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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mangroves/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 18:49:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Mangroves</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mangroves/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Bangladesh gets ready for its first release of tiger rescued from poachers’ trap</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 09:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10084029/upscalemedia-transformed-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323027</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Hope and optimism, Mangroves, Monitoring, Poaching, Tigers, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a first, Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap and provided with medical treatment. On Jan. 4 this year, the Forest Department rescued the female tiger (Panthera tigris), estimated to be around 10 years old, from the Chandpai and Sarankhola forest range [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a first, Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap and provided with medical treatment. On Jan. 4 this year, the Forest Department rescued the female tiger (Panthera tigris), estimated to be around 10 years old, from the Chandpai and Sarankhola forest range in the Sundarbans East division. The critically injured tiger was taken to the Khulna Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, a facility of the Bangladesh Forest Department, for treatment. “We rescued the tiger from a snare set for deer poaching. After receiving adequate care, the tiger is now ready to return to the wild. We are planning to release her in a few days,” said Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, divisional forest officer, Sundarbans East division. According to the latest tiger census, conducted in 2024, Bangladesh is home to 125 globally endangered Bengal tigers living in the Sundarbans mangrove forest. The rescued tiger&#8217;s left foreleg, which was caught in the snare, was severely injured. Image courtesy of the Bangladesh Forest Department. Covering 6,017 square kilometers (2,323 square miles), the mangrove forest is administratively divided into Sundarbans East and Sundarbans West. It is also divided into three blocks — Chandpai-Sarankhola, Khulna and Satkhira. As per the census, the highest number of Bengal tigers is found in the Chandpai-Sarankhola block. “This indicates that the density of other wildlife, including deer and wild boars, is also higher in this block because the forest’s top predators are more concentrated here,” Chowdhury&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323027</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A coastal Philippine farm offers a blueprint for farming with wetlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-coastal-philippine-farm-offers-a-blueprint-for-farming-with-wetlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-coastal-philippine-farm-offers-a-blueprint-for-farming-with-wetlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2026 23:46:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mavic Conde]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/26091213/Nenieveh-Glinoga-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321890</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Farming, Mangroves, Marine, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PITOGO, Philippines — The Glinoga Integrated Farm in Quezon province sits among brackish fishponds, some active, others long abandoned and slowly reclaimed by the landscape. About a four-hour drive from Manila, the farm in Pitogo municipality can be reached by land or sea. Both routes pass through mangroves. “We raised the embankment and kept the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PITOGO, Philippines — The Glinoga Integrated Farm in Quezon province sits among brackish fishponds, some active, others long abandoned and slowly reclaimed by the landscape. About a four-hour drive from Manila, the farm in Pitogo municipality can be reached by land or sea. Both routes pass through mangroves. “We raised the embankment and kept the mangroves, because the lowest part often floods,” Ninieveh Glinoga, who manages the farm, told Mongabay during a visit in May. The farm’s coconut-covered slopes lead to tidal rice paddies below and wetlands beyond, reflecting the mosaic landscape found across many Philippine coastal communities. As coastal developments across the Philippines erase wetlands that once buffered communities and sustained marine biodiversity, the farm offers a different model: food production intertwined with the coastal ecosystem rather than apart from it. Nipa is seen growing alongside mangroves, during low tide. Image by Mavic Conde for Mongabay. Working with water and natural topography Glinoga’s husband’s family has owned the land for generations. The coconut, cacao and sugarcane that once grew here abundantly sustained the family. But in 2008, the family visited the farm and found it nearly unrecognizable. Years of slash-and-burn farming by a tenant had stripped the land bare. Smoke rose from the ground. “The first thing the tenant fed us was native chicken. There were no greens, just salt,” Glinoga recalled. Her grandmother-in-law, who once managed the farm, could no longer visit due to old age. The relative who next took charge fell ill, leaving the tenant in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-coastal-philippine-farm-offers-a-blueprint-for-farming-with-wetlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-coastal-philippine-farm-offers-a-blueprint-for-farming-with-wetlands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321890</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Kenya’s Mida Creek, fishers confront a changing ocean with hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-kenyas-mida-creek-fishers-confront-a-changing-ocean-with-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-kenyas-mida-creek-fishers-confront-a-changing-ocean-with-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2026 09:24:56 +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/20/2026/06/24205351/20260620_131355-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321793</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater Fish, Mangroves, Marine, Oceans, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WATAMU, Kenya — By midday, the fish still hadn’t arrived. Since 8 a.m., Alice Kazungu had been sitting at the Mida Creek landing site on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, waiting for fishers to return from the water. Hours later, she was still waiting. Around her, another woman scanned the creek for signs of approaching canoes. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WATAMU, Kenya — By midday, the fish still hadn’t arrived. Since 8 a.m., Alice Kazungu had been sitting at the Mida Creek landing site on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, waiting for fishers to return from the water. Hours later, she was still waiting. Around her, another woman scanned the creek for signs of approaching canoes. Some fishers had already returned empty-handed. Others had not returned at all. For Kazungu, a fishmonger and vice chair of the newly formed Mida Beach Management Unit (BMU), the long wait has become part of daily life. BMUs are the building blocks of fisheries co-management in Kenya, bringing together stakeholders in the sector including fishers, fish sellers and traders. Alice Kazungu, a fishmonger and vice chair of the newly formed Mida Beach Management Unit (BMU), in Watamu, Kenya. Image by David Akana/Mongabay. “There was a time when there was so much fish around here,” she says, pointing to the creek around her. “Now they [the fishers] bring back only two or three kilograms.” For Kazungu, the dwindling catch has become a question of survival. Married and raising children, she depends almost entirely on selling fish for income. When there is no fish, she occasionally sells palm wine tapped from coconut trees. But that is not enough to replace a livelihood built around the ocean. “When I go home, the children ask for food,” she says. “That is what worries me.” Her story echoes across Mida Creek, a sprawling network of mangroves, mudflats and tidal channels&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-kenyas-mida-creek-fishers-confront-a-changing-ocean-with-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-kenyas-mida-creek-fishers-confront-a-changing-ocean-with-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321793</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can globally essential mangroves bounce back from deforestation? New study gives hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-globally-essential-mangroves-bounce-back-from-deforestation-new-study-gives-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-globally-essential-mangroves-bounce-back-from-deforestation-new-study-gives-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 15:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Schell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/23114608/mangroves-and-corals-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321654</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Conservation, Research, Satellite Imagery, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world’s mangrove forests, critical coastal ecosystems feared to be on the brink of collapse, are making an unexpected recovery overall, according to research published in June 2026 by scientists at Tulane University in New Orleans in the U.S. The study found that as deforestation and degradation have slowed down over the past decade around [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world’s mangrove forests, critical coastal ecosystems feared to be on the brink of collapse, are making an unexpected recovery overall, according to research published in June 2026 by scientists at Tulane University in New Orleans in the U.S. The study found that as deforestation and degradation have slowed down over the past decade around the globe, the woody plants have managed to bounce back in many areas. The study analyzed satellite data from the past four decades. It found that unexpected expansion and regrowth across the world began counterbalancing mangrove forest loss around 2010. The rate of gain has nearly outpaced losses, resulting in about a cumulative 1% global decline since the 1980s. The recovery is predominantly driven by expansion of mangroves into new areas rather than recovery of existing forests. Most previous studies on the issue have used radar, which struggles to distinguish mangroves from other ecosystems. This research created a 30-meter resolution annual data set from Landsat satellite images to more accurately identify mangroves around the world from 1984 to 2023. The study also found that mangroves are becoming less degraded. Within mangroves, a greater proportion are closed-canopy forests, which means they are denser, retain more carbon and help secure shorelines. These closed-canopy sections increased from about 50% of mangroves worldwide in the 1980s, to about 58% by 2023. “Our study shows some new ideas about [mangrove] recovery. We find that deforestation and degradation rates are slowing down,” said lead author of the study Zhen Zhang, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-globally-essential-mangroves-bounce-back-from-deforestation-new-study-gives-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-globally-essential-mangroves-bounce-back-from-deforestation-new-study-gives-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321654</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Africa’s community-led marine organizations on which 30&#215;30 depends</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 10:45:16 +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/20/2026/06/17102647/486611801_1125966072908240_4237381363299060798_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321349</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Economics, Environment, Finance, Fish, Freshwater Fish, Mangroves, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Plants, Research, Science, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This week, thousands of delegates are gathered in Mombasa, Kenya, for the first Our Ocean Conference to be hosted on African soil. As expected, much of the conversation will focus on the global &#8220;30&#215;30&#8221; target — protecting 30% of the world&#8217;s land, freshwater and oceans by 2030. Yet, far from the conference halls, the big [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This week, thousands of delegates are gathered in Mombasa, Kenya, for the first Our Ocean Conference to be hosted on African soil. As expected, much of the conversation will focus on the global &#8220;30&#215;30&#8221; target — protecting 30% of the world&#8217;s land, freshwater and oceans by 2030. Yet, far from the conference halls, the big pledges and state commitments, many of the people doing the daily work of marine conservation are community organizations operating on modest budgets along Africa’s coastlines. They often do so far from the spotlight, but their contribution is vital for the global ambition to conserve ocean spaces. