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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=montane-forests&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/montane-forests/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Montane Forests</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/montane-forests/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Myanmar’s botanical data gaps risk its unique flora, collaborations could help, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/myanmars-botanical-data-gaps-risk-its-unique-flora-collaborations-could-help-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/myanmars-botanical-data-gaps-risk-its-unique-flora-collaborations-could-help-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jan 2026 01:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/12120936/Calanthe_tricarinata_Wiki-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312847</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Botany, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Montane Forests, Plants, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar is a country of extremes. From tropical forests, mangroves and wetlands to frost-bitten alpine mountain slopes and jagged limestone karst outcrops, it’s home to tremendous botanical diversity. Orchids alone account for more than 1,200 species, and researchers have described scores of new-to-science plant species in recent years, including a color-shifting Begonia and a rare [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Myanmar is a country of extremes. From tropical forests, mangroves and wetlands to frost-bitten alpine mountain slopes and jagged limestone karst outcrops, it’s home to tremendous botanical diversity. Orchids alone account for more than 1,200 species, and researchers have described scores of new-to-science plant species in recent years, including a color-shifting Begonia and a rare type of ginger that flourishes in lofty cloud forests. Yet there remain glaring gaps in what’s known about Myanmar’s floristic diversity. “Myanmar hosts exceptionally high plant diversity and endemism,” Ke-Ping Ma, a biologist at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Mongabay. “However, there has been a long-standing lack [of] plant distribution data, due in part to limited field surveys and incomplete digitization of herbarium records.” Political instability inflamed by the 2021 military coup also severely hampers biological research. Some of the most unstable parts of Myanmar are also the most biologically rich. Once protected by their remoteness, these areas are increasingly threatened by rampant natural resource extraction as vying political groups seek to fund their operations. “Biodiversity is often one of the neglected victims of war because you can&#8217;t go and collect data, and you also can&#8217;t protect areas,” said Alice Hughes, a biologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. “We have very little data even on basic things like [patterns of] habitat destruction. Whilst we can get some of that information from satellites, obviously, anything requiring on-the-ground information is very, very challenging.” There are 14,020 vascular plant species recorded in Myanmar,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/myanmars-botanical-data-gaps-risk-its-unique-flora-collaborations-could-help-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/myanmars-botanical-data-gaps-risk-its-unique-flora-collaborations-could-help-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312847</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A new frog species emerges from Peru’s cloud forests — and it’s already at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-new-frog-species-emerges-from-perus-cloud-forests-and-its-already-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-new-frog-species-emerges-from-perus-cloud-forests-and-its-already-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 22:32:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30222607/O.shunkusacha-768x466.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312381</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Cloud Forests, Community-based Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Loss, Frogs, Green, Habitat Loss, Herps, Montane Forests, New Discovery, Rainforests, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep within the cloud forests of the San Martín region of Peru lie two places so high, cold and remote that they remained virtually unexplored for decades. In 2022, and again in 2025, monitors from three Indigenous and local associations guided a team of scientists from Peru and France on a series of expeditions to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep within the cloud forests of the San Martín region of Peru lie two places so high, cold and remote that they remained virtually unexplored for decades. In 2022, and again in 2025, monitors from three Indigenous and local associations guided a team of scientists from Peru and France on a series of expeditions to unravel their mysteries. It was there, within the Bosques de Vaquero Biocorridor, that one of the most striking discoveries emerged: a small, previously unknown frog hidden among the fallen leaves. They named it Shunku Sacha, which in Kichawa-Lamista means “heart of the forest.” The scientific name of the new species, Oreobates shunkusacha, honors the territory where it was discovered — a place that, along with the frog, is now threatened by the rapid destruction of the forest. O. shunkusacha was formally described in a study recently published in the German journal Salamandra. Due to the threats facing the species and its small known range, the study’s authors say it should be considered endangered. A collaborative effort The research was carried out by local associations and scientists from Nature Conserv’Action and the Ararankha Association–Ecology and Conservation, who have been working in the area since 2022, with the aim of bringing science closer to local organizations that protect the forests. The species has been named Oreobates shunkusacha, with Shunku Sacha meaning “heart of the forest” in Kichawa-Lamista. In their study, researchers propose “Shunku Sacha big-headed frog” as the species’ common name. Image courtesy of Nature Conserv’Action Perú.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-new-frog-species-emerges-from-perus-cloud-forests-and-its-already-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-new-frog-species-emerges-from-perus-cloud-forests-and-its-already-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312381</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘A big no’: Opposition grows to proposed mine in Malawi’s newest UNESCO site</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-big-no-opposition-grows-to-proposed-mine-in-malawis-newest-unesco-site/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-big-no-opposition-grows-to-proposed-mine-in-malawis-newest-unesco-site/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2025 23:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/04215636/Adobe-Express-file-23-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308825</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Malawi, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Critically Endangered Species, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Mining, Montane Forests, Mountains, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Trees, Tropical Forests, and UNESCO World Heritage Site]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A controversial proposed mining project in Malawi’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site is raising opposition from traditional chiefs and conservationists. Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi is a renowned biodiversity hotspot, a vital source of freshwater, and is of huge spiritual significance to the communities that live on and around it. In June, the mountain was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A controversial proposed mining project in Malawi’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site is raising opposition from traditional chiefs and conservationists. Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi is a renowned biodiversity hotspot, a vital source of freshwater, and is of huge spiritual significance to the communities that live on and around it. In June, the mountain was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Malawi’s third. Mulanje conservationists say they fear that proposed mining projects on the mountain’s high-altitude plateau would threaten the mountain’s ecological integrity, jeopardize tourism development and undo hard-won gains in sustainable development. A sacred mountain rich in endemic species Mount Mulanje is a massive inselberg in southern Malawi, its forested slopes rising steeply to a broad plateau with 13 peaks, reaching an altitude of 3,002 meters (9,849 feet) at its highest point. Nine perennial rivers drain from the upper slopes, and the mountain is home to more than 70 endemic species, including the critically endangered Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei), Malawi’s national tree. The critically endangered Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei), also called the Mulanje cypress, is found only on Mount Mulanje between 1,830 and 2,550 meters (6,004 to 8,366 feet). It is threatened by logging and human-caused wildfires. Image by Amanita Phalloides via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). More than a million people live in the surrounding districts of Mulanje and Phalombe, and rely on the mountain and its forests for clean water, firewood, edible forest products, protection from storms, income from tourism, and more. The mountain is considered sacred&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-big-no-opposition-grows-to-proposed-mine-in-malawis-newest-unesco-site/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308825</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After a hiatus, an endemic plant bursts into life in Sri Lanka’s central hills</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/after-a-hiatus-an-endemic-plant-bursts-into-life-in-sri-lankas-central-hills/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/after-a-hiatus-an-endemic-plant-bursts-into-life-in-sri-lankas-central-hills/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2025 10:37:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/23100402/1-Nelu-bloom-at-Hortan-Plains-c-Jinapriya-Gallage-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308200</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cloud Forests, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Ethics, Flowers, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Montane Forests, Plants, Pollinators, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Every dozen years or so, Sri Lanka’s mist-shrouded highlands burst into color. Violet, pink and white carpets of tiny blooms spread across the grasslands of the Horton Plains and other hill country trails, drawing thousands of visitors eager to witness one of nature’s rarest spectacles: the mass flowering of nelu, a group of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Every dozen years or so, Sri Lanka’s mist-shrouded highlands burst into color. Violet, pink and white carpets of tiny blooms spread across the grasslands of the Horton Plains and other hill country trails, drawing thousands of visitors eager to witness one of nature’s rarest spectacles: the mass flowering of nelu, a group of native shrubs belonging to the genus Strobilanthes, known for synchronized mass flowering occurring every 4-12 years. Strobilanthes shrubs bloom together, set seed and then die, transforming the landscape in a breathtaking but fleeting display of sheer floral beauty. Yet, behind this beauty lies a scientific mystery. These plants flower so rarely and in a perfectly synchronized manner. It only adds to the allure of this natural wonder, even as crowds flock to see the floral carpets, exerting new pressure on the fragile montane ecosystem. Sri Lanka is home to 35 nelu species, where 30 of them are endemic to the country, however, only