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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=illegal-mining&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/illegal-mining/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:28:31 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Illegal Mining</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/illegal-mining/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Cyanide ponds from illegal mining threaten Amazon Indigenous territory</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Nov 2026 14:12:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Oliveira]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/20111822/Ibama-2026_03_25_Op_Xapiri_capa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333213</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Chemicals, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Culture, Degraded Lands, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Health, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Grabbing, Law, Law Enforcement, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Public Health, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, Water, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With mercury increasingly hard to get, illegal gold miners have turned to a cheaper, deadlier alternative.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cyanide use in illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon is posing a new threat to people and animals in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory. The territory, in the state of Roraima, has been invaded by illegal miners who use cyanide to dissolve gold out of crushed ore, leaving behind ponds of cyanide-contaminated water. In July, the Federal Police arrested two men and seized from them approximately 375 kilograms (827 pounds) of a “chemical compound with characteristics consistent with cyanide,” as well as 1,250 kg (2,756 lb) of activated charcoal — another substance used in gold processing in Roraima. According to the police, the seizures are linked to illegal gold mining in the Indigenous territory. A year earlier, in July 2025, the Federal Police closed down an illegal laboratory in Boa Vista, the state capital, where rocks thought to have come from gold mining and areas of water contaminated with cyanide were found. According to the G1 news outlet, the rocks reportedly came from Raposa Serra do Sol, with miners sending them to the capital for the gold-washing and separation process. Traditionally, illegal miners extract gold from ore using mercury — a toxic substance whose trade is illegal in Brazil. With intensified environmental raids, mercury availability on the informal market has fallen dramatically, according to Brazil’s environmental agency, IBAMA. Because no companies are authorized to legally sell mercury in the country, the product has become significantly more expensive on the black market, where a 1.5-liter (50-ounce) bottle can&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/cyanide-ponds-from-illegal-mining-threaten-amazon-indigenous-territory/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333213</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Suriname’s Amazon, the Wayana community struggling to keep gold miners at bay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2026 18:47:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/29181238/IMG_3302-JPEG-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334444</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, French Guiana, Global, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Education, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAWEMHAKAN, Suriname — Beneath thousands of square kilometers of rainforest here lie vast deposits of gold and other minerals. Around a million ounces are extracted legally every year, but much more remains buried throughout the Amazon. In some of the farthest-flung parts of the rainforest, such as these small villages along the border with French [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAWEMHAKAN, Suriname — Beneath thousands of square kilometers of rainforest here lie vast deposits of gold and other minerals. Around a million ounces are extracted legally every year, but much more remains buried throughout the Amazon. In some of the farthest-flung parts of the rainforest, such as these small villages along the border with French Guiana, the government hasn’t stopped locals — joined by Brazilian miners and Chinese traders — from clearing the forest in search of gold. Moving up and down the Lawa River and its tributaries, these criminals establish mining camps and trading posts far beyond the reach of most law enforcement, where robberies, extortion and other violent crimes happen out of sight. Many Indigenous Wayana families live on both sides of the Lawa River — which also marks the border with French Guiana — and face a growing list of challenges, including health issues from mercury use on their land and dwindling wildlife populations they’ve long relied on for food. Indigenous Wayana communities have lived in the area for generations but still lack an official land title that might offer some protection. The only airstrip for kilometers around, and the primary practical connection to the capital, Paramaribo, sits in the middle of one of the Indigenous villages, giving leadership some leverage with miners and traders: Unless they want to travel for days by river to get back and forth from the city, it’s important to be on good terms with the community, residents said. These delicate relationships&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/in-surinames-amazon-the-wayana-community-struggling-to-keep-gold-miners-at-bay/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334444</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Suriname&#8217;s rich archaeological history may hold keys to conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/surinames-rich-archaeological-history-may-hold-keys-to-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/surinames-rich-archaeological-history-may-hold-keys-to-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2026 18:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Speetjens]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/27170358/h-watercolor-by-the-Indigenous-Wayana-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332904</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Anthropology, Archeology, Conservation, Culture, Ecology, Ecosystems, Education, Environment, Forests, History, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Pollution, Research, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Suriname pledges to save its forests but neglects the ancient human history hidden within them, experts say.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2004, archaeological anthropologist Renzo Duin joined an expedition into the mountainous tri-border area where Brazil, Suriname and Guyana meet alongside French botanists and ecologists. While the scientific team focused on mapping the biodiversity of what appeared to be untouched vegetation, Duin noticed that the ground told a very different story, rich with traces of pre-Columbian human occupation. “While they investigated what they perceived as pristine rainforest, I found the area dotted with fragments of pottery and other archaeological indications, including a site surrounded by a ditch,” Duin told Mongabay in a video call from The Hague, Netherlands. The evidence uncovered by Duin was one of many showing that the Amazon rainforest of Suriname and the Guianas region has been shaped and inhabited by people for millennia. Over the years, the researcher returned regularly to the region, making him one of the leading Amazon archaeologists, reshaping the knowledge about human occupation in the rainforest. “In the last three decades, archaeological knowledge of the Amazon has made a great stride forward in Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia,” Duin said. &#8220;In Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, the picture of the past has improved along the coast and major rivers. Yet, in the inland-uplands we have barely scratched the surface regarding the long-time histories of the Indigenous peoples.&#8221; Renzo Duin in the Tumuc-Humac Mountains. Image by © 2004, Renzo Duin /AMIK. As elsewhere in the Amazon, archaeological research in the region has unveiled a wealth of ancient rock art sites, stone tools, pottery and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/surinames-rich-archaeological-history-may-hold-keys-to-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/surinames-rich-archaeological-history-may-hold-keys-to-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332904</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photographer Tom Hegen’s aerial eye reveals the true scale of the critical mineral age</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/photographer-tom-hegens-aerial-eye-reveals-the-true-scale-of-the-critical-mineral-age/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/photographer-tom-hegens-aerial-eye-reveals-the-true-scale-of-the-critical-mineral-age/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2026 02:05:03 +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/20/2026/10/27140221/Tom-Hegen-The-Mineral-Age-Press-7-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=334027</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Global, South America, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critical Minerals, Energy, Energy Transition, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Interviews, Mining, Natural Resources, Photos, Renewable Energy, Supply Chain, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From the air, the vivid lithium fields of Chile’s Atacama Desert look like an intricate computer circuit board, hinting at the technological destination of this increasingly crucial mineral. Photographer Tom Hegen has spent the past six years documenting some of the world’s most significant mining regions that supply the critical minerals needed for modern technologies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From the air, the vivid lithium fields of Chile’s Atacama Desert look like an intricate computer circuit board, hinting at the technological destination of this increasingly crucial mineral. Photographer Tom Hegen has spent the past six years documenting some of the world’s most significant mining regions that supply the critical minerals needed for modern technologies and the green energy transition. Shooting primarily aerial images using small aircraft, drones, and high-resolution cameras, Hegen captures heavily impacted landscapes in meticulous detail. His images depict vast, immersive scenes of the wider consequences of mineral extraction that might otherwise remain hidden from view at ground level: snaking watercourses discolored by mercury, settlements disappearing under piles of mining waste, and coastal sediment plumes smothering artisanal fishing grounds. “An elevated perspective offers a powerful way to observe, understand, and reflect on how we have transformed the Earth&#8217;s landscapes,” Hegen told Mongabay. By creating visually striking images, Hegen