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		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=oil-spills&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/oil-spills/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 20:12:10 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Oil Spills</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/oil-spills/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Health fears linger in a Brazilian neighborhood built over oil waste</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 20:06:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leandro Barbosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/16175756/DSC09995-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323738</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Health, Oil Spills, One Health, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SÃO SEBASTIÃO, Brazil — In front of the house where she has lived for decades, Cosma da Silva points to nearby homes in her Itatinga neighborhood and lists a string of cancer cases. “There’s a woman with cancer over there. Another one lives in that building. And yet another one there [points at the place]. People [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SÃO SEBASTIÃO, Brazil — In front of the house where she has lived for decades, Cosma da Silva points to nearby homes in her Itatinga neighborhood and lists a string of cancer cases. “There’s a woman with cancer over there. Another one lives in that building. And yet another one there [points at the place]. People in this area only die of cancer.” She sees illness as an integral part of the neighborhood’s landscape and includes her own family in the tally. Her husband Paulo José da Silva died at age 51 from a brain tumor. Cosma herself recently underwent surgery to remove a nodule. As she deals with the consequences of the treatment — a wound that burns and itches on the side of her chest — she continues to observe several sick relatives, neighbors and acquaintances. The connection between these cases and the environmental contamination that has marked Itatinga’s history has never been proven or investigated the way residents expected it to be. From the 1970s to the 1980s, part of the neighborhood was used for the disposal of oily sludge associated with oil exploration. Years later, homes were built on the land. Environmental investigations by public agencies found contaminants in the soil and groundwater. For almost 20 years, documents from the São Paulo State Environmental Company (CETESB), the State Prosecution Service (MPE), the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF) and Petrobras itself — the Brazilian state-controlled oil company, which the investigations accused of being responsible for the disposal — pointed to toxic substances&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/health-fears-linger-in-a-brazilian-neighborhood-built-over-oil-waste/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323738</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘We couldn’t breathe’: DRC villagers revive protest against Perenco over pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 14:54:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elodie Toto]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/21135544/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-11-at-14.51.59-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324228</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Environment, Environmental Law, Finance, Governance, Health, Law, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“I had diarrhea and dizziness. Food no longer tasted the same. … I wasn’t the only one who noticed it — it was the same for everyone in the village; we couldn’t breathe,” Benoît Packera, secretary of the vigilance committee of Kitombe, told Mongabay. He was recounting what happened in April 2025, when toxic gases [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“I had diarrhea and dizziness. Food no longer tasted the same. … I wasn’t the only one who noticed it — it was the same for everyone in the village; we couldn’t breathe,” Benoît Packera, secretary of the vigilance committee of Kitombe, told Mongabay. He was recounting what happened in April 2025, when toxic gases were released by a Perenco facility in southwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The committee raised the alarm about the impacts, which led to a parliamentary commission visiting the area and confirming the existence of pollution in a report. Things went quiet for a while. Perenco continued its flaring operations and the residents claimed they did not receive any treatments or compensation. In May this year, Frustrated residents blocked access roads to Perenco facilities, temporarily disrupting oil operations. Kitombe is a village located in the Muanda territory. Besides being the only territory giving the country access to the ocean, Muanda is also home to oil reserves exploited by Perenco REP (Perenco’s subsidiary in the DRC) since the early 2000s, where it extracts around 4,500 barrels of crude oil per day. However, this exploitation has not come without conflict. The company has repeatedly faced allegations of pollution and adversely impacting agricultural yields, villagers say. But on April 12, 2025, tensions reached a breaking point. “It smelled extremely bad and very strong, like rotten eggs. I coughed a lot and felt like vomiting,” Packera recalled. That day, gas was released into the atmosphere from the tank farm,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/we-couldnt-breathe-drc-villagers-revive-protest-against-perenco-over-pollution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324228</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can conservation change how the world sees the Strait of Hormuz? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2026 15:37:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iman Ebrahimi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/13142321/Moray-eel-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Iran, Kuwait, Middle East, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Conflict, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Estuaries, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil Spills, War, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In recent months, the Strait of Hormuz has again been described in the language the world knows best: Oil, tankers, naval risk, energy security and war. That is understandable. Around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments normally move through this narrow passage between Iran and Oman. When Hormuz is threatened, markets react [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent months, the Strait of Hormuz has again been described in the language the world knows best: Oil, tankers, naval risk, energy security and war. That is understandable. Around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments normally move through this narrow passage between Iran and Oman. When Hormuz is threatened, markets react and governments calculate. But this is only one map of the strait. Conservation offers another. The Strait of Hormuz is not only an oil chokepoint. It is an ecological corridor: The narrow mouth through which the Persian Gulf exchanges water with the Gulf of Oman and the wider Indian Ocean, and through which islands, mangroves, seabird colonies, coral reefs, turtle nesting beaches and coastal communities are connected across borders. A pair of flamingos, Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Image courtesy of Maitha Bughanoom. This way of seeing Hormuz matters now because recent oil-related reports have not pointed to empty water. They have pointed toward real places: Shidvar, an uninhabited Ramsar island in Lavan, Iran, where damage to nearby oil infrastructure can quickly become a threat to a breeding ground for more than 80,000 terns each year; Qeshm and the Hara mangrove forests, the largest mangrove system in the Persian Gulf and also a Ramsar site; Kharg Island, and also small ports, fishing grounds and coastal waters where human life and wildlife are not easily separated. The full biological impact is still unclear but the geography already tells us enough: In the Persian Gulf,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/can-conservation-change-how-the-world-sees-the-strait-of-hormuz-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil’s expanding offshore oil frontier puts biodiversity at risk: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazils-expanding-offshore-oil-frontier-puts-biodiversity-at-risk-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazils-expanding-offshore-oil-frontier-puts-biodiversity-at-risk-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2026 15:42:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Shailer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/06151639/mesophotic-reef-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322398</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity Hotspots, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, extractives, Fish, Fossil Fuels, Health, Marine, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In late August 2019, fishing communities along the northeast coast of Brazil reported black oily stains washing up on beaches, with crude clumping between the roots of mangroves, on the shells of turtles and on growing numbers of beached fish. The origin of the spill was never confirmed: Then-president Jair Bolsonaro first blamed a Venezuelan [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In late August 2019, fishing communities along the northeast coast of Brazil reported black oily stains washing up on beaches, with crude clumping between the roots of mangroves, on the shells of turtles and on growing numbers of beached fish. The origin of the spill was never confirmed: Then-president Jair Bolsonaro first blamed a Venezuelan tanker, then Greenpeace. What was soon clear, however, was the scale of the disaster. Carried by strong winds and ocean currents, by early 2020 the oil had contaminated thousands of kilometers of coastline across all nine Brazilian states in the region. As the country’s government issued its first oil exploration licenses off the northeast coast in two decades earlier this year, research published last month looks to predict the scale and spread of a potential future spill. According to the study, outdated marine habitat maps and a failure to consider expansion across multiple sites in the region has led officials to underestimate the environmental risks of oil spills, especially for seagrass meadows and deepwater corals. Regions where a spill is more likely to happen should prepare an emergency response, the paper recommends, while “areas of high conservation importance but relatively lower oil spill risk” could be targeted for new or expanded Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a precaution. “Most of the licensing just looks at one activity in one location: not the whole seascape,” Rafael Magris, an ecologist at the Chico Mendez Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and lead author of the research, told Mongabay in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazils-expanding-offshore-oil-frontier-puts-biodiversity-at-risk-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/brazils-expanding-offshore-oil-frontier-puts-biodiversity-at-risk-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322398</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Despite oil spills in Nigeria&#8217;s mangrove forests, Shell continued operations, documents