a few species contribute to the scenic mass blooming. Image courtesy of Jinapriya Gallage. What is nelu? “Nelu” is not a single species but a group of shrubs belonging to the genus Strobilanthes in the Acanthaceae family, which includes hundreds of species across tropical Asia. Sri Lanka is home to 35 Strobilanthes species, of which 30  are endemic, with a majority of them found only in the island’s Central Highlands, says Nilanthi Rajapakse of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), whose studies led to discovery of three nelu species new to science. Different&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/after-a-hiatus-an-endemic-plant-bursts-into-life-in-sri-lankas-central-hills/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/after-a-hiatus-an-endemic-plant-bursts-into-life-in-sri-lankas-central-hills/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308200</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Discovery of dazzling blue butterfly underscores peril facing Angola&#8217;s forests </title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/discovery-of-dazzling-blue-butterfly-underscores-peril-facing-angolas-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/discovery-of-dazzling-blue-butterfly-underscores-peril-facing-angolas-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Sep 2025 06:27:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/02145151/e0f3ff0a-b3b3-4107-9183-9be85255d203-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305307</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Drinking Water, Environment, Fires, forest degradation, Forests, Governance, Grasslands, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Montane Forests, Mountains, New Discovery, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, Research, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Francis’s gorgeous sapphire — a new-to-science species of butterfly — has just been described in the high-altitude evergreen forests of western Angola. The identification of Iolaus francisi, with its shimmering blue upper wings bordered with black, and silvery underwings patterned with orange and brown lines highlights once more the rich biodiversity of the country&#8217;s most [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Francis’s gorgeous sapphire — a new-to-science species of butterfly — has just been described in the high-altitude evergreen forests of western Angola. The identification of Iolaus francisi, with its shimmering blue upper wings bordered with black, and silvery underwings patterned with orange and brown lines highlights once more the rich biodiversity of the country&#8217;s most threatened habitat. Ecologist Alan Gardiner recalls the exciting moment he and Zimbabwean lepidopterists (butterfly experts) Jonathan Francis and Shabani Ndarama first saw a male sapphire shining in a forest patch during an expedition to the Namba Mountains in Cuanza Sul province in May 2023. “It&#8217;s always special when you see something like that,&#8221; says Gardiner, head of applied research at the South African Wildlife College. &#8220;It’s so much more vivid than you can get in a picture.” &nbsp; Described recently in the journal Zootaxa, Francis’s gorgeous sapphire is now one of 13 unique butterflies known only from this region. Its caterpillars feed on the leaves of Phragmanthera mistletoes and mimic the hairy buds growing on the stems. Francis had collected two caterpillars of the butterfly in the Namba Mountains during an earlier trip in October 2022. He reared them back home in Zimbabwe, feeding them on the leaves of mistletoe plants he had cultivated in his Harare garden years earlier. “If I didn’t have the [mistletoe] leaves, I would have lost them.” The butterflies that emerged were both females, with distinctive undersides bearing an extra stripe that no other Iolaus butterflies have, he says. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/discovery-of-dazzling-blue-butterfly-underscores-peril-facing-angolas-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-305307</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mounting risks due to climate change threaten Sri Lanka’s endemic species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/mounting-risks-due-to-climate-change-threaten-sri-lankas-endemic-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/mounting-risks-due-to-climate-change-threaten-sri-lankas-endemic-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2025 06:51:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/16055050/Pseudophilautus-poppiae-c-Sanoj-Wijayasekara-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300808</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Montane Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – During the Ice Ages, there was a decrease in global sea levels, creating a land bridge between Sri Lanka and India, only to have the then-warmer interglacial periods reverse this, isolating the Indian Ocean island. This triggered cycles of connection and separation that enabled gene flow with the mainland, followed by periods of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – During the Ice Ages, there was a decrease in global sea levels, creating a land bridge between Sri Lanka and India, only to have the then-warmer interglacial periods reverse this, isolating the Indian Ocean island. This triggered cycles of connection and separation that enabled gene flow with the mainland, followed by periods of isolation that drove speciation resulting in the rich biodiversity Sri Lanka harbors today. A recent study is offering fresh insights into how human-induced climate change may be reversing this evolutionary success story. The very species that evolved as endemics during these ancient climatic shifts are today among the most at risk. “We analyzed 233 endemic vertebrate species, including amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals” says Iresha Wijerathne of Guangxi University, lead author of the study. While Sri Lanka is home to 370 endemic vertebrates, including 101 amphibians, 154 reptiles, 34 birds and 20 mammals, only 233 had sufficient data for modeling. The researchers used species distribution modeling (SDM) techniques to project the impacts of climate change by 2100. Leaf-nosed lizards (Ceratophora tennentii) are found in the wet tropical montane cloud forests of Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range at elevations of 760–1,220 meters (2,490–4,000 feet). Image courtesy of Sanoj Wijayasekara. SDM uses environmental variables like temperature, rainfall, elevation and vegetation to predict how suitable habitats for a species may shift over time. These projections are critical for habitat-specific species with limited ranges, particularly endemics. Globally, climate change is expected to alter species distributions through rising temperatures, shifting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/mounting-risks-due-to-climate-change-threaten-sri-lankas-endemic-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300808</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate change spikes wildfire risk in Sri Lanka</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/climate-change-spikes-wildfire-risk-in-sri-lanka/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/climate-change-spikes-wildfire-risk-in-sri-lanka/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 11:31:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/25110830/1-Fire-at-Ravana-Falls-forest-c-Enoka-Kudavidanage-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296417</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Habitat Loss, and Montane Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – Ella, one of Sri Lanka’s most popular tourist destinations, draws scores of foreign visitors who come to admire its natural beauty and marvel at engineering wonders like the famous nine-arched bridge, also known as the “Bridge in the Sky.” But in February, those visitors witnessed a very different scene — not the lush [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – Ella, one of Sri Lanka’s most popular tourist destinations, draws scores of foreign visitors who come to admire its natural beauty and marvel at engineering wonders like the famous nine-arched bridge, also known as the “Bridge in the Sky.” But in February, those visitors witnessed a very different scene — not the lush greenery they expected, but massive flames of orange and red engulfing the hills around Ella. For several days, a forest fire raged through the Ella Forest Reserve, turning a scenic paradise into a zone of destruction. “Sri Lanka experiences two peak wildfire seasons — from February to March and again from July to August. We usually prepare for these periods, but this year, the dry season started earlier than usual, catching us off-guard,” said Wasantha Gajanayake, conservator of forests and head of biodiversity and watershed conservation at the Department of Forest Conservation. In just the first two months of 2025, Sri Lanka recorded more than 40 small- and large-scale forest fires, according to Gajanayake. The fire in Ravana Ella Sanctuary alone destroyed more than 242 hectares (598 acres) of forest — a critical habitat for numerous plant and animal species. A lot of human power is required to douse a forest fire. Image shows airmen trying to douse a fire in Ella Forest in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. Image courtesy of the Sri Lanka Air Force. Increasing wildfires Forest fires are a growing concern in Sri Lanka. Though not as frequent or massive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/climate-change-spikes-wildfire-risk-in-sri-lanka/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/climate-change-spikes-wildfire-risk-in-sri-lanka/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296417</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/bolivias-el-curichi-las-garzas-protected-area-taken-over-by-land-grabbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/bolivias-el-curichi-las-garzas-protected-area-taken-over-by-land-grabbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2024 16:09:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nelfi Fernández Reyes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/06150106/1-MS-RESERVA-LAS-GARZAS-14-min-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279563</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Dry Forests, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Jaguars, Montane Forests, National Parks, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Regardless of what satellite images show, inhabitants who have illegally planted crops within the protected area told committee officials that they “take care of Curichi”, because each union member’s rice plots do not exceed three hectares. Behind their crops, a row of trees is visible in the background. So, on approaching the area, the officials [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Regardless of what satellite images show, inhabitants who have illegally planted crops within the protected area told committee officials that they “take care of Curichi”, because each union member’s rice plots do not exceed three hectares. Behind their crops, a row of trees is visible in the background. So, on approaching the area, the officials were understandably surprised to discover that more crops lay behind the trees. The Global Forest Watch (GFW) satellite monitoring platform confirms this loss of forest cover. Images show that some 5,005 deforestation alerts were recorded between August 2022 and November 2023. Vitally, 4,558 of that total were generated between October and November 2023 alone. Each deforestation alert represents a loss of 30×30 meters of tropical forest, equivalent to the size of a basketball court. These figures disprove what agricultural union members told officials, saying “this has been going on for 20 years.” Active fire alerts picked up by VIIRS, NASA’s monitoring technology, also reveal that 42 hot spots were recorded between September and November 2023, the highest number for a decade. Fire is often used to clear land in preparation for planting crops. Councilwoman Mónica Vaca Gil, one of the