said he hopes to encourage people to look more closely. Lithium mining in the Atacama Desert, Chile, 2021. Lithium is one of the key elements in electric batteries, with global demand for the metal expected to surge to 25 times the amount being mined today. Image courtesy of Tom Hegen. A prior photographic project documenting the effects of climate change in the Arctic sparked Hegen’s interest in the energy transition and the critical minerals on which it depends. Although research suggests expanded mining to meet the demands of the energy transition would require less mining overall than the current&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/photographer-tom-hegens-aerial-eye-reveals-the-true-scale-of-the-critical-mineral-age/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/photographer-tom-hegens-aerial-eye-reveals-the-true-scale-of-the-critical-mineral-age/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-334027</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A rare victory for multilateralism in the fight against environmental crime (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-rare-victory-for-multilateralism-in-the-fight-against-environmental-crime-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-rare-victory-for-multilateralism-in-the-fight-against-environmental-crime-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2026 20:20:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laura WaisbichMelina RissoRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/26200756/colombia_2156_26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333944</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Organized Crime, and Timber Laws]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Multilateralism has had a miserable few years. International institutions are under strain,  geopolitical rivalries are intensifying and governments struggle to agree on even the most elementary rules. Governments struggle to agree on even elementary rules. Yet last week in Vienna, there was an unexpected breakthrough. Countries agreed to begin negotiating a global treaty to tackle [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Multilateralism has had a miserable few years. International institutions are under strain,  geopolitical rivalries are intensifying and governments struggle to agree on even the most elementary rules. Governments struggle to agree on even elementary rules. Yet last week in Vienna, there was an unexpected breakthrough. Countries agreed to begin negotiating a global treaty to tackle environmental crime. It is a modest but important victory for international cooperation, and one that could help turn the tables on some of the world&#8217;s most destructive criminal enterprises. The breakthrough came at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). By 83 votes to 12, governments backed a resolution establishing a committee to design a new protocol targeting illegal trade in wildlife and timber, illicit mining and trafficking in minerals, and waste trafficking. The outcome was hardly assured. The United States, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Iran sought to dilute the initiative. They failed. The vote showed that international rules can still advance despite determined opposition. Illegal logging in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler Brazil deserves considerable credit. Working with a coalition spanning Latin America and Africa, its diplomats turned years of technical discussions into political momentum. Civil society organizations, including the Igarapé Institute, helped build the evidence and sustain pressure for stronger international action. The breakthrough also signals a wider shift in global diplomacy. Countries across the Global South are increasingly becoming norm-makers rather than simply norm-takers. On issues ranging from climate and biodiversity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-rare-victory-for-multilateralism-in-the-fight-against-environmental-crime-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-rare-victory-for-multilateralism-in-the-fight-against-environmental-crime-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333944</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deadly gold rush continues as latest landslide kills four in Sumatra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-gold-rush-continues-as-latest-landslide-kills-four-in-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-gold-rush-continues-as-latest-landslide-kills-four-in-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2026 11:13:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Vinolia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/22110831/WhatsApp-Image-2026-10-11-sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333530</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Disasters, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Landslides, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PADANG, Indonesia — Four gold miners were killed after a hillside in the Jorong Jujutan forest of Sumatra’s South Solok district gave way in the early hours of Oct. 6. The landslide marked the latest fatalities in the so-called artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector, which has killed more than 50 people in just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PADANG, Indonesia — Four gold miners were killed after a hillside in the Jorong Jujutan forest of Sumatra’s South Solok district gave way in the early hours of Oct. 6. The landslide marked the latest fatalities in the so-called artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector, which has killed more than 50 people in just one of Indonesia’s 38 provinces in the last15 years, according to the country’s largest environmental pressure group. Local authorities identified the latest victims as Dani, Defriadi, Rafli and Zul Fatrianto. The men were recovered at around 5 a.m., approximately four hours after the fatal landslip. “The other workers who were nearby attempted to give assistance, but the thick layer of mud and rocks made it impossible to save the four,” the chief of South Solok district police Andreanaldo Ademi told Mongabay Indonesia. Illegal gold mining accidents have repeatedly led to loss of life in Indonesia, including recent landslides that buried miners in the West Sumatra districts of Sijunjung, Solok, South Solok and West Pasaman districts. The West Sumatra office of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Indonesia’s largest environmental nonprofit, has recorded 52 deaths among miners in the last 15 years. However, Tommy Adam, director of Walhi’s chapter in West Sumatra, said the true number could be far higher. A gold mine operating in a forest area in Batang, in the upper reaches of the Batang Sangir River, South Solok. Image by Vinolia/Mongabay Indonesia. Global challenges and framework At least 20 million people work&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-gold-rush-continues-as-latest-landslide-kills-four-in-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-gold-rush-continues-as-latest-landslide-kills-four-in-sumatra/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333530</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Anatomy of a land grab: the law, likes, and legislator behind an Indigenous land invasion in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2026 19:42:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee GabayElisângela Mendonça]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/16132711/73_tunaItata_03_Black_03-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332839</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Global, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Beef, Business, Cattle, Commodity agriculture, Conflict, Conservation, Corruption, data, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Farming, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Loss, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Law, Livestock, Natural Resources, Politics, Primary Forests, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Ranching, Resource Conflict, Satellite Imagery, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The polished leather of Francisco “Torrinho” Torres’ shoes gleamed as he walked toward the lectern in the plenary chamber of the Pará state legislature in the Brazilian Amazon. The 57-year-old rancher-turned-politician moved unhurriedly as he prepared to deliver a speech that would set in motion a series of events leading to new invasions of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The polished leather of Francisco “Torrinho” Torres’ shoes gleamed as he walked toward the lectern in the plenary chamber of the Pará state legislature in the Brazilian Amazon. The 57-year-old rancher-turned-politician moved unhurriedly as he prepared to deliver a speech that would set in motion a series of events leading to new invasions of the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory. It was June 30, 2026, in what seemed to be a routine session for the state representative from one of Brazil’s largest Amazonian states. Behind his sharp suit and the supportive nods of his agribusiness allies was a track record of environmental fines, a corruption investigation, and land disputes. In a brief speech, Torres defended a bill he’d authored to create a new state-run environmental protection area, APA Bacajaí. He presented the measure as a solution for families struggling to farm and rural families in need of land regulation. Three other state representatives took the stand to support the proposal. They spoke of farmers who had waited decades for land titles, of families unable to access credit without them, and of the uncertainty created by the possibility of an Indigenous land claim. It only took 24 minutes for the chamber to pass the bill into law unanimously. There were no objections and no requests for technical notes — even though it was known that the new 142,400-hectare (about 351,900-acre) reserve would overlap entirely with the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory. The area has been under a land-use protection order since 2011 to safeguard the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/anatomy-of-a-land-grab-the-law-likes-and-legislator-behind-an-indigenous-land-invasion-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332839</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nigeria drove thousands of gold miners from a national park. But can it keep them out?