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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mongabay-data-studio/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Mongabay Data Studio</title>
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				<item>
					<title>How we tracked China’s deep-sea mining fleet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jun 2026 20:33:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire AlbertsKara Fox]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/01160549/Model_of_Jiaolong_submersible_at_the_Five-Year_Achievements_Exhibition_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320430</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Cook Islands, Pacific Ocean, Polynesia, Taiwan, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Critical Minerals, Deep Sea Mining, Energy, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Military, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A version of this story was originally published by the Pulitzer Center, which supported Elizabeth Claire Alberts as an Ocean Reporting Network fellow. We didn’t set out to investigate China’s deep-sea mining fleet, but as our research into the burgeoning industry developed over our yearlong partnership, it became clear that an investigation into the fleet’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A version of this story was originally published by the Pulitzer Center, which supported Elizabeth Claire Alberts as an Ocean Reporting Network fellow. We didn’t set out to investigate China’s deep-sea mining fleet, but as our research into the burgeoning industry developed over our yearlong partnership, it became clear that an investigation into the fleet’s alleged military dual use was emerging as an important, untold story. Shortly after we embarked on our joint project, geopolitics around the deep-sea mining landscape began to shift dramatically. In February 2025, China signed an agreement with the Cook Islands government to collaborate on deep-sea mining research and exploration. At the same time, it was pursuing a similar deal with the archipelago nation of Kiribati, marking a notable expansion of Chinese influence in the Pacific. China holds the largest number of exploration contracts issued by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-affiliated deep-sea mining regulator, and is also its biggest financial contributor. It also operates the world’s largest oceanographic research fleet. Against this backdrop, we kept returning to a central question: was China’s pursuit of deep-sea mining driven solely for accessing mineral resources, or was it also shaped by broader geopolitical strategy? Through extensive reporting, we learned that China’s interest in seabed mining was motivated by both of these things, and that some of its vessels were engaged in both deep-sea mining work and militarily strategic surveillance. Meanwhile, deep-sea mining efforts have been gathering pace in the United States. In March 2025, The Metals Company,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-we-tracked-chinas-deep-sea-mining-fleet/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320430</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PNG’s Torricelli Mountains teem with life — and the risk of extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2025 18:13:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31073348/9043-A-grizzled-tree-kangaroo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296714</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Guinea, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Logging, Marsupials, Mongabay Data Studio, NGOs, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Millions of years ago, as the Indo-Australian plate pushed into the Pacific plate, a volcanic arc of islands began to emerge near the modern-day island of New Guinea that would one day form the Torricelli Mountains. And in this ancient, slow-motion reordering of Earth’s crust, life inevitably layered on top of the substrata to form [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Millions of years ago, as the Indo-Australian plate pushed into the Pacific plate, a volcanic arc of islands began to emerge near the modern-day island of New Guinea that would one day form the Torricelli Mountains. And in this ancient, slow-motion reordering of Earth’s crust, life inevitably layered on top of the substrata to form one of the most species-rich spots on the planet. “You&#8217;ve got to remember that there was the Sepik River pumping vegetation from the mainland off into the ocean, some of which was clearly reaching this island arc system,” Australian zoologist Tim Flannery of the Australian Museum in Sydney told Mongabay. Along with that botanical foundation came a number of animals: amphibians, to be sure, which seem particularly adept at rafting on plant life from one piece of land to another, according to Flannery, along with a predecessor of the northern glider (Petaurus abidi), a marsupial species with bewitchingly bulbous eyes found only in the Torricellis. “We’re still working out exactly what species came across at that phase,” he said, but it’s clear “there was a rich source of colonists.” Later, the emergence of a mountain range connected this island arc to the Doberai Peninsula of western New Guinea, which is also known as the Bird’s Head, or Vogelkop in Dutch and Indonesian, for its namesake shape. As a result of this “amazing orogeny” in the early Pliocene Epoch and another linkage with New Guinea’s Central Highlands, a number of species that had previously been confined&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/pngs-torricelli-mountains-teem-with-life-and-the-risk-of-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296714</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lawsuit is latest push to curb bottom trawling in protected European waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lawsuit-is-latest-push-to-curb-bottom-trawling-in-protected-european-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lawsuit-is-latest-push-to-curb-bottom-trawling-in-protected-european-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2025 13:12:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/12144949/3-A-bottom-trawler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294277</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, France, Mediterranean Sea, and Netherlands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mongabay Data Studio, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bottom trawling, a fishing technique in which vessels drag weighted nets along the seafloor, has long been condemned by conservationists for disrupting seabed habitat and capturing species indiscriminately. Yet it remains common in marine protected areas around Europe, including in some sections of Dogger Bank, a massive sandbank that experts consider the ecological heart of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bottom trawling, a fishing technique in which vessels drag weighted nets along the seafloor, has long been condemned by conservationists for disrupting seabed habitat and capturing species indiscriminately. Yet it remains common in marine protected areas around Europe, including in some sections of Dogger Bank, a massive sandbank that experts consider the ecological heart of the North Sea. On Dec. 23, four NGOs sued the Netherlands government in a bid to stop the country’s bottom-trawling vessels from operating in the Dutch section of Dogger Bank. “The Dutch government needs to stop allowing trawling inside protected areas because it is like allowing bulldozers in a protected forest,” Emilie Reuchlin, director of Netherlands-based Doggerland, one of the NGOs that filed the suit, told Mongabay in an email. “Our lawsuit will hopefully lead to a total ban for the most destructive fishing practice — that is, trawling — [in] the protected Dogger Bank.” The action in Dutch court follows four other lawsuits filed in Western Europe last year that seek to stop bottom trawling in marine protected areas (MPAs), as well as a complaint in Sweden with the same aim. This pressure on European nations to strengthen protections in their MPAs comes as they, like all the world’s nations, prepare to scale up MPA coverage to 30% by 2030 as part of the “30&#215;30” pledge under a 2022 international agreement. The lawsuits are part of an advocacy push to make sure MPA designations are meaningful, rather than an exercise in creating or maintaining&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lawsuit-is-latest-push-to-curb-bottom-trawling-in-protected-european-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/lawsuit-is-latest-push-to-curb-bottom-trawling-in-protected-european-waters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294277</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mining in a forest conservation site clouds Republic of Congo’s carbon credit scheme</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/mining-in-a-forest-conservation-site-clouds-republic-of-congos-carbon-credit-scheme/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/mining-in-a-forest-conservation-site-clouds-republic-of-congos-carbon-credit-scheme/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2025 08:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/14151257/Photo-Mine-ouverte-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292921</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity credits, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Carbon, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations Network in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP). It is the first part of a two-part series, read part two here. Environmentalist Justin Landry Chekoua says he’s shocked by images of century-old trees uprooted and rivers contaminated in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This article was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations Network in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP). It is the first part of a two-part series, read part two here. Environmentalist Justin Landry Chekoua says he’s shocked by images of century-old trees uprooted and rivers contaminated in the northern Sangha region of the Republic of Congo. Mongabay had taken photos of an open-pit gold mine within the boundaries of an area designated as part of the Sangha Likouala REDD+ program. “Looking at it &#8230; this is a mining operation with no regard for sustainability,” Chekoua says. Over the past eight months, Mongabay has conducted an in-depth investigation into the Sangha Likouala REDD+ initiative. We traveled to the Sangha region, reviewed hundreds of official documents, and uncovered a troubling reality: since the REDD+ project’s launch in 2020, the country’s mining minister, Pierre Oba, has issued at least 79 semi-industrial gold mining and exploration permits. This marks a sharp increase from the period between 2017 and 2020, when only eight mining permits were officially issued in the same region, according to a Ministry of Finance report. By definition, a REDD+ project is designed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Yet in the Sangha region, 14% of the territory has already been marked out for gold exploration. This doesn’t account for permits to search for the other minerals, such as iron, that are mined on an industrial scale in the area. The consequences for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/mining-in-a-forest-conservation-site-clouds-republic-of-congos-carbon-credit-scheme/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292921</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2024 15:55:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/17153346/QENP23-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291766</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Beyond