committee members, was shocked by the extent of the damage. She says that she had tried to inspect the reserve in 2021, but was unable to complete her visit because the invaders took the local guide hostage and repeatedly assaulted him, eventually breaking his nose. On that occasion, she says, together with four other council&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/bolivias-el-curichi-las-garzas-protected-area-taken-over-by-land-grabbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/bolivias-el-curichi-las-garzas-protected-area-taken-over-by-land-grabbers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279563</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/authorities-struggle-to-protect-bolivian-national-park-from-drug-fueled-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/authorities-struggle-to-protect-bolivian-national-park-from-drug-fueled-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Mar 2024 02:20:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes TamayoNelfi Fernández Reyes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/01022247/IMG_9911-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279354</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Dry Forests, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Jaguars, Montane Forests, National Parks, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2020, a Mongabay reporting team visited Bolivia’s Amboró National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area and found that portions of its protected forest had been cleared and replaced by illegal coca crops. Coca is a plant native to South America and is used to produce cocaine. Satellite imagery and data show that deforestation has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2020, a Mongabay reporting team visited Bolivia’s Amboró National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area and found that portions of its protected forest had been cleared and replaced by illegal coca crops. Coca is a plant native to South America and is used to produce cocaine. Satellite imagery and data show that deforestation has increased in Amboró since then. However, Vice Minister of Social Defense and Controlled Substances, Jaime Mamani, told Mongabay and El Deber reporters that authorities had eradicated some 443 hectares (1,094 acres) of coca crops in the park as of October 2023. Global Forest Watch recorded some 256,000 deforestation alerts between November 2021 and November 2023 in Amboró. Each of the alerts represents the loss of 30 square meters of tropical forest (98.4 square acres). Many of these alerts coincided with fire activity in the park. Román Vitrón, an environmental expert who has worked in the National Service of Protected Areas (known by its Spanish acronym, Sernap) and is familiar with the issues affecting Amboró, said it is highly likely this recent deforestation was done for the purpose of coca cultivation. “Do you think someone interested in planting banana or papaya will go into the park to clear [areas] given how hard it is to get here by foot?” Vitrón told reporters. Vitrón added that coca leaves can be harvested up to four times per year, which makes the crop highly profitable. Andreína Tolavi, former Amboró park director, announced the presence of coca inside the park in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/authorities-struggle-to-protect-bolivian-national-park-from-drug-fueled-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/authorities-struggle-to-protect-bolivian-national-park-from-drug-fueled-deforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279354</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest diversity is key to Southeast Asia’s climate adaptability, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-diversity-is-key-to-southeast-asias-climate-adaptability-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-diversity-is-key-to-southeast-asias-climate-adaptability-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jan 2024 13:45:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/31134213/06_SLR_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278274</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Habitat, Montane Forests, Rainforests, Research, Savannas, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Throughout history, philosophers have told us that in order to best prepare for the future, we should look to the past. Wisdom, knowledge and new perspectives can often emerge out of a greater understanding of what went before. And it’s no different when it comes to predicting how nature will respond to projected climate change. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Throughout history, philosophers have told us that in order to best prepare for the future, we should look to the past. Wisdom, knowledge and new perspectives can often emerge out of a greater understanding of what went before. And it’s no different when it comes to predicting how nature will respond to projected climate change. A new paleoecological study based on environmental records going as far back as 119,000 years ago suggests that Southeast Asia’s forests could be more resilient to climate shifts than previously thought, provided a diversity of ecosystems is maintained. In contrast to a widely held theory that tracts of Southeast Asia’s lowland forests morphed abruptly into a vast savanna corridor in response to the cool and seasonal climate during the peak of the last ice age roughly 20,000 years ago, the international research team found evidence that forests largely persisted across the landscape at that time. Rather than an abrupt shift from forest to grassland, the researchers documented smooth transitions between lowland rainforest, open-canopy seasonally dry forest with a grassy understory, and tropical montane forest. This mosaic of forest types indicates the region’s ecosystems had the capacity to “resist and recover from” climate stress, the study says. The new insights back up calls from conservationists to preserve a diverse mix of forest types in well-connected networks across Southeast Asia to afford the region the best chances of adapting to climate change impacts. “Preservation of forest types that facilitate resilience should be a priority,” Rebecca Hamilton, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-diversity-is-key-to-southeast-asias-climate-adaptability-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/forest-diversity-is-key-to-southeast-asias-climate-adaptability-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278274</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Laos, forest loss and carbon emissions escalate as agriculture intensifies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/in-laos-forest-loss-and-carbon-emissions-escalate-as-agriculture-intensifies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/in-laos-forest-loss-and-carbon-emissions-escalate-as-agriculture-intensifies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2023 15:52:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/12153454/Banner_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276628</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Crops, data, Deforestation, Environment, Farming, food security, Forest Carbon, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, LiDAR, Montane Forests, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the government of Laos continues to prioritize a hydropower-heavy agenda to generate export revenues while striving toward greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, it may be overlooking soaring carbon emissions from intact forest loss right under its nose. A new study published in Environmental Research Letters indicates a recent expansion and intensification of shifting cultivation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the government of Laos continues to prioritize a hydropower-heavy agenda to generate export revenues while striving toward greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, it may be overlooking soaring carbon emissions from intact forest loss right under its nose. A new study published in Environmental Research Letters indicates a recent expansion and intensification of shifting cultivation in Laos, resulting in direct loss of forests, degradation of important carbon sink ecosystems, and substantial increases in carbon emissions. The findings build on research published earlier this year that used satellite data to map the extent of shifting cultivation in Laos between 1991 and 2020, revealing that it affected roughly one-third of the total land area of Laos over the past three decades. Shifting cultivation is a type of rotational farming typically practiced by small-scale subsistence farmers. Also known as swidden agriculture, it involves clearing and burning a plot of land to fertilize the soil for growing crops. After a short period of cultivation, the land is left fallow and the farmer moves on to a new patch, affording the vegetation time to regenerate. “Shifting cultivation is an important land use in the tropics, but it has a number of negative consequences like carbon emissions, biodiversity loss and it can even spread wildfire if it’s not controlled very well,” Shijuan Chen, a postdoctoral associate at Yale University and lead author of both studies, told Mongabay. Recently cleared land within a shifting agriculture system on steep ground in India. Image by Rohitjahnavi via Wikimedia Commons&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/in-laos-forest-loss-and-carbon-emissions-escalate-as-agriculture-intensifies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276628</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smallholders and loggers push deeper into Sumatra’s largest park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/smallholders-and-loggers-push-deeper-into-sumatras-largest-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/smallholders-and-loggers-push-deeper-into-sumatras-largest-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2023 23:43:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/29231647/Sumatran_T-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276112</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Loss, Gold Mining, Green, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Mining, Mongabay Data Studio, Montane Forests, National Parks, Pangolins, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tigers, Tropical Forests, and UNESCO World Heritage Site]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At almost 1.4 million hectares (3.4 million acres), a little smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut, Kerinci Seblat National Park is the second-largest park in Indonesia, and a jewel of the island of Sumatra. It’s also home to the largest tiger population left in the country. But Kerinci Seblat continues to lose forest to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At almost 1.4 million hectares (3.4 million acres), a little smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut, Kerinci Seblat National Park is the second-largest park in Indonesia, and a jewel of the island of Sumatra. It’s also home to the largest tiger population left in the country. But Kerinci Seblat continues to lose forest to local people clearing it for agriculture and illegal logging. Satellite imagery and data show ongoing, continuous incursions into the park’s rainforest. Surprisingly, the cause may be due in part to the humble potato. “Most of the potatoes in Jambi [province] come from Kerinci [Seblat National Park],” a trader told Mongabay earlier this year. Between 2002 and 2022, Kerinci Seblat lost 55,200 hectares (136,400 acres), according to satellite data from Global Forest Watch, amounting to a loss of 4.3% of its primary forest cover. Worryingly, it’s lost more forest in recent years than in the first decade of the century. Between 2016 and 2022 Kerinci Seblat lost more than half of the total during that two-decade period. Recent reporting by Mongabay found that much of the farming around and inside Kerinci Seblat is for cultivating potatoes. According to the government statistics agency in Jambi province, in 2020 potato crops covered 5,630 hectares (13,912 