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), under whose Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework the 2030 targets were adopted, highlights that success hinges heavily on community involvement. Across Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia, four such groups — Coastal and Marine Resource Development (COMRED), Action for Ocean, Mwambao Coastal Community Network and the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) — offer a window into what community-led marine conservation looks like in practice. Their work might be underfunded, uneven and sometimes slow, but are increasingly central to how marine protection is imagined on the continent. Marine ecosystems in Africa support fisheries, tourism, transport, carbon storage and coastal protection while sustaining millions of livelihoods from the Western Indian Ocean to Africa’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. In East Africa in particular, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass meadows and nearshore fisheries underpin food systems and local economies even as they face pressure from overfishing, habitat degradation, climate change and pollution.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/africas-community-led-marine-organizations-on-which-30x30-depends/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321349</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesia’s Lombok, fishers find food security tied to mangrove reforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-indonesias-lombok-fishers-find-food-security-tied-to-mangrove-reforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-indonesias-lombok-fishers-find-food-security-tied-to-mangrove-reforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2026 08:51:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ahmad H. Ramdhani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay User]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/11080656/IMG-20260419-WA0027-1536x1153-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Lombok, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fishing, Food, food security, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Oceans, Restoration, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[EAST LOMBOK, Indonesia — Jamil stood at the water’s edge holding a bucket of fish guts and chicken heads, waiting for signs of life as the late-afternoon sun cast a sheen over the pond. “At this time of day, they’ll start becoming active and feeding,” said Jamil, 63, as the onshore breeze settled and the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[EAST LOMBOK, Indonesia — Jamil stood at the water’s edge holding a bucket of fish guts and chicken heads, waiting for signs of life as the late-afternoon sun cast a sheen over the pond. “At this time of day, they’ll start becoming active and feeding,” said Jamil, 63, as the onshore breeze settled and the light began to fade. “In the morning, they&#8217;re more likely to stay in their holes.” Until recently, the mud crabs (genus Scylla) were almost entirely a product of the wild here in Sugian village on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Fishers would set traps in the estuary and sell their catch to traders, with little incentive to spare juveniles or undersized animals. “If you sell them immediately when they’re small, they&#8217;re cheaper,” Jamil said. But when crab populations fell from overzealous fishing, so too did local earnings here in a region of Indonesia where many families struggle to remain together in the face of economic pressures. Mangrove roots provide shelter, stabilize temperatures, and support the microorganisms and nutrients on which mud crabs depend. Image by Nopri Ismi/Mongabay Indonesia. Few places in Indonesia endure more family separation than the district of East Lombok. Last year it topped the list of Indonesia’s more than 500 districts for the highest number of its residents who left for work overseas. The minimum wage set by the local government for this year is 2.7 million rupiah ($150), less than half that in the capital, Jakarta. Last year, around 14,000 people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-indonesias-lombok-fishers-find-food-security-tied-to-mangrove-reforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320971</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite oil spills in Nigeria&#8217;s mangrove forests, Shell continued operations, documents show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2026 14:28:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaVictoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05232017/AP788278067772-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320681</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Forest Loss, Forests, Industry, Law, Mangroves, Marine, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Water, Water Pollution, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global oil giant Shell continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment, newly disclosed internal company communications reveal. The emails and memos, reviewed by Mongabay, show senior leadership knew of the poor conditions of the 97-kilometer (60-mile) Nembe Creek Trunk Line [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global oil giant Shell continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment, newly disclosed internal company communications reveal. The emails and memos, reviewed by Mongabay, show senior leadership knew of the poor conditions of the 97-kilometer (60-mile) Nembe Creek Trunk Line as early as 2008. Despite concerns it was operating outside technical integrity standards and proposals to shut it down, a top executive decided to keep pumping oil through the line. Carrying 150,000 barrels of oil per day to the export terminal at Bonny Island Rivers state, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line is a critical oil artery in Nigeria. Throughout the years, theft from the pipeline using illegal connections caused spills into the vast mangrove ecosystem of true (Rhizophora sp.) and flowering black (Avicennia sp.) tree species. An internal 2013 Shell document coded such tampered lines as “red,” requiring either their immediate shutdown or immediate action to remove all illegal connections. Locals from the nearby riverine Bille community said the oil spills killed about 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of mangrove swamps around the village while impacting an area of 13,200 hectares (32,600 acres). The contaminated waterways and degraded ecosystem, they told Mongabay, killed fish and other aquatic life. Satellite imagery surrounding the village shows massive degradation of the mangroves. &#8220;The aquatic life is gone. Our people can no longer go to the river and catch reasonable fish — they can&#8217;t even find the fish in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320681</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Genetic study reveals extinction risk for unique mangrove-adapted pampas cat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 16:09:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05134141/1-desert-pampas-cat-Leopardus-garleppi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320650</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Deserts, Dry Forests, Environment, Extinction, Genetics, Habitat, Mammals, Mangroves, Research, Science, Small Cats, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade ago, conservationists began working to preserve a unique population of desert pampas cats that has adapted to the mangroves of Peru’s northern coast. This small, isolated population roams the San Pedro de Vice dry mangroves, a Ramsar Site and South America’s southernmost mangrove ecosystem. “This is a very unique population, because [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than a decade ago, conservationists began working to preserve a unique population of desert pampas cats that has adapted to the mangroves of Peru’s northern coast. This small, isolated population roams the San Pedro de Vice dry mangroves, a Ramsar Site and South America’s southernmost mangrove ecosystem. “This is a very unique population, because as far as we know, [it] is the only Pampas cat population that lives in a mangrove [habitat],” Alvaro Garcia, co-coordinator of the Pampas Cat Working Group and the Peruvian Desert Cat Project, told Mongabay in an email. The desert pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi), distinctive for its broad face, ranges along a relatively thin band snaking southward from Colombia through Peru and Bolivia, to northern Chile and Argentina. The species is acclimated to dry conditions, so inhabits deserts, grasslands and dry forests, and isn’t found living in mangroves anywhere else aside from this region of Peru. Dry mangrove forests, also called scrub or dwarf mangrove forests, grow in highly saline soils in upper intertidal zones, so lack regular daily flushing by ocean tides. At first, it was thought the dry mangrove-acclimated cats were faring well: “[I]n the mangrove [habitat], we put cameras out for a week, and we got tons of photos,” whereas in other parts of the felid’s range, conservationists barely capture one desert pampas cat image per month, said Cindy Hurtado, co-coordinator of the Pampas Cat Working Group and the Peruvian Desert Cat Project. Based on the photos, the research team assumed the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320650</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In eastern Indonesia, communities revive customary systems to protect the seas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-eastern-indonesia-communities-revive-customary-systems-to-protect-the-seas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-eastern-indonesia-communities-revive-customary-systems-to-protect-the-seas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 11:19:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/13111549/Memanen-kepiting-di-hutan-mangrove-Desa-Ambelang-Banggai-Kepulauankredit_-Arise-IndonesiaJPG-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319302</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, South Sulawesi, Southeast Asia, Southeast Sulawesi, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Conservation, Rehabilitation, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — On small islands across eastern Indonesia, coastal communities are reviving customary rules, seasonal fishing closures, turtle protection and mangrove stewardship to protect marine ecosystems threatened by blast fishing, turtle hunting and