show</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2026 14:28:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David AkanaVictoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/05232017/AP788278067772-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320681</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Forest Loss, Forests, Industry, Law, Mangroves, Marine, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Water, Water Pollution, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Global oil giant Shell continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment, newly disclosed internal company communications reveal. The emails and memos, reviewed by Mongabay, show senior leadership knew of the poor conditions of the 97-kilometer (60-mile) Nembe Creek Trunk Line [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Global oil giant Shell continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment, newly disclosed internal company communications reveal. The emails and memos, reviewed by Mongabay, show senior leadership knew of the poor conditions of the 97-kilometer (60-mile) Nembe Creek Trunk Line as early as 2008. Despite concerns it was operating outside technical integrity standards and proposals to shut it down, a top executive decided to keep pumping oil through the line. Carrying 150,000 barrels of oil per day to the export terminal at Bonny Island Rivers state, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line is a critical oil artery in Nigeria. Throughout the years, theft from the pipeline using illegal connections caused spills into the vast mangrove ecosystem of true (Rhizophora sp.) and flowering black (Avicennia sp.) tree species. An internal 2013 Shell document coded such tampered lines as “red,” requiring either their immediate shutdown or immediate action to remove all illegal connections. Locals from the nearby riverine Bille community said the oil spills killed about 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of mangrove swamps around the village while impacting an area of 13,200 hectares (32,600 acres). The contaminated waterways and degraded ecosystem, they told Mongabay, killed fish and other aquatic life. Satellite imagery surrounding the village shows massive degradation of the mangroves. &#8220;The aquatic life is gone. Our people can no longer go to the river and catch reasonable fish — they can&#8217;t even find the fish in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320681</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Arabian Gulf’s fragile marine ecosystem threatened by current crisis (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/arabian-gulfs-fragile-marine-ecosystem-threatened-by-current-crisis-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/arabian-gulfs-fragile-marine-ecosystem-threatened-by-current-crisis-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2026 15:06:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Razan Al Mubarak]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/11143229/050A0598-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319117</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Abu Dhabi, Iran, Middle East, and Persian Gulf]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Conflict, Dugong, Ecosystems, Estuaries, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Seabirds, War, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At this time of year, the waters of the Arabian Gulf support one of the most significant gatherings of marine life anywhere in the world. Thousands of dugongs congregate in shallow coastal areas, including mother-and-calf pairs, dependent on the 3,000 square kilometers (well over 1,000 square miles) of seagrass meadows in Abu Dhabi waters. Along [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At this time of year, the waters of the Arabian Gulf support one of the most significant gatherings of marine life anywhere in the world. Thousands of dugongs congregate in shallow coastal areas, including mother-and-calf pairs, dependent on the 3,000 square kilometers (well over 1,000 square miles) of seagrass meadows in Abu Dhabi waters. Along the same coastline, sea turtles return to nest, seabirds enter their breeding season, and migratory birds pass through wetlands that connect continents. Mangroves and coral reefs line these coasts. These ecosystems exist alongside the same coastal zones that support cities, energy and industrial infrastructure. They also underpin human life across the region. Tens of millions of people depend on desalination, drawing seawater from these same environments. Their survival, like ours, depends on clean water, intact habitats and stable environmental conditions. I have had the rare privilege, through my work, to witness these systems up close. Their richness is extraordinary, but so too is their fragility. The danger is that war turns that fragility into lasting damage. Indian Ocean humpback dolphin in Mangrove Marine National Park, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Image courtesy of Maitha Bughanoom. An airstrike on an oil tanker, or a collision, fire or loss of control by one of these vessels would release oil or other pollutants into shallow waters, where they spread rapidly across seagrass beds and coastal habitats. Water quality declines, oxygen levels fall, nesting sites are lost, and breeding cycles are disrupted. Local populations can collapse, and recovery becomes uncertain. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/arabian-gulfs-fragile-marine-ecosystem-threatened-by-current-crisis-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-319117</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil spill continues in Gulf of Mexico vulnerable habitats, while Pemex admits fault</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2026 11:33:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Caitlin Cooper]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/22111835/AP26085839385231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317934</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Oceans, Oil Spills, Politics, Pollution, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Waste, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In Nautla, a municipality on the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, soft folds of sand await sea turtles as their annual nesting season begins between April and June. But instead of the miniature olive-green turtles — the Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) that show up here are the world’s smallest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — In Nautla, a municipality on the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, soft folds of sand await sea turtles as their annual nesting season begins between April and June. But instead of the miniature olive-green turtles — the Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) that show up here are the world’s smallest species of their kind — sticky black discs the size of coins dot the coastline. Along a 1-meter (3-foot) section of beach, Nautla resident Ricardo Yepez Gerón, director-general of the Yepez Foundation, an NGO focused on sea turtle conservation, said he could count approximately 100 of these spots. “To remove the oil that has [washed up] on these beaches … let’s be honest, the coastline is too long,” Yepez Gerón told Mongabay in a video interview. “You need one person for every 10 meters [33 ft].” Similar reports of tar stains on the beaches of Veracruz, Tabasco and Campeche, along the southern arc of the Gulf of Mexico, have cropped up since early March. According to a late March report from the Coral Reef Network of the Gulf of Mexico, what appeared to be an oil spill had impacted 933 kilometers (about 580 miles) of shoreline — and at least seven of nine natural protected areas, ANPs by their Spanish acronym, in the Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas states, according to Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Mexico’s secretary of environment and natural resources. For 67 days, the government denied any wrongdoing as various scenarios circulated regarding the source&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-spill-continues-in-gulf-of-mexico-vulnerable-habitats-while-pemex-admits-fault/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317934</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New mapping data show where oil blocks threaten Venezuela’s protected areas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-mapping-data-show-where-oil-blocks-threaten-venezuelas-protected-areas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-mapping-data-show-where-oil-blocks-threaten-venezuelas-protected-areas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2026 18:42:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/19182802/AP25017551668547-1-768x500.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315993</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Infrastructure, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Politics, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since the U.S. ousted Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this year, officials in Caracas have been looking for ways to increase oil production, including by attracting foreign private investment. In February, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited facilities operated by Chevron and met with interim government officials, describing plans to unlock “Venezuela’s enormous potential.” New [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since the U.S. ousted Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this year, officials in Caracas have been looking for ways to increase oil production, including by attracting foreign private investment. In February, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited facilities operated by Chevron and met with interim government officials, describing plans to unlock “Venezuela’s enormous potential.” New supply contracts are routing Venezuelan crude to U.S. refineries while a new reform law is supposed to attract foreign oil companies with lower taxes and other incentives. Increased production could have an adverse environmental impact as activity ramps up, many conservation groups say. In Venezuela, oil blocks overlap with protected areas, and leaks have been a problem for decades. “From an environmental point of view, an immediate reactivation without investment in infrastructure is almost a sure formula for environmental damage from spills,” Eduardo Klein, a marine ecology professor at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, told Mongabay. New mapping analysis by Mongabay reveals the extent of the potential threat to the country’s numerous ecosystems, including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, coral reefs and Amazon rainforest, among others. The map was made with data from the World Database of Protected Areas and oil block maps from ProVita, an environmental nonprofit. It shows that Venezuela has 538,883 square kilometers (208,064 square miles) of protected areas and 177,843 km2 (68,666 mi2) of oil blocks, some of them already in production and others in the pre-exploration or exploration phases. An estimated 70,785 km2 (27,330 mi2) — or around 13% — of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-mapping-data-show-where-oil-blocks-threaten-venezuelas-protected-areas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-mapping-data-show-where-oil-blocks-threaten-venezuelas-protected-areas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315993</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil patch appears after IRIS Dena sinking in Sri Lanka; origins still unverified</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/oil-patch-appears-after-iris-dena-sinking-in-sri-lanka-origins-still-unverified/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/oil-patch-appears-after-iris-dena-sinking-in-sri-lanka-origins-still-unverified/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2026 08:55:56 +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/20/2026/03/13081115/IMG_4196-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315691</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Law, Marine, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka — On Saturday, March 7, three days after the Iranian warship IRIS Dena was torpedoed by a U.S Navy submarine close to the southern coast off Galle in Sri Lanka, fishers and coastal communities noticed a thick oil patch along the coast of Hikkaduwa. Hikkaduwa is one of the most pristine coastal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka — On Saturday, March 7, three days after the Iranian warship IRIS Dena was torpedoed by a U.S Navy submarine close to the southern coast off Galle in Sri Lanka, fishers and coastal communities noticed a thick oil patch along the coast of Hikkaduwa. Hikkaduwa is one of the most pristine coastal belts in the south of Sri Lanka, frequented by tourists throughout the year with a peak tourism season from December to March. Even as authorities say the oil spill has been brought under control to some extent, environmentalists express concerns about the possible environmental implications of the oil spill on marine ecosystems in Hikkaduwa and its environs. The frigate was torpedoed by USS Charlotte, a U. S. Navy submarine. The Iranian-flagged IRIS Dena was returning from the International Fleet Review 2026, a multinational naval exercise held in Visakapatnam, India. The incident occurred in international waters, around 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers or 46 miles) off the island’s southern coast. “As soon as we were informed by the Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department (CCD) about the appearance of several oil patches along Hikkaduwa coast on March 7 morning, we deployed teams to check on the situation,” Samantha Gunasekara, chair of Sri Lanka’s Marine Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA), told Mongabay. He said that ever since March 4, the day the warship was attacked, local teams have been alerted via a WhatsApp group to watch for evidence of any environmental impacts. “We obtained photographs from coastal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/oil-patch-appears-after-iris-dena-sinking-in-sri-lanka-origins-still-unverified/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315691</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lankan waters under ‘close watch’ following wreckage of Iranian warship</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lankan-waters-under-close-watch-following-wreckage-of-iranian-warship/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lankan-waters-under-close-watch-following-wreckage-of-iranian-warship/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Mar 2026 17:15:23 +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/20/2026/03/06164217/Image-No-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315375</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil Spills, Pollution, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GALLE, Sri Lanka — On March 4, an Iranian Navy frigate IRIS Dena sank some 40-50 nautical miles off the southern coast of Galle, an important maritime route in Sri Lanka. According to the Sri Lanka Navy, at least 180 personnel were initially on board the ship and it was returning from the International Fleet [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GALLE, Sri Lanka — On March 4, an Iranian Navy frigate IRIS Dena sank some 40-50 nautical miles off the southern coast of Galle, an important maritime route in Sri Lanka. According to the Sri Lanka Navy, at least 180 personnel were initially on board the ship and it was returning from the International Fleet Review 2026, a maritime exercise held in Visakhapatnam, India, when it sent out a distress signal. Following the incident, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a U.S. submarine sank the Iranian warship in international waters, describing it as the first such sinking of an enemy ship by a U.S. submarine since World War II. For Sri Lanka, a strategic location at the confluence of important maritime routes, it is both a politically and environmentally distressing moment.  Speaking to media in Colombo, Buddhika Sampath, spokesman for the Sri Lanka Navy, said search and rescue troops were deployed as soon as the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre received the distress call. “We didn’t see a ship except for some oil patches and life rafts,” Sampath told local journalists at a media briefing. “The Navy rescued 32 individuals aboard the ship, but by the time we reached the frigate, several bodies were floating near the vessel,” he said. Map shows Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone. Image courtesy of the Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase, Flanders Marine Institute. No oil spill yet Speaking to Mongabay, Sampath confirmed that an oil spill has not been detected yet. A total of 90 bodies&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/sri-lankan-waters-under-close-watch-following-wreckage-of-iranian-warship/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315375</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More than 5 years after Wakashio oil spill, questions linger in Mauritius</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 14:36:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26124245/1_wakashio-aground-Wikipedia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313334</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Mauritius, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, and Oil Spills]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POINTE D’ESNY, Mauritius — In August 2020, Vikash Tatayah at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation made a phone call he never expected to make. He had “an unusual request,” he recounts telling friends in the U.K. who owned a private jet: A bunch of geckos needed to be evacuated. Mauritius had just entered COVID-19 lockdown, its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POINTE D’ESNY, Mauritius — In August 2020, Vikash Tatayah at the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation made a phone call he never expected to make. He had “an unusual request,” he recounts telling friends in the U.K. who owned a private jet: A bunch of geckos needed to be evacuated. Mauritius had just entered COVID-19 lockdown, its airspace was closed, so it would have to be a special flight. Amid the chaos of the pandemic, the island nation had been hit by one of the worst environmental disasters in its history. On July 25, the MV Wakashio crashed onto coral reefs off Mauritius’ southeastern coast, later spilling around 1,000 metric tons of oil. In time, the slick spread north, creeping to the islets that line the coast. These are home to threatened lesser night geckos (Nactus coindemirensis), prompting Tatayah to call for their evacuation. The oil spill occurred near Blue Bay Marine Park, a coral hotspot, and two other protected sites: the Pointe d&#8217;Esny Wetland (a Ramsar site blessed with rich mangroves ) and the Ile aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve. Oil started leaking from the ship in the first week of August. On Aug. 15, the Wakashio broke in two. In the days following the spill, ocean currents nudged the floating oil northward toward Vieux-Grand-Port. At its most expansive, the oil spill covered nearly 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles) of coastal waters. A government-appointed group estimated that the shipwreck and oil spill affected 96 km2 (37 mi2) of coastal and marine&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/more-than-5-years-after-wakashio-oil-spill-questions-linger-in-mauritius/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313334</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay launches dedicated Oceans Desk to expand global reporting on marine ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2025 21:39:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alejandroprescottcornejo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11211024/Adobe-Express-file-34-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309341</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, China, Global, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Oil Spills, shark finning, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With increasing pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, the health of the world’s oceans is imperiled. In response, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation. The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With increasing pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, the health of the world’s oceans is imperiled. In response, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation. The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across Mongabay’s newsroom, marks a strategic shift to deepen coverage of marine ecosystems as part of the organization’s expanding environmental reporting. “One of our goals at Mongabay is to provide a planetary view of the environment, and understanding the ocean is crucial for grasping the state of life on Earth,” said Willie Shubert, Mongabay’s VP of programs and executive editor. “Our Oceans Desk delivers original and insightful journalism on often underreported topics that highlight humanity&#8217;s cultural, economic and political connections to the sea while also emphasizing the intrinsic value of a living and biodiverse ocean.” Driven by high reader interest, Mongabay’s oceans coverage has steadily expanded to become a top priority for the organization, with thousands of articles, videos and podcasts already published. “The ocean is vast and powerful, but threats from overfishing, climate change, pollution, and crime are pushing it to the brink,” Shubert said. “The voices of communities dependent on a healthy ocean, from fishers and marine biologists to policymakers and consumers, must be part of the story to address these problems. By building a dedicated desk that reports daily from across the world, we aim to inspire people to care for marine biodiversity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309341</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>These banks fund oil &#038; gas in the Amazon amid climate crisis: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/these-banks-fund-oil-gas-in-the-amazon-amid-climate-crisis-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/these-banks-fund-oil-gas-in-the-amazon-amid-climate-crisis-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2025 16:34:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Constance Malleret]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/07095405/Nemonte-Nenquimo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308813</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Banking, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, extractives, Finance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Natural Gas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, a sprawling industrial facility has been carved out of the rainforest. This is the