acres) in Jambi, one of four provinces straddled by Kerinci Seblat. Potatoes became a popular crop in the region after the price for cinnamon collapsed in the late 1990s. However, cinnamon trees remain a staple in the area, alongside tomatoes, coffee, cloves and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/smallholders-and-loggers-push-deeper-into-sumatras-largest-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/smallholders-and-loggers-push-deeper-into-sumatras-largest-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276112</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community forest association helps hold the line to protect Mount Kenya forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/community-forest-association-helps-hold-the-line-to-protect-mount-kenya-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/community-forest-association-helps-hold-the-line-to-protect-mount-kenya-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2023 15:29:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shadrack Omuka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/06115031/mount-kenya-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275023</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Montane Forests, Mountains, Reforestation, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fire, illegal logging and invasive species have claimed 20% of the forests on the southwestern slopes of Mount Kenya in the last 20 years. The 700 members of the Chehe Forest Association are working to protect their area’s remaining Afromontane forests from further damage. The village of Chehe is perched at 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fire, illegal logging and invasive species have claimed 20% of the forests on the southwestern slopes of Mount Kenya in the last 20 years. The 700 members of the Chehe Forest Association are working to protect their area’s remaining Afromontane forests from further damage. The village of Chehe is perched at 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above sea level on the slopes of Mount Kenya, 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Evergreen stands of pencil cedar and East African yellowwood dominate on the lower slopes of the mountain, below 2,500 m (8,200 ft); giving way to the broader leaves of African onionwood and dense stands of bamboo in higher areas with more rainfall. These forests are home to tree hyraxes, mongoose, and black-fronted duikers — more rarely spotted on the mountain’s slopes are leopards and giant forest hogs. Residents of Chehe and other communities nearby rely on the forest for herbal medicines, grass for livestock, and as a place to perform cultural rituals. The forests are also an important tourist attraction, designated an important bird area by BirdLife International. The Chehe Forest Block is one of just a handful of places where the endangered Abbott’s starling  (Arizelospar femoralis) can still be found. There are only around 1,300 of these birds scattered sparsely across seven shrinking patches of highland forest in Kenya and Tanzania, the males easily identifiable by their distinctive white bellies and blue-black backs and breasts. Over the past 20 years, illegal loggers and farmers encroaching&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/community-forest-association-helps-hold-the-line-to-protect-mount-kenya-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/community-forest-association-helps-hold-the-line-to-protect-mount-kenya-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275023</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal’s clouded leopard research needs more attention: Q&#038;A with Yadav Ghimirey</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/nepals-clouded-leopard-research-needs-more-attention-qa-with-yadav-ghimirey/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/nepals-clouded-leopard-research-needs-more-attention-qa-with-yadav-ghimirey/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2023 07:34:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/06065611/clouded-leopard-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274994</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Montane Forests, Predators, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of the most elusive cat species found in Nepal, with a conservation status categorized as vulnerable. The cat, called dhwase chituwa in Nepali (which translates to smoky leopard) for its unique pelt has been recorded in different regions of Asia ranging from the Himalaya foothills in Nepal through [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of the most elusive cat species found in Nepal, with a conservation status categorized as vulnerable. The cat, called dhwase chituwa in Nepali (which translates to smoky leopard) for its unique pelt has been recorded in different regions of Asia ranging from the Himalaya foothills in Nepal through mainland Southeast Asia into China. Nepal (the Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape in particular) is considered the westernmost fringe habitat of the animal, which was recorded by camera trap for the first time in 2010, in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park in the Kathmandu Valley. It was subsequently reported farther east in Langtang, Makalu–Barun, Kanchenjunga and Chitwan-Annapurna. Not only is the cat rare, researchers focusing on the felid species are also hard to find in the country. Yadav Ghimirey, who is pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Florida, is one of the pioneering researchers studying clouded leopards in the country. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi talked to Ghimirey over a video call recently about the state of clouded leopard research in Nepal, its challenges and future prospects. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and edited for clarity. Yadav Ghimirey, who is pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Florida, is one of the pioneering researchers studying clouded leopards in the country. Image courtesy of Yadav Ghimirey. Mongabay: How did you develop interest in clouded leopards? Yadav Ghimirey: I don’t exactly remember. Many animals are named as “common”; for example, common leopard and common pigeon. But the clouded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/nepals-clouded-leopard-research-needs-more-attention-qa-with-yadav-ghimirey/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/nepals-clouded-leopard-research-needs-more-attention-qa-with-yadav-ghimirey/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274994</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drug trafficking imperils national park and Indigenous reserves in the Peruvian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/drug-trafficking-imperils-national-park-and-indigenous-reserves-in-the-peruvian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/drug-trafficking-imperils-national-park-and-indigenous-reserves-in-the-peruvian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2023 17:50:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrique Vera]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/03174450/1-Montanas-Otishi-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274969</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community-based Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Environment, Forest Loss, Green, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Mongabay Data Studio, Montane Forests, National Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AYACUCHO, Peru — From the sky, cleared areas periodically interrupted the green grasslands and steep mountains of the Asháninka Communal Reserve and Otishi National Park in Peru. Wide expanses of deforested land lay scattered between mountain peaks. Via helicopter, Mongabay Latam reporters observed an immense mosaic of trees, pastures and agriculture, but crops couldn’t be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AYACUCHO, Peru — From the sky, cleared areas periodically interrupted the green grasslands and steep mountains of the Asháninka Communal Reserve and Otishi National Park in Peru. Wide expanses of deforested land lay scattered between mountain peaks. Via helicopter, Mongabay Latam reporters observed an immense mosaic of trees, pastures and agriculture, but crops couldn’t be identified from the air. Operated by the Peruvian Armed Forces, the helicopter began its flight at the southern ends of the reserves before following coordinates to several areas identified by Peru’s National Service of Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP) as showing signs of deforestation. Whenever the cloud cover relented, the pilot flew close to deforested areas. On this particular afternoon in May 2023, there were no signs of illegal loggers, but a wide path winding along one side of the forest was the most likely evidence of human activity. For more than two hours, the military helicopter flew over similar scenes: extensive jungle pockmarked by scattered scars of forest destruction. The helicopter also hovered over two long stretches of rocky, rectangular cleared land in the middle of the rainforest. “[These] are unauthorized airstrips and it appears they are inactive,” said Jeff Morgan, the executive director of Global Conservation, an international organization working  to protect endangered ecosystems. An airstrip near Otishi National Park, which allows planes to transport illicit cargo in and out of the park. Image by Planet Labs via Global Forest Watch. A Mongabay Latam analysis of satellite imagery captured by Planet Lab found evidence&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/drug-trafficking-imperils-national-park-and-indigenous-reserves-in-the-peruvian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/drug-trafficking-imperils-national-park-and-indigenous-reserves-in-the-peruvian-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274969</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2023 23:15:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/22222354/Nasikabatrachus_sahyadrensis_Davidraju_IMG_3616-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268810</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Climate Change, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Erosion, Forests, Frogs, Global Warming, Green, Herps, Infrastructure, Mongabay Data Studio, Montane Forests, National Parks, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rivers, Roads, Species, Tourism, Tropical Forests, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nestled within the lofty Cardamom Hills, which forms part of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies the picturesque town of Munnar in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Lush green tea gardens carpet the rolling hills of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot, interspersed by coffee and cardamom plantations. Groves of eucalyptus, black [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nestled within the lofty Cardamom Hills, which forms part of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies the picturesque town of Munnar in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Lush green tea gardens carpet the rolling hills of the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot, interspersed by coffee and cardamom plantations. Groves of eucalyptus, black wattle and acacia—trees grown for firewood and timber—are peppered within these plantations. Patches of shola forests—stunted tropical montane forests which once covered all these hills—lie scattered across the landscape as remnants of the past. Today, forests blanket just over half of Idukki, the district where Munnar is located, and are mostly found inside protected areas, including Eravikulam National Park, Anamudi Shola National Park, and Periyar National Park. The cloud-kissed hills and verdant valleys of idyllic Munnar beckon many wanderlusts with love for nature. But as tourism booms in the town and around, roads, electric lines and other infrastructure have mushroomed, and forested land is increasingly encroached upon to make way for more resorts and plantations. While protected areas provide a safe haven to charismatic