the Safari]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Human Rights, Human-wildlife Conflict, Indigenous Peoples, Ivory, Mammals, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Protected Areas, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Waata lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first story in the Mongabay Series – Beyond the Safari. Read the others here. On June 13, 1959, the Waata hunter Galogalo Kafonde surrendered himself to colonial Kenya’s “Field Force,” Africa’s first militarized antipoaching unit. For centuries, the ethnic Waata had hunted elephants. Killing one was a rite of passage; unlike their neighbors, who raised and kept cows, the Waata lived off game meat and wore elephant skins. Ivory wasn’t of much use to them, but it could be bartered for other goods with Arab traders in nearby Mombasa. As the ivory trade picked up steam in the 17th century, fueled by the growth of European consumer markets, the Waata’s reputation grew. They were among the best elephant trackers in East Africa, known as the “people of the long bow” for their skilled use of poisoned arrows. But European hunters came to view the Waata and other Indigenous people as competition. In 1897, as Britain set its sights on a permanent Kenyan colony, it banned unauthorized &#8220;native&#8221; hunting. At the stroke of a pen, the core of the Waata’s way of life became illegal. Traders weighing ivory in 1935. Image by Ewing Galloway via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). In 1948, the British created Tsavo National Park, one of the first in Kenya. But its eastern flank was a Waata hunting ground. Richard Sheldrick, one of the 20th century’s most prominent conservation icons, was tasked with stamping it out. Kafonde, the Waata’s most famed hunter, was his prime&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/like-you-i-fear-the-demise-of-the-elephants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291766</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>High-flying concessions: Clandestine airstrips, coca crops invade Ucayali’s forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/high-flying-concessions-clandestine-airstrips-coca-crops-invade-ucayalis-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/high-flying-concessions-clandestine-airstrips-coca-crops-invade-ucayalis-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2024 09:52:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Latam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/02121205/Foto-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291020</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Airstrips]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Zooming in on the Peruvian jungle, many hectares of deforestation can be seen amid the thick vegetation, like huge scars hidden among the foliage. They’re dispersed between the forests in the departments of Ucayali, Loreto, Huánuco, Madre de Dios, Pasco and Cusco. Some are very close to rivers, others just meters away from tracks or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Zooming in on the Peruvian jungle, many hectares of deforestation can be seen amid the thick vegetation, like huge scars hidden among the foliage. They’re dispersed between the forests in the departments of Ucayali, Loreto, Huánuco, Madre de Dios, Pasco and Cusco. Some are very close to rivers, others just meters away from tracks or roads, and many are in the middle of protected areas. After more than 10 months of research, a team coordinated by Mongabay Latam confirmed that these openings in the middle of the jungle are clandestine airstrips. Many of them are built in or around native communities’ territories, close to protected areas or inside Indigenous reserves. With information obtained from the Peruvian police’s antinarcotics unit, DIRANDRO; the departmental government of Ucayali, GORE Ucayali; OpenStreetMap; and used an AI visual search to review satellite imagery, we identified a total of 128 illegal airstrips across six departments in the Peruvian Amazon. We confirmed the presence of 76 of these through approximately 60 interviews with Indigenous leaders, community members, prosecutors, experts and civil servants. Of this number, 45 are in Ucayali and were built for drug trafficking. The collaboration with Earth Genome was supported by the Pulitzer Center. “We found drug laboratories and clandestine airstrips mostly in the [province] of Atalaya [in Ucayali],” said Pedro Velásquez, deputy prosecutor of the Ucayali Special Prosecutor’s Office for Illicit Drug Trafficking. “Drug traffickers often use native communities or hard-to-access areas with no land registry and position themselves there; they know which areas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/high-flying-concessions-clandestine-airstrips-coca-crops-invade-ucayalis-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-291020</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/narco-airstrips-beset-indigenous-communities-in-peruvian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/narco-airstrips-beset-indigenous-communities-in-peruvian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2024 12:18:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Latam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/03100239/PISTA-CHANCHAMAYO-ABRE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291108</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Airstrips and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The boat comes to a halt, shuddering against the dirt bank that rises from the edge of the Ucayali River. Sixto, tanned and with a frown cutting deep furrows across his forehead, jumps ashore. He strides up to a flat area dotted with banana plantations, yucca crops and scattered foliage. He raises his hand and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The boat comes to a halt, shuddering against the dirt bank that rises from the edge of the Ucayali River. Sixto, tanned and with a frown cutting deep furrows across his forehead, jumps ashore. He strides up to a flat area dotted with banana plantations, yucca crops and scattered foliage. He raises his hand and waves. He then follows a path that penetrates a wall of trees, passes through mudflats and traces the undergrowth that thickens the forest. He doesn’t speak. He knows where to go, and that’s all that’s needed. At intervals he says, barely whispering: “It won’t be long now.” During each stretch, as he keeps up his pace, Sixto scans the horizon, although it’s always the same scene of trees and scattered green. The dense jungle he passes through lies in Tahuanía district, Atalaya province, in the Peruvian Amazon. Thirty-four minutes into this trek along this tangled route, the roof formed by the treetops suddenly opens up to reveal a huge rectangle of bare earth. “It is 985 meters [3,232 feet], a big ‘cancha’ [field],” he whispers, and points to the other end: “We’ve arrived.” No drug planes have taken off yet from this clandestine airstrip. This stretch was prepared five years ago, but with the COVID-19 outbreak, there was no need for traffickers to find new ways to get their drug shipments out, Sixto recalls, now less tense, more talkative. He was one of the young men who prepared the land after it was cleared. He&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/narco-airstrips-beset-indigenous-communities-in-peruvian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/narco-airstrips-beset-indigenous-communities-in-peruvian-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291108</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/15-illegal-narco-trafficking-airstrips-found-near-peru-indigenous-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/15-illegal-narco-trafficking-airstrips-found-near-peru-indigenous-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2024 09:54:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Latam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/27113614/Huacamayo-Abridor-3-Max-Cabello-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290775</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Airstrips and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The hum of a small plane is heard overhead during a community assembly, but no one looks up. Conversation rises naturally over the sound as the engine’s intense roar fades into the background. The aircraft takes five minutes to pass over an Indigenous community located between the districts of Yuyapichis and Puerto Bermúdez, its course [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The hum of a small plane is heard overhead during a community assembly, but no one looks up. Conversation rises naturally over the sound as the engine’s intense roar fades into the background. The aircraft takes five minutes to pass over an Indigenous community located between the districts of Yuyapichis and Puerto Bermúdez, its course traceable by simply following the sound — today, the plane is hidden from view by clouds. On the morning of Sunday, April 21, 2024, this Yanesha community, nestled between the regions of Huánuco and Pasco in Peru’s central rainforests, is hosting a gathering of Indigenous residents from Huánuco and its two annexes. Some have arrived by boat, navigating up the Pachitea River, which forms at the confluence of the Pichis and the Palcazu rivers. At least 200 people are present, focused on discussing one central concern: securing legal titles for their lands. Nothing else can distract them today — not the sound of the small plane, nor the clandestine airstrips surrounding the community that daily serve drug trafficking. Yanesha community members on the way to their community assembly. Image by Mongabay Latam. “Didn’t you hear what was happening earlier? That’s them. I don’t know where they are going,” a local source told us in hushed tones, confirming the aircraft’s departure. “From here, whatever they take with them will go to other areas of Yuyapichis. That’s where they fly,” he says. “It used to be more regular, busier. There was even a bit of money in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/15-illegal-narco-trafficking-airstrips-found-near-peru-indigenous-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/15-illegal-narco-trafficking-airstrips-found-near-peru-indigenous-communities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290775</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The illegal runways exposing the Kakataibo people to drug violence in Peru</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-illegal-runways-exposing-the-kakataibo-people-to-drug-violence-in-peru/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-illegal-runways-exposing-the-kakataibo-people-to-drug-violence-in-peru/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2024 12:30:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Latam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/29150332/edited-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290700</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Airstrips and Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Rainforests, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The audience erupts into cheers and applause. The emcee has just announced the four finalists of the “Miss Juan Chávez Muquinuy” beauty pageant, who take the stage for their final walk down the runway. The competitors are all schoolgirls between 13 and 15 years old, parading in tops, shorts and platform heels. It&#8217;s 8 p.m., [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The audience erupts into cheers and applause. The emcee has just announced the four finalists of the “Miss Juan Chávez Muquinuy” beauty pageant, who take the stage for