habitat loss. Their efforts are the focus of Jejak Wallacea, a new documentary produced by Burung Indonesia and Arise! Indonesia as part [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — On small islands across eastern Indonesia, coastal communities are reviving customary rules, seasonal fishing closures, turtle protection and mangrove stewardship to protect marine ecosystems threatened by blast fishing, turtle hunting and habitat loss. Their efforts are the focus of Jejak Wallacea, a new documentary produced by Burung Indonesia and Arise! Indonesia as part of the Wallacea Partnership Program II, a conservation initiative supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. The film follows communities in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi that use locally rooted systems to manage coastal ecosystems. These include customary sanctions, community patrols, octopus fishing closures, coral reef restoration, turtle hatcheries and mangrove-based livelihoods. For Burung Indonesia, the local affiliate of BirdLife International, the film is also an attempt to show that conservation in the eastern Indonesian islands that make up the Wallacea region, one of the world’s richest marine biodiversity regions, cannot depend only on formal protected areas or top-down enforcement. “The Wallacea Partnership Program is essentially aimed at strengthening the capacity of civil society in site-level conservation,” said Angga Yoga, a terrestrial program specialist at Burung Indonesia. “That’s why the NGOs are not very visible in the film, because the communities themselves are the ones we empower.” Angga contrasted the approach with more exclusionary conservation models, saying the initiatives featured in the film were designed by communities themselves through customary systems rather than imposed mainly through prohibitions. “Instead, it works through customary systems, meaning the communities themselves&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-eastern-indonesia-communities-revive-customary-systems-to-protect-the-seas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-eastern-indonesia-communities-revive-customary-systems-to-protect-the-seas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319302</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Green and gray: Mangroves and dikes show potential in protecting shorelines together</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2026 20:25:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/02115615/AP24312517472072-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316819</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Flooding, Forests, Impact Of Climate Change, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Restoration, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With their dense mats of submerged roots, mangrove forests hold down shorelines worldwide like a coastal Swiss Army knife. They’re a nursery for juvenile fish and a home for important species in and out of the water. They’re also a filtration system for pollution, a holdfast against erosion, and a speed bump that slows incoming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With their dense mats of submerged roots, mangrove forests hold down shorelines worldwide like a coastal Swiss Army knife. They’re a nursery for juvenile fish and a home for important species in and out of the water. They’re also a filtration system for pollution, a holdfast against erosion, and a speed bump that slows incoming waves. But even the best of tools could occasionally use backup. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examines how combining mangrove restoration with water-directing dikes might multiply these ecosystems’ protective abilities even further, particularly as climate change worsens storm surges and raises sea levels. As a hydrologist by training, Timothy Tiggeloven, lead author and environmental researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is particularly interested in how to manage unruly water by combining natural defenses (“green” infrastructure) with manmade creations (“gray” infrastructure) like dikes and levees. Though mangroves naturally reduce the height and power of waves, they don’t stop all of the water from a storm or flood from moving inland. “So here comes this synergy of combination,” Tiggeloven said. “If you have a dike behind a mangrove, it will prevent the water from flowing over [onto land]. While if you only have dikes, they will be hit by the waves and there will be an overtopping. Having those two together is actually a very smart idea.” So, Tiggeloven and his colleagues developed a computer model to assess where this combination would be most effective, and how the hybrid defenses might&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/green-and-gray-mangroves-and-dikes-show-potential-in-protecting-shorelines-together/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316819</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh sees rise in ray, shark fishing as traditional seafood species dwindle</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/bangladesh-sees-rise-in-ray-shark-fishing-as-traditional-seafood-species-dwindle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/bangladesh-sees-rise-in-ray-shark-fishing-as-traditional-seafood-species-dwindle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 07:50:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Khadijatul Kobra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12073924/Stingray-04-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315636</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Law, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Rays, Saltwater Fish, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Though seafood is a prevalent protein source in Bangladesh, some fishes, like stingrays and sharks, never appealed to most of the population here, barring a few coastal Indigenous groups. However, the illegal fishing of such species has become common in the country in recent years. In a recent incident on Feb. 21, authorities detained 22 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Though seafood is a prevalent protein source in Bangladesh, some fishes, like stingrays and sharks, never appealed to most of the population here, barring a few coastal Indigenous groups. However, the illegal fishing of such species has become common in the country in recent years. In a recent incident on Feb. 21, authorities detained 22 fishers and confiscated around 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of stingray from the coasts of Sundarbans mangroves. Conservationists and experts working in fishery sectors blame poor law enforcement, lack of awareness among fishers, rising illegal demands and poverty of the fishing community as some of the reasons behind the exploitation of such protected marine species in Bangladesh. Data from WCS Bangladesh’s research shows the country’s waters are home to 10 families of sharks and 12 families of rays. Of them, stingrays and whiprays (Dasyatidae family), locally known as shapla pata, are the most common. More than half the shark and ray species found in Bangladesh are threatened with the risk of extinction, according to the research. A 2018 study shows that in Bangladesh stingrays are mainly harvested by artisanal fishers using gillnets, set bag nets (a low-cost, artisanal commercial method in coastal and estuarine waters) and longline hooks between depths of 5 meters (16 feet) and 40 m (130 ft) by the seashore and in coastal rivers in coastal districts like Noakhali, Bhola, Patuakhali, Khulna and Bagerhat. Fishers collect their catch of stingrays together. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman. Stingrays have become popular among the poorer&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/bangladesh-sees-rise-in-ray-shark-fishing-as-traditional-seafood-species-dwindle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315636</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Panama NGOs face lawsuits, asset seizures in fight over port construction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/panama-ngos-face-lawsuits-asset-seizures-in-fight-over-port-construction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/panama-ngos-face-lawsuits-asset-seizures-in-fight-over-port-construction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 22:07:35 +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/20/2026/02/23213301/manglares_david_chiriqui_panama-scaled-2-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314668</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Infrastructure, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Conservation, Politics, Protected Areas, Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than a year, dozens of environmental groups have been fighting the construction of a controversial port in Panama, arguing that it will harm marine life and the mangroves they depend on. Now, two of those groups have had their assets seized amid lawsuits filed by the port’s developer — a move environmental advocates [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than a year, dozens of environmental groups have been fighting the construction of a controversial port in Panama, arguing that it will harm marine life and the mangroves they depend on. Now, two of those groups have had their assets seized amid lawsuits filed by the port’s developer — a move environmental advocates say is highly unusual. The Puerto Barú project, located in Panama’s northwestern Chiriquí province, has been stalled by legal challenges filed by a coalition of environmental groups, which have also led public campaigns claiming the port could damage the breeding grounds of sharks, rays and other marine life. In response, the port’s developer, Ocean Pacific Financial Services Corp., has filed criminal and civil lawsuits against two of the groups, and a court has ordered the seizure of some of their assets. “It’s a very worrying precedent that the judicial system is being used in this way against actions to defend the environment,” said Joana Abrego, legal manager at the Environmental Advocacy Center of Panama (CIAM), a nonprofit and one of the defendants in the lawsuits. Puerto Barú is designed to improve connectivity with the nearby town of David and the Pan-American Highway while also strengthening tourism and agribusiness, according to developers. But the project also includes a 31-kilometer (19-mile) navigation channel to the Pacific coast that must be dredged deep enough for large merchant ships. The area is home to around 25% of Panama’s mangroves, and parts of it are considered an Important Shark and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/panama-ngos-face-lawsuits-asset-seizures-in-fight-over-port-construction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314668</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How intermediaries are reshaping mangrove restoration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2026 16:25:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marina Martinez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/06094551/1-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313853</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, East Africa, Florida, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine Lovelock, professor in the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland in Australia and expert in mangrove ecology, is that restoration efforts are often led by small community groups with limited resources and expertise. In fact, studies have shown that around 70% of mangrove restoration projects in some regions, particularly Southeast Asia and Latin America, have low rates of success. To bridge this gap, a growing number of environmental nonprofits are tapping into their experience with fundraising and resource mobilization to help local communities more effectively conduct restoration. Seatrees, a California-based NGO (formerly known