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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=mountains&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mountains/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 21:36:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Mountains</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/mountains/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>How burnt coconut helped discover new to science endemic species in Sri Lanka</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2026 14:13:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/12093329/Banner-1.-Spiny-Mouse-Mus-dumbara.-Suyama-Boyagoda-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329510</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Mountains, Research, Rodents, and Species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO —  As dusk settled over the paddy fields at Puwakpitiya, a village on the northern edge of Knuckles Mountain Range locally known as Dumbara mountains in Central Sri Lanka, researchers began laying traps along the uneasy boundary between farmland and forest. They were targeting small terrestrial mammals moving through the landscape. On the ground, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO —  As dusk settled over the paddy fields at Puwakpitiya, a village on the northern edge of Knuckles Mountain Range locally known as Dumbara mountains in Central Sri Lanka, researchers began laying traps along the uneasy boundary between farmland and forest. They were targeting small terrestrial mammals moving through the landscape. On the ground, drift fences were created to lead animals to pitfall traps, while box style Sherman live traps were baited with feed. But the usual rodent lure — peanut butter — failed to attract the mice in Sri Lanka, so the researchers instead turned to something more familiar to the local mice — pieces of burnt coconut. On  March 11, 2004, one of the pitfall traps caught a small mouse that looked different. Six days later, a second specimen was caught in a baited trap. Both were females, not larger than a child&#8217;s palm, with fulvous-gray pelage broken by spiny guard hairs and a slender, naked tail longer than the head and body. Externally, the animal resembled Mayor&#8217;s mouse (Mus mayori), a species endemic to Sri Lanka’s highlands, but differed in tail length and head shape, offering initial clues about a new species. The species is so far known only from Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range, and the image shows Puwakpitiya, the village from where researchers found the first specimens of Dumbara spiny mouse (Mus dumbara) after they set traps along the forest edge beside a sprawling paddy field. Image courtesy of Suyama Boyagoda. The two mice&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/how-burnt-coconut-helped-discover-new-to-science-endemic-species-in-sri-lanka/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329510</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal&#8217;s high-altitude wildernesses &#038; wildlife are increasingly under threat (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-high-altitude-wildernesses-wildlife-are-increasingly-under-threat-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-high-altitude-wildernesses-wildlife-are-increasingly-under-threat-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 19:49:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Geraldine WerhahnSabita Gurung]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08101747/10-Pallass-cat-kittens-in-Mongolia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329285</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Livestock, Mammals, Mountains, Natural Resources, Pasture, Traditional Knowledge, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Changes like increasing geological and glacial instability driven by the warming climate are a growing concern across the Himalayas. Our hearts go out to the thousands of families across Nepal, China, and around the world grieving their loved ones and searching for those missing after the recent catastrophic flash flood at the Nepal-China border. Though [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Changes like increasing geological and glacial instability driven by the warming climate are a growing concern across the Himalayas. Our hearts go out to the thousands of families across Nepal, China, and around the world grieving their loved ones and searching for those missing after the recent catastrophic flash flood at the Nepal-China border. Though nearly 400 kilometers (almost 250 miles) to the northwest of the recent flash flood zone, our study area in Nepal’s Limi Valley in Upper Humla — a landscape with several villages and a rich wildlife heritage, that we have spent years trying to understand and protect — is also affected by such changes. Limi Valley has been wild for as long as we&#8217;ve studied it, but not anymore. After many days of travel to reach the study area recently, our team was excited to check on the Himalayan wolves, to see if its family would be denning in the same spot as last year. We found no wolves. Instead, we found thousands of sheep and goats, trailed by herders from lower-lying villages, free-ranging herd dogs, and patches of burning vegetation. A Himalayan wolf in its natural habitat in Limi Valley, northwestern Nepal. Photo courtesy of Himalayan Wolves Project. Every season we return, there is less wild left to find. Upper Humla’s once-pristine high-altitude habitats are suffering from human encroachment advancing at an unprecedented pace, pushing wildlife into ever-smaller pockets of shrinking habitat. While formal protection of this unique ecosystem has been on the political agenda&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-high-altitude-wildernesses-wildlife-are-increasingly-under-threat-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/nepals-high-altitude-wildernesses-wildlife-are-increasingly-under-threat-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329285</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sickles, sarees and smoke: Women on the frontlines of Uttarakhand forest fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Sep 2026 20:50:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Swati Thapa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08160244/Lila-Devi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329123</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Gender, Governance, and Mountains]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the village forests of Uttarakhand, in the Himalayan region of northern India, a tree can be charred at its base while maintaining a green canopy at its peak. The distinct separation between burnt and unburnt wood is a physical marker of how high the flames reached. For the local women who rely on these woods for survival, the aftermath of wildfire means their daily chores take twice as long, forcing them deeper into the forest just to gather basic fodder and firewood when those closer to home are unusable. Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in the Indian Western Himalayas, with increased fire incidence in the region coinciding with high-altitude warming that exceeds the global rate. Beyond individual fire events, the fire season itself is expanding. While the season usually lasts for about 12 weeks starting in mid-March, Uttarakhand now experiences winter fires, an alarming shift from what was previously snow season, hinting at a deeper ecosystem-level impact. This trend has only escalated, with the state recording a sharp spike in forest fire activity during the first four months of 2026. This period is not just witnessed but experienced through each of the human senses. Trails of grey smoke engulf the bright blue sky. Along with the fog-like situation, the air carries soot, sometimes covering the roofs of houses with snow-like ash. “We are all coughing our lungs out; during that time, our eyes are bloodshot, irritated by all the smoke, and it’s hard to breathe in the thick&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/sickles-sarees-and-smoke-women-on-the-frontlines-of-uttarakhand-forest-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>David Page wrote about the mountains and worked to protect them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/david-page-wrote-about-the-mountains-and-worked-to-protect-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/david-page-wrote-about-the-mountains-and-worked-to-protect-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Aug 2026 15:59:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/01155019/david-page-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325133</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Policy, Mountains, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A backcountry ski run can depend on decisions made years before the snow falls. Forest plans determine where motorized vehicles may travel. Congressional appropriations affect whether trails are maintained and land-management agencies can enforce their rules. Public meetings give skiers, snowmobilers, conservationists, and local residents a chance to argue over how mountains should be used. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A backcountry ski run can depend on decisions made years before the snow falls. Forest plans determine where motorized vehicles may travel. Congressional appropriations affect whether trails are maintained and land-management agencies can enforce their rules. Public meetings give skiers, snowmobilers, conservationists, and local residents a chance to argue over how mountains should be used. David Page knew this work in detail. He also knew how to describe what it felt like to move through those mountains. Page, the executive director of Winter Wildlands Alliance, died on July 7th in a multi-vehicle crash on Teton Pass in Wyoming. He was 57. Rio, the family dog who often accompanied him outdoors, died in the accident as well. He had come to conservation advocacy through writing. Raised in Denver, he studied history and Spanish literature at Dartmouth, comparative literature at Berkeley, and creative writing at the University of California, Irvine. He wrote for the New York Times, Men’s Journal, Skiing, and other publications, and became a senior correspondent for POWDER. His guide to Yosemite and the southern Sierra Nevada went through three editions. His articles were closely reported and attentive to the people in them. “The Human Factor,” an examination of the decisions that lead experienced skiers into avalanche danger, was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in 2015. It was later used in avalanche courses. Another article described the immigrant workers whose labor sustains many ski towns. He also wrote about major descents, disappearing whitebark pines, solitary skiers, remote slopes,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/david-page-wrote-about-the-mountains-and-worked-to-protect-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/david-page-wrote-about-the-mountains-and-worked-to-protect-them/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325133</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Community