their final walk down the runway. The competitors are all schoolgirls between 13 and 15 years old, parading in tops, shorts and platform heels. It&#8217;s 8 p.m., and although there&#8217;s no electricity in the village, the ceremony venue is lit using solar panels, and music booms through two huge speakers. &#8220;Until three years ago, the winner was decided by the number of raffle tickets sold by each salon. Now we celebrate properly,&#8221; the mother of one of the contestants says. Nearly the whole village is gathered to witness the coronation of a new queen in an Indigenous community of the Kakataibo ethnic group, located in the province of Padre Abad, in the jungle of Peru&#8217;s Ucayali region. The Kakataibo are a warrior people who have historically lived between the regions of Loreto, Ucayali and Huánuco, in a vast territory split in two by the Federico Basadre Highway. In the northern area they live with the Indigenous Shipibo-Conibo people, in the towns of Nuevo Edén, La Cumbre, Muruinia, Santa Rosita de Apua, Santa Rosa, Yamino and Mariscal Cáceres. In the south, they reside in the Native communities of Santa Martha, Puerto Nuevo, Sinchi Roca I, Sinchi Roca II, Unipacuyacu and Puerto Azul. These groups have a key cultural role, as they form a security cord around the Kakataibo North and South Indigenous Reserve,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/the-illegal-runways-exposing-the-kakataibo-people-to-drug-violence-in-peru/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290700</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Revealed: Biomass firm poised to clear Bornean rainforest for dubious ‘green’ energy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/revealed-biomass-company-poised-to-clear-bornean-rainforest-for-dubious-green-energy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/revealed-biomass-company-poised-to-clear-bornean-rainforest-for-dubious-green-energy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2024 00:08:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongPhilip Jacobson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/16084723/NANG6498-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288771</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, North Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Bioenergy, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Culture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabbing, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Plantations, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[(Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia.) LABAN NYARIT, Indonesia — Ipu Angit’s close relationship with the forest here in the interior of Borneo is evident as he identifies the plants and trees he uses to meet his daily needs, venturing deeper in despite the hot, humid weather and his advanced age. One moment he deftly fashions a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[(Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia.) LABAN NYARIT, Indonesia — Ipu Angit’s close relationship with the forest here in the interior of Borneo is evident as he identifies the plants and trees he uses to meet his daily needs, venturing deeper in despite the hot, humid weather and his advanced age. One moment he deftly fashions a makeshift umbrella out of palm leaves. The next he points out some young rattan stems, which he often prepares to eat by boiling to reduce the bitterness and then either cooking them with turmeric or eating them raw. Lately, however, Ipu has been clouded by anxiety: the rainforest he calls home appears set to be demolished for wood pellet production by a coal company seeking to pivot to “green” energy. “If this forest disappeared, where would we find these things?” Ipu asks. “This is what keeps the Punan people alive.” Spear in hand, Ipu Angit traverses the forest near his home, which falls within a biomass plantation concession held by PT Malinau Hijau Lestari. Image by Nanang Sujana for Mongabay. Ipu&#8217;s home village of Laban Nyarit in Malinau district, North Kalimantan. Image by Nanang Sujana for Mongabay. Indonesia is the world&#8217;s fourth-most-populous country and a top greenhouse gas emitter, with nearly half its energy coming from coal. As the nation strives to make good on its pledges to cut fossil fuels, President Joko Widodo has promoted biomass energy, derived from burning plant and animal products, as a sustainable alternative. His administration, whose term came to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/revealed-biomass-company-poised-to-clear-bornean-rainforest-for-dubious-green-energy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/revealed-biomass-company-poised-to-clear-bornean-rainforest-for-dubious-green-energy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288771</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Verra suspends carbon credit projects following police raid in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2024 14:29:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/11141843/foto_pf-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283120</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conflict, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The raid occurred two weeks after Mongabay showed the links between the REDD+ projects and a suspected logging scam.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three carbon credit projects were suspended in the Brazilian Amazon after the Federal Police&#8217;s Greenwashing Operation targeted the leaders of supposedly &#8220;green&#8221; initiatives with suspected links to a land-grabbing and illegal logging scam. Verra, one of the world&#8217;s largest voluntary carbon market registries and the project’s certifier, announced the decision June 10. &#8220;An account suspension is an extraordinary action that means no transactions can happen on the account at all, including on credits held in the account, until any identified issues or uncertainties have been resolved,&#8221; Verra stated. According to the organization, the action is a preventative measure and does not indicate any judgment of those involved (read the complete statement here). In a new statement released on Jun. 13, Verra said it will launch an internal investigation on Stoppe’s projects, which will be put “on hold” on Verra&#8217;s Registry. &#8220;I believe that Verra is doing the certification incorrectly,&#8221; federal deputy Thiago Marrese Scarpellini, chief Greenwashing Operation investigator, told Mongabay after the raid. &#8220;But I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s their fault because it&#8217;s based in the United States, and I don&#8217;t know if there&#8217;s land-grabbing in the United States. But we have it here. And if we are a promising market [for carbon credits] they will have to adjust to certain circumstances here.&#8221; The Greenwashing Operation was triggered June 5, two weeks after Mongabay published an investigation connecting the projects’ owners to a suspected timber laundering scam. According to the investigators, the carbon credit areas were also used to launder&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/verra-suspends-carbon-credit-projects-following-police-raid-in-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283120</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Activists decry latest arrests of East African oil pipeline opponents</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/activists-decry-latest-arrests-of-east-african-oil-pipeline-opponents/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/activists-decry-latest-arrests-of-east-african-oil-pipeline-opponents/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jun 2024 17:19:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caroline Chebet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/07154911/EACOPresser_25May2025_OrganizationForCommunityEngagement--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283061</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conflict, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Forest Destruction, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Human Rights, Industry, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mongabay Data Studio, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Politics, Pollution, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Police in northwestern Tanzania have arrested four villagers in Hanang District, after they criticized a controversial oil pipeline being built through the area, in what activists say is just the latest instance of harassment of critics of the project. Gabrieli Daudi, Tiofili Israeli, Marseli Martini and Kamili Fabiano were arrested on June 2 after publicly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Police in northwestern Tanzania have arrested four villagers in Hanang District, after they criticized a controversial oil pipeline being built through the area, in what activists say is just the latest instance of harassment of critics of the project. Gabrieli Daudi, Tiofili Israeli, Marseli Martini and Kamili Fabiano were arrested on June 2 after publicly sharing their grievances over the negative impacts of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) at a press conference organized by Ugandan and Tanzanian civil society groups on Africa Day, May 25. A fifth person from Hanang District, community leader Damiano Malle, also spoke at that event but was not arrested. The four were released without charge after a night in detention. “They were arrested because they spoke to the media about their dissatisfaction with compensation of the project-affected persons [PAPs],” Richard Senkondo, executive director of the Dar es Salaam-based Organization for Community Engagement (OCE), told Mongabay. “They were also expressing concerns over additional lands being taken away from them without agreements, and harassment by Tanzanian police.” Pain along the pipeline EACOP is a 1,440-kilometer (895-mile) pipeline under construction from the shores of Lake Albert in Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. Its opponents argue that the pipeline violates national and international laws protecting human rights and the environment, campaigning against it both in its host countries and internationally. Pipeline project subcontractors purchased a strip of land that cuts through the middle of Elizabeth Ayebare&#8217;s family&#8217;s farm in 2018, but never compensated them as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/activists-decry-latest-arrests-of-east-african-oil-pipeline-opponents/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/activists-decry-latest-arrests-of-east-african-oil-pipeline-opponents/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283061</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Narco activity takes heavy toll on Colombia’s protected forests, satellite data show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/narco-activity-takes-heavy-toll-on-colombias-protected-forests-satellite-data-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/narco-activity-takes-heavy-toll-on-colombias-protected-forests-satellite-data-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2024 18:52:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/31181042/Macarena-satellite-banner-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282835</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Indigenous Reserves, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Violence, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the middle of Colombia, where the country’s Eastern Plains and Andean ecoregions meet the Amazon Basin, a vast complex of parks, reserves and other protected areas safeguards ancient habitat and the biodiversity contained within. Or at