animals, like the elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) that often wander into tea plantations or the endemic Nilgiri tahrs (Nilgiritragus hylocrius), tiny frogs and toads—often inconspicuous but highly diverse—are at risk of being lost in the shuffle. “Kerala is home to more than 200 species of amphibians, including frogs, toads as well as caecilians,” herpetologist Sandeep Das, who has studied the taxonomy and ecology of many amphibian species in the southern Western&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/as-tourism-booms-in-indias-western-ghats-habitat-loss-pushes-endangered-frogs-to-the-edge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268810</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fires threaten Afromontane forests’ ‘whole new world’: Q&#038;A with Martim Melo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/fires-threaten-afromontane-forests-whole-new-world-qa-with-martim-melo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/fires-threaten-afromontane-forests-whole-new-world-qa-with-martim-melo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2023 21:19:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/20080653/1-Namba-Species-Bird-Orange_Ground-Trush-%C2%A9LukePowell-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267661</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation Potential]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forests, Governance, Grasslands, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Montane Forests, Mountains, New Discovery, Protected Areas, Research, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Afromontane forests occur at high altitudes across Africa. They’re thought to be relics of former glacial periods in Africa. Studying genetic data from birds living in these moist temperate forests, scientists have reconstructed the history of this habitat. A prime example are the forests on Angola’s Namba Mountains, which are a link or stepping stone [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Afromontane forests occur at high altitudes across Africa. They’re thought to be relics of former glacial periods in Africa. Studying genetic data from birds living in these moist temperate forests, scientists have reconstructed the history of this habitat. A prime example are the forests on Angola’s Namba Mountains, which are a link or stepping stone between similar Afromontane habitats in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, and others farther west, in Cameroon, according to Martim Melo, a biodiversity researcher at the University of Porto in Portugal. In Angola, these forests are naturally defended against fire by belts of vegetation that don’t easily burn, and which typically offer protection to their moist, species-rich interiors. But excessive, uncontrolled burning by farmers around the forests is undermining the ability of that protective belt to recover, and fires are increasingly entering the forests themselves. If such uncontrolled burning is allowed to persist, the Namba Mountains’ forests could be lost or highly degraded within the next five to 10 years. With them will go the myriad species that live in them, including nearly 90 species of forest bird, some of them unique to Angola. The Namba Mountains are a link or stepping stone between similar Afromontane habitats in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, and others far to the west, in Cameroon. Image © Alexandre Vaz. Melo and other scientists are calling for swift action by the Angolan government and conservation charities to protect Namba’s forests. Now back in Portugal, Melo spoke to Mongabay about the Namba Mountain Forests. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/fires-threaten-afromontane-forests-whole-new-world-qa-with-martim-melo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/fires-threaten-afromontane-forests-whole-new-world-qa-with-martim-melo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267661</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Crafting Nepal’s conservation success: Q&#038;A with Sharad Chandra Adhikary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/crafting-nepals-conservation-success-qa-with-sharad-chandra-adhikary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/crafting-nepals-conservation-success-qa-with-sharad-chandra-adhikary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2022 13:14:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/21121122/rhinos-in-nepal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263945</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Montane Forests, Mountains, Protected Areas, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — The National Trust for Nature Conservation was set up in 1982 as a semi-governmental body to spearhead conservation activities in Nepal. Today, it manages some of the most important conservation areas across the Himalayan nation, including the Annapurna Conservation Area, known for its world-famous trekking trail, the Manaslu Conservation Area, home to the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — The National Trust for Nature Conservation was set up in 1982 as a semi-governmental body to spearhead conservation activities in Nepal. Today, it manages some of the most important conservation areas across the Himalayan nation, including the Annapurna Conservation Area, known for its world-famous trekking trail, the Manaslu Conservation Area, home to the world’s eighth-highest peak, and Central Zoo in Kathmandu. Staffers, technicians and researchers from the NTNC, as the trust is known, also work in key protected areas such as Chitwan and Bardiya national parks, famed for their populations of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris) and greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis). In December 2020, the government appointed Sharad Chandra Adhikary, a PR veteran who has also worked with Nepal’s anti-corruption commission, as member secretary of the NTNC. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi spoke with Adhikary in Kathmandu recently about the challenges of managing community-based conservation areas in Nepal, the importance of tourism revenue for both conservation and development, and tackling the long-running issue of human-wildlife conflict. Sharad Chandra Adhikary, a PR veteran who has also worked with Nepal’s anti-corruption commission, now also serves as member secretary of the NTNC. Image courtesy of Sharad Chandra Adhikary. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and lightly edited for clarity and style. Mongabay: Whenever we talk about the NTNC, we say that it’s a semi-governmental body. What does this mean at the operational level? What is its relationship with the government? Sharad Chandra Adhikary: We are not an NGO. We are,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/crafting-nepals-conservation-success-qa-with-sharad-chandra-adhikary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/crafting-nepals-conservation-success-qa-with-sharad-chandra-adhikary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263945</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New standard brings best practices to bear in Nepal’s red panda conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-standard-brings-best-practices-to-bear-in-nepals-red-panda-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-standard-brings-best-practices-to-bear-in-nepals-red-panda-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Nov 2022 06:12:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/29054653/red-panda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263018</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Montane Forests, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Conservationists in Nepal have introduced a new standard for efforts to protect the red panda, in the hope of translating successful initiatives in the country’s east to threatened habitats in the central and western hilly regions. The voluntary Red Panda Governance Standard, developed with the help of two Australian universities, looks at best [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Conservationists in Nepal have introduced a new standard for efforts to protect the red panda, in the hope of translating successful initiatives in the country’s east to threatened habitats in the central and western hilly regions. The voluntary Red Panda Governance Standard, developed with the help of two Australian universities, looks at best practices for conserving the endangered species, Ailurus fulgens, and suggesting ways in which communities living with red pandas can implement them. “The governance standard shall help communities conserve red pandas in a participatory way by identifying priorities,” said Sonam Tashi Lama, program coordinator at the Red Panda Network. Communities can use the standard informally for a broad evaluation of their efforts to save the species or more thoroughly to assess compliance of forest management where red pandas live and programs and projects related to red panda conservation, Lama said. According to the Red Panda Network, an NGO working in eastern Nepal to help communities conserve the species, habitats in the western part of the country have been fragmented into many small patches. This restricts the movement of red pandas and negatively impacts the viability of the animal’s populations there. Red pandas are found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and China, and face threats ranging from habitat loss to illegal trapping and poaching, to accidental snaring in traps set for other animals. The species is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List and on Appendix I of CITES, making its trade illegal. It’s estimated that of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-standard-brings-best-practices-to-bear-in-nepals-red-panda-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-standard-brings-best-practices-to-bear-in-nepals-red-panda-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263018</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon cloud forests need protection (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/amazon-cloud-forests-need-protection-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/amazon-cloud-forests-need-protection-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2022 17:35:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrique Ortiz]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay User]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/15174046/peru_220139_header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259227</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cloud Forests, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Forests, Green, Montane Forests, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If there is an ecosystem that captures my imagination, it is the cloud forests, or perhaps better called, “the forests of the clouds.” Walking underneath their damp and dark canopy brimming with colorful orchids and bromeliads, you enter an enchanted world, as if at any minute a green dwarf could surprise you from behind a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If there is an ecosystem that captures my imagination, it is the cloud forests, or perhaps better called, “the forests of the clouds.” Walking underneath their damp and dark canopy brimming with colorful orchids and bromeliads, you enter an enchanted world, as if at any minute a green dwarf could surprise you from behind a rock. Cloud forests’ extraordinary colors shine in shimmering shades of fluorescent hot pinks, dark blues, bright purples, and chilling reds. There, hummingbirds seem to be more abundant than bees, sometimes buzzing so close as if wanting to rest on your head. And best of all, there are no mosquitoes! After 40 years working in tropical forests, I chose them as my favorite type. However, these forests are facing enormous challenges, and not many are aware of their importance, nor have experienced their magic. This is an account of what those cloud forests are, how I see them, and why they matter, in the face of our changing world. Waterfall in the Kosñipata valley. Image credit: Rhett A. Butler