more crucial than snow leopard counting: Interview with Rodney Jackson</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/community-more-crucial-than-snow-leopard-counting-interview-with-rodney-jackson/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/community-more-crucial-than-snow-leopard-counting-interview-with-rodney-jackson/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2026 07:54:23 +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/20/2026/06/19100316/Snow_leopard_-_Uncia_uncia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321499</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Mountains, Snow Leopards, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Rodney Jackson pioneered the radio-tracking study of snow leopards in Nepal&#8217;s Langu Valley in the early 1980s and has, since then, worked across the species&#8217; range from Ladakh to Mongolia to the Pakistani Karakoram ranges. In 2000, he founded the nonprofit Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC), which focuses on community-based conservation approaches in high [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Rodney Jackson pioneered the radio-tracking study of snow leopards in Nepal&#8217;s Langu Valley in the early 1980s and has, since then, worked across the species&#8217; range from Ladakh to Mongolia to the Pakistani Karakoram ranges. In 2000, he founded the nonprofit Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC), which focuses on community-based conservation approaches in high mountain landscapes of Asia. Jackson, who holds a doctorate from the University of London, was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 1986 and remains one of the most cited researchers in snow leopard (Panthera uncia) science. After retiring in 2022, Jackson serves as the president of the conservancy’s board of directors, where he works in refining strategic approach and impact, mentoring the next generation of conservationists, and special projects. Jackson spoke with Mongabay — the third time, following interviews in 2008 and 2015 — on the sidelines of Society of Conservation Biologists Congress in Kathmandu, Nepal. Talking to Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi, Jackson discusses the state of population monitoring technology, the persistent challenge of human-wildlife conflict in mountain communities, and what he describes as a long-standing failure to center the needs of herding families who bear the direct costs of living alongside the species. He also reflects on the lack of collaboration between the two main international snow leopard organizations, and on what he sees as the field&#8217;s continued overinvestment in science at the expense of practical community support. Jackson holds up awareness material. Image courtesy of Anil Adhikari. This interview has been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/community-more-crucial-than-snow-leopard-counting-interview-with-rodney-jackson/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/community-more-crucial-than-snow-leopard-counting-interview-with-rodney-jackson/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321499</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>30-year Himalayan project shows power of community-led forest restoration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Apr 2026 19:41:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shradha Triveni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/13185228/Kalij_pheasant_Prasanna_Mamidala-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317419</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Forest Destruction, Landscape Restoration, Mountains, Plantations, Reforestation, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science shows why community engagement in forest restoration is a win-win game. The research documents a three-decade-long land restoration project on a 28-hectare (71-acre) slope of India’s Western Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand. The local communities in the surrounding villages cultivated a forest, with the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science shows why community engagement in forest restoration is a win-win game. The research documents a three-decade-long land restoration project on a 28-hectare (71-acre) slope of India’s Western Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand. The local communities in the surrounding villages cultivated a forest, with the help of researchers, and are now reaping the fruits of their collective effort. Before rehabilitation, the slope was inhabited by shrub species, dotted with the occasional longleaf Indian pine (Pinus roxburghii), a native tree that spread through monoculture cropping for resin and timber during British colonial rule. This landscape was prone to wildfire, which led to degradation. A team of researchers from the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBP-NIHE), an arm of the environment ministry, launched the restoration project in 1992. Now, according to the study’s authors, the land supports rich biodiversity, including more than 160 bird species, more than 100 butterfly species, and many medicinal plants, providing livestock fodder, medicine and livelihoods for the residents of surrounding communities. The researchers named the site “Surya-Kunj,” or “Sun-Grove,” in a nod to the famous Katarmal Sun Temple, located about 12 kilometers (7 miles) away. A fire burns within a longleaf Indian pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest in Uttarakhand. Image by Ramwik via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Indra D. Bhatt, co-author of the study and director of the GBP-NIHE, said the Surya-Kunj site acts as a framework for large-scale forest restoration efforts in the Himalayas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317419</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Nepal votes, climate change is an elephant in the room for Sherpa community</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/as-nepal-votes-climate-change-is-an-elephant-in-the-room-for-sherpa-community/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/as-nepal-votes-climate-change-is-an-elephant-in-the-room-for-sherpa-community/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2026 14:13:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shashwat Pant]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/24134520/sherpa-nepal-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314676</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mountains, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — As Nepal gears up for parliamentary elections on March 5, 2026, the remote high-altitude villages of Khumbu, home to the Indigenous Sherpa people, Sagarmatha (Everest) and some of the world’s most iconic trekking trails remain largely untouched by the political frenzy sweeping towns and cities across the country. While posters, rallies and door-to-door [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — As Nepal gears up for parliamentary elections on March 5, 2026, the remote high-altitude villages of Khumbu, home to the Indigenous Sherpa people, Sagarmatha (Everest) and some of the world’s most iconic trekking trails remain largely untouched by the political frenzy sweeping towns and cities across the country. While posters, rallies and door-to-door campaigns dominate the lowlands, harsh winter conditions coupled with mass seasonal migration have left villages such as Namche Bazaar, Lukla and Pangboche in the Sagarmatha region eerily quiet. “With most residents having moved to Kathmandu [Nepal’s capital], the candidates will arrive here only at the last minute as campaigning [for the Khumbu constituency] goes on in Kathmandu itself,” Sonam Sherpa, a resident of Lukla, told Mongabay by phone. In high-altitude communities beneath Sagarmatha, worsening climate impacts such as retreating Himalayan glaciers and frequent avalanches are growing risks, yet election debates still focus mainly on immediate infrastructure needs such as roads, electricity and drinking water rather than long-term environmental resilience, residents say. “We only talk about climate change among ourselves,” Sonam Sherpa said. The candidates, meanwhile, talk about issues related to infrastructure such as roads and electricity, he adds. Villages wear a deserted look in the Khumbu region in Nepal. Image by Shashwat Pant. Since the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, the Sherpa people, known for their ability to thrive at high altitudes, gained global visibility and mobility. Second-generation Sherpas often pursue higher education and professional careers abroad. Third-generation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/as-nepal-votes-climate-change-is-an-elephant-in-the-room-for-sherpa-community/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314676</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A hundred-year vision: Gary Tabor on the rise of large landscape conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2026 14:04:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/16003533/gary-tabor-rainbow_1425-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314276</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, Canada, East Africa, Global, North America, Uganda, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fragmentation, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Mountains, Restoration, Temperate Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many view conservation as a ledger of discrete gains—acres saved or species rebounded—but for Gary Tabor, the more vital metric is architecture. He focuses on systems that hold when pressure builds. Few careers illustrate that preoccupation better than that of Tabor, an ecologist and wildlife veterinarian whose work prioritizes the relationship between places as much [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many view conservation as a ledger of discrete gains—acres saved or species rebounded—but for Gary Tabor, the more vital metric is architecture. He focuses on systems that hold when pressure builds. Few careers illustrate that preoccupation better than that of Tabor, an ecologist and wildlife veterinarian whose work prioritizes the relationship between places as much as the protection of the places themselves. Tabor’s conservation instincts were shaped early. As a child, he spent nine summers at a rustic camp in the Adirondack Park, climbing all 46 peaks above 4,000 feet and learning to navigate the portages and open lakes of the New York wilderness. The landscape endured by design, protected by New York’s “Forever Wild” clause and by a civic idea that wilderness and people might coexist. He has returned to those same mountains for decades, seeing the same relatively unchanged woods that inspired the founders of the Wilderness Society. The lesson stuck. (left) Tabor doing a tropical forest wildlife survey. (right) Tabor doing Cock of the Rock research in Suriname. Courtesy of Tabor That early exposure