency—and language—to a crisis many in conservation have been naming quietly for years. This piece builds on their reporting and reflections, and draws as well on my own earlier work, including “Conservation’s silent strain: Nature’s protectors face a mental health crisis,” along with other writing I’ve done on loss, grief, and endurance in the field. It also sits alongside the Nature Obituaries Project, a series of tributes to fallen conservationists, scientists, and environmental defenders, rooted in the belief that the people who protect life on Earth are not expendable. I’m not writing as a clinician here. I’m writing as someone listening to what conservationists keep describing, across roles and regions. There is a particular kind of exhaustion that does not come from long hours alone. It comes from paying attention. Conservationists are trained to notice what most people do not see: a reef that has lost its vibrancy and color, a forest that no longer holds the same birds, a river that carries less life each season. They are trained to count, to measure, to document change with discipline. But they are also people who entered the work because they love something outside themselves. A species. A place. A living world that felt worth protecting. That love is not a weakness. It is the fuel. And lately, it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-emotional-price-of-conservation-work/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316338</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Namibia&#8217;s bird conservation projects build community resilience (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/how-namibias-bird-conservation-projects-build-community-resilience-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/how-namibias-bird-conservation-projects-build-community-resilience-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Mar 2026 16:13:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Martha Karas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/23152715/143_Lilac-breasted_roller_in_Etosha_National_Park_Photo_by_Giles_Laurent-e1774279787746-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316139</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birding, Birds, Commentary, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, and Gender]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Namibia’s Karas Region, birds are more than symbols of freedom or beauty — they are teachers of resilience. Their survival in arid landscapes mirrors the endurance of the communities who live alongside them. Grassroots bird conservation projects here have revealed something profound: protecting birds can also strengthen families, nurture hope, and build social cohesion. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Namibia’s Karas Region, birds are more than symbols of freedom or beauty — they are teachers of resilience. Their survival in arid landscapes mirrors the endurance of the communities who live alongside them. Grassroots bird conservation projects here have revealed something profound: protecting birds can also strengthen families, nurture hope, and build social cohesion. Across villages in Karas, parents and children tend habitats together, restoring nesting sites and planting native vegetation. These acts of care are not only ecological interventions; they are lessons in patience and problem solving. When a child sees a weaverbird return to a reed bed that the community has protected, it is a moment of triumph that teaches perseverance in the face of environmental challenges. Women and youth are at the forefront of these initiatives. In one community, a group of young women organized bird walks for schoolchildren, teaching them to identify species like the sociable weaver and the pale chanting goshawk. Their leadership has inspired confidence among peers and shown that conservation is not the domain of scientists alone — it is a practice of everyday resilience. Sociable weavers nesting in acacia trees, Karas Region, Namibia. Image courtesy of Martha Karas. These projects also counter the isolation that environmental stress can bring. Droughts and land degradation often erode social bonds, but bird conservation has become a rallying point. Families gather to monitor nesting sites, share stories, and celebrate small victories. In doing so, they weave resilience into the social fabric. Conservation here is not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/how-namibias-bird-conservation-projects-build-community-resilience-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-316139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s rural women at increasing risk of human-wildlife conflict</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Mar 2026 15:16:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tulsi Rauniyar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/18143556/woman-with-goat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Cats, Conflict, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Elephants, Environment, Gender, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Solutions, Tigers, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BARDIYA, Nepal — On the morning of Feb. 6, the road leading to the Bardiya District Administration Office in western Nepal was filled with people moving as one. Dust rose from their footsteps. Voices layered over each other, murmurs turned into chants and anger hardened into demands that echoed off the building&#8217;s walls. Dozens pushed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BARDIYA, Nepal — On the morning of Feb. 6, the road leading to the Bardiya District Administration Office in western Nepal was filled with people moving as one. Dust rose from their footsteps. Voices layered over each other, murmurs turned into chants and anger hardened into demands that echoed off the building&#8217;s walls. Dozens pushed through the main gate, some carrying hastily painted banners, others empty-handed but resolute. Their three demands: fair compensation for families, death to leopards that attacked villagers and protection for people who should have been there all along. As Nepal celebrates major conservation gains, rural women in forest-edge communities like Bardiya are increasingly exposed to human–wildlife conflict because migration-driven labor shifts and daily subsistence work push them into the same forest corridors where wildlife movement and deadly encounters are most likely. The previous day, in the span of a few hours, a man and a woman had been killed by leopards, one while cutting grass in the community forest, the other while working in her own field. Women in the buffer zone in Bardiya head home after collecting grass. Image by Tulsi Rauniyar for Mongabay. A winter of fatal encounters The protest marked the breaking point of a winter shaped by repeated wildlife attacks — a pattern many residents trace to December 2025, in Madhuwan, a settlement along the outer edge of Bardiya National Park, home to 125 of Nepal’s 355 tigers. Weeks before the protest reached Bardiya’s administrative offices, mornings in Madhuwan began much the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Emotional and psychological stresses beleaguer conservation professionals (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/emotional-and-psychological-stresses-beleaguer-conservation-professionals-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/emotional-and-psychological-stresses-beleaguer-conservation-professionals-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2026 19:22:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nerissa ChaoVik Mohan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/27125153/c.