A creek in the cloud forest of Peru&#8217;s Kosñipata valley. Image credit: Rhett A. Butler The Cloud Catchers  For many the Amazon brings to mind a vast extension of a uniform forest, a green carpet interrupted by wide meandering rivers. But at a closer look, besides its typical tall rainforests, the Amazon is a mixture of many ecosystems, including mountain forests, savannas, dry forests, single-species forests, wetlands, and many other types of vegetation. Hence, it is a mistake&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/amazon-cloud-forests-need-protection-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/amazon-cloud-forests-need-protection-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259227</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Road projects threaten integrity of Uganda’s mountain gorilla stronghold</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/road-projects-threaten-integrity-of-ugandas-mountain-gorilla-stronghold/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/road-projects-threaten-integrity-of-ugandas-mountain-gorilla-stronghold/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2022 15:09:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/20143856/gorillas-in-Bwindi-Impenetrable-National-Park-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254942</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Mongabay Data Studio, Montane Forests, Protected Areas, Roads, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a sanctuary for half of the world’s remaining population of endangered mountain gorillas, alongside forest elephants and many other species. But two road projects are exposing fault lines between the park&#8217;s conservation mission and the needs of residents living nearby. The Ministry of Works and Transport is finalizing designs [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a sanctuary for half of the world’s remaining population of endangered mountain gorillas, alongside forest elephants and many other species. But two road projects are exposing fault lines between the park&#8217;s conservation mission and the needs of residents living nearby. The Ministry of Works and Transport is finalizing designs for a new road that will cut through the park&#8217;s western edge. The ministry also plans to pave the Ruhija road, an existing path crossing the park’s eastern flank which becomes virtually unpassable during the rainy season. Most conservationists don’t dispute the need for better roads in the region, but say they’re concerned about the impact on the park’s wildlife. They warn the roads could deny wildlife access to chunks of habitat and deepen the human footprint over a wider area. “From a development angle, it’s such a small area, yet from a conservation perspective, it is huge,” Brian Atuheire, executive director of the NGO AIFE-Uganda, told Mongabay. “Implementing the road project could endanger the gorillas and destroy the gains made in their conservation.” Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a sanctuary for half of the world’s remaining population of endangered mountain gorillas, alongside forest elephants and many other species. Image by Brian Harries via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). A hitherto impenetrable park Bwindi, spanning 321 square kilometers (125 square miles), lies in the southwest corner of Uganda, hugging the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is also a designated nature reserve&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/road-projects-threaten-integrity-of-ugandas-mountain-gorilla-stronghold/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/road-projects-threaten-integrity-of-ugandas-mountain-gorilla-stronghold/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Africa’s montane forests are more carbon-dense than even the Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/africas-montane-forests-are-more-carbon-dense-than-even-the-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/africas-montane-forests-are-more-carbon-dense-than-even-the-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2021 06:27:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/10061337/KIlimanjaro_nature-1821576_960_720-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246985</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, climate finance, Conservation, Ecosystem Services, Forest Carbon, Montane Forests, Mountains, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study promises to give Africa’s mountain forests a leg up in the eyes of climate scientists.  They store nearly 150 metric tons of carbon dioxide per hectare, according to the authors. Hectare for hectare, that’s more than the Amazon Rainforest. The U.N.’s leading scientific body on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study promises to give Africa’s mountain forests a leg up in the eyes of climate scientists.  They store nearly 150 metric tons of carbon dioxide per hectare, according to the authors. Hectare for hectare, that’s more than the Amazon Rainforest. The U.N.’s leading scientific body on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), pegs the default value for these forests at 90 metric tons per hectare. That’s a serious underappreciation of their role in regulating the planet’s climate and could play in the future, the study indicates. “The results are surprising because the climate in the mountains would be expected to lead to low carbon forests,” lead author Aida Cuni-Sanchez, from the University of York, U.K., said in a statement. The analysis published in Nature looked at 225 plots of old-growth montane forests in 12 African nations, making it one of the most comprehensive surveys of its kind to date. The remoteness of many of these forests is one big reason why continent-wide studies are hard to find. Forest extent circa 2018. Image courtesy of Cuni-Sanchez et al. Nicolas Barbier at France’s Université de Montpellier, who wrote an accompanying commentary in Nature, called the study “remarkable” in its scope. However, Barbier noted that the area covered in the survey was 100,000 times smaller than the area covered by these forests in Africa: 16 million hectares (40 million acres). The authors collected measurements — trunk diameters and heights — of 72,336 individual trees. With this data, they were&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/africas-montane-forests-are-more-carbon-dense-than-even-the-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/africas-montane-forests-are-more-carbon-dense-than-even-the-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246985</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Forest loss in mountains of Southeast Asia accelerates at ‘shocking’ pace</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/forest-loss-in-mountains-of-southeast-asia-accelerates-at-shocking-pace/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/forest-loss-in-mountains-of-southeast-asia-accelerates-at-shocking-pace/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2021 15:04:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/28144859/Image01-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forest Destruction, Forests, Global Warming, Montane Forests, Rainforests, Research, Satellite Imagery, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to roughly half of the world’s tropical mountain forests. These highland ecosystems support massive carbon stores and tremendous biodiversity, including a host of species that occur nowhere else on the planet. But new evidence suggests these havens are in grave danger. Conversion of higher-elevation forest to cropland is accelerating at an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia is home to roughly half of the world’s tropical mountain forests. These highland ecosystems support massive carbon stores and tremendous biodiversity, including a host of species that occur nowhere else on the planet. But new evidence suggests these havens are in grave danger. Conversion of higher-elevation forest to cropland is accelerating at an unprecedented rate throughout the region, according to findings published June 28 in Nature Sustainability. By analyzing high-resolution satellite data sets of forest loss and state-of-the-art maps of carbon density and terrain, an international team of researchers quantified patterns of forest loss in Southeast Asia during the first two decades of this century. They found that during the 2000s, forest loss was mainly concentrated in the lowlands; but by the 2010s, it had shifted significantly to higher ground. Between 2001 and 2019, the researchers calculated that Southeast Asia had lost 610,000 square kilometers (235,500 square miles) of forest — an area larger than Thailand. Of this loss, 31% occurred in mountainous regions, equivalent to 189,100 km2 (73,000 mi2) of highland forest converted to cropland and plantation in less than two decades. Moreover, the study reveals an accelerating trend. By 2019, 42% of total annual forest loss occurred at higher elevations, with the frontier of forest loss migrating upslope at a rate of roughly 15 meters (49 feet) per year. Particularly prominent shifts to mountain forest loss were found in north Laos, northeast Myanmar, and east Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia — the country that experienced the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/forest-loss-in-mountains-of-southeast-asia-accelerates-at-shocking-pace/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/forest-loss-in-mountains-of-southeast-asia-accelerates-at-shocking-pace/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An owl not seen in over a century makes a brief return — then vanishes again</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2021 22:53:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Romi Castagnino]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Romi Castagnino]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/13000233/bornean-rajah-scops-ow_banner-768x456.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=242594</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Malaysia, Sabah, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Monitoring, Montane Forests, Owls, Protected Areas, Rediscovered Species, Research, Surveying, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops-owl (Otus brookii) was first described from the montane forests of the Malaysian state of Sabah in 1892. Since then, however, its whereabouts have been a mystery. It was not until 2016 that a group of researchers documented the first sighting of a live individual in more than a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Bornean subspecies of the Rajah scops-owl (Otus brookii) was first described from the montane forests of the Malaysian state of Sabah in 1892. Since then, however, its whereabouts have been a mystery. It was not until 2016 that a group of researchers documented the first sighting of a live individual in more than a century, and due to its rarity, scientists believe it could be its own species. The findings were reported April 28 in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. That May 4, 2016, rediscovery of the Bornean Rajah scops-owl (O. b. brookii) was part of a 10-year study of avian life-history evolution on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo. The project, led by Thomas E. Martin, a wildlife biologist with the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Montana, required intensively searching for nests and gathering ecological information about birds. After seven years of working up to 10 hours per day, six days a week, the team accidentally came across O. b. brookii. The rediscovery of O. b. brookii took place in the montane forests of Mount Kinabalu at an elevation of 1,650 meters (5,400 feet). Image by Oscark via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Andy Boyce, an avian ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s (SCBI) Conservation Ecology Center, happened to be working at a lab in Kinabalu National Park when he was notified by technician Keegan Tranquillo about the sighting of a bird that differed in appearance from the more common mountain scops-owl (O. spilocephalus luciae).