least it’s supposed to. However, human activity has been chipping away at the region’s forests for years ­— [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the middle of Colombia, where the country’s Eastern Plains and Andean ecoregions meet the Amazon Basin, a vast complex of parks, reserves and other protected areas safeguards ancient habitat and the biodiversity contained within. Or at least it’s supposed to. However, human activity has been chipping away at the region’s forests for years ­— and not even its protected areas are immune. Satellite data collated by the University of Maryland and visualized on the Global Forest Watch (GFW) monitoring platform shows a surge of deforestation in protected areas in central Colombia so far in 2024. The most affected areas include Llanos del Yarí Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve, two national natural parks — Sierra de la Macarena and Tinigua — and the surrounding Macarena Special Management Area. Satellite data show ongoing forest loss within a complex of protected areas in central Colombia. (Note: the data used to show location and extent of Llanos del Yarí Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve for this map differs from the data used for analysis referenced in the story.) In Llanos del Yarí, the data (which extend back to the turn of the century) show forest loss rising in earnest between 2014 and 2015, peaking in 2022. In total, between 2014 and 2023, the Indigenous reserve lost 11% of its primary tree cover, according to GFW. The reserve experienced a bit of a reprieve in 2023, with GFW showing deforestation dropping by more than 60%. However, preliminary data for 2024 and satellite imagery from Planet Labs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/narco-activity-takes-heavy-toll-on-colombias-protected-forests-satellite-data-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282835</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Analysis: Michelin’s no-deforestation claims in Indonesia rubber plantation a stretch</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/analysis-michelins-no-deforestation-claims-in-indonesia-rubber-plantation-a-stretch/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/analysis-michelins-no-deforestation-claims-in-indonesia-rubber-plantation-a-stretch/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2024 09:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefano Valentino]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/16040115/sumatra_9255-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282697</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Mongabay Data Studio, Plantations, Rainforests, Rubber, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In its sustainability policy, Michelin, the world’s largest tire manufacturer, highlights its commitment to &#8220;responsible and sustainable management of the rubber industry,” its “zero deforestation” ambitions, and its “commitment to protecting biodiversity.&#8221; The flagship of Michelin’s commitment to sustainable natural rubber is the PT Royal Lestari Utama (RLU) project in Indonesia. But how green is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In its sustainability policy, Michelin, the world’s largest tire manufacturer, highlights its commitment to &#8220;responsible and sustainable management of the rubber industry,” its “zero deforestation” ambitions, and its “commitment to protecting biodiversity.&#8221; The flagship of Michelin’s commitment to sustainable natural rubber is the PT Royal Lestari Utama (RLU) project in Indonesia. But how green is this project, really? In December 2014, the French giant bought a 49% stake in the rubber plantation company RLU, until then held exclusively by the Indonesian agribusiness giant Barito Pacific. Through this joint venture, Michelin aimed to sustainably supply 10% of the natural rubber used in its global operations. In March 2015, Michelin and Barito Pacific issued a set of no-deforestation commitments, promising to expand plantations only on open land within RLU’s two concessions in the Indonesian provinces of Jambi (on Sumatra Island) and East Kalimantan (Borneo Island). The plan called for partnering with local communities to produce rubber and food crops while protecting the ecosystems, with the final goal of improving the livelihoods of more than 50,000 people in 18 villages. After eight years of collaboration with Barito Pacific, in July 2022 Michelin eventually took over 100% of RLU, turning it into its fully owned subsidiary. In its press release, the French company said that, besides planting more than 13 million rubber trees across more than 23,000 hectares (56,800 acres), “RLU has saved thousands of hectares of primary forest, which, without its efforts, would have long since disappeared.” RLU’s latest sustainability report, released in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/analysis-michelins-no-deforestation-claims-in-indonesia-rubber-plantation-a-stretch/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/analysis-michelins-no-deforestation-claims-in-indonesia-rubber-plantation-a-stretch/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282697</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top brands buy Amazon carbon credits from suspected timber laundering scam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2024 10:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/20132256/0_Banner_Edited-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282272</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, climate finance, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Threats To Rainforests, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An analysis of two carbon credit projects in the Brazilian Amazon has found that they may be connected to illegal timber laundering.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two major carbon offset projects in the Brazilian Amazon, whose credits have been sold to companies like GOL Airlines, Nestlé, Toshiba and PwC, may have been used to launder timber from illegally deforested areas. The conclusion comes from an analysis by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA), a Netherlands-based nonprofit founded by prosecutors and investigators that investigates emitters of climate-warming greenhouse gases. Brazilian authorities had already launched timber laundering probes in the areas covered by CCCA’s analysis, which resulted in the suspension of logging authorizations. The owner of a company responsible for one of these projects has a prior conviction for timber laundering. CCCA made the analysis at Mongabay’s request after an anonymous source highlighted the participation of people convicted of timber laundering in the projects. CCCA analyzed two REDD+ projects, called Unitor and Fortaleza Ituxi, in the municipality of Lábrea, in Amazonas state. The two projects cover a combined area of 140,862 hectares (348,078 acres) — twice the size of London — and aim to avoid 660,598 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year by preventing the spread of deforestation in one of the Amazon&#8217;s most under-pressure areas. CCCA found evidence of possible timber laundering in two REDD+ projects in the south of Brazil’s Amazonas state. REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The idea behind it is that landowners receive money for protecting an area that could otherwise be deforested. Emissions that are avoided as a result of this protection can then be sold&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/top-brands-buy-amazon-carbon-credits-from-suspected-timber-laundering-scam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282272</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tackling climate change in one of Colombia&#8217;s largest wetlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/tackling-climate-change-in-one-of-colombias-largest-wetlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/tackling-climate-change-in-one-of-colombias-largest-wetlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2024 19:12:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[César Giraldo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/15161640/Vivero-comunidad-El-Peru-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282154</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology and Covering Climate Now]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Forests, Freshwater, Indigenous Peoples, Mongabay Data Studio, Restoration, Solutions, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The time it takes to cross the Ayapel swamp, the largest swamp in the department of Córdoba, northern Colombia, is a good measurement of how much this landscape has changed in recent decades. The journey, which used to take several hours, can now be done in less than one. Gone are the streams that forced [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The time it takes to cross the Ayapel swamp, the largest swamp in the department of Córdoba, northern Colombia, is a good measurement of how much this landscape has changed in recent decades. The journey, which used to take several hours, can now be done in less than one. Gone are the streams that forced the boatmen to slow down and the large clumps of floating plants that made it difficult to move through the wetlands. Before, it was full of mangroves, recalls Ana María Rivera. &#8220;Today, what do you see? Sky and water, because there&#8217;s no beautiful mangrove creek left,&#8221; says the young woman, who lives in the village of Perú, a rural area at the southern end of the swamp. The problems plaguing the swamp are as complex as the landscape in which it is located. Ayapel and ten other municipalities in the departments of Sucre, Bolívar, Córdoba, and Antioquia make up La Mojana, where three of the country&#8217;s most important rivers converge: the San Jorge, the Cauca, and the Magdalena. The Magdalena reaches the region through the Loba branch, one of the two branches parting the river&#8217;s course as it passes through the El Banco municipality in the department of Magdalena. This wetland system, one of the largest in the world, is essential for regulating and buffering the major flows of these three river arteries. According to research carried out by the Humboldt Institute, 37% of its total area consists of temporary wetland zones, and another 21%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/tackling-climate-change-in-one-of-colombias-largest-wetlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282154</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Impunity and pollution abound in DRC mining along the road to the energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/impunity-and-pollution-abound-in-drc-mining-along-the-road-to-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/impunity-and-pollution-abound-in-drc-mining-along-the-road-to-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2024 14:04:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Didier Makal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/09192731/Loading-of-minerals-from-artisanal-mines-in-Kakanda.