Camisea Gas Complex, a natural gas mega-field operated by a consortium of oil companies led by Argentina’s Pluspetrol. The complex now supplies 70% of Peru’s liquefied petroleum gas, primarily used for cooking. But the project has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, a sprawling industrial facility has been carved out of the rainforest. This is the Camisea Gas Complex, a natural gas mega-field operated by a consortium of oil companies led by Argentina’s Pluspetrol. The complex now supplies 70% of Peru’s liquefied petroleum gas, primarily used for cooking. But the project has left behind a trail of socioenvironmental rights violations, from threats to the survival of isolated Indigenous people to failure to provide energy access to the communities closest to the complex — and on the frontlines of the multiple gas leaks that have contaminated the forest in the 20 years since production began. In September, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, deemed Pluspetrol responsible for environmental damage and Indigenous rights violations in the Peruvian Amazon. A plethora of banks help fund the Camisea Gas Complex. According to nonprofit Stand.earth, Pluspetrol’s local subsidiary and fellow consortium members Repsol and Hunt Oil Peru have received $3.1 billion in financing since 2016. At least 16 banks — including Citibank, JPMorganChase, Itaú Unibanco and HSBC — have provided funding in the last year. These numbers are part of a new report, “Banks vs. The Amazon,” which uncovers how global financial institutions continue to direct resources toward oil and gas extraction in Amazonia, contributing to the destruction of the rainforest and the rise of carbon emissions that contribute to higher global temperatures — despite some banks having adopted policies to end this. Between January 2024 and June 2025, direct&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/these-banks-fund-oil-gas-in-the-amazon-amid-climate-crisis-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308813</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Negro River study finds genetic damage in fish after oil spill</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/negro-river-study-finds-genetic-damage-in-fish-after-oil-spill/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/negro-river-study-finds-genetic-damage-in-fish-after-oil-spill/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2025 18:21:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tiago da Mota e Silva]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/17114737/Foto_Helen-Sadauskas-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307891</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Fish, Oil Spills, Pollution, Research, Rivers, Water, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the morning of March 26, 2013, approximately 60,000 liters (16,000 gallons) of an oil byproduct used to produce asphalt spilled from a barge on the Negro River, near the São Raimundo Harbor in Manaus. When researcher Helen Sadauskas-Henrique saw the news on TV, she did not hesitate to cancel plans to spend Easter with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the morning of March 26, 2013, approximately 60,000 liters (16,000 gallons) of an oil byproduct used to produce asphalt spilled from a barge on the Negro River, near the São Raimundo Harbor in Manaus. When researcher Helen Sadauskas-Henrique saw the news on TV, she did not hesitate to cancel plans to spend Easter with her family in São Paulo and rushed to the site to collect samples. “I had already conducted lab tests on the effects of oil exposure on fish in the Negro River, but I’d never observed anything like this in the natural environment,” recalls Sadauskas-Henrique, now a professor at Santa Cecília University and a researcher at INCT Adapta, headquartered at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA). “It was all very fast and intense. The samples had to be collected as quickly as possible to assess the impacts, both immediately and over time.” The results of this effort were published in the journal Environmental Research. The team evaluated the effects of oil over 10, 45 and 90 days on two species that are common in the Negro, the threadfin acara (Acarichthys heckelii) and the demon eartheater (Satanoperca jurupari), using samples taken from a clean stretch of the river in the Tupé Sustainable Development Reserve as references — that is, a place without significant influence from human activities or the spill. The study shows that the concentration of the contaminant in the water decreased with rising water levels, but the fish continued to exhibit effects of exposure&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/negro-river-study-finds-genetic-damage-in-fish-after-oil-spill/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/negro-river-study-finds-genetic-damage-in-fish-after-oil-spill/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307891</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina pushes pipeline exports through protected Patagonian waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 13:32:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rodolfo Chisleanschi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/18133135/43cbcac1-c51a-45a2-8157-3da612901827-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304453</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and Bahía San Antonio protected natural areas, and Caleta de los Loros Multiple Use Reserve. But a planned oil port has many locals and environmentalists concerned for the future of this biodiverse marine region. “We all need energy to live our lives, but the location chosen for these works could not be worse,” says Roxana Schteinbarg, coordinator of the conservation program at the Whale Conservation Institute (ICB). “The San Matías Gulf is too important for the health of our sea to be turned into a sacrifice zone.” Authorities have chosen the village of Punta Colorado for the new oil port, the final destination for the 437-kilometer (272-mile) Vaca Muerta Sur (VMOS) oil pipeline. This enormous pipeline will carry crude oil extracted by fracking from the Neuquén Plateau, at the western edge of the country, to two buoys installed offshore to fill the tanks of cargo ships. Fuerte Argentino, an elevation that rises up in front of the sea with no clear explanation for its origin, will overlook the Hilli Episeyo, the LNG ship. Image courtesy of Fabricio Di Giacomo. The government is also planning a second fossil fuel port in the gulf. North of the oil&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304453</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil and plastic pollution from shipwreck raises concerns, legal scrutiny in India</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/oil-and-plastic-pollution-from-shipwreck-raises-concerns-legal-scrutiny-in-india/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/oil-and-plastic-pollution-from-shipwreck-raises-concerns-legal-scrutiny-in-india/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 18:15:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Max Martin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/09180818/nurdles-hurdles-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302141</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Global Environmental Crisis, Law, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil Spills, Plastic, Pollution, Shipping, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As shiny, pearl-like white plastic pellets rode wave after wave and piled up on the beaches of Thiruvananthapuram in India’s southern state of Kerala, local residents were first bemused, then baffled. Some, more enterprising than others, began collecting them in sacks with help from the local police — a first step in heading off what [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As shiny, pearl-like white plastic pellets rode wave after wave and piled up on the beaches of Thiruvananthapuram in India’s southern state of Kerala, local residents were first bemused, then baffled. Some, more enterprising than others, began collecting them in sacks with help from the local police — a first step in heading off what many fear could potentially become an environmental “catastrophe.” While the oil slick from the MSC ELSA-3 — a Liberia-flagged cargo vessel that sank off Kerala’s coast in late May — was reportedly contained in a few days, it marked only the beginning of an unfolding environmental disaster. Within days, the scale of the crisis began to surface — quite literally. Plastic pellets, dirty debris, sacks and beams of wood began washing ashore. Containers were found along the coast, with some even catching fire in Kollam district. Plastic pellets, also known as nurdles, began washing up along Kerala’s southern beaches and drifting steadily towards the shores of Kanyakumari, mainland India’s southernmost town. Experts were able to spot and contain the patches of oil slick. “That the oil spill is only in patches, not continuous, is a feat,” media reports quoted defense officials in Kerala’s Kochi city as saying, referring to the swift containment efforts by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. Scientists, however, raised red flags about submerged containers believed to be carrying hazardous materials such as calcium carbide and marine fuel oil. Calcium carbide reacts with water, producing acetylene — a flammable and potentially&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/oil-and-plastic-pollution-from-shipwreck-raises-concerns-legal-scrutiny-in-india/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/oil-and-plastic-pollution-from-shipwreck-raises-concerns-legal-scrutiny-in-india/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302141</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Banks bet big on fossil fuels, boosting financing in 2024, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/banks-bet-big-on-fossil-fuels-boosting-financing-in-2024-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/banks-bet-big-on-fossil-fuels-boosting-financing-in-2024-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2025 14:50:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/30133937/Jacob-Balzani_Mayuriaga-Oil-Spill-2016-WampisNation_3500px_Extra_0073-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301568</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, Global, North America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Corporations, Economics, Energy, Environment, Forests, Fossil Fuels, FPIC, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Mining, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Financing for the fossil fuel sector from the world&#8217;s largest banks surged in 2024 to $869 billion, according to a recent report by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and other environmental groups. That figure represents an increase of nearly 23% compared to 2023. The $162.5 billion increase channeled to companies doing business in fossil fuels [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Financing for the fossil fuel sector from the world&#8217;s largest banks surged in 2024 to $869 billion, according to a recent report by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and other environmental groups. That figure represents an increase of nearly 23% compared to 2023. The $162.5 billion increase channeled to companies doing business in fossil fuels stands in stark opposition to the drops in financing recorded since 2022. Experts say banks&#8217; backing of the carbon-intensive industry threatens to stall progress on the transition to renewable energy and reveals the frailty of voluntary commitments to address climate change by banks. Authors used S&amp;P Global annual rankings for 2024 to identify the 65 largest banks in the world in producing the 16th annual installment of the “Banking on Climate Chaos” report. They then used finance data to connect the bonds, loans and stock issuances those financial institutions facilitated for more than 2,700 companies involved in some way in fossil fuels, ranging from extraction to storage. The team examined &#8220;every financing decision point that a bank faces about whether or not it&#8217;s going to re-up money&#8221; for fossil fuels, Allison Fajans-Turner, policy lead with RAN and a co-author of the report, told Mongabay. &#8220;Unfortunately, we are seeing that banks are still incredibly willing to lend and underwrite and invest in the fossil fuel industry.