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/nigeria-drove-thousands-of-gold-miners-from-a-national-park-but-can-it-keep-them-out/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/nigeria-drove-thousands-of-gold-miners-from-a-national-park-but-can-it-keep-them-out/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2026 16:18:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/17062107/Kile-mine-2-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=333049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A military-backed operation shut down a major illegal gold mining site in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, driving more than 4,000 miners from Nigeria’s largest national park, according to the Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI). The miners had already fled by the time Nigerian soldiers arrived at the Kila mining area in July, according to Tunde Morakinyo, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A military-backed operation shut down a major illegal gold mining site in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, driving more than 4,000 miners from Nigeria’s largest national park, according to the Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI). The miners had already fled by the time Nigerian soldiers arrived at the Kila mining area in July, according to Tunde Morakinyo, executive director of ANI, a Nigerian conservation organization working with the government to manage Gashaka-Gumti. He said no shots were fired during the operation, and bulldozers were brought in to fill the mining pits and shafts. As world leaders and conservation practitioners head to Armenia for the U.N. biodiversity summit Oct. 19-30, with the goal of protecting and conserving 30% of land and waters by 2030, the crackdown spotlights the complexity of safeguarding some of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Gashaka-Gumti is a stronghold for one of the rarest primates in the world: the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti). The park is also home to more than 1,000 plant species and hundreds of bird and butterfly species, with some of the highest rates of endemism on the continent. A ranger patrols Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park, where the Africa Nature Investors Foundation says it employs more than 180 rangers to help protect the park. Image courtesy of Africa Nature Investors Foundation. The operation followed years of growing friction over mining in the park. Tensions came to a head in late 2025. Two rangers were killed by miners in October 2025, according to Morakinyo. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/nigeria-drove-thousands-of-gold-miners-from-a-national-park-but-can-it-keep-them-out/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-333049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South African coal mine advances amid legal challenge and mounting water concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/south-african-coal-mine-advances-amid-legal-challenge-and-mounting-water-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/south-african-coal-mine-advances-amid-legal-challenge-and-mounting-water-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2026 12:31:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elaine Mills]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/14111040/1_Coal-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332558</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coal, Economics, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, Natural Resources, Politics, Rivers, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Chinese-controlled coal mine in South Africa’s Limpopo province is moving toward full production even as a legal challenge mounted by a coalition of community members and environmental groups remains unresolved amid concerns about water security in the region. Kinetic Development Group controls MC Mining, whose Makhado hard-coking-coal project is expected to reach steady-state operation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A Chinese-controlled coal mine in South Africa’s Limpopo province is moving toward full production even as a legal challenge mounted by a coalition of community members and environmental groups remains unresolved amid concerns about water security in the region. Kinetic Development Group controls MC Mining, whose Makhado hard-coking-coal project is expected to reach steady-state operation by the end of the year. Earlier this year, the Hong Kong-listed Kinetic group acquired a 51% stake in MC Mining for $90 million. The open-cast mine lies within the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, which includes the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Ramsar-designated Makuleke wetlands. Environmental groups say clearing for the mine has destroyed sensitive habitat, including protected baobab and marula trees native to the region’s savannas and woodlands. The Makhado mine’s coal-handling and processing plant (CHPP). Image courtesy of MC Mining. Contested environmental authorization Makhado’s developers first received an environmental authorization, or EA, in August 2013. This original authorization has been amended several times over the years, and one such amendment has become highly controversial. In May 2021, the then-Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) amended the Makhado EA to remove a condition that required mining to begin by a fixed deadline. In June 2021, a coalition of community, farming, and environmental groups appealed the decision to remove the deadline. (The DMRE has since become the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources.) The appellants argued the DMRE had effectively given the project an open-ended authorization without proper public participation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/south-african-coal-mine-advances-amid-legal-challenge-and-mounting-water-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332558</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawmakers in Suriname call for investigation, stricter oversight amid new mining activity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 16:18:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/09154037/a.-Banner-%C2%A9-marccharron-original-1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331661</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Chemicals, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Loss, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Lawmakers in Suriname are calling for a formal investigation into mining activity that allegedly uses heavily restricted chemicals like cyanide, and risks creating runoff and pollution in the surrounding ecosystem. On Sept. 19, two members of the National Assembly, Rabindre Parmessar and Michael Marengo, visited an area in Pelin Bergi, near Kwakoegron, in northern Suriname, and said they discovered “substantial” mining activity that raised legal questions about permitting. Now, the two lawmakers are calling on President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons to launch an immediate investigation and temporarily halt all mining activity in the area. “The situation on-site raises fundamental questions about the nature, duration, permitting, oversight and the fiscal and environmental controls on these activities,” the lawmakers said in a letter, reviewed by Mongabay, to the president’s office last month. It added, “[It’s] necessary to establish how activities of this scale have been able to take place over an extended period and to what extent the state’s interests and revenues have been protected in the process.” The lawmakers, who traveled with a group of local journalists and an environmental activist, observed “deep excavations” at the site and materials being transported to processing locations. There were also indications of cyanide use via heap leaching, a process in which the chemical is sprayed onto rock to dissolve gold, making it easier to collect smaller particles. The import and use of cyanide is heavily restricted in Suriname. Geerlings-Simons is trying to phase out imports and implement a registry system for the chemical, which is still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/lawmakers-in-suriname-call-for-investigation-stricter-oversight-amid-new-mining-activity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331661</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Myanmar’s polluting mines selling to China through Thai companies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/myanmars-polluting-mines-selling-to-china-through-thai-companies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/myanmars-polluting-mines-selling-to-china-through-thai-companies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 02:04:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/30171109/IMG_0238-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331322</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Crime, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Environment, extractives, Fish, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Public Health, Rivers, Trade, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[UMPHANG, Thailand — At 8 a.m. on June 26, at least 13 double-trailer trucks were lined up at the Pheung Khleung border crossing in northern Thailand — one of the few places where minerals can be legally transported overland from Myanmar into Thailand. Tensions were running high under the sun. The border gate had not [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[UMPHANG, Thailand — At 8 a.m. on June 26, at least 13 double-trailer trucks were lined up at the Pheung Khleung border crossing in northern Thailand — one of the few places where minerals can be legally transported overland from Myanmar into Thailand. Tensions were running high under the sun. The border gate had not yet opened and irate mineral merchants were yelling at reporters, demanding that no photos be taken. The previous day, the Thai military personnel that oversee the cross-border mineral trade had granted Mongabay permission to document the hundreds of tons of antimony expected to be delivered from Myanmar’s Karen state to Thailand’s Tak province, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of the city of Mae Sot. Reporters were forbidden from photographing soldiers’ involvement in the trade or the minerals themselves. It wasn’t until 10 a.m. that the border gates opened and the first truck from Karen state bearing antimony, a silvery mineral used in bullets, bombs, armor, semi-conductors and other defense, aerospace and tech industries, crossed into Thai territory. Bars of processed antimony were hoisted from Myanmar trucks into Thai trucks at the Pheung Khleung border crossing in June 2026. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. A crane, followed by a parade of battered trucks, rolled over from Myanmar and instantly workers from both sides frantically began attaching hoisting cables to 1-ton bags of what reporters were told was antimony ore and stacked bars of antimony ingot. Drivers sheltered from the heat as bags and bars&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/myanmars-polluting-mines-selling-to-china-through-thai-companies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331322</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To tackle environmental crime, track profits through the whole supply chain (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2026 18:07:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ilona Szabó de CarvalhoRobert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/08201639/3.