-Photo-by-Didier-Makal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281888</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Cobalt Capital]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Business, Clean Energy, cobalt, Conflict, Copper, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Health, Human Rights, Just Transition, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Politics, Pollution, Public Health, Social Justice, Trade, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network. &#160; LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — On Oct. 13, 2023, on National Road 39, a police officer gestures for us to slow down. The narrow road has been reduced to a single lane from the usual two. A damaged truck lies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network. &nbsp; LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — On Oct. 13, 2023, on National Road 39, a police officer gestures for us to slow down. The narrow road has been reduced to a single lane from the usual two. A damaged truck lies in the Dikulwe River, to the left of the bridge to Fungurume, in Lualaba province in southeast DRC. To the right, downstream of the river, the bridge’s guardrails are gone, and another wrecked truck lies overturned. A yellowish substance remains on the riverbank. The reeds in the riverbed under the bridge are burned. It’s sulfuric acid, used for cobalt and copper mining, critical minerals in the energy transition and the lifeblood of the regional economy. Agents clean the river with masks that have seen better days. Click the play button here to listen to an audio version of this article: Sulfur on the ground in Dikuluwe. Image by Didier Makal. The cleanup will take more than a week, some say. Five kilometers (3 miles) downstream in Kibangabwa, residents continue to collect dead fish following the acid spill in the river, their source of drinking water. However, on the day of the accident, Jacques Mumba, the head of the Fungurume environmental department, wanted to assure everyone that there would be no danger to the population. According to Mumba, the river would decontaminate itself 30 minutes later. The company that caused the spill faced no known consequences.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/impunity-and-pollution-abound-in-drc-mining-along-the-road-to-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281888</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishing by dodgy fleets hurts economies, jobs in developing countries: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/fishing-by-dodgy-fleets-hurts-economies-jobs-in-developing-countries-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/fishing-by-dodgy-fleets-hurts-economies-jobs-in-developing-countries-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Apr 2024 13:13:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mikael Angelo S. Francisco]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/26031402/13776843044_7e661198a2_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281425</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Ghana, Peru, Philippines, and Senegal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Mongabay Data Studio, Oceans, and Poverty]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Companies implicated in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing can have a serious impact on the economies, job opportunities and overall welfare of the developing countries in whose waters they operate, according to a recent report from London-based global affairs think tank the ODI. The report, released Feb. 16, used consolidated fisheries and satellite data [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Companies implicated in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing can have a serious impact on the economies, job opportunities and overall welfare of the developing countries in whose waters they operate, according to a recent report from London-based global affairs think tank the ODI. The report, released Feb. 16, used consolidated fisheries and satellite data to gauge the economic damage done by fishing fleets with shady track records in five vulnerable countries: Ecuador, Ghana, Peru, the Philippines, and Senegal. It found that these companies’ fishing activities could be costing the five countries 0.26% of their combined GDP, leaving 30,174 people jobless and pushing 142,192 individuals deeper into poverty than they otherwise would be. “In this report, we wanted to make a business case for sustainable fishing to show that it is in developing countries’ economic interests to have robust sustainable fishing policies,” Miren Gutierrez, study author and a professor of communication at the University of Deusto in Spain, told Mongabay. “This is crucial because the health of the oceans and the sustainability of fish stocks are directly linked to the activities of real companies and the people behind them.” Senegalese sailors regard Chinese crew on a fishing vessel in Dakar in 2016. Image © Liu Yuyang / Greenpeace. Analyzing economic impacts The authors chose the focus countries based on their vulnerability to overfishing and IUU fishing, their geographic diversity, the diversity of their fishing sectors, and the “significant presence” of foreign vessels in their waters. To start with, Gutierrez’s team&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/fishing-by-dodgy-fleets-hurts-economies-jobs-in-developing-countries-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281425</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protected areas bear the brunt as forest loss continues across Cambodia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/protected-areas-bear-the-brunt-as-forest-loss-continues-across-cambodia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/protected-areas-bear-the-brunt-as-forest-loss-continues-across-cambodia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2024 02:50:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/17022743/Stung-Veal-Thmor-Kambot-V3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Crime, data, Deforestation, Deforestation Alert System, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Illegal Logging, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Logging, Mapping, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, National Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — New data published by the University of Maryland on April 4 and available through satellite monitoring platform Global Forest Watch show continued forest loss across Cambodia last year, particularly in areas designated as protected by the Ministry of Environment. Last year saw 121,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of forest cover, an area the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — New data published by the University of Maryland on April 4 and available through satellite monitoring platform Global Forest Watch show continued forest loss across Cambodia last year, particularly in areas designated as protected by the Ministry of Environment. Last year saw 121,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of forest cover, an area the size of the city of Los Angeles, lost across Cambodia. More than 48,000 hectares (119,000 acres) of this was recorded as primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch. An analysis conducted by Mongabay using the University of Maryland GLAD lab’s data found the majority of forest loss in Cambodia last year occurred inside protected areas. Assessing the loss of forest canopy with a density of 30% or higher, Mongabay found that more than 66,000 hectares (163,000 acres) of forest vanished from Cambodia’s protected areas in 2023. However, the figures are difficult to compare to previous years, following sweeping changes to Cambodia’s protected area system that saw more than 1 million additional hectares (2.5 million acres) reclassified as protected between July and August 2023. New data from Global Forest Watch shows how more than half of all forest loss sustained in 2023 occurred inside protected areas. Image by Ministry of Environment spokesperson Khvay Atitya didn’t answer specific questions sent by Mongabay via messaging app Telegram, instead stating that Cambodia has 73 protected areas that span 7.2 million hectares (17.8 million acres) — roughly 41% of Cambodia’s landmass — and then detailed the ministry’s new management plan.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/protected-areas-bear-the-brunt-as-forest-loss-continues-across-cambodia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281026</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global coral bleaching now underway looks set to be largest on record</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/global-coral-beaching-now-underway-looks-set-to-be-largest-on-record/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/global-coral-beaching-now-underway-looks-set-to-be-largest-on-record/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2024 09:40:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/16092342/coral-bleach-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281002</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and Great Barrier Reef]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Mongabay Data Studio, Ocean Warming, Oceans, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ATHENS — The world is currently undergoing its fourth global bleaching event, with coral bleaching occurring in the territorial waters of more than 50 countries, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). Since February 2023, more than 54% of the world’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ATHENS — The world is currently undergoing its fourth global bleaching event, with coral bleaching occurring in the territorial waters of more than 50 countries, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). Since February 2023, more than 54% of the world’s coral reef areas have experienced heat stress that causes bleaching, making this the second most spatially extensive bleaching event on record. The largest bleaching event to date occurred between 2014 and 2017 when more than 56% of the world&#8217;s reefs experienced heat stress that led to bleaching. However, according to Derek Manzello, the coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, a program that uses satellite data to help identify bleaching events, the current event will likely surpass this previous record since “the percentage of reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress has been increasing by roughly 1% per week.” Global coral bleaching events also occurred in 1998 and 2010, when bleaching occurred in 20% and 35% of coral reef areas respectively. “This should be viewed as another very urgent global warning on the state of ocean health,” Manzello told Mongabay in an email. “Coral reefs and other marine ecosystems are experiencing severe and devastating impacts as the oceans continue to warm.” Coral bleaching happens when sea temperatures rise to a level that stresses the coral reefs, driving them to expel their life-sustaining and colorful algae, which turns them ghostly white. While corals can recover from bleaching, prolonged&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/global-coral-beaching-now-underway-looks-set-to-be-largest-on-record/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281002</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bonobos, the ‘hippy apes’, may not be as peaceful as once thought</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/bonobos-the-hippy-apes-may-not-be-as-peaceful-as-once-thought/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/bonobos-the-hippy-apes-may-not-be-as-peaceful-as-once-thought/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Apr 2024 15:39:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/12150637/MM_bonobo_Eben-CREDIT-Maud-Mouginot-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280905</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Bonobos, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Mammals, Mongabay Data Studio, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Anthropologist Maud Mouginot recalls an encounter with bonobos early one morning in 2019 deep in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo that helped revise her impression of them as the peace-loving “hippy apes.” It was still pitch dark in Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, in