&#8221; The report also differentiates between project and corporate finance, finding that more than 94% of financing for fossil fuels goes to the more general corporate support rather than to specific&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/banks-bet-big-on-fossil-fuels-boosting-financing-in-2024-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/banks-bet-big-on-fossil-fuels-boosting-financing-in-2024-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301568</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Twin ship disasters in India threaten widespread pollution on Sri Lankan coasts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/twin-ship-disasters-in-india-threaten-widespread-pollution-on-sri-lankan-coasts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/twin-ship-disasters-in-india-threaten-widespread-pollution-on-sri-lankan-coasts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2025 06:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/19054841/1.-Elsa-3-ship-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301053</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Microplastics, Oceans, Oil Spills, Plastic, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka is once again facing a significant marine environmental crisis, as tiny plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, have begun washing ashore along the island’s northern coastline. This time, the pollution is linked to the sinking of the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3 off of Kerala, India. The unfolding incident has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka is once again facing a significant marine environmental crisis, as tiny plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, have begun washing ashore along the island’s northern coastline. This time, the pollution is linked to the sinking of the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3 off of Kerala, India. The unfolding incident has triggered fears of a repeat of the X-Press Pearl disaster in 2021, the worst maritime disaster to have occurred in Sri Lanka, significantly impacting marine ecosystems and coastal communities. According to the Indian Coast Guard, the MSC ELSA 3, carrying 640 containers including hazardous cargo, sank on May 25, roughly 38 nautical miles off the Kerala coast. The cause was reportedly a failure of its ballast system. Indian authorities confirmed the vessel was loaded with an estimated 85 metric tons of diesel and 367 metric tons of furnace oil, in addition to at least 13 containers of dangerous substances such as calcium carbide. All 24 crew members were safely rescued by Indian Coast Guard and Navy teams. While Indian authorities were able to initially contain an oil spill, the environmental fallout soon escalated. Plastic nurdles released from sunken containers began appearing on beaches in southern India, and by June 11, ocean currents driven by strong gusts of southwest monsoon winds carried them toward Sri Lanka’s northern shores, raising serious concerns among marine biologists and local communities. Plastic nurdles washed ashore on Sri Lanka’s northern coast. Image courtesy of the Marine Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA). Fresh&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/twin-ship-disasters-in-india-threaten-widespread-pollution-on-sri-lankan-coasts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301053</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US pioneers restoration of deep water corals damaged by country’s worst oil spill</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/us-pioneers-restoration-of-deep-water-corals-damaged-by-countrys-worst-oil-spill/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/us-pioneers-restoration-of-deep-water-corals-damaged-by-countrys-worst-oil-spill/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2025 16:25:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/30025420/Screenshot-2025-05-29-at-9.18.43-PM-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299884</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Pollution, Restoration, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the twilight depths of the Gulf of Mexico, about as deep down as a football field is long, U.S. Navy divers carefully snip small branches of corals with gloved hands. Their voices crackle through communication systems to the ship above, distorted to high-pitched tones by the helium mixtures they breathe. &#8220;These guys, they&#8217;re tough, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the twilight depths of the Gulf of Mexico, about as deep down as a football field is long, U.S. Navy divers carefully snip small branches of corals with gloved hands. Their voices crackle through communication systems to the ship above, distorted to high-pitched tones by the helium mixtures they breathe. &#8220;These guys, they&#8217;re tough, tough Navy dudes that are saturation experimental divers,&#8221; Chris Gardner, a U.S. government fisheries biologist on the team that oversees deepwater coral restoration in the Gulf, told Mongabay. &#8220;But the audio can be a little goofy because they&#8217;re breathing mostly helium. So, there&#8217;s definitely some Mickey Mouse effects going on.&#8221; A US Navy diver descends to the twilight zone with a diving bell, which allows divers to go deep beyond recreational diving limits. Image courtesy of NOAA/C-Innovation, LLC. The surreal scene, of highly trained Navy divers speaking in cartoon voices while performing precise underwater surgery on orange and purple coral colonies, illustrates the extraordinary measures underway to restore ecosystems damaged by the British Petroleum (BP) Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. This work marks one of the world&#8217;s first attempts at deep-sea coral restoration, and the largest to date, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency in charge of the restoration. Ancient forests of the deep Beneath the Gulf&#8217;s wind-whipped surface, down where the sunlight dims and vanishes, live slow-growing coral communities that rival old-growth forests. These underwater ecosystems have existed for millennia, creating complex habitats&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/us-pioneers-restoration-of-deep-water-corals-damaged-by-countrys-worst-oil-spill/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299884</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil companies have downplayed extent of spills in Gulf of Mexico, investigation finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/oil-companies-have-downplayed-extent-of-spills-in-gulf-of-mexico-investigation-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/oil-companies-have-downplayed-extent-of-spills-in-gulf-of-mexico-investigation-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Apr 2025 16:30:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gibran Mena AguilarMichelle Carrere]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/28155110/fisher-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298221</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environmental Law, extractives, Fish, Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Conservation, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Social Justice, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One morning in early April 2024, Elías Naal Hernández set out with his fishing net to try his luck in the waters of Isla Aguada, off the coast of southeastern Mexico. The town sits between the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna de Términos, the country’s largest coastal lagoon. Until he arrived, the fisherman could [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One morning in early April 2024, Elías Naal Hernández set out with his fishing net to try his luck in the waters of Isla Aguada, off the coast of southeastern Mexico. The town sits between the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna de Términos, the country’s largest coastal lagoon. Until he arrived, the fisherman could not begin to imagine the devastating scene he would face that morning at the sea. “It was an enormous slick: miles and miles of oil. We would catch it in water buckets and they would fill up because of how much there was,” said Hernández. The only thing he caught that day — by the bucketful — was oil. The spill was also detected via satellite imagery by scientists who have spent years studying oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. Their satellite images show evidence of potential oil slicks beginning March 7, 2024. The oil slicks appeared to originate near infrastructure owned by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), a Mexican state-owned company responsible for extracting oil from the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex provides 80% of the nation’s crude oil. Although Pemex was legally required to report the oil spill, the company did not do so. Naal Hernández said that when he went public with the spill, Pemex downplayed the event, arguing that it was a natural release of oil. This response is heard all too often by fishers who report spills, which, according to Naal Hernández, do not have the characteristics of a natural event. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/oil-companies-have-downplayed-extent-of-spills-in-gulf-of-mexico-investigation-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298221</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>15 years after the BP oil spill disaster, how is the Gulf of Mexico faring?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2025 18:24:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21165201/BP-oil-burn-plane-pj-hahn-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297888</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Health, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Pollution, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PLAQUEMINES PARISH, U.S. — Down past New Orleans lies Plaquemines parish, a narrow sliver of land at the tip of Louisiana that reaches southward like a finger pointing into the Gulf of Mexico. Past barbecue joints, a naval base, Baptist churches, white egrets, blue herons, and signs advertising items FOR SALE (live shrimp, empty lots [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PLAQUEMINES PARISH, U.S. — Down past New Orleans lies Plaquemines parish, a narrow sliver of land at the tip of Louisiana that reaches southward like a finger pointing into the Gulf of Mexico. Past barbecue joints, a naval base, Baptist churches, white egrets, blue herons, and signs advertising items FOR SALE (live shrimp, empty lots and crawfish), Captain Kindra Arnesen lives with her husband and dog in a tidy brick house that smells like eucalyptus potpourri and home cooking. &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing I&#8217;d rather be doing than be out on the water fishing, especially offshore. I like to get high up on the boat and look out over the water as far as I can see,&#8221; Arnesen told Mongabay while stirring a pot of beans. She has worked small commercial fishing boats out in the gulf for decades. “The only thing I love more is my grandbaby.” &#8220;Before the spill, you could ride out there and everywhere you rode there were bait balls of bonita, blue runners, thread herrings, spinners jumping through them. Everywhere you went it was just a sight,&#8221; Arnesen recounted, referring to plentiful schools of small fish and spinner dolphins in the open ocean. &#8220;After the spill you could ride a hundred miles and not see a bait ball … It slowly died.