as Sustainable Surf), is one such organization. Rather than running projects itself, the organization partners with local community groups and other NGOs, providing funding, scientific expertise and media support to boost coastal and marine restoration efforts worldwide, including mangroves. Over the past five years, Seatrees has supported mangrove restoration projects in Kenya, Mexico, the U.S. and Indonesia “by providing much needed funds to scale up tree planting, produce storytelling materials and build capacity in science, monitoring and impact measurement,” Leah Hays, the program director, told Mongabay. Seatrees is one of nearly 130 organizations worldwide identified by researchers at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/california-ngo-uses-science-storytelling-to-boost-global-mangrove-restoration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More than 5 years after Wakashio oil spill, questions linger in Mauritius</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 14:36:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26124245/1_wakashio-aground-Wikipedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313334</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Mauritius, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, and Oil Spills]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POINTE D’ESNY, Mauritius — In August 2020, Vikash Tatayah at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation made a phone call he never expected to make. He had “an unusual request,” he recounts telling friends in the U.K. who owned a private jet: A bunch of geckos needed to be evacuated. Mauritius had just entered COVID-19 lockdown, its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POINTE D’ESNY, Mauritius — In August 2020, Vikash Tatayah at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation made a phone call he never expected to make. He had “an unusual request,” he recounts telling friends in the U.K. who owned a private jet: A bunch of geckos needed to be evacuated. Mauritius had just entered COVID-19 lockdown, its airspace was closed, so it would have to be a special flight. Amid the chaos of the pandemic, the island nation had been hit by one of the worst environmental disasters in its history. On July 25, the MV Wakashio crashed onto coral reefs off Mauritius’ southeastern coast, later spilling around 1,000 metric tons of oil. In time, the slick spread north, creeping to the islets that line the coast. These are home to threatened lesser night geckos (Nactus coindemirensis), prompting Tatayah to call for their evacuation. The oil spill occurred near Blue Bay Marine Park, a coral hotspot, and two other protected sites: the Pointe d&#8217;Esny Wetland (a Ramsar site blessed with rich mangroves ) and the Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve. Oil started leaking from the ship in the first week of August. On Aug. 15, the Wakashio broke in two. In the days following the spill, ocean currents nudged the floating oil northward toward Vieux-Grand-Port. At its most expansive, the oil spill covered nearly 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles) of coastal waters. A government-appointed group estimated that the shipwreck and oil spill affected 96 km2 (37 mi2) of coastal and marine&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313334</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From south to north, Sri Lanka’s cricket dreams undermine fragile ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/from-south-to-north-sri-lankas-cricket-dreams-undermine-fragile-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/from-south-to-north-sri-lankas-cricket-dreams-undermine-fragile-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jan 2026 13:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/19123959/1-Mandathivu-island-c-Muhunthan-Balachandiran-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313088</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Development, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fishing, Forest Destruction, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Infrastructure, Islands, Mangroves, Marine, Planetary Boundaries, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Cricket is more than a sport in Sri Lanka. It is woven into the country’s postindependence identity, a unifying passion that cuts across class, ethnicity and geography. Yet in recent years, the push to expand cricket infrastructure has increasingly collided with fragile ecosystems, triggering uncomfortable questions about development priorities, environmental governance and climate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Cricket is more than a sport in Sri Lanka. It is woven into the country’s postindependence identity, a unifying passion that cuts across class, ethnicity and geography. Yet in recent years, the push to expand cricket infrastructure has increasingly collided with fragile ecosystems, triggering uncomfortable questions about development priorities, environmental governance and climate resilience. The latest controversy centers around plans to build an international cricket stadium on Mandaitivu, a small island off the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka’s Northern province. Environmentalists warn that the proposal threatens a sensitive coastal ecosystem already under pressure from sea-level rise, flooding and postwar development. Mandaitivu Island has a traditional fishing community that relies on prawns and crabs for its livelihood, and the mangrove ecosystems are their breeding ground. Image courtesy of Muhunthan Balachandiran. In September, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake launched the construction, stating that the Jaffna International Cricket Stadium will not merely be a venue for cricket, but a symbol of national unity. Prasanna Rodrigo, media spokesperson for Sri Lanka Cricket, confirms a delay in commencing construction due to Cyclone Ditwah but says development work is being carried out as planned to have the project commissioned for international matches by 2027. This international cricket ground is part of Sri Lanka Cricket’s broader initiative to develop a modern sports city in Jaffna covering a total area of 56 hectares (138 acres), Rodrigo told Mongabay. Mandaitivu is a low-lying island of 7.6 square kilometers (2.9 square miles), rising only about 5 meters (16 feet) above sea&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/from-south-to-north-sri-lankas-cricket-dreams-undermine-fragile-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/from-south-to-north-sri-lankas-cricket-dreams-undermine-fragile-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313088</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Democratizing AI for conservation: Interview with Ai2’s Ted Schmitt and Patrick Beukema</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/democratizing-ai-for-conservation-interview-with-ai2s-ted-schmitt-and-patrick-beukema/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/democratizing-ai-for-conservation-interview-with-ai2s-ted-schmitt-and-patrick-beukema/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jan 2026 07:29:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/15065525/a.-BANNER-Mangrove_Islet-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312972</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Conservation, Conservation Technology, data, Environment, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mangroves, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental data-gathering technology has proliferated in recent years. But how do you derive meaningful insights from myriad data sources? A new AI-powered platform aims to solve this problem. OlmoEarth, developed by the nonprofit Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), is a platform that integrates multiple artificial intelligence models that have been trained on approximately 10 terabytes [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental data-gathering technology has proliferated in recent years. But how do you derive meaningful insights from myriad data sources? A new AI-powered platform aims to solve this problem. OlmoEarth, developed by the nonprofit Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), is a platform that integrates multiple artificial intelligence models that have been trained on approximately 10 terabytes of environment observation data. The open-source platform, launched in November, helps extract actionable insights from satellite as well as sensor data. The platform allows researchers as well as organizations to use their own data to customize a foundational model and use it to monitor trends such as forest loss or mangrove health without having to build models from scratch. “It&#8217;s intended to democratize access to this kind of technology in a no-code kind of way,” Patrick Beukema, the OlmoEarth lead at Ai2, told Mongabay in a video interview. The motivation behind building the platform was to drastically reduce the time scientists spent parsing through humongous volumes of data to get meaningful information from it. “What we set out to do was to flip that on its head and really go from them spending months to literally days to get the same sort of information,” Ted Schmitt, senior director of conservation at Ai2, told Mongabay in a video interview. Mangrove tree rising out of crystal clear turquoise water on the tropical beach of Havelock Island, Andaman Sea, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Image by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Beukema and Schmitt spoke&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/democratizing-ai-for-conservation-interview-with-ai2s-ted-schmitt-and-patrick-beukema/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/democratizing-ai-for-conservation-interview-with-ai2s-ted-schmitt-and-patrick-beukema/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312972</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Huge ‘blue carbon’ offsetting project takes root in the mangroves of Sierra Leone</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/huge-blue-carbon-offsetting-project-takes-root-in-the-mangroves-of-sierra-leone/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/huge-blue-carbon-offsetting-project-takes-root-in-the-mangroves-of-sierra-leone/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 20:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward CarverMohamed Fofanah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/23151914/4-Community-members-plant-red-mangrove-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311956</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Blue Carbon, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Offsets, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Carbon, Governance, Islands, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Restoration, and Soil Carbon]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BONTHE, Sierra Leone — On the island of Sherbro in Sierra Leone, as in much of the country, there’s limited access to vital services needed to make ends meet. “Here our people only rely on fishing and a few on agriculture and have nothing else to occupy our children, our youths,” Nenneh Sumaila, the chief [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BONTHE, Sierra Leone — On the island of Sherbro in Sierra Leone, as in much of the country, there’s limited access to vital services needed to make ends meet. “Here our people only rely on fishing and a few on agriculture and have nothing else to occupy our children, our youths,” Nenneh Sumaila, the chief of Gbomgboma, a village of about 300 people on the island, told Mongabay. “There are no good roads, no proper health facilities, there’s poor housing, electricity is a dream and the standard of living is poor.” One of the ways to make ends meet in Gbomgboma is by cultivating oil palm trees. But to process the fruit into palm oil, they need fuel for fire, which