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/an-owl-not-seen-in-over-a-century-makes-a-brief-return-then-vanishes-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-242594</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DRC’s Virunga to welcome visitors again after 8-month closure</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/drcs-virunga-to-welcome-visitors-again-after-8-month-closure/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/drcs-virunga-to-welcome-visitors-again-after-8-month-closure/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Feb 2019 10:51:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/02/14081913/20140406-112415.62a5cb6cc237443b8b074aba56935b33-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=215465</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests and Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, charcoal, Cloud Forests, Conflict, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Montane Forests, Mountains, National Parks, Parks, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tourism, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rangers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.4]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo will reopen its gates to tourists on Feb. 15 after officials closed them more than eight months ago. A spate of violence in the first half of 2018 led the park’s director, Emmanuel de Merode, to shutter its tourism operations to shore up security for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo will reopen its gates to tourists on Feb. 15 after officials closed them more than eight months ago. A spate of violence in the first half of 2018 led the park’s director, Emmanuel de Merode, to shutter its tourism operations to shore up security for visitors and the 600 guards who patrol the park’s 7,800 square kilometers (3,000 square miles). Despite decades of unpredictable violence in the province of North Kivu where the park sits, Virunga had continued to draw visitors eager to see its mountain gorillas and other diverse wildlife, as well as Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano. A sign welcomes visitors to a site in Virunga National Park, the oldest national park in Africa. Image by John C. Cannon/Mongabay. But two bloody months in 2018 necessitated a change, de Merode said. In April, members of one of the militia groups that stalk the forests around Virunga killed six guards in an ambush. Then, in May, another guard was killed and two British tourists were abducted in a militia attack as they were being driven through the park. The attackers also injured the driver, though they released the tourists the next day. “The safety of our visitors will always be our highest priority,” de Merode said in a statement as reported by The Guardian newspaper. “It is abundantly clear that the Virunga is deeply affected by insecurity and that this will be the case for some time. For Virunga&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/drcs-virunga-to-welcome-visitors-again-after-8-month-closure/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/drcs-virunga-to-welcome-visitors-again-after-8-month-closure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-215465</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rapid population drop weakened the Grauer&#8217;s gorilla gene pool</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/rapid-population-drop-weakened-the-grauers-gorilla-gene-pool/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/rapid-population-drop-weakened-the-grauers-gorilla-gene-pool/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2019 12:39:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/01/10032003/189125_web.1c076153643e46bb943b924db8397642-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214491</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, Congo Basin, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecology, Environment, Extinction, Forest Loss, Forests, Genetics, Gorillas, Great Apes, Habitat Degradation, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Mammals, Montane Forests, Poaching, Primates, Rainforests, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, War, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-PGM-1803-2431]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The recent plunge in numbers of Grauer&#8217;s gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has lopped off one-fifth of the subspecies’ genetic diversity, leaving it potentially vulnerable to changes to its environment, a new study has found. Recent surveys found that the count of the critically endangered Grauer’s, or sometimes referred to as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The recent plunge in numbers of Grauer&#8217;s gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has lopped off one-fifth of the subspecies’ genetic diversity, leaving it potentially vulnerable to changes to its environment, a new study has found. Recent surveys found that the count of the critically endangered Grauer’s, or sometimes referred to as the eastern lowland, gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), a sister subspecies to the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), is down by nearly 80 percent since the 1990s. That precipitous drop-off has few precedents, so when molecular ecologist Katerina Guschanski of Sweden’s Uppsala University and her colleagues set out to understand how the animal’s genome had changed, they were unsure of what they might find. “We knew that these populations have had a very dynamic recent history,” Guschanski said in an interview, adding that this typically came with a slide in the variation found in an animal’s genome. But, she said, “To see a dramatic impact, as dramatic as we have seen for Grauer’s gorillas in such a short timeframe, is actually quite surprising.” Grauer&#8217;s gorillas have experienced severe population declines in the last two decades, leaving a profound mark on the genome of this critically endangered great ape. Image by Damien Caillaud/Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. Deforestation and poaching have winnowed their numbers to fewer than 4,000 individuals. With that decline, the subspecies has lost 20 percent of its genetic diversity within a few generations, Guschanski and her team reported Dec. 27 in the journal Current&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/rapid-population-drop-weakened-the-grauers-gorilla-gene-pool/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/rapid-population-drop-weakened-the-grauers-gorilla-gene-pool/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214491</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Land restoration makes progress in Ethiopia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/land-restoration-makes-progress-in-ethiopia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/land-restoration-makes-progress-in-ethiopia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2018 17:17:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maheder Haileselassie Tadese]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/31151254/Forest__Maheder-HDSCF9499-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211660</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Degraded Lands, Forests, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, and Montane Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CFRAF2018, GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DEBRETABOR, Ethiopia – At a tree nursery in Ethiopia’s Meket district, young men and women pack small plastic bags with soil. The indigenous and exotic species grown here were previously sown directly into the earth, but the growth efficiency was less than 50 percent, according to Melak Dagnew, a forest development project coordinator in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DEBRETABOR, Ethiopia – At a tree nursery in Ethiopia’s Meket district, young men and women pack small plastic bags with soil. The indigenous and exotic species grown here were previously sown directly into the earth, but the growth efficiency was less than 50 percent, according to Melak Dagnew, a forest development project coordinator in the country&#8217;s Meket district. With the introduction of the plastic bags, into which the seedlings are first planted, and a consistent regimen of post-plantation care — watering, weeding, adding compost — the efficiency rate has risen to 93 percent, Dagnew says, and the trees have grown as much as 5 meters (16 feet) in just a year. “Soil erosion, land degradation and, as a result, a reduction of productivity were observed widely,” says Dagnew. Meket is one of the four districts in Ethiopia’s Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) where land restoration pilot projects are being carried out. “The lack of forest products like fuelwood, wood for fencing and housing purposes for the community were observed because of population increase followed by the consumption of natural forests in a short period of time,” he said. Known for its densely populated highlands and rain-dependent agriculture, the ANRS is one of the more severely deforested and degraded regions in the country. Recent studies show that out of 157,000 square kilometers (60,600 square miles) of land, less than 2 percent is covered by forest. An analysis of forest coverage by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change found that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/land-restoration-makes-progress-in-ethiopia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/land-restoration-makes-progress-in-ethiopia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211660</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Absent for decades, zebras reintroduced to park in southern Tanzania</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/absent-for-decades-zebras-reintroduced-to-park-in-southern-tanzania/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/absent-for-decades-zebras-reintroduced-to-park-in-southern-tanzania/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2018 07:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/24043420/%C2%A9-Tim-Davenport-WCS-3.062bd5cd273247dba5721e5cf49b0a6b-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211417</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Dry Forests, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Farming, Fires, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, Mammals, Montane Forests, Mountains, Over-hunting, Parks, Protected Areas, Ranching, Reforestation, Restoration, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A herd of zebra now roams the southern highlands of Tanzania for the first time since the 1960s. Staff from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its partners released 24 plains zebras (Equus quagga) into Kitulo National Park on Oct. 12 and 13. “It was thrilling to see the zebras moving across the plateau as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A herd of zebra now roams the southern highlands of Tanzania for the first time since the 1960s. Staff from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its partners released 24 plains zebras (Equus quagga) into Kitulo National Park on Oct. 12 and 13. “It was thrilling to see the zebras moving across the plateau as they had for untold centuries,” Tim Davenport, the director of WCS’s Tanzania program, said in a statement. Video of the zebra release courtesy of WCS. Plains zebras had been a fixture on the Kitulo Plateau until hunting and sheep and dairy farming forced them out more than 50 years ago. WCS says that fire and grazers such as zebra are critical to maintaining the plant diversity of these high-elevation (what scientists call “montane”) grasslands. Kitulo National Park, created in 2002, sits at 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level. The farms have since been abandoned, giving way to Davenport’s idea of “rewilding” the region. To that end, the team has orchestrated the planting of 4 million native trees in the southern highlands, providing woodland thoroughfares for small antelopes known as duikers and monkeys like the critically endangered kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji). And