-USFWS-Pacific-Greater_sage-grouse_surveys_in_southwestern_Idaho_52848937361-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315223</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Gender, Health, Psychology, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nested within the current biodiversity crisis sits an equally complex and concerning human crisis, but one that receives even less attention: the poor mental health and well-being of the conservation workforce. The scale of this problem is clearly set out in a recent Mongabay article. In a sector that has always relied on the passion [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nested within the current biodiversity crisis sits an equally complex and concerning human crisis, but one that receives even less attention: the poor mental health and well-being of the conservation workforce. The scale of this problem is clearly set out in a recent Mongabay article. In a sector that has always relied on the passion and commitment of individuals, where one’s value is measured by selfless dedication to the cause — which can manifest as an expectation to prioritize work above all else, take on unpaid or poorly paid work, accept poor working conditions, or compromise on personal safety — staff well-being has never been a priority. This unhealthy culture of self-sacrifice provides the context within which sector-wide stressors are impacting the well-being of the workforce. The growing ecological crisis in itself is having a significant impact on well-being, and this is set out powerfully in the Mongabay article. In addition to this, the changing funding and geopolitical landscape, which is deprioritizing conservation and climate action, further increases instability and uncertainty, putting further pressure on the conservation sector. Working in conservation isn&#8217;t all rainbows. Photo illustration of a rainforest rainbow in Malaysian Borneo by Rhett Butler/Mongabay. The impact of all of these chronic stressors are emotional and psychological distress, poor mental health and burnout, increasing the risk that conservation professionals will give up on their aspirations and leave the profession. Recent research found 27% of conservationists are suffering from moderate or severe distress, and women face particular challenges as conservationists,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/emotional-and-psychological-stresses-beleaguer-conservation-professionals-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-315223</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘An epidemic of suffering’: Why are conservationists breaking down?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-epidemic-of-suffering-why-are-conservationists-breaking-down/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-epidemic-of-suffering-why-are-conservationists-breaking-down/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2026 16:57:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/27012413/e.-usfws-turnbull-nwr-waterfowl-surveys-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314942</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Environment, Funding, Gender, Health, and Psychology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In December 2024, Rachel Graham, executive director of the Belize-based marine nonprofit MarAlliance, posted on LinkedIn that she knew “5 wildlife &#38; conservation scientists who have taken their lives this year so far.” She called it a “crisis” that needed tackling. The post went viral, garnering about 18,000 impressions and 45 comments. “I&#8217;m seeing a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In December 2024, Rachel Graham, executive director of the Belize-based marine nonprofit MarAlliance, posted on LinkedIn that she knew “5 wildlife &amp; conservation scientists who have taken their lives this year so far.” She called it a “crisis” that needed tackling. The post went viral, garnering about 18,000 impressions and 45 comments. “I&#8217;m seeing a true crisis in the conservation community,” Graham tells Mongabay. People become conservationists because they care, Graham says, but that can also lead to huge mental health problems in an age of biodiversity decline, climate change and environmental distress. Add to that the perils of the sector — often low wages, poor job security, overworking, dependence on fickle grants and burnout — and you have a ripe recipe for mental health issues. “If your identity is inextricably linked [to a mission], then when this is imperiled, the threat becomes very personal,” Graham says. “That, to me, I think, is really one of the biggest cruxes of the problem that we&#8217;re seeing right now in conservation.” Dr. Rachel Graham is a marine conservation scientist and founder of the international nonprofit MarAlliance. Based in Central America for three decades, she works across sectors to advance conservation of threatened marine wildlife while supporting sustainable fisheries and coastal livelihoods. Partnering with fishers, she has helped pioneer co-created shark research and management approaches that strengthen policy, local stewardship, and income opportunities. Her demand- and management-driven research on sharks, rays, and finfish has informed protected area designations, species protections, and fisheries policy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/an-epidemic-of-suffering-why-are-conservationists-breaking-down/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Kenya’s Jomvu Creek, women help restore a vanishing coast through crab farming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-kenyas-jomvu-creek-women-help-restore-a-vanishing-coast-through-crab-farming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-kenyas-jomvu-creek-women-help-restore-a-vanishing-coast-through-crab-farming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 