provided Tabor with a sense of scale that would eventually outsize the mountains themselves. Tabor trained as a scientist, but his education accelerated in East Africa, where he lived and worked for nearly a decade. In places like Lake Nakuru, he saw the limits of the &#8220;island&#8221; model; the park was iconic, but it was also entirely fenced in and cut off from the broader landscape. While wildlife crossed boundaries by instinct, governance&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-hundred-year-vision-gary-tabor-on-the-rise-of-large-landscape-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314276</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What can—and cannot—be done to save the world’s glaciers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-can-and-cannot-be-done-to-save-the-worlds-glaciers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-can-and-cannot-be-done-to-save-the-worlds-glaciers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jan 2026 14:54:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/14144034/margerie_glacier_058-26-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312933</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Environment, Freshwater, Glaciers, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, Mountains, Rivers, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Glaciers are often treated as scenic features or scientific curiosities. In fact, they are critical infrastructure. Though they cover roughly a tenth of the Earth’s land surface, meltwater from glaciers and seasonal snowpacks supports drinking water, agriculture, industry, and energy production for close to half the global population. That support system is now shrinking, fast. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Glaciers are often treated as scenic features or scientific curiosities. In fact, they are critical infrastructure. Though they cover roughly a tenth of the Earth’s land surface, meltwater from glaciers and seasonal snowpacks supports drinking water, agriculture, industry, and energy production for close to half the global population. That support system is now shrinking, fast. Measurements collected over decades show that glacier loss is not a future risk but a present condition. According to the World Glacier Monitoring Service, glaciers worldwide have lost more than 30 meters of average thickness since 1970. The pace has accelerated since the early 2000s. Each of the last several years has set new records for ice loss. What was once gradual retreat has become sustained decline. Annual mass balance of reference glaciers with more than 30 years of ongoing glaciological measurements. Annual mass change values are given on the y-axis in the unit meter water equivalent (m w.e.) which corresponds to tonnes per square meter (1,000 kg m-2). Courtesy of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) Cumulative mass change relative to 1992 for regional and global means based on data from reference glaciers. Cumulative values are given on the y-axis in the unit meter water equivalent (m w.e.). Courtesy of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) The cause is not mysterious. Rising global temperatures have increased surface melt while shortening accumulation seasons. In many mountain regions, precipitation that once fell as snow now arrives as rain, depriving glaciers of replenishment. The Intergovernmental Panel on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-can-and-cannot-be-done-to-save-the-worlds-glaciers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/what-can-and-cannot-be-done-to-save-the-worlds-glaciers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312933</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lanka looks to build disaster-resilient housing after devastating cyclone</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sri-lanka-looks-to-build-disaster-resilient-housing-after-devastating-cyclone/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sri-lanka-looks-to-build-disaster-resilient-housing-after-devastating-cyclone/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2025 04:41:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/27041803/House-damaged-following-a-landslide-in-Kandapola-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312070</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Buffer Zones, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Disasters, Environment, Governance, Mountains, Population, Regulations, Research, Storms, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARANAYAKA, Sri Lanka — Bandara Jayaratne from Beraliya, a village in the Aranayaka region in Sri Lanka, is among the fortunate individuals who escaped a landslide on Nov. 28 that occurred right behind his house. Landslides aren’t a new phenomenon in this part of the country. In 2016, at least a 100 people died when [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARANAYAKA, Sri Lanka — Bandara Jayaratne from Beraliya, a village in the Aranayaka region in Sri Lanka, is among the fortunate individuals who escaped a landslide on Nov. 28 that occurred right behind his house. Landslides aren’t a new phenomenon in this part of the country. In 2016, at least a 100 people died when a massive landslide occurred in the same area. It also displaced more than 2,000 families and affected some 350,000 people. Due to the vulnerability of this location, many families were evacuated in 2016, but most returned to their homes once the weather conditions improved. Today, though, after the landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah at the end of November, many residents say they’re reluctant to return home, and are instead awaiting assistance from the government for relocation to safer sites. “I managed to take my parents to a relative’s house near the town as a temporary measure,” Jayaratne, who is temporarily displaced, tells Mongabay. “Right now, I’m unable to go to my house as the roads are still blocked and my house is no longer safe to be inhabited.” Features of a disaster-resilient house suitable for slopes according to Sri Lanka’s newly formulated hazard-resilient construction manual. Image courtesy of NBRO. Cyclone Ditwah affected thousands of people like Jayaratne, who saw their homes damaged or outright destroyed by landslides. The recent most report from Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) says 6,228 houses were fully damaged, and more than 100,000 partially damaged. A landslide hazard zonation mapping&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sri-lanka-looks-to-build-disaster-resilient-housing-after-devastating-cyclone/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312070</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cyclone Ditwah exposes climate risks to nature-based tourism in Sri Lanka</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-exposes-climate-risks-to-nature-based-tourism-in-sri-lanka/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-exposes-climate-risks-to-nature-based-tourism-in-sri-lanka/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Dec 2025 16:22:38 +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/20/2025/12/24154243/1-18-bends-road-Kehenpathdoruwa-Yahangala-mountain-ranges-c-Kasun-de-Silva-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312019</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Disasters, Ecology, Ecosystems, Ecotourism, Landscape Restoration, Mountains, National Parks, Storms, Tourism, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s misty hill country, a hub for nature-based tourism, is currently grappling with the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah. Landslides, flash floods and damaged infrastructure have disrupted the peak tourist season and raised questions about the resilience of these ecosystems in a changing climate. Stretching across the Central Highlands, the region is famed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s misty hill country, a hub for nature-based tourism, is currently grappling with the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah. Landslides, flash floods and damaged infrastructure have disrupted the peak tourist season and raised questions about the resilience of these ecosystems in a changing climate. Stretching across the Central Highlands, the region is famed for its scenic mountains, waterfalls, cloud forests and wildlife-rich protected areas. UNESCO World Heritage sites such as the Knuckles Conservation Forest, Horton Plains National Park, Peak Wilderness and dozens of breathtaking waterfalls form the backbone of Sri Lanka’s nature tourism, attracting visitors from across the globe and generating substantial local income. A landslide-hit sections of a trail leading to the famous Adam’s Peak, a route frequented by thousands of pilgrims and hikers forming a part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Peak Wilderness. Image by Shaminda Ranshan. Peak season interrupted December to March is traditionally the busiest tourism season for Sri Lanka. In Ella, one of the island’s most popular scenic towns, hotels and homestays reported mass cancellations after access roads were damaged and landslide fears escalated following days of relentless rain. “For many small operators, the peak tourist season supports livelihoods for an entire year,” said Mithila Bandara, spokesperson for the Hill Country Tourism Bureau. “There were many cancellations in early December, but we are hopeful of conditions improving soon.” Local communities dependent on tourism for a living are facing a double blow — from direct landslide damage and the resulting loss of income. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-exposes-climate-risks-to-nature-based-tourism-in-sri-lanka/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312019</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Grassroots forest protection succeeds where planting drives fail in Nepal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/grassroots-forest-protection-succeeds-where-planting-drives-fail-in-nepal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/grassroots-forest-protection-succeeds-where-planting-drives-fail-in-nepal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 01:17:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mukesh Pokhrel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/23002241/Planting-Trees-at-Jyotipunj-Community-Forest-at-Kawasoti-57-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311929</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Forest Destruction, Freshwater, Mountains, Plantations, and Reforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAWALPUR, Nepal — At 75, Hasta Bahadur Sathighare Magar says he still remembers the time when the slopes above his village in the rural municipality of Rupsekot, in central Nepal, looked dead. Dust blew freely as cattle marauded the barren land. That view has since changed. The barren slopes have given way to native trees [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAWALPUR, Nepal — At 75, Hasta Bahadur Sathighare Magar says he still remembers the time when the slopes above his village in the rural municipality of Rupsekot, in central Nepal, looked dead. Dust blew freely as cattle marauded the barren land. That view has since changed. The barren slopes have given way to native trees like sal(Shorea robusta), sisau (Dalbergia sissoo), jamun (Syzygium cumini) and bakaino(Melia azedarach), which cast a shade with their canopy. “When I’m in the jungle, I feel as if I gain energy from the plants. Many people like me come here to walk and enjoy nature,” Magar says. Hasta Bahadur Sathighare Magar at the Muse Danda forest. Image by Mukesh Pokhrel The barren hill in Muse Danda is now filled wth trees. Image by Mukesh Pokhrel. The recovery of the Muse Danda Community Forest wasn’t funded by large-scale tree-planting campaigns. Instead, it was driven by small local changes. Community members simply protected the land, and the forest grew back. As the government struggles to restore degraded land across Nepal’s Chure foothills through large-scale tree-planting programs, the success of low-cast, community-led efforts signals that natural regeneration could happen if communities protect the land. The Chure range is Nepal’s green spine: fragile, vital, and now fighting to survive. It covers about 13% of the country’s total area and stretches east to west along the southern foothills of the Himalayas. This biologically rich landscape supports a wide range of species — from tigers (Panthera tigris) and sloth bears (Melursus&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/grassroots-forest-protection-succeeds-where-planting-drives-fail-in-nepal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311929</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cyclone Ditwah takes heavy toll on Sri Lanka’s biodiversity-rich Central Highlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-takes-heavy-toll-on-sri-lankas-biodiversity-rich-central-highlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-takes-heavy-toll-on-sri-lankas-biodiversity-rich-central-highlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 09:01:23 +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/20/2025/12/13104517/1.-Damage-at-knuckles-Yahangala-c-Jayantha-Wijesingha-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311285</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Disasters, Ecology, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Forests, Governance, Mountains, Protected Areas, and Storms]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Two weeks after Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka, the actual environmental cost of the disaster remains largely unknown, as immediate priorities were human safety, relief and recovery. The worst impact of the cyclone’s downfall is borne by the country’s Central Highlands, recording at least 640  deaths — the highest number of deaths due [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Two weeks after Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka, the actual environmental cost of the disaster remains largely unknown, as immediate priorities were human safety, relief and recovery. The worst impact of the cyclone’s downfall is borne by the country’s Central Highlands, recording at least 640  deaths — the highest number of deaths due to the cyclone — with another 221 persons still missing, according to the island’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC). Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands are the elevated mountainous region located in the central part of the island. This region is among the country’s most ecologically, hydrologically and culturally significant landscapes and includes some of the highest peaks, rich forests and important wildlife habitats boasting of high endemism. Early field observations by forest officers, wildlife staff and community monitors indicate the damage across these biodiversity-rich landscapes to be extensive. According to Pradeep Samarawickrama, an independent researcher and environmentalist, the Knuckles Mountain Range, a UNESCO-listed biodiversity hotspot, experienced some of the worst ecological impacts, with several major landslips reported. “Access roads to the remote areas are still blocked, so we have yet to conduct a full assessment of the situation. But the devastation is evident,” Samarawickrama tells Mongabay. Vegetation surrounding Glenfall waterfall. Picturesque water cascades in the Central district of Nuwara Eliya, which was impacted by intense rainfall during Cyclone Ditwah, with the topsoil washed away leaving slopes fully exposed — conditions that could seriously hinder natural forest regeneration. Image courtesy of Jinapriya Gallage. Fragile ecosystems under threat One&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-takes-heavy-toll-on-sri-lankas-biodiversity-rich-central-highlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-takes-heavy-toll-on-sri-lankas-biodiversity-rich-central-highlands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311285</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>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-big-no-opposition-grows-to-proposed-mine-in-malawis-newest-unesco-site/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308825</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ousted Nepal gov’t cleared easier path for controversial cable cars, documents show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/ousted-nepal-govt-cleared-easier-path-for-controversial-cable-cars-documents-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/ousted-nepal-govt-cleared-easier-path-for-controversial-cable-cars-documents-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2025 06:50:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/14095250/annapurna-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308517</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Mountains, Politics, Protected Areas, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal’s outgoing government, toppled by two days of nationwide Gen Z protests, granted national priority status to six commercial cable car projects, according to documents released by the new government recently. The decision made by the cabinet of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, but published after the interim caretaker government took office, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal’s outgoing government, toppled by two days of nationwide Gen Z protests, granted national priority status to six commercial cable car projects, according to documents released by the new government recently. The decision made by the cabinet of former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, but published after the interim caretaker government took office, has drawn condemnation from lawyers, conservationists and Indigenous groups. They say the move which is in contempt of court has made it easier to acquire and clear national forest and protected area lands, and lacks proper environmental and community review. “The full text of verdicts directly relevant to some of the projects is yet to be published by the Supreme Court,” said senior environmental lawyer Padam Bahadur Shrestha. “The government notification is completely illegal and unacceptable,” he told Mongabay. Documents published on an official website of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers reveal that on Aug. 25, the KP Sharma Oli government, already facing criticism for its handling of the Pathibhara cable car protests, decided to issue the notification even with pending court cases. When the notification appeared in the national gazette Sept. 22, confusion deepened regarding which administration was responsible for the decision. A cable car from Tumingtar, Chitwan, to Manakamana, Gorkha. Image by Bhaskar Pyakurel via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Although ropeways are seen as a promising mode of transport in Nepal’s mountainous terrain, private companies such as the IME Group led by businessman Chandra Dhakal have increasingly sought&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/ousted-nepal-govt-cleared-easier-path-for-controversial-cable-cars-documents-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308517</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel mining damage near UNESCO site stirs outrage in southern Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-damage-near-unesco-site-stirs-outrage-in-southern-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-damage-near-unesco-site-stirs-outrage-in-southern-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Oct 2025 22:21:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bong S. Sarmiento]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/23043732/pujada-nickel-project-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Dugong, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Mining, Mountains, Protected Areas, Rivers, Roads, Sea Turtles, Water, Whale Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MINDANAO, Philippines — A nickel mining project in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is facing renewed calls for closure after a recent government inspection revealed that strip mining there has stripped bare about 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area. The Pujada Nickel Project, in the province of Davao [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MINDANAO, Philippines — A nickel mining project in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is facing renewed calls for closure after a recent government inspection revealed that strip mining there has stripped bare about 200 hectares (494 acres) of forest land in an ecologically sensitive area. The Pujada Nickel Project, in the province of Davao Oriental, stands about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage site and ASEAN Heritage Park. It also sits 7 km (4.3 mi) upstream from Pujada Bay, a nationally protected seascape into which several rivers and creeks within the Mount Hamiguitan sanctuary drain, including waterways affected by the mining venture. The Pujada mine is operated by Hallmark Mining Corporation and Austral-Asia Link Mining Corporation under the management of Asiaticus Management Corporation, which are all controlled by Filipino mining investor Pedro O. Tan and his family. Part of a 2004 action plan to revitalize the nation’s mining industry, the project was awarded a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement in the same year and began commercial shipments in 2016. Due to its proximity to two protected areas and the anticipated environmental damage associated with large-scale mining, the project has faced opposition for more than a decade from the community-based Macambol Multi-Sectoral Association for Integral Development, the regional environmental group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) and the Catholic Diocese of Mati. The Pujada Nickel Mining Project leaves a brown swathe of deforested land, sandwiched between the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/nickel-mining-damage-near-unesco-site-stirs-outrage-in-southern-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the heart of Bolivia, the mountain that