often comes from mangroves — one of many local uses for the wood. Cutting mangroves unsustainably turns them from a carbon sink into a source of greenhouse gas emissions and hurts their ability to foster biodiversity and provide other ecosystem services. “Blue carbon” projects aim to reverse this trend, and one called the Sherbro River Estuary Project has just been launched with more than 124 communities there. A wholly owned subsidiary of West Africa Blue, a Mauritius-based company, reportedly signed a deal with the communities in October that will reward them financially for conserving and restoring their mangroves. Company representatives told Mongabay that the funds will be generated by selling offsets on the voluntary carbon credit market, with revenues shared between West Africa Blue, the communities and the government&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/huge-blue-carbon-offsetting-project-takes-root-in-the-mangroves-of-sierra-leone/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/huge-blue-carbon-offsetting-project-takes-root-in-the-mangroves-of-sierra-leone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311956</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As fish catches fall and seas rise, Douala’s residents join efforts to restore mangroves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/as-fish-catches-fall-and-seas-rise-doualas-residents-join-efforts-to-restore-mangroves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/as-fish-catches-fall-and-seas-rise-doualas-residents-join-efforts-to-restore-mangroves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 16:18:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ngala Chimtom]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/09073438/Manoka-Island-mangroves-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310842</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Justice, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Forestry, Governance, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reforestation, Restoration, Sea Levels, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DOUALA, Cameroon — Henry Belle Ekam, 37, cuts a frustrated figure as he paddles his boat to the shore in the Bojongo neighborhood of Cameroon’s largest city, Douala. The fisherman has been out on the waters of the Wouri Estuary for hours, and all he’s brought back to show for his effort is a tiny [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DOUALA, Cameroon — Henry Belle Ekam, 37, cuts a frustrated figure as he paddles his boat to the shore in the Bojongo neighborhood of Cameroon’s largest city, Douala. The fisherman has been out on the waters of the Wouri Estuary for hours, and all he’s brought back to show for his effort is a tiny catfish. “It’s so frustrating,” he says, putting away the empty net. “A few years back, you didn’t need to go far to have a good harvest. Everything has changed.” The coastal landscape here has changed, and with it the fishing fortunes of resident communities. Experts point to retreating mangrove forests as one of the reasons for the troubles Ekam and other fishers here are facing. The Cameroon Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration and Resilience (CAMERR) project, launched in November 2022 by a group of international NGOs in partnership with the Cameroonian government and local organizations, is one of the largest mangrove restoration projects in the country. It aims to restore 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of mangroves over 30 years. The focus of the initiative is the estuary of the Wouri River, with the city of Douala on its southeastern shore. The Watershed Task Group (WTG), a local nonprofit leading the effort, says it has restored more than 100 hectares (250 acres) of mangroves in the Cameroon and Ntem river estuaries. In Bojongo (part of the Douala or Cameroon estuary), under another initiative of the local administrative council and with funding from the United Nations Environment Programme&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/as-fish-catches-fall-and-seas-rise-doualas-residents-join-efforts-to-restore-mangroves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/as-fish-catches-fall-and-seas-rise-doualas-residents-join-efforts-to-restore-mangroves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310842</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippine mangroves survived a typhoon, but now confront a human-made challenge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/philippine-mangroves-survived-a-typhoon-but-now-confront-a-human-made-challenge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/philippine-mangroves-survived-a-typhoon-but-now-confront-a-human-made-challenge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 15:56:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04131402/d.-Paraiso_Mangrove_Eco_Learning_Park_boardwalk_floating_cottage_Tacloban_Leyte__09-09-2022-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310611</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Forestry, Forests, Infrastructure, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Nature-based climate solutions, Oceans, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, Storms, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mangroves in the Philippine city of Tacloban, the area hit hardest by one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, have recovered and even expanded beyond their pre-disaster extent, thanks largely to community-led reforestation. But scientists caution that ongoing coastal development could threaten the recovering forests. In a recently published study, Hiroshi Takagi, a professor [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mangroves in the Philippine city of Tacloban, the area hit hardest by one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, have recovered and even expanded beyond their pre-disaster extent, thanks largely to community-led reforestation. But scientists caution that ongoing coastal development could threaten the recovering forests. In a recently published study, Hiroshi Takagi, a professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo, examined mangrove recovery in the Paraiso neighborhood in the innermost part of Tacloban’s Cancabato Bay. He used satellite imagery to track the decline and rebound of mangrove canopy following the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda) in November 2013. He also applied wind, wave and storm surge modeling to assess the extent of typhoon-induced impacts on the forest. His modeling showed that Haiyan generated storm surges of 4.7 meters (15.4 feet), waves up to 1.3 meters (4.3 feet), and wind gusts of around 148 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour) — strong enough to flatten the area’s mature Rhizophora apiculata mangrove trees. Satellite images also revealed a sharp drop in vegetation after the storm and minimal coastal recovery in the following three years. Growth began accelerating around 2018, and by 2023, the mangrove area had expanded even beyond pre-Haiyan levels, reaching an estimated 3.6 hectares (8.9 acres) compared to about 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres) before the storm. This rebound corresponded with reforestation efforts carried out between 2015 and 2018, when residents, assisted by NGOs and the Philippine and Japanese governments, planted some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/philippine-mangroves-survived-a-typhoon-but-now-confront-a-human-made-challenge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310611</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists push for greater climate role for Latin America’s overlooked ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2025 15:55:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Antonio José Paz Cardona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04155121/Turberas_Leslie-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310625</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Mangroves, Peatlands, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change have focused largely on the protection of tropical forests like the Amazon Rainforest, important carbon sinks that can store between 60 and 230 metric tons of carbon per hectare. But elsewhere in Latin America, other ecosystems have been overlooked by international decision-makers, despite science recognizing their key [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change have focused largely on the protection of tropical forests like the Amazon Rainforest, important carbon sinks that can store between 60 and 230 metric tons of carbon per hectare. But elsewhere in Latin America, other ecosystems have been overlooked by international decision-makers, despite science recognizing their key role in preventing greenhouse gas emissions and the fact that many of them store even more carbon, hectare for hectare, than tropical forests. A team from Mongabay Latam traveled to several countries in the region to draw attention to these forgotten land- and seascapes: páramos, coastal wetlands, peatlands, mangroves and seagrass meadows — key ecosystems and invaluable carbon deposits. These six stories show how communities, organizations and scientists are coming together to preserve and study these vital ecosystems, whose potential in the fight against climate change remains underappreciated. The IOV team surveying a Thalassia seagrass meadow. Image courtesy of Mayré Jiménez. Putting a spotlight on páramos, coastal wetlands and seagrasses In the fight against climate change, every ecosystem counts. Preventing carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere is crucial to preventing, or at least containing and limiting, global warming. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, seeks to limit the global temperature rise to less than 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, ideally capping it at 1.5°C (2.7°F). However, the world remains far off this target. Countries have presented their emissions reduction plans, known as their nationally determined contributions (NDCs),&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-push-for-greater-climate-role-for-latin-americas-overlooked-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310625</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How community custody empowered Ecuador’s crab catchers and revived its mangroves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/how-community-custody-empowered-ecuadors-crab-catchers-and-revived-its-mangroves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/how-community-custody-empowered-ecuadors-crab-catchers-and-revived-its-mangroves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Nov 2025 11:36:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexis Serrano Carmona]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/26113112/Portada-cangrejeras-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310173</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Conservation, Ecosystems, Fisheries, Fishing, Forest Carbon, Forests, and Mangroves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Puerto Buenavista Island is home to a small village of crab catchers and fishers in the middle of the waters of the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador. There are only 30 families, 140 people, and their homes, built very close to each other, form a line of blues, reds, yellows and greens. Access to Puerto [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Puerto Buenavista Island is home to a small village of crab catchers and fishers in the middle of the waters of the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador. There are only 30 families, 140 people, and their homes, built very close to each other, form a line of blues, reds, yellows and greens. Access to Puerto Buenavista is only via an artisanal pier, made of wood so delicate that it looks like it could fall apart at any time. Along the