two types of antelopes, the southern reedbuck (Redunca spp.) and the steenbok (Raphicerus campestris), have returned to the area. Hunting and farming forced zebras out of the Kitulo Plateau in the 1960s. Image © Tim Davenport/WCS. For the past two years, WCS staff have been making sure that the park can support zebras and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/absent-for-decades-zebras-reintroduced-to-park-in-southern-tanzania/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/absent-for-decades-zebras-reintroduced-to-park-in-southern-tanzania/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211417</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Secrets revealed: Researchers explore unique, isolated forest in Mozambique</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/secrets-revealed-scientists-explore-unique-isolated-forest-in-mozambique/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/secrets-revealed-scientists-explore-unique-isolated-forest-in-mozambique/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Oct 2018 14:28:38 +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/20/2018/10/25184349/bayliss-lico-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211328</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Mozambique]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Butterflies, Deforestation, Environment, Exploration, Forests, Montane Forests, Mountains, New Discovery, Rainforests, Research, Species Discovery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There isn’t much primary forest left in eastern Africa. In Mozambique, there’s officially none, according to 2015 numbers from the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) of the UN. But a tract of undisturbed forest has recently been discovered and surveyed in the country’s Zambezia province – hidden in plain site at the top of a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There isn’t much primary forest left in eastern Africa. In Mozambique, there’s officially none, according to 2015 numbers from the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) of the UN. But a tract of undisturbed forest has recently been discovered and surveyed in the country’s Zambezia province – hidden in plain site at the top of a mountain. Julian Bayliss, a conservation scientist, initially spotted the forest on Google Earth. This isn’t the first time he’s done so; in 2005, he used the platform to identify an unexplored rainforest on Mozambique’s Mount Mabu. To confirm the presence of this newest forest, Bayliss traveled to the base of Mount Lico and flew a drone to the top of it. Then, in May, Bayliss and a team of more than two-dozen scientists and other experts set out on an expedition to see what kinds of animals and plants lived in this island in the sky. Up they went, using ropes and quickly learned rock-climbing techniques to hoist themselves and their equipment up the 410-foot sheer cliffs. Bayliss was the first to reach the top. As he waited for the rest of his team, he looked around and was filled with an “immense sense of wonder and excitement.” “The first thing that struck me was just how quiet the forest was,” he told Mongabay. “However, there were signs of many animal tracks in the undergrowth which was very exciting. The second thing that struck me was just how open the forest floor was which is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/secrets-revealed-scientists-explore-unique-isolated-forest-in-mozambique/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211328</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Earth has more trees now than 35 years ago</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2018 20:03:51 +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/20/2018/08/16005135/brazil_-3.838606_-58.296111-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209371</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cerrado, Chaco, China, Congo Basin, Global, Paraguay, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Agriculture, boreal forests, Deforestation, Deserts, Drivers Of Deforestation, Dry Forests, Forest Recovery, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Impact Of Climate Change, Montane Forests, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Despite ongoing deforestation, fires, drought-induced die-offs, and insect outbreaks, the world&#8217;s tree cover actually increased by 2.24 million square kilometers — an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined — over the past 35 years, finds a paper published in the journal Nature. But the research also confirms large-scale loss of the planet&#8217;s most [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Despite ongoing deforestation, fires, drought-induced die-offs, and insect outbreaks, the world&#8217;s tree cover actually increased by 2.24 million square kilometers — an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined — over the past 35 years, finds a paper published in the journal Nature. But the research also confirms large-scale loss of the planet&#8217;s most biodiverse ecosystems, especially tropical forests. The study, led by Xiao-Peng Song and Matthew Hansen of the University of Maryland, is based on analysis of satellite data from 1982 to 2016. The researchers broke land cover into three categories: tall vegetation consisting of trees of at least five meters (16 feet) in height; short vegetation under five meters in height including shrubs, grass, and agricultural crops; and &#8220;bare ground&#8221;, including urban areas, sand, tundra, and rock. While the classification may seem simplistic, powerful conclusions can be drawn from the data, including assessing agricultural expansion, climate-driven expansion and contraction of ecosystems, and forest clearing and recovery. &#8220;The results of this study reflect a human-dominated Earth system,&#8221; the researchers write. &#8220;Direct human action on landscapes is found over large areas on every continent, from intensification and extensification of agriculture to increases in forestry and urban land uses, with implications for the maintenance of ecosystem services.&#8221; Google Earth image showing deforestation around Igarapé Lage, in Rondônia, Brazil. Data from this study will be integrated Global Forest Watch, a platform for tracking trends in forests. Overall, the study found that tree cover loss in the tropics was outweighed by tree&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/earth-has-more-trees-now-than-35-years-ago/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209371</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists find Europe’s last primary forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/scientists-find-europes-last-primary-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/scientists-find-europes-last-primary-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2018 19:22:27 +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/20/2018/06/06191703/Flachlandwisent_Bison_bonasus_bonasus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207269</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Environment, Forests, Logging, Montane Forests, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Research, and Temperate Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dotted by historic cities nestled in a patchwork countryside of fields and pasture, today’s Europe is at once urban and bucolic. But where sheep range over grassy knolls, bison used to roam through forests; where sunflowers and tulips grow, wolves once hunted. And fairytales warned children to stay out of the woods. But the woods [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dotted by historic cities nestled in a patchwork countryside of fields and pasture, today’s Europe is at once urban and bucolic. But where sheep range over grassy knolls, bison used to roam through forests; where sunflowers and tulips grow, wolves once hunted. And fairytales warned children to stay out of the woods. But the woods that once covered Europe is now largely gone, cleared by human settlers to grow food and build houses starting around 6,000 years ago. And with the woods went the animals that used to live in them. Grey wolves are now relegated to small pockets of habitat here and there, as are Eurasian brown bears and European bison. Just one large tract of intact lowland forest remains in Europe – an old-growth oasis straddling the border of Poland and Belarus whose 15th century designation as a hunting ground for royalty spared it from the axe. However, a new study published recently in the journal Diversity &amp; Distributions finds there may be more small tracts of “primary” forest in Europe than previously believed. Its authors say these forests provide important refuges for many species, but caution a lack of protection is leaving a large proportion threatened by deforestation. The first map of Europe&#8217;s last wild forests. The map identifies more than 3.4 million acres in 34 European countries. Image from Francesco Maria Sabatini et al., 2018 The study was conducted by some two-dozen researchers at institutions in Europe and the U.S. They used tree cover datasets and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/scientists-find-europes-last-primary-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-207269</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>46% of Albertine Rift species may be threatened by 2080, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/46-of-albertine-rift-species-may-be-threatened-by-2080-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/46-of-albertine-rift-species-may-be-threatened-by-2080-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2018 20:02:28 +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/20/2018/04/10194424/2_-AJP_7943-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205639</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Montane Forests, Primates, Research, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[East Africa’s Albertine Rift extends nearly a thousand miles from the border between northwestern Uganda and northeastern DRC down through Rwanda and Burundi to Malawi. Dotted with mountains and pockmarked with lakes, the region is considered one of the most biodiverse places on the continent and is home to many animal and plant species that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[East Africa’s Albertine Rift extends nearly a thousand miles from the border between northwestern Uganda and northeastern DRC down through Rwanda and Burundi to Malawi. Dotted with mountains and pockmarked with lakes, the region is considered one of the most biodiverse places on the continent and is home to many animal and plant species that evolved in isolation and are endemic – meaning they’re found nowhere else in the world. But agriculture and climate change are putting many of these species at risk, according to a study published recently in Biological Conservation. Its findings indicate nearly half of the Albertine Rift’s endemic species may become threatened with extinction by 2080 if current climatic trends continue. The Albertine Rift region contains several isolated mountain ranges and lakes, and much of it is already contained within protected areas. (Itombwe and Kabobo reserves have since been established). Image courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society. The study was conducted by researchers with institutions in the U.S. and UK who synthesized data on 162 plant and animal species found only in the Albertine Rift region. They used computer modeling to figure out how much habitat has so far been lost to agriculture and estimate how much may be lost in the future due to climate change. They found that, on average, 38 percent of these species’ habitats have been lost to land conversion for agriculture. Some species have lost as much as 90 percent of their habitat, the researchers write in their study. And climate change&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/46-of-albertine-rift-species-may-be-threatened-by-2080-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205639</doi>				</item>
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