financed an empire risks collapsing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-the-heart-of-bolivia-the-mountain-that-financed-an-empire-risks-collapsing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-the-heart-of-bolivia-the-mountain-that-financed-an-empire-risks-collapsing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Oct 2025 09:13:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Benjamin Swift]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/21152114/Benjamin-Swift_DJI_0647-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308012</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critical Minerals, Energy, Energy Transition, Environment, Governance, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Mining, Mountains, Natural Resources, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At about 4,800 meters, or nearly 15,800 feet, above sea level, Cerro Rico towers over the city of Potosí, in Bolivia’s southern highlands. Famous for its vast silver reserves, Cerro Rico — whose name means “rich mountain” in Spanish — almost single-handedly financed the Spanish Empire. In 1656, author Antonio de León Pinelo claimed that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At about 4,800 meters, or nearly 15,800 feet, above sea level, Cerro Rico towers over the city of Potosí, in Bolivia’s southern highlands. Famous for its vast silver reserves, Cerro Rico — whose name means “rich mountain” in Spanish — almost single-handedly financed the Spanish Empire. In 1656, author Antonio de León Pinelo claimed that enough silver had been extracted by Indigenous and African slaves to build a bridge from Bolivia to Madrid. At its peak in the early 17th century, Potosí was one of the world’s most populated cities, bigger even than London and Milan. UNESCO World Heritage Site, today the mountain is still exploited by miners associated with 54 cooperatives for zinc, lead, tin and silver, and continues to fuel the city’s economy. Now, riddled with tunnels after nearly 500 years of informal mining, the upper part of the mountain is on the brink of collapse, threatening the  approximately 180 families who live on the mountain and the roughly 10,000 miners working there, the majority of them Indigenous Quechua. “All the houses are cracked because everything is sinking,” Silvia Mamani Armijo, 34, who lives on the mountain with her three young children and works as a mine tunnel guard, told Mongabay. “During the rainy season this whole area can collapse,” she added, pointing to the cracks in the adobe walls of several houses near hers. “So many families could die.” Small cave-ins dot Cerro Rico in the area around Basilio Vargas&#8217; childhood home. Image by Benjamin Swift. Small&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-the-heart-of-bolivia-the-mountain-that-financed-an-empire-risks-collapsing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308012</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Warmer climate could slash threatened whitebark pine territory within decades: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/warmer-climate-could-slash-threatened-whitebark-pine-territory-within-decades-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/warmer-climate-could-slash-threatened-whitebark-pine-territory-within-decades-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 21:27:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15212045/Clarks_Nutcracker-_Nucifraga_columbiana_9401136533-e1760563385589-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307732</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Forests, Mountains, Protected Areas, Restoration, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Hotter and drier conditions could whittle away 80% of land where whitebark pine grows by the middle of this century, according to a recent study. Scattered across the highest parts of the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada, the species is a linchpin of alpine ecosystems. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Hotter and drier conditions could whittle away 80% of land where whitebark pine grows by the middle of this century, according to a recent study. Scattered across the highest parts of the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada, the species is a linchpin of alpine ecosystems. But now, &#8220;It&#8217;s basically just being pushed off the mountain,&#8221; said Sean Parks, a research scientist and the paper’s lead author. &#8220;There&#8217;s nowhere for it to go.&#8221; The work was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The research also projects that protected areas — places like Yellowstone, Mount Rainier and Yosemite national parks and the designated wilderness around them — will cover three-quarters of the territory best suited for whitebark pine. While such locations could help safeguard existing stands, rules and policies around human interventions in these spots could also snarl restoration efforts. Whitebark pines (Pinus albicaulis) can tower to 18 meters (60 feet) or more, while others carve out a stunted existence known as krummholz — German for &#8220;crooked wood&#8221; — growing only about hip-high on the harshest, most windswept slopes. Whitebark pine, pictured here in the Mammoth Lakes region of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Image courtesy of D.F. Tomback. Across its range, this pine shades and anchors snowpack, slowing its melt and stabilizing the precious provision of water throughout the summer for plants, animals and people. And the thick-scaled, purple-hued cones the tree produces offer valuable sustenance to wildlife as diverse as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/warmer-climate-could-slash-threatened-whitebark-pine-territory-within-decades-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/warmer-climate-could-slash-threatened-whitebark-pine-territory-within-decades-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307732</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As the Andes’ glaciers melt, our values can help: Voices from the land (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-as-the-andes-glaciers-melt-our-values-can-help-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-as-the-andes-glaciers-melt-our-values-can-help-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2025 20:05:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yesid Achicue]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/06153917/C78B864E-CC37-41D0-AA35-364F92291911-5382-000005CD3E60FB7E-rotated-e1760472988787-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307630</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Voices from the Land]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Commentary, Culture, Environment, Glaciers, Global Warming, Indigenous Peoples, Mountains, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where the impacts of these urgent crises are deeply felt, but also where solutions are rooted. Through this series, we speak from our territories, and ensure our truths are part of the global conversation. In the Colombian Andes, on the highest points above sea level, I have seen white masses that dazzle and spread life. Up here, I have been able to truly feel the water, smell the pristine air and experience the pulse of the Earth while contemplating the glories of a life cycle where the destiny of the planet seems to rest. It is no wonder that many years ago, when my older brother took me to see the sunrise that broke over braided mountain peaks in changing light, I was able to understand how one of the most amazing creations on Earth began to rise: the Andes mountain range, a serene place that has been part of a perfect balance, where symbiotic bonds are created with all that exists. The Andes, the longest continental mountain range in the world, stretches like a giant snake embracing all of South America. Throughout its immense presence, it winds through various territories and countries, including my own&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/voices-from-the-land-as-the-andes-glaciers-melt-our-values-can-help-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307630</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Indigenous tradition sustaining Nepal’s alpine pastures amid climate change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-indigenous-tradition-sustaining-nepals-alpine-pastures-amid-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-indigenous-tradition-sustaining-nepals-alpine-pastures-amid-climate-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2025 13:42:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mukesh Pokhrel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/30132719/upscalemedia-transformed-2-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Grasslands, Indigenous Peoples, Mountains, Snow Leopards, Sustainable Forest Management, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the monsoon clouds recede in Nepal in late September, herders Karma Gurung and Dhana Raj Ghale, who have spent three summer months at an elevation of 4,044 meters (13,270 feet) above sea level, are returning to lower lands with their cattle herds. In Nepal’s rugged Himalayan mountains, life follows the rhythm of the seasons. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the monsoon clouds recede in Nepal in late September, herders Karma Gurung and Dhana Raj Ghale, who have spent three summer months at an elevation of 4,044 meters (13,270 feet) above sea level, are returning to lower lands with their cattle herds. In Nepal’s rugged Himalayan mountains, life follows the rhythm of the seasons. During the short summers, pastoralists move their livestock to high-elevation pastures where melted snow reveals fresh, nutritious grass and herbs, while in winter, they descend to lower valleys to escape the bitter cold. “We have descended to an elevation of 3,100 meters [10,170 ft], and we will reach our village in Ghermu at 1,140 meters [3,740 ft] elevation by November 1,” Gurung tells Mongabay over the phone. Their journey was planned in March, when around 300 households from Ghermu village in Marsyangdi Rural Municipality, Lamjung district, gathered on the edge of their alpine pastures. They were there for an annual age-old tradition: deciding how and where to allow livestock to graze for the year under the guidance of thiti, a Gurung community institution passed down through generations. Sheep herd moving to lower altitudes with the end of summer. Image courtesy of Sita Ram Guragain. “This system has guided our community for generations,” says Ghanashyam Ghale, an elected ward chair of the municipality. “It allows us to live in this harsh environment while conserving our natural resources.” As climate change threatens alpine grasslands, conservationists are pointing to the centuries-old thiti system, which combines rotational grazing, collective&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/the-indigenous-tradition-sustaining-nepals-alpine-pastures-amid-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal’s Himalayan biodiversity struggles with new herds and highways (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/nepals-himalayan-biodiversity-struggles-with-new-herds-and-highways-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/nepals-himalayan-biodiversity-struggles-with-new-herds-and-highways-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2025 13:57:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Geraldine WerhahnNaresh Kusi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/17143059/Blue_sheep_Pseudois_nayaur_Male-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306135</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conflict, Conservation, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mountains, Pasture, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A journey into Nepal’s Limi Valley is always profound. We at the Himalayan Wolves Project first visited the area more than a decade ago and were immediately struck by its high-altitude, wind-sculpted landscapes, and the extraordinary diversity of wildlife inhabiting them: Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus chanco), snow leopard (Panthera uncia), wild yak (Bos mutus), kiang [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A journey into Nepal’s Limi Valley is always profound. We at the Himalayan Wolves Project first visited the area more than a decade ago and were immediately struck by its high-altitude, wind-sculpted landscapes, and the extraordinary diversity of wildlife inhabiting them: Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus chanco), snow leopard (Panthera uncia), wild yak (Bos mutus), kiang (Equus kiang), Tibetan fox (Vulpes ferrilata), Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata), Tibetan argali (Ovis ammon hodgsoni), blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii), Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), Tibetan brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus), black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis), Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana), various species of pika (Ochotona spp.), and many more. During 12 years of research expeditions, the valley has revealed to us not only the intimate lives of its wildlife but also the shifting ways in which people use this land. During our most recent fieldwork in July 2025, however, we observed changes that raise serious concern. Large numbers of goats and sheep were being grazed in areas once dominated by yak herds, directly overlapping with the habitats of the valley’s key carnivores: Himalayan wolf, snow leopard, lynx and brown bear. Goats and sheep are highly vulnerable to predation, and so the potential for escalating conflict between humans and these carnivores is evident. A Himalayan marmot. Image courtesy of Christopher J. Fynn / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 &amp; GFDL. Shifts in summer pastures Since our first journey, the high summer pastures of Limi beyond Pigung Lagna — Tibetan for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/nepals-himalayan-biodiversity-struggles-with-new-herds-and-highways-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306135</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>Escalation in tourism, climate change leaves Nepal’s Mustang in fragile state</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/escalation-in-tourism-climate-change-leaves-nepals-mustang-in-fragile-state/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/escalation-in-tourism-climate-change-leaves-nepals-mustang-in-fragile-state/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2025 12:58:50 +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/20/2025/08/22114702/Lower-Mustang-development-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304779</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Conservation, Development, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Extreme Weather, Governance, Infrastructure, Law, Mountains, Pollution, Rivers, Roads, Tourism, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MUSTANG, Nepal — On a crisp morning after a night of rain, the breeze diffuses the smell of wet earth in the village of Kagbeni in Mustang, Nepal’s trans-Himalayan frontier. The perennial Kali Gandaki River, rejuvenated by the rain, roars with its silt-laden water as scores of pilgrims carry packages of grain, flowers, saffron powder [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MUSTANG, Nepal — On a crisp morning after a night of rain, the breeze diffuses the smell of wet earth in the village of Kagbeni in Mustang, Nepal’s trans-Himalayan frontier. The perennial Kali Gandaki River, rejuvenated by the rain, roars with its silt-laden water as scores of pilgrims carry packages of grain, flowers, saffron powder and sesame seeds to offer to their ancestors. The narrow alley leading to the riverbanks is soon converted into a parking lot for idling motorcycles, buses and SUVs waiting for the pilgrims to finish their prayers, take a dip in the river, and hand over the offerings to the sacred river — believed to carry these to their ancestors — before heading to the Muktinath temple upstream. As if the river slices time into two, one of the banks reflects the present and the other tells a tale from a distant past. On the far side lies a fragile slope, constantly eroded by the river’s flow and the powerful winds that have shaped the sedimentary rocks ever since the Himalayas began rising and the ancient Tethys Sea disappeared during the Cenozoic Era. On the near side, on the other hand, stands a row of concrete lodges, hotels and tea houses that are symbols of the rapid transformation as climate change and mass tourism converge in the region. Pilgrims make offerings to their ancestors on the banks of the Kaligandaki river in Kagbeni, Mustang. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/Mongabay. One of those new buildings belongs to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/escalation-in-tourism-climate-change-leaves-nepals-mustang-in-fragile-state/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304779</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal’s hydropower developers watch closely as court nears key verdict</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nepals-hydropower-developers-watch-closely-as-court-nears-key-verdict/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nepals-hydropower-developers-watch-closely-as-court-nears-key-verdict/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Aug 2025 06:46:46 +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/20/2025/08/02055947/kulekhani-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303631</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Development, Ecosystems, Energy, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Hydroelectric Power, Infrastructure, Mountains, Protected Areas, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal’s private hydropower developers are keeping a watchful eye on the Supreme Court as it prepares to issue the full judgment on a historic case related to the development of infrastructure such as hydropower, hotels and cable cars inside protected areas. As the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court prepares to issue the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal’s private hydropower developers are keeping a watchful eye on the Supreme Court as it prepares to issue the full judgment on a historic case related to the development of infrastructure such as hydropower, hotels and cable cars inside protected areas. As the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court prepares to issue the full text of the summary verdict passed in January, private developers, who contribute around 63% of the 2,991 MW of installed hydroelectric capacity, continue to rally support from political parties calling for concessions for hydropower plants inside protected areas. “We have concluded that the summary order issued as per the majority decision of the Constitutional Bench on January 15, 2025 has nullified a law duly enacted by the Parliament in exercise of the sovereign authority of the Nepali people, and is pushing the work and proceedings of hydropower projects—promoted over the past 15 years—towards complexity,” the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN), a group of private producers, said in a statement on Jan. 26. The verdict by the constitutional bench scrapped a controversial 2024 law that permitted infrastructure projects in protected areas if they fell outside vaguely defined “highly sensitive zones.” The court held that the amendment to the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act was against the constitutionally defined state policy of environment-friendly development and the principle of intergenerational equity, among others. Penstock pipes at the Sunkoshi Hydropower station in Nepal. Image by Nirmal Raj Joshi  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nepals-hydropower-developers-watch-closely-as-court-nears-key-verdict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303631</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Endangered Andean cat is imperiled by climate change and its solutions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/endangered-andean-cat-is-imperiled-by-climate-change-and-its-solutions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/endangered-andean-cat-is-imperiled-by-climate-change-and-its-solutions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 14:58:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/10042617/Image_1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302156</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes, Argentina, Atlantic Forest, Bolivia, Chile, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Climate Change, Conservation, DNA, Endangered Species, Environment, Extreme Weather, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Lithium, Mammals, Mining, Monitoring, Mountains, Natural Resources, Research, Small Cats, Species, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Many conservationists dedicated to protecting the endangered Andean cat have never seen one in the wild, with the species known to science by just a few photos until the late 1990s. And it took Juan Reppucci, leader of the Andean Cat Alliance’s In the Field 24/7 program, nine years to spot one of these elusive [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Many conservationists dedicated to protecting the endangered Andean cat have never seen one in the wild, with the species known to science by just a few photos until the late 1990s. And it took Juan Reppucci, leader of the Andean Cat Alliance’s In the Field 24/7 program, nine years to spot one of these elusive cats in its natural habitat. The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) is one of South America’s most endangered small cat species, roaming the high Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. About the size of a domestic cat, it resembles a miniature snow leopard. Thick fur and an elongated tail make it well adapted to the harsh alpine environment it calls home and for chasing its favorite prey — vizcacha, a rabbit-resembling rodent — across rocky landscapes. Reppucci’s