-mongabay_Image-by-Ibama-via-Wikimedia-Commons-CC-BY-SA-2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Mining, Natural Resources, Organized Crime, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world has spent a decade trying to put a price on nature. Forests have become carbon sinks, while wetlands are increasingly described as natural infrastructure. Biodiversity is also being drawn into financial markets. Governments and investors have poured billions into carbon markets and conservation finance, including green bonds. Around them, a financial system is emerging on the assumption that intact ecosystems can generate enough economic value to protect them. A more destructive economy has been putting a price on nature for much longer. It makes money by extracting and selling it. Land grabbing, illegal logging, illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking are usually treated as environmental offenses, so responsibility falls to park rangers, customs officials and specialized police. That view badly underestimates what is happening. In a new paper for the Brookings Institution, we argue that environmental crimes are a serious drag on both sustainable development and climate action. They damage ecosystems and weaken the institutions charged with governing them. They also drain revenue from legitimate companies and public coffers. Enforcement alone will not solve a problem that runs through trade, finance and local political economies. An IBAMA agent participates in a raid on an illegal logging and mining operation within an Indigenous reserve. Image courtesy of IBAMA. Global criminal economy No one knows exactly how large this economy has become. A widely cited estimate puts annual proceeds at between $110 billion and $281 billion, but the true figure is probably far higher, perhaps in the trillions. What makes the business&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/to-tackle-environmental-crime-track-profits-through-the-whole-supply-chain-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal mines threaten biodiversity and drinking water in Ghana’s Atewa Forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2026 14:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mabel Adorkor Annang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/21135635/IllegalMiners_AtewaGhana_ARochaGhana-11_20260919_122540_0010-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330304</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Destruction, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every day, scores of illegal miners on motorbikes swarm into the Atewa Forest Reserve, in eastern Ghana — ignoring the handful of Forestry Commission guards charged with keeping them out. Inside the reserve, the miners have stripped forest cover and excavated pits, their passage marked by abandoned equipment and temporary camps and muddy and polluted [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every day, scores of illegal miners on motorbikes swarm into the Atewa Forest Reserve, in eastern Ghana — ignoring the handful of Forestry Commission guards charged with keeping them out. Inside the reserve, the miners have stripped forest cover and excavated pits, their passage marked by abandoned equipment and temporary camps and muddy and polluted streams. Their actions jeopardize the drinking water of as many as five million Ghanaians. “We say this based on a lot of records coming from the Forestry Commission staff, some court records as well,” says Daryl Bosu, deputy national director of operations at conservation initiative A Rocha Ghana, which has been monitoring Atewa and other forested areas for a decade. A Rocha played a key role in a civil society coalition opposing government plans to mine for bauxite in the reserve. Bosu says A Rocha has observed that many of the rivers and streams in the area, which previously ran clear, have turned brown with sediment since the miners overran the reserve. Miners, he says, have cut down trees along water courses, which he fears have been contaminated with mercury, cyanide and arsenic  — all widely used in illegal mining operations. “The Forestry Commission team is complaining of the unprecedented attack on the Atewa forest because of mining and how they are seriously overwhelmed as a result of pressure which they have never experienced,” he tells Mongabay. Aerial view of a mine site in Atewa. Image courtesy of A Rocha Ghana. The critically endangered Atewa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-mines-threaten-biodiversity-and-drinking-water-in-ghanas-atewa-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330304</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Since US intervention, Venezuela’s illegal mining crisis has only worsened, critics say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 17:13:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/14212951/AP26023620981888-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Mercury, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March with over a dozen mining company executives, holding a meeting in Caracas with local officials to discuss creating a “legitimate mining sector” and removing the criminal groups that currently operate at many mine sites. The economic potential of Venezuela’s mining sector, he said, could be worth billions. Burgum’s trip came just a few months after a U.S. military operation removed then-President Nicolás Maduro and transported him to a detention center in the U.S. state of New York. Since then, officials have heralded a new era for Venezuela, and tried to make the mining sector more attractive to foreign investment: Passing mining reform laws, taking down leaders of criminal groups involved in mining, and raiding illegal mining sites. The U.S. is also considering an executive order aimed at improving access to critical minerals, Reuters reported. Yet at the same time, observers say the illegal mining crisis is getting worse, not better. Illegal mining has expanded this year, in some cases in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in mining have tightened their hold in many parts of the country, according to sources contacted by Mongabay. “[Since Maduro’s capture], nothing has changed in the criminal and legal ecosystem,” Cristina Burelli, founder of SOSOrinoco, an advocacy group studying the social and environmental impacts of mining in Venezuela, told Mongabay. “If anything, we have seen an increase in certain areas.” Vendors weigh and trade gold at gold-buying shops in El Callao, Venezuela.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/since-us-intervention-venezuelas-illegal-mining-crisis-has-only-worsened-critics-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Riverside families in the Amazon change meals as mercury poisons staple fish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 18:59:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karla Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26162833/BANNER-Karla_Renata-Guacebe-PXL_20250518_143520458.jpg.00_00_03_13.Still001-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327497</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, and Illegal Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A database built by Mongabay Latam, based on the analysis of scientific studies that gathered more than 7,000 samples from humans and 5,900 from fish, identified the areas most affected by mercury contamination in the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LAGO DO PURUZINHO/KARIPUNA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY/CALAMA, Brazil — The Lake Puruzinho community sits on a clear, fish-rich lake in the Brazilian Amazon, an area that, at first glance, resembles paradise. Just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city of Humaitá in Amazonas state, the community is soundtracked by two contrasting noises: the song of birds like the crested oropendola as it flies in search of fruit, and the thunderous engines of vessels plying the Madeira River. For decades, the approximately 170 residents of the riverside community ate fish from the lake, but that changed when they learned about mercury — and discovered that large quantities of the heavy metal were being dumped into the Madeira by illegal gold mining. The river, which feeds Lake Puruzinho and is a tributary of the Amazon, receives an estimated 10-50 metric tons of mercury from dredges used in gold mining. &#8220;There was a lot of mercury in our hair [because] of the fish, the tucunaré, which we eat a lot,&#8221; says Maria Rogelina Soares da Silva dos Santos, a fisher and homemaker, at the door of her house, located on the shore of Lake Puruzinho. &#8220;It was a huge scare.&#8221; She’s referring to studies by researchers at the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR), in which she has participated for 26 years. The research examines how mercury contamination affects fish and, ultimately, human health, focusing on pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children in communities along the Madeira River. The studies revealed, in recent years, the presence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327497</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru, mercury leaves a toxic footprint on those who depend on a river</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 18:51:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Salazar Vega]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26152747/Maternidad_I4A6126-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327449</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, and Illegal Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay reviewed nearly three decades of scientific research on the impact of heavy metals and traveled to several Amazonian communities to track the course of mercury contamination.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — “Bayolet, my little daughter, had some tests when she was five years old,” says Gladys Ordoñez, a mother from the Shintuya Indigenous community, located on the banks of the Madre de Dios River, in the Peruvian Amazon. “She had already fainted twice at school, and we didn&#8217;t know why … That&#8217;s where they found mercury.” Ordoñez still remembers the group of “outsiders” who arrived a decade ago to take blood and hair samples. Weeks later, they returned to warn that the fish the community was consuming — its main source of food — could be contaminated. “We said no, that it couldn&#8217;t be,” says María Santos, another mother from the community. “We don&#8217;t mine for gold here. There is no mining here”. But its source was not in the village: Upstream, illegal gold mining was pouring mercury into the rivers that flow through the Madre de Dios region. Fish came into contact with the heavy metal and traveled downstream before reaching the plates of dozens of local families. Eleven years later, the problem persists. Little Bayolet is now 16 years old. In her fourth year of secondary school, she says she still finds it difficult to concentrate when taking lessons. According to Bayolet, her greatest wish is to finish school so she can take nursing classes. She remembers feeling constant fatigue in the classroom, along with tiredness and weakness. After her diagnosis of mercury exposure, she says she only received treatment for anemia. Bayolet was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-peru-mercury-leaves-a-toxic-footprint-on-those-who-depend-on-a-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2026/08/19152603/4I4A5955-5.mp4" length="3763673" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327449</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mercury threatens over 160 communities in Bolivia’s Beni River basin</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 18:44:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26144848/AA-FOTO-PRINCIPAL1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327431</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Gold Mining, Governance, and Illegal Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay found that 39 communities in Bolivia are suffering from mercury poisoning and that 125 more face a similar risk.