18:13:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Asha Bekidusa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11041126/Scylla.serrata_MidaCreekKenya_Titi-UuiNaturalistCCBYNC4.0-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314071</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Ecosystems, Farming, Food, Gender, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MOMBASA COUNTY, Kenya — Five minutes’ walk up the hilly road from the mangroves lining the tidal flats of Jomvu Creek, the sharp scent of sea water fills the air. A dozen women fill a small hall with laughter and conversation. In the coastal villages of Mombasa county, these gatherings of women to manage informal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MOMBASA COUNTY, Kenya — Five minutes’ walk up the hilly road from the mangroves lining the tidal flats of Jomvu Creek, the sharp scent of sea water fills the air. A dozen women fill a small hall with laughter and conversation. In the coastal villages of Mombasa county, these gatherings of women to manage informal savings and loans schemes are known as chamas. But this is no ordinary chama. Here, discussions revolve around tides, crab feed, cage repairs and mangrove seedlings. The women, aged 35-60 years, are members of Jomvu Women in Fisheries and Culture, a community-based organization determined to transform their livelihoods and their environment through an unlikely venture: mud crab farming. Four years ago, these same women were scattered across the village. Most worked as what is known locally as mama karanga, the Swahili term for the women who fry fish over charcoal fires for sale near the beaches where fishers land their catch. Some would have been selling fresh fish, and a few were at home, tending to children and grandchildren. But dwindling fish stocks, health problems from cooking smoke and the daily uncertainty of small-scale trade had begun to take their toll. When a Kenya Marine Fisheries and Socio-Economic Development (KEMFSED) project offered grants for blue-economy enterprises in 2021, a few of these women decided to take the opportunity. The women have converted crates used for transporting bread into cages for their crabs. Image by Asha Bekidusa for Mongabay. New concepts Crab farming was a completely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-kenyas-jomvu-creek-women-help-restore-a-vanishing-coast-through-crab-farming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314071</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru’s Andes, Quechua women turn human-wildcat conflict into coexistence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-perus-andes-quechua-women-turn-human-wildcat-conflict-into-coexistence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-perus-andes-quechua-women-turn-human-wildcat-conflict-into-coexistence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 17:52:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11174649/DSC_9958-scaled-e1771283060836-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314139</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Gender, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AYACUCHO, Peru — High in the Peruvian Andes, a group of Indigenous Quechua women is transforming long-standing conflict with wildcats into a model of coexistence, conservation and cultural revival. A new film, Women Secure a Future with Pumas in the Andes, examines how the fear of predators like the puma (Puma concolor), pampas cat (Leopardus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AYACUCHO, Peru — High in the Peruvian Andes, a group of Indigenous Quechua women is transforming long-standing conflict with wildcats into a model of coexistence, conservation and cultural revival. A puma (Puma concolor) captured by a camera trap in the mountains of Ayacucho, Peru. Image courtesy of Mujeres Quechua por la Conservación. A new film, Women Secure a Future with Pumas in the Andes, examines how the fear of predators like the puma (Puma concolor), pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi) and Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) once shaped daily life in the high-altitude community of Ccarhuacc Licapa. For generations, community members hunted these wildcats in retaliation for livestock losses, particularly alpacas, the community’s primary source of income. Antonio Torres, a former vicuña guard, holds the skin of a puma killed in retaliation for livestock losses. He is now a member of the local conservation group. Image courtesy of Cristina Hara. An alpaca herd grazes near the highland community of Licapa, where livestock is central to local livelihoods. Image courtesy of Cristina Hara. The documentary follows shepherd Ida Auris Arango, whose life was marked by a traumatic encounter with a puma, and biologist Merinia Mendoza Almeida, founder of the local women-led conservation association Mujeres Quechua por la Conservación. Together with dozens of Quechua women, they began using camera traps to document the area’s wildlife, helping families — especially mothers and children — see the wildcats not as enemies, but as part of a shared ecosystem. Shepherd Ida Auris Arango, a member of Mujeres&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-perus-andes-quechua-women-turn-human-wildcat-conflict-into-coexistence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 17:12:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tonggo Simangunsong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26073116/Rainim-Purba-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313307</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Gender, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Protests, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near their village of Pandiangan, northeast of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. It would also be near other villages like Longkotan. When rumor became reality, the company [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near their village of Pandiangan, northeast of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. It would also be near other villages like Longkotan. When rumor became reality, the company promised some residents jobs delivering logistics to workers in the hills, and others were promised to be employed in the mine. Little did Rainim know at the time that she was going to spend two decades of her life joining women farmers to challenge the mine and set a legal precedent in the country. Along with 11 villagers, women led a lawsuit that ultimately won in court. When the environment ministry followed through with the ruling by revoking the company’s environmental permit in May 2025, it marked a legal first: confirmation that an environmental permit of its kind, created through a controversial 2020 law, can in fact be challenged in court. Women were at the forefront of the legal challenge against PT DPM’s mine. Image courtesy of YDPK. According to community activists, when the mining company PT Dairi Prima Mineral (PT DPM) first came to speak to villagers, they were never properly informed of the potential threats the mine could pose. Notably, this consisted of the plan to build a tailings dam in an area with frequent earthquakes, landslide risks and unstable volcanic ash. “They just gave us a verbal notification, no outreach,” she said.