sighting happened on a very “weird” day, he recalls. While out looking for a radio collar that had fallen from a Pampas cat (L. colocolo) in Jujuy province, Argentina, the researcher’s dog Monty (an ever-present companion and guide on field trips) got spooked by a herd of llamas and went missing. Juan Reppucci and his dog Monty, who acts as both field trip companion and guide for AGA research teams. “If it&#8217;s dark, I follow the dog because he knows the way,” Reppucci says. Image courtesy of AGA. Reppucci walked for hours searching for both the collar and Monty. Eventually he reached a cliff edge and paused to catch his breath. “I was super tired, because I was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/endangered-andean-cat-is-imperiled-by-climate-change-and-its-solutions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302156</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How private funding helped one NGO survive the USAID cuts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-private-funding-helped-one-ngo-survive-the-usaid-cuts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-private-funding-helped-one-ngo-survive-the-usaid-cuts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 13:01:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/09213857/Adobe-Express-file-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302148</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Andes and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Funding, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Mountains, NGOs, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dramatic cuts to USAID funding earlier this year have slammed conservation organizations around the world. But some NGOs, like World Neighbors, have been able to continue their conservation projects with little disruption — thanks in part to their reliance on private rather than government funding. This approach, which focuses on funding from family foundations and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dramatic cuts to USAID funding earlier this year have slammed conservation organizations around the world. But some NGOs, like World Neighbors, have been able to continue their conservation projects with little disruption — thanks in part to their reliance on private rather than government funding. This approach, which focuses on funding from family foundations and corporate grants, has so far allowed World Neighbors to weather the unstable financial environment, Kate Schecter, the organization’s CEO, told Mongabay. Only its program in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, which received funding from USAID, was impacted. “We don’t get millions and millions of dollars from these individual donors,” she added. “However, their passion and their commitment to our mission lasts much longer than a one- or two-year grant that you might get from USAID.” In the Peruvian Andes, WN found that its project to help communities build nine qochas, artificial water bodies constructed using ancient agricultural techniques to collect and store water, faced little disruption. The project, still ongoing, has helped save more than 56,000 cubic meters (12.3 million gallons) of water, improving water access for 31,664 people in 44 communities across the regions of Apurímac and Ayacucho. “We&#8217;re not a one-sector organization,” Schecter said. “We don&#8217;t just focus on water or agriculture. We believe that if these communities are going to be self-sustaining and if they&#8217;re going to be able to operate without our support, we need to address all the issues in the community.” For these purposes, private donors work because they allow the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-private-funding-helped-one-ngo-survive-the-usaid-cuts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302148</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Communities and ecosystems in Venezuela learn to adapt to life after glaciers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/communities-and-ecosystems-in-venezuela-learn-to-adapt-to-life-after-glaciers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/communities-and-ecosystems-in-venezuela-learn-to-adapt-to-life-after-glaciers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2025 15:56:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeanfreddy Gutiérrez TorresMaría Fernanda Rodríguez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/30143735/A-scientist-from-Venezuelas-Last-Glacier-project-collects-ice-samples-from-La-Corona-in-December-2023-for-study.-Photo_-Stefano-Pozzebon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301647</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecosystems, extractives, Fossil Fuels, Freshwater, Glaciers, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, Mitigation, Mountains, Plants, Research, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MÉRIDA, Venezuela- José Betancourt, 75, climbed to the glacier of Pico Bolívar, Venezuela&#8217;s highest peak, 158 times before it disappeared in 2017. He’s also summited the nearby Pico Humboldt, the country’s second-highest peak, more than 100 times. At 4,925 meters (16,158 feet), Humboldt still has a glacier — for now. In 2023, scientists demoted the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MÉRIDA, Venezuela- José Betancourt, 75, climbed to the glacier of Pico Bolívar, Venezuela&#8217;s highest peak, 158 times before it disappeared in 2017. He’s also summited the nearby Pico Humboldt, the country’s second-highest peak, more than 100 times. At 4,925 meters (16,158 feet), Humboldt still has a glacier — for now. In 2023, scientists demoted the ever-shrinking glacier, La Corona, covering an area barely larger than two football fields, to ice field status. Venezuela has become the first tropical country to lose all its glaciers. But with most of the ice gone, the mountains are seeing new life emerge, and local communities are seeking to reinvent the identity of the city of Mérida, a place once known for its eternal snows. In the early 1900s, Sierra Nevada de Mérida National Park in western Venezuela was home to more than 10 prominent glaciers formed during the last glacial period, about 21,500 years ago. These sat atop the peaks of El Toro, El León, Espejo, Bolívar, La Concha, Bonpland and Humboldt. Their retreat first became visible at the end of the 19th century. In 1890, Venezuelan writer and historian Tulio Febres Cordero wrote: “It has been said for some time that the snow in the mountains is diminishing; and the older neighbors point out with sadness the places where the snow has completely disappeared. The decrease is slow, but unfortunately true.” The 1956 International High Mountain Ski Competition at Pico Espejo in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, the only one in Venezuela. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/communities-and-ecosystems-in-venezuela-learn-to-adapt-to-life-after-glaciers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301647</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Snow leopards frequently cross Nepal, India, China borders, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/snow-leopards-frequently-cross-nepal-india-china-borders-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/snow-leopards-frequently-cross-nepal-india-china-borders-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jun 2025 16:06:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bibek Bhandari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/12134736/zeborong-edited-%C2%A9-DNPWC-_-WWF-Nepal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300668</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Forest, China, India, and Nepal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Developing Countries, GPS, Mammals, Mountains, Other effective conservation measures (OECMs), and Snow Leopards]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — The first-ever study of GPS-collared snow leopards carried out in Nepal has shown that these hyper elusive big cats spend up to a third of their time in neighboring India and China. It also found that up to half their range lies within these other countries, highlighting the importance of cross-border collaboration to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — The first-ever study of GPS-collared snow leopards carried out in Nepal has shown that these hyper elusive big cats spend up to a third of their time in neighboring India and China. It also found that up to half their range lies within these other countries, highlighting the importance of cross-border collaboration to conserve this threatened species. The findings, published in March, are based on data from tracking collars fitted to four snow leopards (Panthera uncia) in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in northeastern Nepal, home to the third-highest mountain on Earth. Kangchenjunga is sandwiched to the east by Khangchendzonga National Park in India and to the northwest by Qomolangma National Nature Preserve. Researchers tracked the individual snow leopards from 20 to 659 days between 2013 and 2017, and found that they roamed across areas six to 97 times larger than previously thought. Three of the animals were also found to have crossed international borders five to seven times, spending 10-34% of their time in India and China, with 28-50% of their home ranges overlapping with India. “We now have solid proof,” study lead author Samundra Subba, a large carnivore researcher at WWF Nepal, said of long held assumptions about snow leopards’ transboundary movements. “National borders are human constructs — snow leopards don’t recognize them. As long as there are no physical and artificial barriers like fences, and the habitat conditions are similar with relative proportion of prey availability, these big cats can move freely across the landscape.” Map shows&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/snow-leopards-frequently-cross-nepal-india-china-borders-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300668</doi>				</item>