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BENI, Bolivia — Gilberto Vaca Muiba fears that the mercury in his body will end his life. Yet, the fear does not change his routine. He takes his old fishing rod, walks toward the river, and waits patiently for the meal of the day. He is on his knees on one of the shores of the Beni River, in the Bolivian Amazon, waiting for a fish to bite — so he can take the food home. It is a July afternoon in the Bolivian community of Puerto Yumani, and he has just caught a small surubí. The local fish is likely contaminated with mercury, but he brings it to his table nonetheless. Puerto Yumani is one of the five Indigenous communities Mongabay visited along a 41-kilometer (25.48 miles) stretch of the Beni River. The other four are Carmen Soledad and Puerto Motor, in the municipality of Rurrenabaque (in the Beni department), and Eyiyoquibo and Buena Vista, in the municipality of San Buenaventura (north of La Paz department). All these territories, belonging to the Tacana, Leco, and Ese Ejja Indigenous peoples, are exposed to mercury contamination arising in the river. Because of that, the Beni River is perceived in two ways: As a source of subsistence for the communities but also as the center of all their ills. “We eat fish every day; it is our common diet because buying meat or chicken is too expensive for us. In the rivers, we have our food, but this very food is contaminated.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/mercury-threatens-over-160-communities-in-bolivias-beni-river-basin/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327431</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Marine conservation collides with mining in Indonesia’s biodiversity-rich Moramo Bay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 16:48:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[La Ode Risman Hermawan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/04163930/2.-Aktivitas-tambang-batu-gamping-berbatasan-langsung-dengan-KKD-Teluk-Moramo-2400x890-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Southeast Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Governance, Illegal Mining, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Pollution, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SOUTH KONAWE, Indonesia — A marine protected area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is home to a critically depleted population of humphead wrasse. The species presence helped the area gain its protected status, but mining permits overlap parts of the conservation zone and line its coast. A 2024 government survey, published the following year, found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SOUTH KONAWE, Indonesia — A marine protected area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is home to a critically depleted population of humphead wrasse. The species presence helped the area gain its protected status, but mining permits overlap parts of the conservation zone and line its coast. A 2024 government survey, published the following year, found just 22 humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) across 10 sampling stations — an average density of 1.17 fish per hectare — in the Moramo Bay regional conservation area in Southeast Sulawesi’s South Konawe district. It recorded no fish at three sites where the species was still observed in 2018. Officials and researchers say the bay’s coral reefs face mounting pressure from sedimentation, pollution, vessel activity and other threats, but no study has established a direct link between mining and the wrasse’s decline. “In a polluted area … this fish will definitely disappear,” Sasanti Retno Suharti, a coral reef fish ecology researcher who has been researching humphead wrasse since 2006, told Mongabay Indonesia in August. “It will move far away into deeper waters.” “If it is no longer there, eventually the crown-of-thorns starfish will take over and feed on the corals,” she added. “The ecosystem will be damaged.” &nbsp; The presence of humphead wrasse was one reason Southeast Sulawesi first proposed Moramo Bay as a regional conservation area in 2011. The proposed area expanded to 21,786 hectares (53,834 acres) in 2016 from 10,371 hectares (25,627 acres) in 2014. In 2021, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists use mining data to build malaria alert system in the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-use-mining-data-to-build-malaria-alert-system-in-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-use-mining-data-to-build-malaria-alert-system-in-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2026 14:21:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/01140632/mg_9069-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328177</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Solutions, Crime, Diseases, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Mining, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A 1% increase in illegal mining led to a 24% spike in malaria cases among the Yanomami, prompting a new data-driven defense.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A study detailing the links between illegal gold mining and malaria cases in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon won second place in the MapBiomas Award, announced in July. The research collective produces data on land use in Brazil and recognizes initiatives that use this information to promote conservation. The study examined the explosion in malaria cases under the government of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president from January 2019 to 2022, whose far-right policies encouraged illegal miners to invade Brazil&#8217;s largest Indigenous land, home to 31,567 Yanomami. Known locally as garimpeiros, the illegal miners spread disease, contaminated water sources with mercury, and scared away wildlife, prompting a humanitarian crisis in the territory straddling the states of Roraima and Amazonas. Using satellite imagery and data from the Ministry of Health, researchers led by Márcia Castro, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the U.S., found that a 1% increase in the mined area in the Yanomami territory was associated with a 24% increase in monthly malaria cases. The study, published in November 2025 in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, shows that malaria also increased in areas without mining activity but still used as routes by the miners. “The garimpeiros move around a lot because they have to bring in supplies and machinery,” Castro told Mongabay. “When you pass through these areas, you’re a carrier of the parasite as you walk, and you can get bitten by a mosquito along the way. And just like that, [the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-use-mining-data-to-build-malaria-alert-system-in-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/scientists-use-mining-data-to-build-malaria-alert-system-in-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Gold miners breach a crucial refuge for rescued Sumatran orangutans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/gold-miners-breach-a-crucial-refuge-for-rescued-sumatran-orangutans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/gold-miners-breach-a-crucial-refuge-for-rescued-sumatran-orangutans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2026 14:37:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28100815/orangutan-in-sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327699</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Mining, Mining, Orangutans, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JANTHO, Indonesia — Illegal gold miners in Indonesia’s Aceh province have breached a crucial reintroduction forest for critically endangered Sumatran orangutans rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. “The result of our monitoring indicates that maybe dozens of excavators are suspected of operating in the Jantho forest area,” said Afifuddin, campaign and advocacy lead at the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JANTHO, Indonesia — Illegal gold miners in Indonesia’s Aceh province have breached a crucial reintroduction forest for critically endangered Sumatran orangutans rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. “The result of our monitoring indicates that maybe dozens of excavators are suspected of operating in the Jantho forest area,” said Afifuddin, campaign and advocacy lead at the provincial chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the country’s largest environmental pressure group. The Indonesian government established the Jantho orangutan reintroduction area more than 15 years ago within the wider protected forest known as the Jantho Nature Reserve. Jantho is located in Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra. There were no Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) living in what is now the Jantho reintroduction forest when conservationists began releasing animals there in 2011. Since then, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), which works with the Indonesian government on the reintroduction effort, has released nearly 200 orangutans into the forest. It remains one of the country’s most successful release sites for the critically endangered great apes. The Jantho sanctuary was chosen for reintroduction due to its habitat of fig trees, a key food source for orangutans, and proximity to the Leuser Ecosystem, which is home to most of the Sumatran orangutans that remain in the wild. Forest near Jantho. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Rainforest river near Jantho. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. However, new analysis by Walhi’s Aceh chapter found that approximately 14 hectares (35 acres), of the Jantho Nature Reserve&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/gold-miners-breach-a-crucial-refuge-for-rescued-sumatran-orangutans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327699</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plans of Peru’s new administration spur concern among environmentalists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2026 09:38:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/17050949/peru_221217-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327225</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Development, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Organized Crime, Politics, Pollution, Renewable Energy, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi from the Popular Force Party was sworn in as the new president of Peru on July 28. Fujimori, who has pledged to tackle insecurity using greater force and militarization, narrowly defeated her left-wing opponent Roberto Sánchez by fewer than 50,000 votes on June 7. The new president has promised to expand [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi from the Popular Force Party was sworn in as the new president of Peru on July 28. Fujimori, who has pledged to tackle insecurity using greater force and militarization, narrowly defeated her left-wing opponent Roberto Sánchez by fewer than 50,000 votes on June 7. The new president has promised to expand fossil fuel production and mining across the country, raising concerns among environmentalists and Indigenous leaders about the future of the Peruvian Amazon, as well as its international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — a national climate action plan under the Paris Agreement. The country submitted its first NDC in 2016, which was then updated in 2020 and 2025. In its plan, it has committed to diversify renewable energy sources, strengthen sustainable transportation, reduce deforestation, protect natural areas and support Indigenous and local communities, among other mitigation priorities. Experts, environmentalists and Indigenous leaders expressed concerns about the government’s plans, particularly Fujimori’s promise to expand the exploration and exploitation of energy resources, such as the promotion of new lots in the Amazon and the northern coast. Peru&#8217;s President Keiko Fujimori, center, poses for a group photo with members of her cabinet at the government palace in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo) “The current government is a bit pragmatic in its decisions because they are really driven by wanting development without considering the consequences for the Amazonian peoples,” Matsés Indigenous leader Leo Chuma Teca Beso told Mongabay&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/plans-of-perus-new-administration-spur-concern-among-environmentalists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A mine polluted a Zambian river in 2025: Residents continue to live with the impacts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-mine-polluted-a-zambian-river-in-2025-residents-continue-to-live-with-the-impacts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-mine-polluted-a-zambian-river-in-2025-residents-continue-to-live-with-the-impacts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 16:13:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/13112856/b.-AP25218405123384-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326147</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Environment, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Waste, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One and a half years after the collapse of a large tailings dam in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province, the environmental and human impacts of the toxic spill continue to affect residents, civil society members have told Mongabay. The dam, which is used to store mining waste and is owned by Chinese copper company Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One and a half years after the collapse of a large tailings dam in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province, the environmental and human impacts of the toxic spill continue to affect residents, civil society members have told Mongabay. The dam, which is used to store mining waste and is owned by Chinese copper company Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, failed on Feb. 18, 2025, in the town of Chambishi in north-central Zambia. It released millions of liters of acidic mining waste into waterways connected to the Kafue River. Stretching 1,576 kilometers (979 miles), the Kafue is the longest river lying entirely within Zambia and a lifeline for millions of people in the country. A study by researchers at Zambia’s Copperbelt University published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances in May 2026 is the first independent scientific assessment of the ecological impacts of the incident. The researchers found severely compromised water quality, high concentrations of heavy metals in water, fish, sediments and pastures, and evidence that toxic substances had entered the food chain. The larger Kafue River system provides water to around half of Zambia&#8217;s population. It feeds into the Zambezi River and sustains biodiverse wetland ecosystems including the Lukanga Swamp and the Kafue Flats. For the study, the scientists collected water samples from five sites in the affected area and one in the unaffected area as a control in the days following the accident. Their analysis of the samples showed that heavy metal concentrations, including of copper, iron, zinc, lead and arsenic, exceeded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-mine-polluted-a-zambian-river-in-2025-residents-continue-to-live-with-the-impacts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-mine-polluted-a-zambian-river-in-2025-residents-continue-to-live-with-the-impacts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326147</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia’s banned sand trade with Singapore appears to be back</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Aug 2026 22:18:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy Ball]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/11152720/Mekong-Sand-Mining_Credit-Andy-Ball_00002-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325924</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, extractives, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Mining, International Trade, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Rivers, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Cambodia&#8217;s Koh Kong province say they&#8217;ve approved a sand mining operation exporting to Singapore, despite an export ban imposed by national authorities a decade ago after large-scale dredging was found to be damaging riverine and coastal ecosystems. The dredging is occurring in an area of the Trapeang Rung River that falls within the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Cambodia&#8217;s Koh Kong province say they&#8217;ve approved a sand mining operation exporting to Singapore, despite an export ban imposed by national authorities a decade ago after large-scale dredging was found to be damaging riverine and coastal ecosystems. The dredging is occurring in an area of the Trapeang Rung River that falls within the boundaries of Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary and Botum Sakor National Park. Khlem Yonviseth, director of the Koh Kong provincial mining department, told Mongabay that the 2017 sand export ban had been lifted, and that his office had given a permit to the dredging operation and approved the exports. Yonviseth did not respond to a request to provide documentation of the ban being lifted. Mongabay was unable to locate any official announcement regarding the ban, and the relevant national agencies did not respond to requests for comment. Yonsiveth’s comments come after activist group Mother Nature Cambodia exposed the dredging operation in a video published July 14. In a subsequent video, published Aug. 8, the group tracked multiple cargo ships heading from Koh Kong Krao, Cambodia’s largest island, to Singapore’s Tuas Port. “How many more tons of Cambodian sand will be lost?” asks Lisa Mean, an activist with Mother Nature Cambodia, in the latest video. Analysis by Mongabay confirms that four of the ships identified by the group traveled to the Tuas Port, where a state-backed land reclamation project is currently underway. Mongabay has also found that the company Yonviseth said had been given a dredging license, Catalyst&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodias-banned-sand-trade-with-singapore-appears-to-be-back/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325924</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil&#8217;s mining agency under fire over corruption and omission probes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-mining-agency-under-fire-over-corruption-and-omission-probes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-mining-agency-under-fire-over-corruption-and-omission-probes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/23142152/garimpo_tapajos_fernando_martinho-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325250</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Natural Resources, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Criminal groups use small-scale mining permits as a front for gold laundering while federal oversight fails.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Federal prosecutors in Amazonas state are suing the Brazilian government’s mining agency (ANM) for an alleged failure to monitor gold mining exploration in the Amazon. The lawsuit was filed in early July. A few days later, on July 21, the federal justice ordered ANM to increase oversight over wildcat mine permissions, small-scale mines known as garimpos in Brazil, following a similar lawsuit filed in 2021 by federal prosecutors in neighboring Pará state. The legal push also follows corruption probes into the agency&#8217;s top executives, who are accused of favoring mining companies in Brazil&#8217;s largest industrial mining state, Minas Gerais. ANM is responsible for authorizing and monitoring mining activities in Brazil, including wildcat mining permissions (PLGs), which aren&#8217;t subject to the same rigorous environmental requirements as large-scale mines. According to the federal prosecutors, poor monitoring and unclear rules have turned PLGs into mechanisms to launder gold taken from Indigenous lands and strictly protected conservation areas, where the activity is forbidden. The case is based on irregularities found in reports from Greenpeace and the Federal Court of Auditors. &#8220;Mining permits no longer serve the interests of small-scale miners and, in many cases, have become a front for gold laundering carried out by criminal organizations,” the federal prosecutor André Porreca stated on the Amazonas Federal Public Ministry&#8217;s website. The municipality of Itaituba, in Pará state, is known as the capital of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon. Image by Fernando Martinho for Mongabay. ANM doesn&#8217;t require permit applicants to provide prior mineral&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-mining-agency-under-fire-over-corruption-and-omission-probes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/brazils-mining-agency-under-fire-over-corruption-and-omission-probes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325250</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nicaragua’s gold boom is now encroaching on protected areas and Indigenous land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nicaraguas-gold-boom-is-now-encroaching-on-protected-areas-and-indigenous-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nicaraguas-gold-boom-is-now-encroaching-on-protected-areas-and-indigenous-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2026 15:30:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31155858/4386-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325077</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Nicaragua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, International