the center of the country, and she and colleagues were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Anthropologist Maud Mouginot recalls an encounter with bonobos early one morning in 2019 deep in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo that helped revise her impression of them as the peace-loving “hippy apes.” It was still pitch dark in Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, in the center of the country, and she and colleagues were on the trail of one of three resident bonobo groups. Suddenly the calm was shattered by shrieks as one bonobo chased another from the same group in an act of wild aggression. “You can feel the violence,” she recalls. “One is really unhappy, it’s screaming, it’s crying, it’s so scared and the other one’s rushing [toward it].” Bonobos (Pan paniscus), an endangered species of ape found only in the DRC, have a reputation for being far more peaceful than closely related chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). But a new study Mouginot and colleagues have published in the journal Current Biology provides a more nuanced view. It shows that bonobo aggression does exist — they just channel it differently from chimpanzees. A bonobo in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, site of the Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project. The species has earned a reputation for peaceable behavior, but a new study shines a light on aggression in males. Image by Maud Mouginot. Mouginot and colleagues analyzed thousands of hours of observations gathered from following the three bonobo groups in Kokolopori, and two chimpanzee communities in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, and compared male aggression among both species. Aggressive encounters, though nonlethal, included&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/bonobos-the-hippy-apes-may-not-be-as-peaceful-as-once-thought/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/bonobos-the-hippy-apes-may-not-be-as-peaceful-as-once-thought/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280905</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forests in Vietnam’s Central Highlands at risk as development projects take priority</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/forests-in-vietnams-central-highlands-at-risk-as-development-projects-take-priority/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/forests-in-vietnams-central-highlands-at-risk-as-development-projects-take-priority/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2024 21:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Le Quynh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/10204253/16-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280840</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LÂM ĐỒNG, Vietnam — In 1991, Trần Văn Ry migrated from his home in northern Vietnam to Lâm Đồng in the country’s Central Highlands. Along with hundreds of other migrants, he took part in a government initiative to reforest the area’s hills, many of which were deforested and barren following the U.S.-led war. Today, Ry [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LÂM ĐỒNG, Vietnam — In 1991, Trần Văn Ry migrated from his home in northern Vietnam to Lâm Đồng in the country’s Central Highlands. Along with hundreds of other migrants, he took part in a government initiative to reforest the area’s hills, many of which were deforested and barren following the U.S.-led war. Today, Ry cultivates flowers and vegetables on around 8 hectares (20 acres) of land in the shadow of the forest he helped plant. Ry says his plot used to be scrubland that he cleared for settlement and cultivation during the reforestation initiative. &#8220;I plant forests, not encroach on forest land,&#8221; Ry says. However, the land he farms is officially classified as forestry land rather than agricultural, a designation Ry is currently working to have changed. Nestled beneath a long, deep slope, surrounded by the protection forest of Tà Nung (in Đà Lạt city, Lâm Đồng province), the land where Trần Văn Ry cultivates various flowers and vegetables is all currently designated as forestry land. Image by Nam Phong. Delisting forest a quarter the size of Ho Chi Minh City In Lâm Đồng, Ry&#8217;s story isn’t unique. Agricultural land dots the hillsides and mountain slopes throughout the province, with patches of coffee and durian interspersed with pine forests. According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lâm Đồng province, agricultural production currently takes place on about 52,000 hectares (128,500 acres) zoned for forestry in the province. Rather than removing such encroachments, the province is seeking to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/forests-in-vietnams-central-highlands-at-risk-as-development-projects-take-priority/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/forests-in-vietnams-central-highlands-at-risk-as-development-projects-take-priority/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280840</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global cobalt rush drives toxic toll near DRC mines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/global-cobalt-rush-drives-toxic-toll-near-drc-mines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/global-cobalt-rush-drives-toxic-toll-near-drc-mines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2024 11:05:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Shaw]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Willie Shubert]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/27100901/10-Image-Medical-Centre-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280300</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Cobalt Capital]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[cobalt, Environment, extractives, Governance, Human Rights, Just Transition, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Pollution, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global race to secure minerals critical to the clean energy transition is driving toxic pollution with severe health repercussions for communities living near some of the world’s largest cobalt and copper mines, a new report says. U.K. corporate watchdog Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) and African Resources Watch (AFREWATCH), based in the Democratic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The global race to secure minerals critical to the clean energy transition is driving toxic pollution with severe health repercussions for communities living near some of the world’s largest cobalt and copper mines, a new report says. U.K. corporate watchdog Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) and African Resources Watch (AFREWATCH), based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), documented the devastating human and environmental impacts of industrial cobalt mining in the DRC, which holds around 70% of the world’s reserves of the mineral. Cobalt, mined as a byproduct of copper, is vital for the rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy technologies. The vast majority of the DRC’s cobalt comes from large industrial mines in its southern cobalt and copper belt, with the remainder produced by artisanal sources. Cobalt production here increased by around 600% over the last three decades, according to research cited by RAID and AFREWATCH. The vast majority of the DRC’s cobalt comes from large industrial mines in its southern cobalt and copper belt. Image by Andrés Alegría / Mongabay. Their findings show that the mining city of Kolwezi, home to more than 500,000 people, appears to be turning into a “sacrifice zone,” with water contamination leading to health consequences and human rights abuses, the groups said in a report shared exclusively with Mongabay. The report, published today, investigated five mines operated by Chinese and European multinationals. Together, they account for two-fifths of the global cobalt supply, much of it destined for major&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/global-cobalt-rush-drives-toxic-toll-near-drc-mines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/global-cobalt-rush-drives-toxic-toll-near-drc-mines/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280300</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Under the shadow of war in the DRC, a mining company acts with impunity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/under-the-shadow-of-war-in-the-drc-a-mining-companys-actions-face-impunity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/under-the-shadow-of-war-in-the-drc-a-mining-companys-actions-face-impunity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2024 07:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Didier MakalLatoya Abulu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/30123031/1-3.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280037</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Coal, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Degraded Lands, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Human Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Land-grabbing, lack of consultation, communities wiped off maps and impunity. These are the serious accusations made against the mining company Alphamin Bisie Mining SA by the Indigenous communities of Banamwesi and Motondo, which oversee community forest concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Years of complaints [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Land-grabbing, lack of consultation, communities wiped off maps and impunity. These are the serious accusations made against the mining company Alphamin Bisie Mining SA by the Indigenous communities of Banamwesi and Motondo, which oversee community forest concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Years of complaints by these communities and civil society organizations have been met with no reaction from provincial government officials or the mining company. Alphamin Bisie, which runs a tin mine neighboring the communities, has not responded to their concerns and does not recognize them as affected. In light of the conflict devastating the eastern DRC, the Indigenous inhabitants say the conflict is being used as a cover for the irregular activities taking place around them. “They are continuing to claim their rights because the [company’s] land occupation did not comply with the normal process,” said Fiston Misona, a leading member of civil society in Walikale, in a call with Mongabay. Despite Mongabay&#8217;s inquiries, the administrative authorities did not respond to requests for information and documentation on activities at the Bisie tin deposit. After nearly a year of attempts to reach the mining company, Alphamin Bisie finally responded to explain their position and deny the communities as the landowners. But answers did not put to rest allegations and findings that irregular activities are taking place. This area, covered with lush forests and savannas ideal for Indigenous communities&#8217; agropastoral activities, has all the makings of an Earthly paradise. This&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/under-the-shadow-of-war-in-the-drc-a-mining-companys-actions-face-impunity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/under-the-shadow-of-war-in-the-drc-a-mining-companys-actions-face-impunity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Huge new no-fishing zones give Antarctic marine predators and their prey a break</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/huge-new-no-fishing-zones-give-antarctic-marine-predators-and-their-prey-a-break/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/huge-new-no-fishing-zones-give-antarctic-marine-predators-and-their-prey-a-break/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2024 