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					<title>In Nepal, centuries-old Buddhist incense tradition faces overharvesting, climate threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-nepal-centuries-old-buddhist-incense-tradition-faces-overharvesting-climate-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-nepal-centuries-old-buddhist-incense-tradition-faces-overharvesting-climate-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2025 16:12:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Durga Rana Magar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/16150055/Janden-Gurung-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299204</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Buddhism, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Drought, Illegal Trade, Mountains, Plants, Protected Areas, and Religions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANANG, Nepal — In Bhraka village of western Nepal’s Manang district, 72-year-old Buddhist nun Tashi Lama sits in silence, chanting as she turns her prayer wheel. Ever since she took her vows at 25, her mornings begin with prayers and the lighting of sang, a sacred incense made from dried branches and leaves of black [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[MANANG, Nepal — In Bhraka village of western Nepal’s Manang district, 72-year-old Buddhist nun Tashi Lama sits in silence, chanting as she turns her prayer wheel. Ever since she took her vows at 25, her mornings begin with prayers and the lighting of sang, a sacred incense made from dried branches and leaves of black juniper (Juniperus indica) and wild wormwood (titepati) among others. “Lighting sang purifies our environment. It’s something we do every day wishing that peace prevails in the world,” Lama told Mongabay. “Its cedar-like scent evokes calm and hope.” Like Lama, thousands of Buddhists in Nepal’s Trans-Himalayan regions such as Manang and Mustang, and those with roots to the area residing around the world light the sang as part of a sacred tradition at the break of dawn wherever they are. However, the sacred tradition which has been going on for centuries is under growing threat from overharvesting, tightening conservation regulations and a warming global climate. Residents of Manang in Nepal need to hike long distances to collect juniper leaves. Image by Durga Rana Magar. At the centuries-year-old Kagyu Monastery in Bhraka — situated at an elevation of 3,475 meters (11,400 feet) above sea level — 48-year-old caretaker Karma Chhiring Gurung, also begins his day by lighting the incense. “Our ancestors taught us that God will be happy and satisfied if we light sang, and we have been doing it ever since,” he told Mongabay. Black juniper, locally known as dhupi, trees grow only between 3,600-4,800 m&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-nepal-centuries-old-buddhist-incense-tradition-faces-overharvesting-climate-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299204</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nepal announces its snow leopard population after first-of-its-kind assessment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/nepal-announces-its-snow-leopard-population-after-first-of-its-kind-assessment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/nepal-announces-its-snow-leopard-population-after-first-of-its-kind-assessment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2025 12:40:45 +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/20/2025/04/23104302/%C2%A9-Rocky-Prajapati-DNPWC-WWF-Nepal-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298045</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Cats, Conservation, data, Ecology, Environment, Genetics, Mammals, Mountains, Snow Leopards, Surveying, Technology, Top Predators, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Following decades of speculation, skepticism and lack of consensus, Nepal’s government has announced the country’s first-ever consolidated national estimate of snow leopards (Panther uncia): 397 individuals. The figure, which translates to 1.56 individuals per 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles), was reported by an expert committee following months of work which involved aggregating [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Following decades of speculation, skepticism and lack of consensus, Nepal’s government has announced the country’s first-ever consolidated national estimate of snow leopards (Panther uncia): 397 individuals. The figure, which translates to 1.56 individuals per 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles), was reported by an expert committee following months of work which involved aggregating results from multiple studies carried out in different parts of the country adopting different methods across various periods of time. “This national estimate is a historic step in Nepal’s conservation journey,” said Ramchandra Kandel, director-general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). It not only provides us with a clearer picture of snow leopard populations but also informs future conservation strategies,” he added. A snow leopard photographed in Nepal. Image courtesy of WWF. This estimate and its report are the Himalayan country’s contribution to the Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopards (PAWS), an initiative launched under the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) in 2019 to support the 12 range countries to produce a robust estimate of the cat’s population status. The result, based on data on snow leopard distribution and population density collected between 2015 and 2024, also has global implications. “Although Nepal has the second smallest snow leopard habitat of only around 2% of the global land area considered suitable for snow leopards, it is home to nearly 10%, the fourth largest population,” said Ghana Shyam Gurung, Nepal representative of WWF. Unlike tigers (Panthera tigris), the other&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/nepal-announces-its-snow-leopard-population-after-first-of-its-kind-assessment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298045</doi>				</item>
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					<title>More cable car controversy surfaces in Nepal’s western mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/more-cable-car-controversy-surfaces-in-nepals-western-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/more-cable-car-controversy-surfaces-in-nepals-western-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2025 10:58:33 +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/20/2025/02/12110410/32814c0a-605e-496b-b32c-56072682770a-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294271</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Infrastructure, Mountains, Protected Areas, Sustainable Development, and Transportation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A brewing controversy over private cable car projects in Nepal’s hills has taken a new turn after the country’s planning commission quietly gave &#8220;national priority&#8221; status to a venture in the Annapurnas, despite pending legal verdicts and environmental concerns. The decision, criticized for lacking a legal basis, comes amid escalating tensions between protesters [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — A brewing controversy over private cable car projects in Nepal’s hills has taken a new turn after the country’s planning commission quietly gave &#8220;national priority&#8221; status to a venture in the Annapurnas, despite pending legal verdicts and environmental concerns. The decision, criticized for lacking a legal basis, comes amid escalating tensions between protesters and the government in eastern Nepal&#8217;s Mukkumlung (Pathibhara) region, where another cable car project being developed by the same business group has drawn opposition from Indigenous Limbu communities. &#8220;The planning commission decision lacks legal basis as it cites laws that are irrelevant to the issue,&#8221; legal expert Dilraj Khanal told Mongabay. &#8220;Also, it could even amount to contempt of court as the issue is sub-judice.&#8221; The Sikles Annapurna Cable Car project, spearheaded by businessman Chandra Prasad Dhakal&#8216;s IME Group, would run 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) through the Annapurna Conservation Area, a region that’s home to wildlife including Nepal&#8217;s national bird, the Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus). With “national priority” status, it becomes easier for the developers to seek permission to fell trees, Khanal said. The commission&#8217;s controversial decision comes in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that annulled an amendment to the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act allowing projects of national priority to be built inside protected areas, a no-go zone for such activities. A guesthouse in the Annapurna region. In Annapurna Conservation Area, local entrepreneurs have chipped in to invest in infrastructure such as hotels and teahouses necessary for tourists. Image by Andrei&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/more-cable-car-controversy-surfaces-in-nepals-western-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294271</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Helicopters slash the trek to Earth’s highest peak, but leave Sherpas grounded</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/helicopter-controversy-everest-sherpas-nepal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/helicopter-controversy-everest-sherpas-nepal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jan 2025 14:33:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shashwat Pant]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/21135030/Yaks-on-trail-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Himalayas, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Development, Conflict, Conservation, Culture, Ecotourism, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mountains, Snow Leopards, Tourism, and Travel]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — When Pasang Nuru Sherpa recalls his childhood in the quiet village of Pangboche, in the foothills of Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest, his memories take him back to the gentle hum of daily life: the swishing of prayer flags, the calls of mountain birds, and the soft clink of yak bells as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — When Pasang Nuru Sherpa recalls his childhood in the quiet village of Pangboche, in the foothills of Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest, his memories take him back to the gentle hum of daily life: the swishing of prayer flags, the calls of mountain birds, and the soft clink of yak bells as the animals meander along the narrow trails. Back then, any disruption to this silence was rare, signaling either an emergency medical evacuation or the arrival of a high-profile visitor. Both were reasons for a helicopter to approach the homes of the Sherpa people, renowned for their ability to thrive on the world’s tallest mountains. Today, however, the choppers have become ubiquitous. Their duty now extends to serving “helicopter tourists,” the name given to affluent tourists who want an instant ride up nearly all the way to Base Camp and are willing to pay a premium for it. “The sound of helicopters never stops,” Pasang says. “They start flying at 6 a.m. and don’t stop until sunset. It disrupts our lives.” It’s more than just the noise; the air traffic has taken an economic and social toll on Pasang and his community, while also endangering the fragile ecosystems of their homeland already under stress due to rising temperatures. Residents say much of the profits from helicopter tourism end up with the operators, often based in Kathmandu or abroad, leaving local Sherpas to face the consequences and costs. A helicopter carrying tourists flies in the Sagarmatha region.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/helicopter-controversy-everest-sherpas-nepal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293195</doi>				</item>
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