shore, heavily eroded by the water that hits it every rainy season, 10 crab catchers gather to have a conversation. The journey to Puerto Buenavista is a one-hour boat ride from Caraguay Market, in southern Guayaquil. The brackish water along the way is a mixture of currents from the Daule and Babahoyo rivers and the Pacific Ocean. Throughout the entire trip, one is surrounded by the intense green mangrove forests, interrupted only along a few stretches by pools used for shrimp farming. The crab catchers discuss their fishing routines, the way they distinguish between male and female crabs just by sight, and their method of luring crabs out of their burrows using a meter-long rod. But they also discuss the “rounds” they make for vigilance, making sure that no one cuts down, damages or invades the mangrove forests. They are crab catchers, they say proudly. But they are also guardians — the guardians of the mangroves. Hectare for hectare, a mangrove forest can store five to seven times as much&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/how-community-custody-empowered-ecuadors-crab-catchers-and-revived-its-mangroves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/how-community-custody-empowered-ecuadors-crab-catchers-and-revived-its-mangroves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310173</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sierra Leone communities sign carbon agreement based on carbon justice principles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sierra-leone-communities-sign-carbon-agreement-based-on-carbon-justice-principles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sierra-leone-communities-sign-carbon-agreement-based-on-carbon-justice-principles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2025 14:28:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11141741/Sierra-Leone-agreement-signing-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Governance, Green, and Mangroves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 220 communities in Sierra Leone have signed a benefit-sharing carbon agreement with a developer that will help protect a key mangrove ecosystem. Namati Sierra Leone, a legal advocacy group counseling all involved communities, said the agreement between the communities in the chiefdom of Sittia in Bonthe district and the Africa Conservation Initiative (ACI) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 220 communities in Sierra Leone have signed a benefit-sharing carbon agreement with a developer that will help protect a key mangrove ecosystem. Namati Sierra Leone, a legal advocacy group counseling all involved communities, said the agreement between the communities in the chiefdom of Sittia in Bonthe district and the Africa Conservation Initiative (ACI) is based on “carbon justice principles” aimed at making carbon projects fairer for communities. The agreement targets the protection of roughly 79,000 hectares (about 195,213 acres) of mangroves in the Sherbro River Estuary, which hosts roughly half of the country’s mangrove forests. The estuary’s mangroves are threatened by growing demand for wood for cooking, smoking fish, farming and construction, according to James Harding, Sierra Leone director of West Africa Blue, ACI’s parent company. The benefit-sharing agreement to protect these mangrove forests has been designed with reference to six carbon justice principles, said Daniel Sesay from Namati Sierra Leone. These principles were established by a global network of grassroots organizations based on their experience with past carbon projects. The principles include “Fair participation,” where communities lead the stewardship of the natural resource; “No pay to pollute,” preventing polluters failing to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions from buying carbon credits; and “Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC)” of the communities — where “informed” also means disclosing all financial information throughout the project’s life cycle. To reduce dependency on mangrove wood, ACI’s carbon project is offering communities alternatives, including efficient cookstoves and fish-smoking ovens, planting timber woodlots,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sierra-leone-communities-sign-carbon-agreement-based-on-carbon-justice-principles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sierra-leone-communities-sign-carbon-agreement-based-on-carbon-justice-principles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309286</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘A very successful story’: An Egypt tribe welcomes tourists &#038; protects its coast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-very-successful-story-an-egypt-tribe-welcomes-tourists-protects-its-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-very-successful-story-an-egypt-tribe-welcomes-tourists-protects-its-coast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Oct 2025 06:51:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/24155434/Abu-Nessma-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308265</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Egypt, and North Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Culture, Ecotourism, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Tourism, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AL QULA&#8217;AN, Egypt — In the south of Egypt’s Wadi El Gemal protected area, where the desert meets the Red Sea, lies Al-Qula&#8217;an, a small village standing on white sand with mangroves in the backdrop. The “eco-village” is free of the hectic activity that characterizes tourist haunts, like Marsa Alam, a resort town about 100 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AL QULA&#8217;AN, Egypt — In the south of Egypt’s Wadi El Gemal protected area, where the desert meets the Red Sea, lies Al-Qula&#8217;an, a small village standing on white sand with mangroves in the backdrop. The “eco-village” is free of the hectic activity that characterizes tourist haunts, like Marsa Alam, a resort town about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Al-Qula&#8217;an, along Egypt’s Red Sea coast. There are no paved roads or concrete buildings here, only a few wooden huts, a little restaurant and a bunch of signs asking visitors to please protect the mangroves. An aggressive push by the Egyptian government to develop tourism facilities across the country, including inside protected areas, has revived a debate about whether tourism is compatible with Egypt’s laws on environmental protection. Environmentalists launched a campaign earlier this year to prevent a private investor from developing Ras Hankorab beach, another ecologically important site inside the Wadi El Gemal protected area. Al Qula’an has become an example for some conservationists of how tourism development can align with environmental management. The area is home to around two dozen families from the Ababda. The Ababda, a group of traditionally nomadic tribal people, have lived in the desert area between the Nile River and the Red Sea for centuries. The Ababda in Al-Qula&#8217;an are no longer nomadic, having settled in an area by the sea where they make a living by fishing and, for several years now, tourism. “[The mangroves] have been here ever since — when my&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-very-successful-story-an-egypt-tribe-welcomes-tourists-protects-its-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308265</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A protected mangrove forest stands strong as Metro Manila’s last coastal frontier</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-protected-mangrove-forest-stands-strong-as-metro-manilas-last-coastal-frontier/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-protected-mangrove-forest-stands-strong-as-metro-manilas-last-coastal-frontier/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2025 19:35:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mikael Angelo S. Francisco]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/08144121/Mark-David-De-Guzman-One-Pawikan-Initiative-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307231</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, food security, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Infrastructure, Mangroves, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Spanning the coasts of two cities in Metro Manila, and referred to as the capital region’s “last coastal frontier,” Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park (LPPWP) is a critical site of both ecological and economic importance. Primarily made up of two interconnected artificial islands, Freedom Island and Long Island, this thriving wetland ecosystem along Manila [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — Spanning the coasts of two cities in Metro Manila, and referred to as the capital region’s “last coastal frontier,” Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park (LPPWP) is a critical site of both ecological and economic importance. Primarily made up of two interconnected artificial islands, Freedom Island and Long Island, this thriving wetland ecosystem along Manila Bay started out as an unintentionally formed patch of land, the product of accumulated debris from a massive expressway construction project that was completed in 1985. Four decades later, the nearly 182-hectare (450-acre) habitat continues to be a sanctuary for more than 163 local and migratory bird species — including the endemic Philippine duck (Anas luzonica) and the Chinese egret (Egretta eulophotes), both listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List — as well as 23 mangrove species and numerous types of commercially viable fish and mollusks. Recognized as a Ramsar site for its global significance, the wetland provides food and serves as a stopover for an estimated 5,000 individual birds, particularly during the peak of the migration season from August to April. “LPPWP is called Metro Manila’s last coastal frontier because it really is the last remaining functional mangrove ecosystem,” says Kisha Muaña, a conservation biologist and policy and advocacy officer at Wetlands International Philippines, emphasizing that the robust forest serves as a haven for fish reproduction. A collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) in Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park. Image by Mark David De Guzman / One Pawikan Initiative. According to Muaña, thousands of fishers from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-protected-mangrove-forest-stands-strong-as-metro-manilas-last-coastal-frontier/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/a-protected-mangrove-forest-stands-strong-as-metro-manilas-last-coastal-frontier/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307231</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Death of activist critical of geothermal project raises alarm in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2025 11:51:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/28171554/9682828898_68bd00a76c_h-e1667320220111-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Nusa Tenggara, Flores, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Alternative Energy, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Endangered Environmentalists, Energy, Environment, Geothermal Energy, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Murdered Activists, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The mysterious death of Vian Ruma, a 30-year-old activist opposing a geothermal project on Flores Island, has intensified calls for stronger protection of environmental defenders in Indonesia, where attacks against them have more than doubled this year. Vian was found dead in Nagekeo district on Sept. 5, hanging from a rafter inside a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The mysterious death of Vian Ruma, a 30-year-old activist opposing a geothermal project on Flores Island, has intensified calls for stronger protection of environmental defenders in Indonesia, where attacks against them have more than doubled this year. Vian was found dead in Nagekeo district on Sept. 5, hanging from a rafter inside a bamboo hut. His family allege foul play, noting that his body was reportedly hanging from a shoelace, and his feet were in contact with the floor. They say this undermines the notion that he died from hanging. Eda Tukan, a close friend, said Vian was one of the local youths courageous enough to fight against the geothermal project on Flores Island. The project has been widely opposed, including by the local Catholic archdiocese. “This week we had planned another action to continue voicing opposition to the geothermal project. Vian was one of the driving forces,” Eda said as quoted by Indonesian daily Kompas. “Sadly, he is no longer with us.” The Nagekeo district police chief, Rachmad Muchamad Salili, said police are currently investigating the cause of Vian Ruma’s death. “We are still conducting a deeper investigation, we still cannot confirm [the cause of death],” he said as quoted by local news outlet. The government designated Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, a “geothermal island” in 2017, with the potential to generate nearly 1,000 megawatts of clean electricity thanks to the high level of seismic activity in the region. But communities have resisted the developments, citing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/death-of-activist-critical-of-geothermal-project-raises-alarm-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s fish farm expansion to absorb D.C.