19:02:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/14144232/humpback-whale-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279830</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, Global Environmental Crisis, Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mongabay Data Studio, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thousands of miles off the southeast coast of South America lies a set of remote islands, one broad and comma-shaped, the others a series of small dots that trail off into the South Atlantic Ocean. These are the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, located north of the icy mass of Antarctica. The islands, which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thousands of miles off the southeast coast of South America lies a set of remote islands, one broad and comma-shaped, the others a series of small dots that trail off into the South Atlantic Ocean. These are the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, located north of the icy mass of Antarctica. The islands, which the U.K. governs as an overseas territory but which Argentina also claims, are inhabited by millions of seals and birds, and the surrounding waters teem with fish and krill. Baleen whales, such as humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin (Balaenoptera physalus) whales, make yearly migrations to this area to feast on the surplus of krill. On Feb. 26, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) government, which acts as an extension of the U.K. government, announced a decision to safeguard the marine biodiversity within its jurisdiction. A preexisting 1.24-million-square-kilometer (479,000-square-mile) marine protected area (MPA) around the islands was originally established in 2012, and it banned all bottom trawling as well as bottom fishing at depths less than 700 meters (2,300 feet). The government has now established new no-take zones within the MPA that will be adopted into SGSSI legislation. These new no-take zones prohibit all fishing on a total of 166,000 km2 (64,100 mi2) of the MPA, an area about eight times the size of Wales. Prior to these protections being put in place, the existing MPA already had 283,000 km2 (109,300 mi2) of other no-take areas. With the new no-take areas, the MPA is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/huge-new-no-fishing-zones-give-antarctic-marine-predators-and-their-prey-a-break/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279830</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New report details rights abuses in Cambodia’s Southern Cardamom REDD+ project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/new-report-details-rights-abuses-in-cambodias-southern-cardamom-redd-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/new-report-details-rights-abuses-in-cambodias-southern-cardamom-redd-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2024 00:01:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Gerryflynn]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/25084942/RESIZED-Koh-Kong-Prison_Mongabay-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279732</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Conservation, Culture, Deforestation, Forest Carbon, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Human Rights, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Mongabay Data Studio, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Redd, Social Conflict, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — A new report published by Human Rights Watch on Feb. 28 details a litany of alleged abuses in the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project, which covers a vast swath of rainforest across Cardamom National Park in southwest Cambodia. The 118-page report alleges that Wildlife Alliance, the conservation NGO that jointly manages the 465,000 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — A new report published by Human Rights Watch on Feb. 28 details a litany of alleged abuses in the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project, which covers a vast swath of rainforest across Cardamom National Park in southwest Cambodia. The 118-page report alleges that Wildlife Alliance, the conservation NGO that jointly manages the 465,000 hectares (1.15-million-acre) REDD+ project with the Ministry of Environment, didn’t secure the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the largely Indigenous communities whose land was absorbed into the project to sell carbon credits. The rights watchdog detailed numerous accounts from community members who alleged being forcibly and violently evicted by Wildlife Alliance staff as well as the government rangers and military police officers accompanying the NGO’s staff on patrols. According to HRW, customary land rights were ignored and Wildlife Alliance didn’t implement a formal benefit-sharing contract with the communities affected by the REDD+ project. Prior to the report’s release, Wildlife Alliance published a roughly 10,000-word open letter on Dec. 21, 2023, countering the claims made by HRW and expressing concerns over how the report was produced, as well as accusing HRW of failing “to acknowledge and incorporate into their allegations a comprehensive view of the project’s full impacts, nor critical elements of project- and country-level context.” (Wildlife Alliance’s website was in “maintenance mode” when Mongabay published this story; a snapshot of its open letter was archived here on March 8.) This map shows the scale of Wildlife Alliance&#8217;s REDD+ projects across the Cardamom Mountains.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/new-report-details-rights-abuses-in-cambodias-southern-cardamom-redd-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279732</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay Data Studio: Revealing nature’s hidden stories through data (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/mongabay-data-studio-revealing-natures-hidden-stories-through-data/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/mongabay-data-studio-revealing-natures-hidden-stories-through-data/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2024 11:58:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/08000102/takeoff-v2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279661</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, data, Environment, Green, Journalism, Mongabay Data Studio, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[High-quality data journalism serves as a powerful tool in elucidating complex environmental issues, transforming raw data into compelling narratives that illuminate the hidden stories behind the numbers. By employing rigorous data collection and analysis, journalists can uncover trends and patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed, providing a solid foundation for investigative reporting. But how do [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[High-quality data journalism serves as a powerful tool in elucidating complex environmental issues, transforming raw data into compelling narratives that illuminate the hidden stories behind the numbers. By employing rigorous data collection and analysis, journalists can uncover trends and patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed, providing a solid foundation for investigative reporting. But how do we translate this data into more accessible stories? Visual tools like infographics and interactive maps bring these statistics to life, making abstract concepts tangible and accessible to a broader audience. This not only strengthens public understanding but also fosters engagement by illustrating the direct impact of environmental changes on individual lives and communities. Moreover, data-driven stories can bridge the gap between scientific research and public discourse, translating dense and complex findings into digestible, relatable content. Regional map of fishing vessel activity off the coasts of Sicily and Tunisia during the study period, 2017-2021. Image © 2023 Global Fishing Watch. Ultimately, high-quality data journalism empowers citizens, policymakers and activists with the information needed to make informed decisions, driving meaningful action towards environmental sustainability and conservation. Through meticulous data analysis and creative storytelling, environmental journalism can thus significantly amplify its reach and impact, guiding society towards a more informed and conscientious stewardship of the natural world. Enter Mongabay Data Studio To this end, last month we announced Mongabay Data Studio (https://studio.mongabay.com/) which aims to strengthen our data journalism capabilities. Similar to a bureau but with broader, cross-cutting functions, the Data Studio supports data journalism across all of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/mongabay-data-studio-revealing-natures-hidden-stories-through-data/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279661</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Should all marine reserves ban fishing? Not necessarily, new study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/should-all-marine-reserves-ban-fishing-not-necessarily-new-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/should-all-marine-reserves-ban-fishing-not-necessarily-new-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Feb 2024 13:38:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/29131734/fish-many-fish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279318</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mongabay Data Studio, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Marine protected areas intended to safeguard biodiversity in the ocean come in many different sizes and shapes. Some cover large swaths of the ocean, while others are smaller in scale. There are also differences among MPAs regarding their rules, particularly when it comes to fishing. Some MPAs allow certain forms of fishing; others ban it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Marine protected areas intended to safeguard biodiversity in the ocean come in many different sizes and shapes. Some cover large swaths of the ocean, while others are smaller in scale. There are also differences among MPAs regarding their rules, particularly when it comes to fishing. Some MPAs allow certain forms of fishing; others ban it entirely or in some parts through what are known as no-take zones. But are no-take MPAs more effective at boosting fish populations than multiple-use MPAs, which do allow some fishing? A new study suggests that both types can improve fish populations, depending on where and how they’re set up. “There is a lot of emphasis on installing no-take MPAs, which is where fishing is not allowed, but we know there are some contexts where that is impossible or unethical,” study lead author David Gill, a marine scientist at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, told Mongabay. “We wanted to get a better sense of the relative impacts of these [different] types of MPAs, so that managers have the information to make the decision of what is the best approach to use.” The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Feb. 26, used data from 14,000 fish surveys across 216 MPAs to ascertain the respective performances of no-take MPAs and multiple-use MPAs. The authors found that when compared to zones without any protection, no-take MPAs increased fish biomass by 58.2%, and multiple-use MPAs increased it by 12.6%. But overall, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/should-all-marine-reserves-ban-fishing-not-necessarily-new-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279318</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Cambodia, an official’s cashew factory churns out timber from a