&#8221; Fireboat crews work to extinguish the burning wreckage of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The disaster was one of the worst ecological catastrophes in history. Image courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard. April 20,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/15-years-after-the-bp-oil-spill-disaster-how-is-the-gulf-of-mexico-faring/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297888</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/peruvian-fishers-sue-for-additional-compensation-after-big-december-oil-spill/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/peruvian-fishers-sue-for-additional-compensation-after-big-december-oil-spill/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Apr 2025 14:13:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Miguel Ángel ValeroSandra Incio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/02072712/Fishermen-families-sharing-a-donated-meal-during-the-emergency-MAV-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296873</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Global Environmental Crisis, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Saltwater Fish, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early hours of Dec. 22, 2024, fishermen working in the Talara Sea in northern Peru hauled in their nets. But instead of the day&#8217;s catch, they found oil impregnating their gear. Hours later the disaster was confirmed: The tide had moved a huge oil spill northward, and it had now coated 10 kilometers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early hours of Dec. 22, 2024, fishermen working in the Talara Sea in northern Peru hauled in their nets. But instead of the day&#8217;s catch, they found oil impregnating their gear. Hours later the disaster was confirmed: The tide had moved a huge oil spill northward, and it had now coated 10 kilometers (6 miles) of coastline in black. The day after the spill, state oil company Petroperú said in its first report to the national environmental regulator, OEFA, that it had detected a leak of 0.9 barrels — 140 liters, or 37 gallons — in a pipeline at the maritime cargo terminal of its New Talara Refinery, located in the city of Talara in the department of Piura. Three days after the spill, on Dec. 25, the environment ministry declared a 90-day environmental emergency, paralyzing tourism and fishing activity in the waters off the affected coastline — waters that more than 4,000 artisanal fishers depend on for their daily sustenance. Now, more than three months later, the fishers have returned to work on a sea dominated by the oil industry. They say the compensation they received from Petroperú for the weeks they couldn’t bring fish to their tables due to the oil pollution is insufficient and they are seeking more. For its part, the company says it has met its commitments. The New Talara Refinery in Talara, Peru. Image by Miguel Ángel Valero and Sandra Incio for Mongabay. The other Talareños “When I was little and started&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/peruvian-fishers-sue-for-additional-compensation-after-big-december-oil-spill/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/peruvian-fishers-sue-for-additional-compensation-after-big-december-oil-spill/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296873</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>5 takeaways from the 2022 Repsol oil spill in Peru</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/5-takeaways-from-the-2022-repsol-oil-spill-in-peru-2/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/5-takeaways-from-the-2022-repsol-oil-spill-in-peru-2/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2025 14:17:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Latam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/24135700/Repsols-2022-oil-spill-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296366</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Business, Conservation, Corporate Social Responsibility, Crime, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Industry, Law, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Nutrient Pollution, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 15, 2022, more than 11,000 barrels of oil spilled into the ocean off the Peruvian coast. It flowed from a pipeline that had broken while the Mare Doricum, an Italian tanker, unloaded oil at Terminal No. 2 of the La Pampilla refinery in the region of Callao, near Lima. On Jan. 24, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 15, 2022, more than 11,000 barrels of oil spilled into the ocean off the Peruvian coast. It flowed from a pipeline that had broken while the Mare Doricum, an Italian tanker, unloaded oil at Terminal No. 2 of the La Pampilla refinery in the region of Callao, near Lima. On Jan. 24, a second spill, smaller than the first, occurred at the same pipeline. The oil spread to more than 700 hectares (1,730 acres), according to Peruvian authorities, becoming the largest spill in the country’s history. It entered two protected areas, killed hundreds of birds and mammals and upended the livelihoods of thousands of fishers. Three years later, little of the environmental damage has been remedied by Repsol, a multinational company from Spain that owns the La Pampilla refinery. The 18 rehabilitation plans that Repsol presented before Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM in Spanish) have been rejected, according to a report released in January by the Lima-based nonprofit CooperAcción with support from Oxfam. Those plans, which should have proposed solutions to the impacts of the environmental tragedy, “contain incomplete, insufficient and — in some cases — erroneous information,” the report stated. Despite the magnitude of the oil spill, Repsol has not rehabilitated the affected ecosystems, the report stated. However, Repsol Peru told Mongabay Latam the rehabilitation plans have not been rejected but are still under evaluation by the authorities and that in November 2024, the company answered the authorities’ most recent questions about those plans. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/5-takeaways-from-the-2022-repsol-oil-spill-in-peru-2/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/5-takeaways-from-the-2022-repsol-oil-spill-in-peru-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296366</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Colombia’s top oil company concealed environmental damages: Investigation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/colombias-top-oil-company-concealed-environmental-damages-investigation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/colombias-top-oil-company-concealed-environmental-damages-investigation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2025 06:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mie Hoejris Dahl]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/19201957/13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296110</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community Development, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Crime, Environment, extractives, Forest Destruction, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Law Enforcement, Methane, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A green iguana rests above the letters spelling Ecopetrol at the headquarters of Colombia’s largest company, located in the heart of Bogotá, the capital city. In 2021, this petroleum giant became the first in the oil and gas industry in Latin America to pledge a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A green iguana rests above the letters spelling Ecopetrol at the headquarters of Colombia’s largest company, located in the heart of Bogotá, the capital city. In 2021, this petroleum giant became the first in the oil and gas industry in Latin America to pledge a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Yet, a recent investigation shows that the company’s operations appear far less green than the color of its iguana logo suggests. Under President Gustavo Petro, Colombia has positioned itself as a green leader in the region, and in 2023 announced it would halt new oil and gas exploration contracts. The same year, Petro replaced the longtime CEO of the 88% state-owned oil company with his campaign manager, Ricardo Roa Barragán (who the Colombian National Electoral Council is investigating for excessive campaign spending), and tasked him with accelerating the green transition.  However, a newly released report reveals that Ecopetrol has systematically underreported its emissions, covered up environmental damages from both Colombian authorities and international shareholders and collaborated with national security forces and armed groups. The report suggests the company has wielded undue influence over regulators and targeted environmental leaders perceived as threats to its operations.  Ecopetrol operates petroleum refineries across Colombia, Brazil, Peru and the United States and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its minority shareholders include BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. The investigation portrays how the company’s sheer size and economic significance seem to have rendered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/colombias-top-oil-company-concealed-environmental-damages-investigation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/colombias-top-oil-company-concealed-environmental-damages-investigation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296110</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil drilling in the mouth of the Amazon &#8211; Lula on a course to disaster (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/oil-drilling-in-the-mouth-of-the-amazon-lula-on-a-course-to-disaster-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/oil-drilling-in-the-mouth-of-the-amazon-lula-on-a-course-to-disaster-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2025 16:53:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Philip M. Fearnside]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/24150816/River-going-into-sea-Amapa-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294878</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Energy, Environment, extractives, Fossil Fuels, Green, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The mounting pressure on Brazil’s federal environmental agency (IBAMA) to approve the disastrous project to extract oil from the mouth of the Amazon River (see here and here) should be interpreted as evidence that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as “Lula”) fails to comprehend both the climate crisis and the consequences of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The