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313307</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s cities must plan for resilience and inclusion for the future &#038; nature (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/nepals-cities-must-plan-for-resilience-and-inclusion-for-the-future-nature-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/nepals-cities-must-plan-for-resilience-and-inclusion-for-the-future-nature-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 14:48:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hitesh Raj Pant]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/31124832/1280px-Locus3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311078</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Commentary, Community Development, Conservation, Development, Gender, Governance, Green, Infrastructure, Sustainable Development, and urban ecology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The transformation of Nepal&#8217;s urban landscape has brought us to a pivotal moment. Having observed this evolution as an environmental engineer, I believe its current growth trajectory is unsustainable, despite its potential. Although Nepal contributes a negligible 0.1% to global greenhouse gas emissions, the country still disproportionately suffers the increasing impact of climate change and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The transformation of Nepal&#8217;s urban landscape has brought us to a pivotal moment. Having observed this evolution as an environmental engineer, I believe its current growth trajectory is unsustainable, despite its potential. Although Nepal contributes a negligible 0.1% to global greenhouse gas emissions, the country still disproportionately suffers the increasing impact of climate change and is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries worldwide. It is evident in the average annual maximum temperature in Nepal, which has been increasing at a rate of 0.056° Celsius (0.1008° Fahrenheit) per year between 1971 and 2014. Unpredictable weather, extreme events, and threats to agricultural productivity define our daily reality as one of the most climate-vulnerable nations. Moreover, our domestic actions are dangerously exacerbating this vulnerability. A rapid, largely unplanned urban population increase from 17% to more than 27% between 2011 and 2021 has fueled this issue. This is not just due to organic migration, but was instigated by the 2017 restructuring and reclassification of local administrative boundaries under the federal system. This restructuring converted 58 existing municipalities and numerous village development committees (VDCs) into a total of 293 municipalities. Table 1: Nepal Urbanization Trajectory and Administrative Reclassification (2011-2021). This chaotic growth places immense, unbearable pressure on existing urban infrastructure and compromises our environmental quality. Water and sanitation shortages threaten public health and social stability in densely populated areas. The most severe consequence of this unplanned expansion is the breakdown of the natural/urban interface. Haphazard development encroaches on agricultural lands, which are vital for national&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/nepals-cities-must-plan-for-resilience-and-inclusion-for-the-future-nature-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-311078</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Indigenous women changing the course of their communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 12:27:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04122109/Captura-de-pantalla-2025-09-03-a-las-4.43.50-p.m-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310599</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous women leaders don’t only sustain life in their territories; they are also active defenders of water, seeds, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Together, they lead environmental restoration processes and care for the health of their communities. They also pave the way for political participation, claiming spaces where decision-making affects their communities. “Our fight is collective [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous women leaders don’t only sustain life in their territories; they are also active defenders of water, seeds, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Together, they lead environmental restoration processes and care for the health of their communities. They also pave the way for political participation, claiming spaces where decision-making affects their communities. “Our fight is collective and our resistance is ancestral. Let’s continue sowing resistance, sowing identity,” says Ketty Marcelo, president of the National Organization of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru (ONAMIAP). Marcelo says the legacy of their female ancestors is an inspiration and also a guide for Indigenous women to face down historical challenges, resist structural racism and violence, promote economic justice, and strengthen identity in the next generation. In this article first published by Mongabay Latam for the International Day of Indigenous Women on Sept. 5, we share the initiatives of three women leaders from Peru, Mexico and Colombia, whose actions are paving the way toward a better future for Indigenous people. International Day of Indigenous Women has been celebrated every Sept. 5 since 1983 to give visibility to Indigenous women’s achievements and the challenges they face. Image courtesy of ONAMIAP. Peru: Naming water to protect it In Indigenous territories in Peru, each water spring has a name, and each of them is a symbol of resistance. Women are the guardians of the water, and each source is enshrined with a ceremony. In a healing ritual, the elders speak to the water, while the rest of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-indigenous-women-changing-the-course-of-their-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310599</doi>				</item>
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