Trade, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Trade, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Nicaragua, the mining sector has steadily grown over the last two decades, with gold becoming a top export and a pillar of the national economy. For most of that time, the growth was gradual. But in more recent years, there’s been an unprecedented boom, with the creation of dozens of mining concessions and a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Nicaragua, the mining sector has steadily grown over the last two decades, with gold becoming a top export and a pillar of the national economy. For most of that time, the growth was gradual. But in more recent years, there’s been an unprecedented boom, with the creation of dozens of mining concessions and a rush of new legislation to attract foreign companies. The boom coincides with Nicaragua’s increasing economic and political isolation. President Daniel Ortega has cracked down on dissent and cancelled elections, prompting countries like the U.S. and Canada to issue sanctions against numerous officials and institutions, making it difficult for them to trade and carry out other international business. With the price of gold on the rise, the government has turned to mining for economic stability. That decision has been disastrous for the environment and Indigenous communities, critics say. Mining concessions have started encroaching on protected areas and ancestral territory, threatening pollution, deforestation, and the displacement of residents, among other issues. “From 2022 and on, there’s been an incredible boom in the number of concessions granted,” said Carmen Corea-Sánchez, lead author of a new report from community-based Indigenous group Wangki and other researchers. A golden age of mining Ortega held office in the late 1980s and took power again in 2007, ushering in a massive investment in the mining sector, largely propelled by Chinese interest in the country and Latin America more broadly. In 2006, the year before he returned to office, Nicaragua exported 109,200 ounces of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nicaraguas-gold-boom-is-now-encroaching-on-protected-areas-and-indigenous-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325077</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The global gold rush consuming the Amazon (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-global-gold-rush-consuming-the-amazon-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-global-gold-rush-consuming-the-amazon-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2026 02:47:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robert Muggah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/04033926/peru_aerial_0148-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324710</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In November 2025, Brazilian authorities, supported by Interpol, disabled 277 dredges used for illegal gold mining along the Madeira River. The machinery was valued at about $6.8 million. The operation dealt a substantial blow to one of the Amazon&#8217;s busiest mining frontiers, yet its effect was likely temporary. After all, dredges can be replaced, miners [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In November 2025, Brazilian authorities, supported by Interpol, disabled 277 dredges used for illegal gold mining along the Madeira River. The machinery was valued at about $6.8 million. The operation dealt a substantial blow to one of the Amazon&#8217;s busiest mining frontiers, yet its effect was likely temporary. After all, dredges can be replaced, miners can relocate, and financiers can redirect their money. Satellite monitoring reveals how quickly the industry is spreading. A basin-wide monitoring initiative led by Amazon Mining Watch detected more than 37,000 hectares of new mining expansion across the Amazon in 2025. Of that total, more than 14,000 hectares lay within 222 protected areas and Indigenous territories. Since mining is generally restricted in such places, much of this activity was presumed to be illegal. The immediate drivers of illegal gold mining are familiar. Enforcement is thin across vast stretches of forest, and illicit gold passes too easily into lawful commerce. The broader economic incentive comes from a global market in which gold prices have risen sharply and legitimate demand has become unusually strong. Central banks are an important part of that story, though hardly the only one. Over the past four years, they have bought an average of roughly 1,000 metric tons of gold annually, twice the average of the preceding decade. A 2026 World Gold Council survey found that 89 percent of participating reserve managers expected official gold holdings worldwide to rise over the following year. Investors, jewelry buyers and manufacturers also contribute to demand. Central&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-global-gold-rush-consuming-the-amazon-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/the-global-gold-rush-consuming-the-amazon-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324710</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ghana&#8217;s High Court sentences politician to 20 years in illegal mining case</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ghanas-high-court-sentences-politician-to-20-years-in-illegal-mining-case/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ghanas-high-court-sentences-politician-to-20-years-in-illegal-mining-case/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 09:16:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mabel Adorkor Annang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/24115325/Mining_SamreboiGhana_ErastusDonkor-1000774021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324461</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Environmental Law, forest degradation, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Law, Mining, and Natural Resources]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ACCRA — In a landmark ruling, the Accra High Court has sentenced Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a regional chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party, to 20 years in prison for facilitating unlicensed mining in the Samreboi concession. The concession is in Ghana’s Western Region, in the Upper Guinean Forest Belt that extends across the subregion [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ACCRA — In a landmark ruling, the Accra High Court has sentenced Bernard Antwi Boasiako, a regional chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party, to 20 years in prison for facilitating unlicensed mining in the Samreboi concession. The concession is in Ghana’s Western Region, in the Upper Guinean Forest Belt that extends across the subregion from Togo and Ghana in the east to Guinea in the west. The concession is set in the remains of the belt’s tropical rainforest. While large parts of the landscape at Samreboi have been logged and converted to cocoa plantations or other farmland in recent decades, significant tracts of natural forest remain, including the nearby Tano Nimiri and Aboi forest reserves. In recent years, the area has been massively degraded by illegal mining, known locally as &#8220;galamsey,&#8221; damaging remaining wildlife habitat, destroying farmland, and altering natural drainage patterns. This has left a landscape deeply scarred by abandoned pits. During heavy rainfall in June, the Tano River burst its banks and submerged more than 200 houses in Samreboi and neighboring communities, with some buildings collapsing entirely. While illegal mining dominates headlines, industrial mining is the leading cause of forest loss in Ghana — Africa’s biggest gold producer. This damage was exacerbated by legislation passed in 2022, allowing mining concessions to be granted even inside forest reserves, opening previously protected forests to exploitation. That legislation was repealed in 2025. Graphic by Mongabay. The NPP official’s conviction and sentencing, handed down on July 20, has prompted energetic public&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ghanas-high-court-sentences-politician-to-20-years-in-illegal-mining-case/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/ghanas-high-court-sentences-politician-to-20-years-in-illegal-mining-case/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324461</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Leaked study warns of irreversible damage from iron ore mine in Guinea UNESCO site</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2026 10:36:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Josef SkrdlikOliver Dunn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/24071536/WesternChimpanzee_NzerekoreGuinea_augustofaustinoINaturalistBYNC4.0large-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321728</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Critically Endangered Species, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Illegal Mining, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CONAKRY — Over the next few months, Guinea’s environment ministry will review an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore mine in the country’s Nimba Mountains. The project, named Kon Kweni, is to be carved out of Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Comprising a unique combination of tropical [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CONAKRY — Over the next few months, Guinea’s environment ministry will review an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore mine in the country’s Nimba Mountains. The project, named Kon Kweni, is to be carved out of Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Comprising a unique combination of tropical forest and high-elevation savanna, the Nimba highlands are a biodiversity hotspot, home to dozens of endemic species. According to the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), these highlands would face “direct and major risks,” “irreversible damage,” and “threat to species survival” if the mining operations go ahead. The impact assessment is an essential step toward securing a mining permit and commencing operations on a project that has been in discussion since 2003, when Guinean mining company SMFG was founded. (The company acquired by U.S. miner Ivanhoe Atlantic in 2019.) Mongabay obtained a copy of the ESIA, a confidential document. The assessment was commissioned by Ivanhoe and carried out by Biotope, a French environmental consultancy, and reveals how Ivanhoe is planning to go about developing the Nimba concession and how the plan is projected to impact Nimba’s ecosystems. In the Mount Nimba Strict Forest Reserve, 2006. Image by Manfred Schweda via Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Guinea’s environmental regulator, the AGEE, a branch of the environment ministry, will assess the project’s anticipated environmental impact and the company’s proposed plans to mitigate damage, alongside the precision and comprehensiveness of its assessments. Seydou Cissé, the AGEE director, said the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321728</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal miners adapt their strategies in Yanomami Amazon