mounting pressure on Brazil’s federal environmental agency (IBAMA) to approve the disastrous project to extract oil from the mouth of the Amazon River (see here and here) should be interpreted as evidence that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as “Lula”) fails to comprehend both the climate crisis and the consequences of the oil project. While this lack of understanding is serious, it would be even more alarming if he fully understood these issues and yet persisted on his current course. The project to extract oil from the mouth of the Amazon runs counter to Brazil&#8217;s national interest for several reasons. The impact on the climate would be severe if this oil field (block FZA-M-59) were to be opened. Not only would this field result in substantial emissions, but its approval is also seen as a key step toward enabling the industry to exploit 47 new blocks in the mouth of the Amazon that will be offered by Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) in an auction scheduled for June 17th. The Equatorial Margin spans across northern Brazil, where experts believe huge oil reserves are stored. The Mouth of the Amazon extends from where the Amazon River meets the coastline and into deeper parts of the Atlantic. Image courtesy of Petrobras. The financial logic behind ventures like the one Lula is advocating means that the impact of this oil field would be much greater than that from the same quantity extracted from existing fields. It is estimated that it&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/oil-drilling-in-the-mouth-of-the-amazon-lula-on-a-course-to-disaster-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-294878</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ogoni women restore mangroves and livelihoods in oil-rich Niger Delta</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ogoni-women-restore-mangroves-and-livelihoods-in-oil-rich-niger-delta/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ogoni-women-restore-mangroves-and-livelihoods-in-oil-rich-niger-delta/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2025 15:50:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/16114017/7-Lokiaka-Community-Development-Centre-volunteers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293014</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fishing, Forests, Gender, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Invasive Species, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Oceans, Oil Spills, Reforestation, Restoration, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A women-led reforestation effort has planted millions of mangrove trees with a high survival rate across swamps in Nigeria’s oil-rich and severely degraded Niger Delta. For decades, the Ogoni people of the delta’s Ogoniland region have faced the impacts of numerous oil spills, logging, and the spread of invasive nipa palms that destroyed thousands of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A women-led reforestation effort has planted millions of mangrove trees with a high survival rate across swamps in Nigeria’s oil-rich and severely degraded Niger Delta. For decades, the Ogoni people of the delta’s Ogoniland region have faced the impacts of numerous oil spills, logging, and the spread of invasive nipa palms that destroyed thousands of mangroves they rely on for their livelihoods. As a result of the reforestation initiative’s reported successes so far, the government has hired some Ogoni women to share their technical knowledge and plant mangroves for its rehabilitation project of contaminated sites (Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project — HYPREP). While independent studies on the impacts of this reforestation effort are yet to be published, sources say anecdotal evidence suggests that fish stocks are beginning to bounce back and some conservationists say they’re hopeful. “I am glad to see this women’s group so effective and active in attempting to restore their mangroves,” said Alfredo Quarto, program and policy director and co-founder of the Mangrove Action Project, a U.S.-based NGO, told Mongabay by email. The Niger Delta hosts Africa’s biggest mangrove forest ecosystem and is also home to some of the continent’s largest oil and gas reserves. This vast wetland stretches across more than 100,000 square kilometers (39,000 square miles) and nine Nigerian states. The mangrove forests, which often store more carbon than other forest types, contain several species of mangrove trees, such as red (Rhizophora racemosa), white (Laguncularia racemosa) and black (Avicennia germinans). They’re home to a rich diversity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ogoni-women-restore-mangroves-and-livelihoods-in-oil-rich-niger-delta/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/ogoni-women-restore-mangroves-and-livelihoods-in-oil-rich-niger-delta/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293014</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The fuel that moves people: the Ecuadorian case</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-fuel-that-moves-people-the-ecuadorian-case/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-fuel-that-moves-people-the-ecuadorian-case/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Dec 2024 20:50:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/20003600/portada-EC_16122024-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292082</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Colonization, Deforestation, extractives, Human Migration, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Migration, Mining, National Parks, Oil, Oil Spills, Population, Protected Areas, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Throughout most of the twentieth century, the Ecuadorian authorities pursued a geopolitical strategy that reflected a long-held conviction that they were cheated out of large territories in the Western Amazon. Most of their claims were adjudicated in favor of Peru and they were on the losing side of border disputes in 1860, 1903 and 1941. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Throughout most of the twentieth century, the Ecuadorian authorities pursued a geopolitical strategy that reflected a long-held conviction that they were cheated out of large territories in the Western Amazon. Most of their claims were adjudicated in favor of Peru and they were on the losing side of border disputes in 1860, 1903 and 1941. Consequently, successive governments were intent on not losing another square meter of what they fervently believed was their national territory, a policy that led to the construction of several highways and deliberate policies to foster migration into their lowland provinces. Peru and Ecuador resolved their differences in 1998, after another border dispute, via an arbitration process coordinated by the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United States. In the process, the countries established paired national parks on both sides of the border, and an ambitious IIRSA-sponsored initiative was launched to provide Ecuador with direct access to the Amazon waterway at Puerto Morona. The resolution of the border conflict and the much-improved transportation infrastructure opened up the Cordillera del Condor to large-scale mining operations operated by Canadian and Chinese corporations. The road network in Amazonian Ecuador closely corresponds to the petroleum pipeline system, partly because the government promoted settlement along service roads during the 1970s. Data sources: GEM (2023) and RAISG (2022). Migratory pathways Migration into Amazonian Ecuador has occurred via four highway routes that connect urban centers in the Andes with a town or small city in the lowlands; from north to south, they&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-fuel-that-moves-people-the-ecuadorian-case/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292082</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coral biodiversity hotspot at risk from fossil fuel expansion, report warns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/coral-biodiversity-hotspot-at-risk-from-fossil-fuel-expansion-report-warns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/coral-biodiversity-hotspot-at-risk-from-fossil-fuel-expansion-report-warns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2024 16:14:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashley Yeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/13110552/coral-reef-fish-indonesia-raja-ampat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Disasters, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Habitat Loss, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Saltwater Fish, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fossil fuel projects are putting the Pacific Coral Triangle’s unique marine ecosystem at risk, according to a new report presented Oct. 31 at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity summit (COP 16) in Cali, Colombia. The report warns that the expansion of oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the region risks unleashing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fossil fuel projects are putting the Pacific Coral Triangle’s unique marine ecosystem at risk, according to a new report presented Oct. 31 at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity summit (COP 16) in Cali, Colombia. The report warns that the expansion of oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the region risks unleashing more oil spills, direct damage to coral reefs, noise pollution and ship traffic, not to mention greenhouse gas emissions. The additional stressors, combined with existing challenges of a warming sea, could push the Coral Triangle’s fragile marine ecosystem past its tipping point, according to the report. The Coral Triangle is one of Earth’s most biodiverse regions, stretching across the waters of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. It’s home to endangered marine species like green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and oceanic manta rays (Mobula birostris), as well as 76% of all known coral species. Fifteen coral species are endemic to the region, which means they aren’t found anywhere else. The Coral Triangle nations’ need for more energy is certain. Energy consumption is predicted to triple by 2050 as a result of “population growth and development needs,” according to the report. Despite significant investments in renewables, fossil fuel projects are growing quickly. The report states that more than 100 offshore oil and gas blocks are currently in production, and more than 450 additional blocks are earmarked for future exploration. If these projects are approved, the production and exploration blocks would cover&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/coral-biodiversity-hotspot-at-risk-from-fossil-fuel-expansion-report-warns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/coral-biodiversity-hotspot-at-risk-from-fossil-fuel-expansion-report-warns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Six months after first Houthi ship sinking, attacks slick Red Sea with oil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/six-months-after-first-houthi-ship-sinking-attacks-slick-red-sea-with-oil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/six-months-after-first-houthi-ship-sinking-attacks-slick-red-sea-with-oil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2024 18:13:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/03080644/Rubymar-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286845</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Middle East and Yemen]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Ecosystems, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, War, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Exactly six months ago, the Rubymar bulk carrier became the first ship sunk in a series of attacks by the Houthis protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 2023. On March 2, the Yemeni civil war opposition group sent the merchant ship and her cargo of oil and fertilizer to the bottom of the Bab [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Exactly six months ago, the Rubymar bulk carrier became the first ship sunk in a series of attacks by the Houthis protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 2023. On March 2, the Yemeni civil war opposition group sent the merchant ship and her cargo of oil and fertilizer to the bottom of the Bab el Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. There it still lurks, continuing to stoke fears of an environmental crisis when it eventually disintegrates. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have struck dozens more vessels, sinking at least one more. The Red Sea is becoming increasingly fraught with abandoned ships and damaged vessels continuing their journey, often trailing oil. Larger oil slicks visible through satellite imagery more than doubled in the region between 2023 and 2024, threatening marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of local people who depend upon them. The most recent significant Houthi-claimed strike was against the Greek-flagged Sounion oil tanker. Unidentified projectiles hit it on Aug. 21, forcing its Russian and Filipino crew to evacuate. Two days later, the Houthis detonated explosive charges on board the abandoned tanker, leaving almost 1 million barrels of crude oil adrift in a burning ship. “The increasing number of incidents in the Red Sea is a direct result of the escalating tension gripping our region,” Julian Jreissati, program director for Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, told Mongabay. “As the situation in the Middle East grows increasingly volatile, the humanitarian and environmental crises unfolding in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/six-months-after-first-houthi-ship-sinking-attacks-slick-red-sea-with-oil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286845</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The indelible traces of oil and gas in the Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Colombian Amazon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/the-indelible-traces-of-oil-and-gas-in-the-peruvian-ecuadorian-and-colombian-amazon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/the-indelible-traces-of-oil-and-gas-in-the-peruvian-ecuadorian-and-colombian-amazon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2024 11:29:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/20162148/PORTADA-ECUADOR_al3-planta-muerta-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286281</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[extractives, Forests, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mining, Oil, Oil Spills, Protected Areas, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Petroleum geologists explore for economically significant reservoirs of oil and gas using technologies that have evolved in sophistication as the industry grew to dominate the global economy in the twentieth century. They begin with geological surveys that identify the various rock formations that lie within, underneath or adjacent to a sedimentary basin capable of holding [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Petroleum geologists explore for economically significant reservoirs of oil and gas using technologies that have evolved in sophistication as the industry grew to dominate the global economy in the twentieth century. They begin with geological surveys that identify the various rock formations that lie within, underneath or adjacent to a sedimentary basin capable of holding oil and gas reserves. Next, they conduct seismic surveys to create a three-dimensional image of the underground landscape that is augmented with data from magnetic and gravitational instruments. They process data using super computers and artificial intelligence to discover and describe what is referred to as a Total Petroleum System. This integrated analysis identifies the potential ‘source rocks’ with organic compounds that are the raw material of fossil fuels and unravels the tectonic history that provided the ‘maturation forces’ (heat and pressure) necessary to convert carbon-rich molecules into oil and gas. The methodological framework also identifies a pathway for hydrocarbons, which are buoyant, to ‘migrate’ through porous sedimentary rocks until they are contained by an impermeable rock layer that functions as a ‘trap’ where oil and gas accumulate to create a ‘reservoir.’ The methodological rigor required to develop a Total Petroleum System greatly improves the probability of discovering an economically significant hydrocarbon reserve. It remains a hypothesis, however, until an exploratory well verifies the existence of oil and/or natural gas. Seismic surveys are first conducted at large scales using two-dimensional images collected along widely spaced transects; these are followed by higher-density studies that provide a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/the-indelible-traces-of-oil-and-gas-in-the-peruvian-ecuadorian-and-colombian-amazon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286281</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Petroperú’s financial troubles could mean no oil spill remediation, communities fear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/petroperus-financial-troubles-could-mean-no-oil-spill-remediation-communities-fear/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/petroperus-financial-troubles-could-mean-no-oil-spill-remediation-communities-fear/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2024 17:57:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/15174143/Foto_AlessandroFalco-PUINAMUDT2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286170</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Law Enforcement, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Sept. 11, 2022, Olivia Bisa Tirko received a call from a forest guard who informed her of an oil spill in the territory of the Chapra Nation in the Peruvian Amazon. The North Peruvian Pipeline operated by state-owned oil company Petroperú had ruptured, spilling 2,500 barrels of oil into the Marañón River, a major [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Sept. 11, 2022, Olivia Bisa Tirko received a call from a forest guard who informed her of an oil spill in the territory of the Chapra Nation in the Peruvian Amazon. The North Peruvian Pipeline operated by state-owned oil company Petroperú had ruptured, spilling 2,500 barrels of oil into the Marañón River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. “For us as a nation, it was a catastrophe,” Bisa Tirko, the president of the Indigenous nation’s autonomous government, told Mongabay in a video call. “It filled me with helplessness to see that happen to the place where you were born, grew up, walked all your life, swam, fished. It was a disaster.” To date, Petroperú hasn’t contained the environmental pollution, Bisa Tirko said. And now the company is mired in a financial crisis. In 2022, it lost its investment-grade rating from credit agencies after taking on a large amount of debt to complete its Talara refinery upgrade, estimated to have cost $6.5 billion. In 2023, Petroperú reported losses of more than $822 million. Since then, the company has received three capital injections from the government, the last one in February, totaling $1.3 billion. Oil contamination is still present at the site of Petroecuador’s North Peruvian Pipeline that ruptured in 2022, which is the home of the Chapra Indigenous peoples. Image courtesy of Olivia Bisa Tirko. A new report by the Hydrocarbon Impact Working Group (GITH) of the National Human Rights Coordination, a group of 17 civil society organizations, shows&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/petroperus-financial-troubles-could-mean-no-oil-spill-remediation-communities-fear/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286170</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Advocacy group links Uganda oil infrastructure to human-elephant conflict</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/advocacy-group-links-uganda-oil-infrastructure-to-human-elephant-conflict/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/advocacy-group-links-uganda-oil-infrastructure-to-human-elephant-conflict/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jul 2024 08:02:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Musinguzi Blanshe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/30073854/Elephant2_MurchisonFallsNPUganda_TravelAficionadoFlickrBYNC12.0.jpg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285351</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Human Rights, Industry, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Politics, Pollution, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Oil drilling by French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies is disturbing wildlife in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest and most-visited protected area. This is according to a briefing by environmental advocacy group Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), which warns that noise pollution is driving animals out of the park, leading to increased conflict [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Oil drilling by French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies is disturbing wildlife in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s largest and most-visited protected area. This is according to a briefing by environmental advocacy group Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), which warns that noise pollution is driving animals out of the park, leading to increased conflict with nearby communities. AFIEGO says that between the start of drilling operations last year and April 2024, five people have been killed by elephants moving outside the park into the neighboring district of Buliisa. It also reports that people living around the park have threatened retaliatory killings of wild animals. Since the start of drilling, TotalEnergies has requested permission to deploy a second rig in the park. Dickens Kamugisha, executive director of AFIEGO, told Mongabay he was surprised the company would seek to expand its operations. “Total had promised minimal activities in the park,” he said. “Why is it now saying we want to conduct more activities?” John Makombo, director of conservation at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the government agency that manages parks, rejected AFIEGO’s briefing as “rumormongering,” saying the NGO has no capacity to assess impacts on the park. “Get proper scientific studies,” he told Mongabay. “When AFIEGO people tell you that elephants are being pushed away by oil and you’re there you don’t want to do research, you write rumors.” AFIEGO reached its conclusions about the development of the Tilenga field by mapping TotalEnergies’ activities in the park using satellite images and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/advocacy-group-links-uganda-oil-infrastructure-to-human-elephant-conflict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285351</doi>				</item>
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