-sized swath of protected forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/indonesias-fish-farm-expansion-to-absorb-d-c-sized-swath-of-protected-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/indonesias-fish-farm-expansion-to-absorb-d-c-sized-swath-of-protected-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2025 15:34:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[M Ambari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/01083904/upscalemedia-transformed-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305047</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, Java, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Coastal Ecosystems, Fisheries, Governance, and Mangroves]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WEST JAVA, Indonesia – A billion-dollar push to expand fish farming on the island of Java to support Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s free school meals program will absorb protected forests nearly the size of Washington, D.C., according to the country’s largest environmental group. “This area would become one of the largest releases of protected forests [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WEST JAVA, Indonesia – A billion-dollar push to expand fish farming on the island of Java to support Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s free school meals program will absorb protected forests nearly the size of Washington, D.C., according to the country’s largest environmental group. “This area would become one of the largest releases of protected forests in West Java in history,” said Wahyudi, the West Java provincial director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi). Launched in January, Prabowo’s nutrition program is a national drive to reach 83 million people by the end of the president’s five-year term in 2029. In February, the government categorized the planned 78,000-hectares (193,000-acre) aquaculture belt across Java’s northern coast as a national priority project. This initial building site will span 20,400 hectares (50,400 acres) across four districts on the West Java coast. That designation will enable the project managers to speed through some environmental safeguards to expedite the first stage of the $1.6 billion project to completion by its 2027 deadline. In June, Mongabay Indonesia spoke with a security guard outside a pond in Sedari village, Karawang district, who said he was unaware of plans to bring the local fish farms under the national priority project framework. “What will happen to me then?” he said. Remaining mangrove ecosystems along the coast of West Java province. Photo: Irfan Maulana/Mongabay Indonesia Indonesia’s fisheries ministry projections for the development include the creation of more than 100,000 new jobs. However, Walhi and other environmental civil society organizations say&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/indonesias-fish-farm-expansion-to-absorb-d-c-sized-swath-of-protected-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305047</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A critical stopover for shorebirds awaits protection in Malaysia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/a-critical-stopover-for-shorebirds-awaits-protection-in-malaysia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/a-critical-stopover-for-shorebirds-awaits-protection-in-malaysia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 16:04:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lee Kwai Han]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/13143956/Spoon-billed-sandpiper-in-Tiaozini-China_Photo-by-Dongming-Li_202210151005153-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304221</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mangroves, Migration, Protected Areas, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TELUK AIR TAWAR, Malaysia — The tide is rising. On the Teluk Air Tawar-Kuala Muda coast (TAT-KM) of Penang state in Peninsular Malaysia, fishers are boating out to the sea for their morning catch. From afar, small brownish birds walk on the mudflat outside the mangrove-lined coast. When a boat gets closer, a flock of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TELUK AIR TAWAR, Malaysia — The tide is rising. On the Teluk Air Tawar-Kuala Muda coast (TAT-KM) of Penang state in Peninsular Malaysia, fishers are boating out to the sea for their morning catch. From afar, small brownish birds walk on the mudflat outside the mangrove-lined coast. When a boat gets closer, a flock of about 100 birds soars at once, swirls in unison, and lands farther away. It’s early July when Mongabay visits, the quieter time of the year in the TAT-KM mudflat. Come December, this mudflat will turn into a crowded pit stop for the birds. More than 12,000 migratory shorebirds — common redshanks (Tringa totanus), bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica), Asian dowitchers (Limnodromus semipalmatus) — from Siberia and Alaska, about 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) away, will rest and feed here. Some birds will winter in TAT-KM, while others will stay long enough to refuel and continue their 20,000-km (12,400-mi) flight to Australia and New Zealand. Along this route, or flyway, they rely on a network of coastal wetlands like TAT-KM to support their journey. Among the birds that once stopped here is the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea), a small shorebird with a unique spatula-shaped bill. Of all eight global flyways, it flies only on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), a migration route spanning 22 countries in Siberia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Spoon-billed sandpipers in Tiaozini, China. Image courtesy of Dongming Li. However, this sandpiper has been so severely impacted by habitat loss,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/a-critical-stopover-for-shorebirds-awaits-protection-in-malaysia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304221</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lanka plans restoring revoked protection for an important mangrove patch in the island’s North</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sri-lanka-plans-restoring-revoked-protection-for-an-important-mangrove-patch-in-the-islands-north/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sri-lanka-plans-restoring-revoked-protection-for-an-important-mangrove-patch-in-the-islands-north/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Aug 2025 14:59:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/11155630/d07d1b6f-f979-4a06-8387-0ba516fe9d0f-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303964</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Governance, Law, Mangroves, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mannar, SRI LANKA — The Vidattaltivu Nature Reserve, nestled along Sri Lanka’s northwestern coast in the Mannar district, is home to one of the island country’s largest and most ecologically significant mangrove ecosystems. Recognizing its immense biodiversity value, Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife Conservation DWC designated Vidattaltivu as a nature reserve in 2016, bestowing upon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mannar, SRI LANKA — The Vidattaltivu Nature Reserve, nestled along Sri Lanka’s northwestern coast in the Mannar district, is home to one of the island country’s largest and most ecologically significant mangrove ecosystems. Recognizing its immense biodiversity value, Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife Conservation DWC designated Vidattaltivu as a nature reserve in 2016, bestowing upon it the highest level of legal protection under Sri Lankan law. This designation prohibited any commercial exploitation or development within the area, marking a key milestone in the country’s conservation journey. However, the reserve came under threat from a development proposal put forward by the National Aquaculture Development Authority NAQDA, a separate government agency tasked to promote aquaculture. NAQDA’s plan to convert a section of the reserve into an aquaculture farm met with swift and firm opposition from environmental groups and conservationists. But, in a surprise turn in 2024, the agency managed to secure political support, where the then minister of environment issued a notification de-gazetting around 400 hectares (988 acres) of the protected area, effectively opening it up for development. This controversial decision triggered a strong public response and two prominent environmental organizations: the Environmental Foundation Limited EFL and the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society WNPS took the matter before the supreme court. Their efforts bore fruit when the government, faced with mounting public and legal pressure, conveyed to the court that the cabinet has reversed the original decision, thus reinstating the area’s protected status. A restored mangrove habitat, where the trees have grown. Image courtesy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sri-lanka-plans-restoring-revoked-protection-for-an-important-mangrove-patch-in-the-islands-north/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/sri-lanka-plans-restoring-revoked-protection-for-an-important-mangrove-patch-in-the-islands-north/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303964</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Blue carbon ecosystems are key for protecting the Philippines from climate shocks (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/blue-carbon-ecosystems-are-key-for-protecting-the-philippines-from-climate-shocks-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/blue-carbon-ecosystems-are-key-for-protecting-the-philippines-from-climate-shocks-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2025 14:43:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emily RichardsonJurgenne H. PrimaveraRona Joy Loma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/22141405/Mangrove-forest-in-the-Philippines-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302954</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Blue Carbon, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Commentary, Ecosystems, Finance, Governance, Islands, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Conservation, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Our vibrant nation