territory</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/illegal-miners-adapt-their-strategies-in-yanomami-amazon-territory/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/illegal-miners-adapt-their-strategies-in-yanomami-amazon-territory/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 21:29:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rubens Valente]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/12213126/06_rio_garimpo_yanomami-fernando_frazao-agencia_brasil-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321083</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Mining, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BRASÍLIA — Illegal miners have adapted their tactics in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory as Brazilian authorities seek to remove all the illegal occupants from the Amazon land, according to a recent report. Since a peak in illegal mining in 2022, there have been &#8220;significant and successive reductions&#8221; in the rainforest from 2023 to 2025,  researchers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BRASÍLIA — Illegal miners have adapted their tactics in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory as Brazilian authorities seek to remove all the illegal occupants from the Amazon land, according to a recent report. Since a peak in illegal mining in 2022, there have been &#8220;significant and successive reductions&#8221; in the rainforest from 2023 to 2025,  researchers using satellite imagery found. However, &#8220;mining activity was not completely eradicated,&#8221; as miners change how they operate, decentralize and move to borders. Sources also raise concerns about the health of isolated Indigenous people, who are at risk of the spread of malaria linked to illegal mining. In 2024 and 2025, mining impacted 129 hectares (318.7 acres) of land, down from about 1,800 hectares (4,448 acres) in 2022. The report, conducted by the NGO Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Amazon Conservation, said the steep decline is a reflection of the operations initiated by the Brazilian government in 2023, when president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came to power and declared a health emergency due to widespread disease and mercury contamination in rivers from mining. “Illegal mining activity, the invaders, continue on Yanomami land, but the rest have already been expelled,”  Dário Kopenawa Yanomami, vice-president of HAY (the Hutukara Yanomami Association) and son of Davi Kopenawa, a spokesman for the Yanomami people, told Mongabay. “The government has carried out many operations, but other invaders, miners, are difficult to remove. They remain in some specific locations, such as border areas with Guyana and Venezuela. These miners who are on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/illegal-miners-adapt-their-strategies-in-yanomami-amazon-territory/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321083</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Ecuador, an Indigenous community goes thirsty despite its two rivers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-ecuador-an-indigenous-community-goes-thirsty-despite-its-two-rivers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-ecuador-an-indigenous-community-goes-thirsty-despite-its-two-rivers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jun 2026 07:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gabriela Verdezoto Landívar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/11163242/MUJERES-Y-NINAS-CAPIRONA-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321009</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Drinking Water, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Social Justice, Water, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the mining-plagued Ecuadorian Amazon, not even two rivers are enough to ensure safe water for an Indigenous community.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The man&#8217;s cheekbones are painted with achiote, a red pigment extracted from the seeds of the Bixa orellana plant. He wears a thin headband over his gray hair, and a traditional green shirt with yellow and blue trim on the collar and sleeves. In his right hand, he holds a wooden spear, 2.5 meters long, or just over 8 feet, made from the chonta palm (Bactris gasipaes). He stares at the journalist. His dark eyes widen as he laments the occurrence of several cases of community residents, including children, suffering from fungal infections. “Even two people have already died from stomach pain, and at the hospital, they said: ‘Maybe it’s the water.’” The video was first broadcast on Sept. 28, 2024, on an Ecuadorian national news program. The man recorded is Galo Villamil, one of the leaders of the Capirona community, an Indigenous Kichwa resistance enclave in the Ecuadorian Amazon. One year before, in 2023, 22-year-old Joana Ashanga and her 2-year-old nephew, Ville Ashanga, were victims of what the community considers the fatal consequence of river pollution. “Despite the complaints, official reports from the [Ecuadorian] Ministry of Health made no mention of links between the pollution and the deaths, which generated distrust and outrage,” said Linda Tapuy, president of the Capirona community, before an audience at a university auditorium in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, two years after the deaths. The victims’ death certificates said the cause of death was “unknown.” For the Indigenous group, appearing in that television news story was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-ecuador-an-indigenous-community-goes-thirsty-despite-its-two-rivers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321009</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa’s move away from coal marred by legacy of abandoned mines: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-africas-move-away-from-coal-marred-by-legacy-of-abandoned-mines-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-africas-move-away-from-coal-marred-by-legacy-of-abandoned-mines-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 07:46:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Weekes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/02115929/251103_Ermelo_Imbabala_CER_dp-13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320479</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[charcoal, Coal, Economics, Environment, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As South Africa transitions away from coal-fired electricity, hundreds of former coal mines are turning into abandoned dumping sites for waste and polluted water, which a new report warns will continue to contaminate surrounding land and waterways for decades. Nor is the South African government taking action to force mine owners to clean them up, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As South Africa transitions away from coal-fired electricity, hundreds of former coal mines are turning into abandoned dumping sites for waste and polluted water, which a new report warns will continue to contaminate surrounding land and waterways for decades. Nor is the South African government taking action to force mine owners to clean them up, environmentalists told Mongabay. South African law requires mining companies to set aside money to clean up and restore the land after mining ends &#8211; either in trusts or through bank or insurance guarantees. But a report by the Centre for Environmental Rights found that none of the 412 coal mines that closed between 2006 and 2023 had enough money set aside to pay for the full cost of rehabilitation. The full extent of the problem is unknown as the government has failed to keep any records of mines that closed in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2021, the report said. Mining companies must clean up and rehabilitate mines, pay for the damage, and remain responsible until the government officially signs off on the closure, according to the regulations. But most mines do not keep enough money aside to cover even a fraction of the rehabilitation costs, according to the report, titled “No More Ghost Towns : Lessons From Mpumalanga’s Mine Closure Crisis” and released May 22 in Johannesburg. With more than 100 coal mines and most of the country’s aging coal-fired power stations, the Mpumalanga region is the center of South Africa’s fossil fuel-based power&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-africas-move-away-from-coal-marred-by-legacy-of-abandoned-mines-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320479</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Northern Thai residents march for action on polluted rivers. &#8216;This is an emergency&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 04:19:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08040458/Peace_Walk_Chiang_Rai_06-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320710</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Energy Transition, Environment, extractives, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Mining, International Trade, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — More than 600 residents of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces embarked May 31 on a roughly 68-kilometer, six-day ‘peace walk’ to demand the Thai government take action on the river pollution crisis that has seen Thai rivers polluted with heavy metals. The ensemble of affected residents, civil society groups, monks and students [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — More than 600 residents of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces embarked May 31 on a roughly 68-kilometer, six-day ‘peace walk’ to demand the Thai government take action on the river pollution crisis that has seen Thai rivers polluted with heavy metals. The ensemble of affected residents, civil society groups, monks and students marched from Tha Ton subdistrict in Chiang Mai to the city of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, reaching their destination on June 5, World Environment Day. For more than a year, Thailand’s Pollution Control Department has reported dangerous levels of arsenic, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in rivers across northern Thailand, with mining operations across eastern Myanmar suspected to be responsible for the pollution. “We are walking because our rivers are slowly dying,” Pianporn Deetes, executive director of the Rivers and Rights Foundation, which helped to organize the peace walk, told Mongabay by phone. “Toxic contamination from unregulated mining upstream is already affecting water, fish, food, livelihoods, and public health. We do not want to wait until more people become sick. This is an emergency.” Pianporn said the walk (42 miles) was about taking collective action to share information, document impacts and build public pressure in a bid to force the government to address the issue, which Pianporn said has, so far, been lacking. “Monitoring has improved, but action has not matched the scale of the crisis,” she said. “We need urgent diplomatic engagement with neighboring countries, stronger health monitoring, transparency, and action to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320710</doi>				</item>
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