protected forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2024 02:11:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/19155845/DJI_0744-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278997</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Corruption, Culture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Food Industry, Food Vs Forests Debate, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, International Trade, Mongabay Data Studio, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Selective Logging, Sustainable Development, Timber, timber trade, Trees, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Vegetation lurches over a concrete wall that runs alongside a quiet road in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear. Behind the wall, and the rusty gate that serves as the only entrance point, sits one of Cambodia’s three medium-sized cashew nut processing factories. At 2 p.m. on a Thursday in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Vegetation lurches over a concrete wall that runs alongside a quiet road in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear. Behind the wall, and the rusty gate that serves as the only entrance point, sits one of Cambodia’s three medium-sized cashew nut processing factories. At 2 p.m. on a Thursday in late November last year, the road is silent under the sun. Across the road, baking in the heat, sits a barren stretch of land where a forest once stood. In 2017, when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a program giving taxpayer-funded grants to help boost Cambodia’s agricultural productivity, it turned to outfits like this. Cambodia is a major producer of cashews, with some estimates suggesting as much as 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) reportedly under cultivation. But roughly 95% of its cashew exports are shipped raw to Vietnam, amounting to 711,513 metric tons in 2022, according to UN data, meaning that most of the profits from the nuts were generated elsewhere. Among the numerous agricultural suppliers to receive funding was the owner of this facility: Santana Agro Products, a politically connected company primarily focused on cashew cultivation and processing, to which USAID awarded $96,700 between Oct. 15, 2018, and March 31, 2020, and which is listed on the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Development Goals investor platform. Things were quiet outside the Santana Agro factory when reporters visited one afternoon in November 2023. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. Such investment&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-cambodia-an-officials-cashew-factory-churns-out-timber-from-a-protected-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278997</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate change, extreme weather &#038; conflict exacerbate global food crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/climate-change-extreme-weather-conflict-exacerbate-global-food-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/climate-change-extreme-weather-conflict-exacerbate-global-food-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2024 07:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abdulkareem MojeedPriscilla Misiekaba-KiaVitor Alexandre Araujo Prado dos Anjos]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/16130453/nigeria-farmers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278895</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering Climate Now and Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Brazil, Global, Nigeria, South America, and Suriname]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conflict, Drought, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Fellows, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Health, Mongabay Data Studio, Pesticides, Politics, Resource Conflict, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the past year, international agencies worldwide have continued to sound an alarm over surges in food insecurity that are plunging millions of people into extreme hunger, malnutrition and threats to their overall health. The U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) calls it “a hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions.” This worrying trend has been exacerbated by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the past year, international agencies worldwide have continued to sound an alarm over surges in food insecurity that are plunging millions of people into extreme hunger, malnutrition and threats to their overall health. The U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) calls it “a hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions.” This worrying trend has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate shocks and conflicts including the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2023 report on global food security and nutrition — released in July, months before the conflict in Gaza — some 735 million people faced hunger in 2022, an increase of 122 million people compared with 2019 pre-pandemic levels. The Caribbean, Western Asia and all subregions of Africa experienced the most alarming increases in these hunger levels. Worldwide, more than 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet, according to the report. That’s 42% of the world’s population, and a significant increase over pre-COVID levels. Since the Russia-Ukraine crisis began in February 2022, many countries that had relied substantially on Ukrainian grains for years have since borne the brunt of food price inflation due to significant supply shortfalls. Russia is a major exporter of wheat, and Ukraine is a significant producer of corn; prices for both crops spiked with the Russian invasion, and the destruction of ports sent further shocks throughout global markets. The war prompted other countries producing large amounts of staple foods to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/climate-change-extreme-weather-conflict-exacerbate-global-food-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278895</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Brazilian outback, the half-century Kapinawá struggle for sacred ground</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-the-brazilian-outback-the-half-century-kapinawa-struggle-for-sacred-ground/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-the-brazilian-outback-the-half-century-kapinawa-struggle-for-sacred-ground/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Feb 2024 10:41:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/02143206/%C2%A9Rafael-Martins-MONGABAY-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278491</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Mongabay Data Studio, Politics, Protected Areas, Social Justice, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BUÍQUE, Pernambuco, Brazil — In the Brazilian backlands, the jurema is a most willful tree: When you think it&#8217;s dead, it sprouts again. You can cut it, tear it down, burn it; at the first thunderstorm, its leaves tear through the soil again in search of light. Same thing for the Kapinawá, a people for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BUÍQUE, Pernambuco, Brazil — In the Brazilian backlands, the jurema is a most willful tree: When you think it&#8217;s dead, it sprouts again. You can cut it, tear it down, burn it; at the first thunderstorm, its leaves tear through the soil again in search of light. Same thing for the Kapinawá, a people for whom jurema is the most sacred of plants, a cosmic bridge between the living and the spirits. They, too, when believed extinct, resurfaced. &#8220;And, as the jurema sprouts again, its branches grow even stronger,&#8221; emphasizes Mocinha Kapinawá. It happened during the Cutting of the Wires. When Maria Bezerra da Silva – known today as Mocinha Kapinawá, a leader in Mina Grande village – was still a teenager, but already on the frontline in the fight against Colonel Romero Maranhão and his land-grabbers. Mocinha recounts that, since the mid-1970s, the residents of Mina Grande, now the largest village in the Kapinawá territory, had been under pressure from farmers wanting to take over their lands “because of the wealth we have here, which is water.” Indeed, the Kapinawá territory coincides geographically with the Catimbau Valley, a privileged point in the hinterlands of Pernambuco whose maze of hills stores an abundance of water sources — high-quality water that springs at the foothills, irrigates the vegetation and quenches the thirst of those in need. A Catimbau Valley landscape, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Image by Xavier Bartaburu/Mongabay. Maria Bezerra da Silva, known as Mocinha Kapinawá, leader in Mina Grande village. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/in-the-brazilian-outback-the-half-century-kapinawa-struggle-for-sacred-ground/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278491</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia’s Indigenous communities renounce communal land titles for microloans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/cambodias-indigenous-communities-renounce-communal-land-titles-for-microloans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/cambodias-indigenous-communities-renounce-communal-land-titles-for-microloans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jan 2024 17:47:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jack Brook]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/31142052/migration-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278271</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Mongabay Data Studio, and Poverty]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TA HEUY, Cambodia — Cambodian farmers Nuoy and Nangkek were both in their late 20s when they took out their first microloan in 2018 for around $600 to help grow their crops. Today, the couple owe more than $10,000 to two financial institutions charging 18% annual interest. Like many borrowers in a country with one [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TA HEUY, Cambodia — Cambodian farmers Nuoy and Nangkek were both in their late 20s when they took out their first microloan in 2018 for around $600 to help grow their crops. Today, the couple owe more than $10,000 to two financial institutions charging 18% annual interest. Like many borrowers in a country with one of the highest rates of microloans per capita, the couple spiraled deeper into debt as they borrowed more money to keep up with monthly payments on existing loans. Nuoy and Nangek also resorted to borrowing from several neighborhood lenders who charged even higher interest. Poor cashew harvests brought by heavy rains destroyed much of the only source of income the two had, forcing them last year to migrate to another part of the country to work in a car parts factory. The debt and stress have mounted. “I can’t sleep, I’m always thinking about the loan, can I get the money, how can I pay back the debt — now we are spending all our time trying to get money,” says Nuoy, who along with his wife requested a pseudonym to avoid repercussions from authorities and the microlenders. A farm in Ratanakiri province; farmers often rely on microloans to purchase fertilizer and other materials and equipment for cultivating cash crops. Image by Jack Brook for Mongabay. Most of the couple’s microloans had been collateralized by farmland in their ethnic Kreung and Brao village of Ta Heuy in northeastern Ratanakiri province, one of the regions of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/cambodias-indigenous-communities-renounce-communal-land-titles-for-microloans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278271</doi>				</item>
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