of the Philippines is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Subject to tropical cyclones, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it ranks number one globally on the World Risk Index. It is also one of the 17 mega-biodiverse countries, and it’s easy to see how nature and climate go hand in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Our vibrant nation of the Philippines is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Subject to tropical cyclones, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it ranks number one globally on the World Risk Index. It is also one of the 17 mega-biodiverse countries, and it’s easy to see how nature and climate go hand in hand in this archipelagic nation. Working for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), together we have seen how mangrove rehabilitation projects hold the power to inspire hope and bring security back to local communities following the typhoons that ravage our coastlines. Although we are accustomed to the threat of natural disasters, the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones is leaving communities reeling, with thousands of local people without homes, work, or access to sanitation. Typhoon Man-Yi (known locally as Pepito), was the sixth super typhoon to make landfall here between October and November in 2024, and worryingly, last November the Japan Meteorological Agency reported that it was the first time since records began in 1951 that four storms coexisted in the Pacific basin. Mangrove forests provide key marine habitats for many creatures, while also protecting coastlines from storms. Image by Maxwell Ridgeway via Unsplash. Living in the shadow of these typhoons, we are proud that the Philippines was selected to host the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Loss and Damage Fund board last year. Former Philippine secretary of environment and natural resources Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga shared at the 4th meeting of the board&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/blue-carbon-ecosystems-are-key-for-protecting-the-philippines-from-climate-shocks-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/blue-carbon-ecosystems-are-key-for-protecting-the-philippines-from-climate-shocks-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302954</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia moves to revise sea sand export policy after court ruling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-sea-sand-dredging-exports-marine-fisheries/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-sea-sand-dredging-exports-marine-fisheries/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jul 2025 01:26:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten GokkonM Ambari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/18091545/Petugas-PSDKP-KKP-berjaga-di-kapal-pengeruk-pasir-laut-yang-ditangkap-di-perairan-Batam-Kamis-10-Oktober-2024.-Foto-Yogi-Eka-Sahputra-1536x862-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302595</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Cities, Coastal Ecosystems, Conflict, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Infrastructure, Mangroves, Marine, Oceans, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Indonesian government is revising a regulation that reopened the export of dredged sea sand, after the country’s Supreme Court annulled key provisions over environmental and legal concerns. In a ruling last month, the court struck down three articles in a 2023 regulation that had lifted a 20-year ban on sea sand exports. The judges [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Indonesian government is revising a regulation that reopened the export of dredged sea sand, after the country’s Supreme Court annulled key provisions over environmental and legal concerns. In a ruling last month, the court struck down three articles in a 2023 regulation that had lifted a 20-year ban on sea sand exports. The judges said the provisions violated the country’s 2014 Marine Law and could potentially exacerbate environmental damage, rather than fulfill the government’s obligation to protect marine ecosystems. “By reopening permits for sea sand exports through the regulation, the government instead risks worsening already damaged environmental conditions,” the court said in its decision published June 2. The ruling followed a judicial review request filed by law lecturer Muhammad Taufiq, who argued the regulation conflicted with existing legislation and lacked a strong legal foundation. In response, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said his office is now working with other ministries to revise the annulled provisions. After the regulation was issued in May 2023, the fisheries and trade ministries introduced additional rules to manage export permits, designate dredging zones, and mitigate environmental impacts. A typical barge used for dredging sand from the seafloor. Image by Yogi Eka Sahputra/Mongabay Indonesia. Supporters of the export policy claimed dredging would benefit ocean health by removing excess sediment and generate foreign exchange. But critics argued that it threatens marine ecosystems and coastal communities in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic nation, where millions rely on fishing for their livelihoods. Indonesia initially banned&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-sea-sand-dredging-exports-marine-fisheries/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesia-sea-sand-dredging-exports-marine-fisheries/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302595</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Kenya marine biodiversity credit program restores mangroves — and livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-kenya-marine-biodiversity-credit-program-restores-mangroves-and-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-kenya-marine-biodiversity-credit-program-restores-mangroves-and-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2025 19:39:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliet Akoth Ojwang]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/01081238/Emmanuel-Gona-a-fisherman-and-community-scout-from-Muyu-wa-Kae-village-in-Marereni-believes-that-conserving-and-restoring-mangrove-ecosystems-is-key-to-boosting-fish-populations.-P-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301717</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Indian Ocean, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity credits, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reforestation, Restoration, Saltwater Fish, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MARERENI, Kenya — The scorching afternoon sun stretches across the semiarid landscape of Marereni, in Kenya’s Kilifi county, where salt and sea shape both the land and the lives that depend on it. Known for its extensive salt mining operations, this remote settlement lies at the heart of the country’s north coast salt belt. Yet [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MARERENI, Kenya — The scorching afternoon sun stretches across the semiarid landscape of Marereni, in Kenya’s Kilifi county, where salt and sea shape both the land and the lives that depend on it. Known for its extensive salt mining operations, this remote settlement lies at the heart of the country’s north coast salt belt. Yet beyond the glint of salt pans, Marereni is also home to one of the coast’s most vital ecosystems: a mosaic of fringing, estuarine and creek mangrove forests that support rich biodiversity. This is the stunning backdrop to the site of restoration projects aimed at both revitalizing these important mangroves — and the communities that tend to them. In recent years, Marereni’s mangroves have been disappearing due to conversion pressure for solar salt works, aquaculture and human settlement, according to information from the Kenyan government’s National Mangrove Ecosystem Management Plan 2017-27. The plan underscores that the loss of mangrove cover significantly weakens coastal protection, leaving shorelines more susceptible to erosion, storm surges and rising sea levels. This not only heightens the vulnerability of inland areas and infrastructure to climate-related risks but also disrupts vital marine ecosystems, degrading crucial breeding and nursery grounds for fish, crustaceans and other species, leading to declining fish stocks and reduced biodiversity. For coastal communities, such as those in Marereni, the loss of mangroves threatens their very livelihoods. Many depend on mangrove ecosystems for fisheries, fuelwood, construction materials and a range of other vital services. As the mangroves vanish, so do economic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-kenya-marine-biodiversity-credit-program-restores-mangroves-and-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301717</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As a fishing port rises in Kenya, locals see threats to sea life, livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/as-a-fishing-port-rises-in-kenya-locals-see-threats-to-sea-life-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/as-a-fishing-port-rises-in-kenya-locals-see-threats-to-sea-life-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2025 20:26:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anthony Langat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/24105450/A-fisherman-shows-one-of-his-catch-in-Wasini-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300774</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Aquaculture, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Crops, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Infrastructure, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Politics, Ports, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, Social Justice, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Mongabay’s first story in a short series about the new Shimoni Fish Port. Read the second story here. SHIMONI, Kenya — Behind the gates of a small, forested property by the sea in Shimoni, a town on Kenya’s south coast, preparation for coral restoration was underway one afternoon in March. One part of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Mongabay’s first story in a short series about the new Shimoni Fish Port. Read the second story here. SHIMONI, Kenya — Behind the gates of a small, forested property by the sea in Shimoni, a town on Kenya’s south coast, preparation for coral restoration was underway one afternoon in March. One part of the compound was strewn with concrete sinkers, steel and plastic cages and mounting blocks. Young men and women took advantage of the shade to work protected from the unforgiving coastal sun. They were building artificial reef structures to hold baby corals that they would soon outplant into the sea nearby, part of a project led by a local branch of the Dutch NGO REEFolution. Since 2018, the project has placed 3,600 artificial reef structures to restore coral reefs on more than 5,000 square meters (54,000 square feet) of the Wasini Channel. A short distance west of the REEFolution compound, also right on Wasini Channel, a new fishing port is taking shape. Its large blue and white buildings dominate the landscape. A new jetty dwarfs the existing one used by local fishers. Soon, residents will start seeing huge international fishing vessels docking at the port. The port project, which has been supported by President William Ruto, cost the government 2.6 billion Kenyan shillings ($20 million) and is slated for completion in June. While the government promises local people opportunities for jobs and businesses once operations start, some residents foresee more harm than good from the port.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/as-a-fishing-port-rises-in-kenya-locals-see-threats-to-sea-life-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300774</doi>				</item>
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