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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/overexploitation/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Overexploitation</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/overexploitation/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Global pressure on ayahuasca threatens Amazonian plants and knowledge systems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 20:38:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carlos Minuano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/23203123/AP18157600830602-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321692</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biocultural Diversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Community Forests, Conservation, Consumption, Controversial, Culture, Globalization, Indigenous Peoples, International Trade, Medicinal Plants, Overconsumption, Overexploitation, Plants, Rainforests, Religions, Traditional Medicine, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“One of the world’s largest pharmacies is being destroyed,” says Benki Piyãko, a leader of the Ashaninka Indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Acre. The warning points to multiple threats advancing on the Amazon but also to growing debate surrounding one of the so-called forest medicines: ayahuasca. This Indigenous beverage with psychedelic properties is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“One of the world’s largest pharmacies is being destroyed,” says Benki Piyãko, a leader of the Ashaninka Indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Acre. The warning points to multiple threats advancing on the Amazon but also to growing debate surrounding one of the so-called forest medicines: ayahuasca. This Indigenous beverage with psychedelic properties is usually prepared from two native plants: the caapi vine or mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) and the leaves of the chacrona plant (Psychotria viridis). According to Indigenous leaders and experts, these species are facing increasing pressure and signs of scarcity in some areas. Called kamarãpe by the Ashaninka people, ayahuasca has been used by Indigenous peoples across the Amazon for centuries. It has crossed borders for decades, ceasing to circulate exclusively in its original contexts. Today, it can be found in urban religious centers, therapeutic retreats, and international psychedelic tourism circuits. Scientists and pharmaceutical companies are also turning their attention to this ancestral beverage, which already shows evidence of therapeutic potential for different mental health disorders such as depression and substance addiction. But increasing global interest is also creating concerns. As demand grows, so has the ayahuasca supply chain, without a corresponding growth in management or oversight. In different parts of the Amazon, there are signs of pressure on the species used to prepare the beverage, often collected without planning. At the same time, increasing consumption in nontraditional contexts raises concerns about ancestral knowledge being commodified for the market. The main problem seems to lie in how&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321692</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Migratory species summit adopts new marine protections amid extinction warnings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 13:55:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08015440/c.-BANNER-%C2%A9Andy-Murch-Great-Hammerhead-Shark-4761-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317143</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Global, Indian Ocean, Latin America, Pacific Ocean, South America, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fishing, Fragmentation, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Marine, Marine Animals, Migration, Oceans, Overexploitation, Seabirds, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dozens of migratory animals, including 33 marine species, gained new protections during the recent summit for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The 15th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP15) took place March 23-29 in Campo Grande, Brazil, under the slogan “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life.” “It was a very [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dozens of migratory animals, including 33 marine species, gained new protections during the recent summit for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The 15th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP15) took place March 23-29 in Campo Grande, Brazil, under the slogan “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life.” “It was a very strong COP for marine species,” Amy Fraenkel, CMS executive secretary, told Mongabay after the meeting’s conclusion. The CMS is a United Nations convention ratified by 132 nations and the European Union that aims to build the international cooperation necessary to conserve migratory species on a global scale. Among the key outcomes at the latest meeting: Delegates agreed on new or enhanced treaty protections for 40 species and populations, including 26 seabirds, three shorebirds and four shark species. Furthermore, CMS COP15 took steps to reduce bycatch of protected species and to identify marine flyways and key marine areas for the conservation of migratory species. Delegates also called for greater protections for seamounts, recognizing the conservation needs of freshwater fish and guarding against the impacts of deep-sea mining. “There&#8217;s a real need to be looking at ocean systems, including our coasts and the shorebirds that rely on the ocean and coastal systems,” Fraenkel said. “I was happy to see that at this COP, we started to do that.” But while conservation advocates lauded the steps taken at COP15, the summit also issued stark warnings that extinction and species decline are accelerating. The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) World&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A slowdown, not salvation: what new extinction data reveal about the state of life on Earth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2025 21:21:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/17205718/dodo-bird-icon-256x90-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309675</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Invasive Species, Islands, Mass Extinction, Overexploitation, Pollution, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, biologists have warned that humanity is precipitating a sixth mass extinction. By some estimates, species are vanishing at up to a thousand times the natural background rate. Yet a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests the picture is more complicated. Extinctions, it finds, may have peaked a century ago—and declined [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, biologists have warned that humanity is precipitating a sixth mass extinction. By some estimates, species are vanishing at up to a thousand times the natural background rate. Yet a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests the picture is more complicated. Extinctions, it finds, may have peaked a century ago—and declined since. Kristen Saban and John Wiens of the University of Arizona examined 912 documented extinctions among plants and animals over the past 500 years. Their analysis, covering nearly two million assessed species, shows that losses rose steeply through the 1800s and early 1900s before slowing. Extinction rates for vertebrates, arthropods, and plants have generally decreased over the past century. The trend runs counter to the popular narrative of an accelerating biodiversity collapse. The number of extinctions are shown for each century since 1500. From Saban and Wiens (2025) &nbsp; Extinctions over time. The number of extinctions are shown for each decade since 1800 (b). For each time period, Saban and Wiens give the number of species that were inferred to have gone extinct in that time period, based primarily on the dates when each species was last seen. From Saban and Wiens (2025) That finding, however, offers little comfort. The apparent lull in recorded extinctions may reflect where and how humans look, not a reprieve for nature. Most known extinctions occurred on islands, where invasive rats, pigs, and goats devastated native fauna and flora. Today’s drivers—deforestation, pollution, and climate change—are concentrated on continents, where declines&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-slowdown-not-salvation-what-new-extinction-data-reveal-about-the-state-of-life-on-earth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309675</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Exploring Mexico City’s Aztec-era farms, the chinampas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/photos-exploring-mexico-citys-aztec-era-farms-the-chinampas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/photos-exploring-mexico-citys-aztec-era-farms-the-chinampas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2024 15:11:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/13151332/6-Xochimilco-residents-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283243</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Cities, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Farming, Global Environmental Crisis, Indigenous Peoples, Overexploitation, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[XOCHIMILCO, Mexico — Xochimilco is known for its beautiful flowers. From the trumpet-shaped brugmansia to the sun-loving bushy dahlia, it’s no surprise that the word xochimilco means “place of the flowers” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Our journey began at a gritty pier hidden below a willow tree on the edge of a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[XOCHIMILCO, Mexico — Xochimilco is known for its beautiful flowers. From the trumpet-shaped brugmansia to the sun-loving bushy dahlia, it’s no surprise that the word xochimilco means “place of the flowers” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Our journey began at a gritty pier hidden below a willow tree on the edge of a canal. On the water, we encountered several aquatic bird species, such as green-backed herons (Butorides virescens) and great white egrets (Ardea alba), swooping down over the waterways or perched on the banks of a chinampa. Chinampas are small plots of land made from mounds of earth in the wetlands of Xochimilco, in the southern valley of Mexico City. They constitute a type of agricultural system created by the Aztecs and today practiced by traditional farmers known as chinamperos. The chinampa system is today considered one of the most intensive and productive farming systems ever developed — a type of post-classic urban farming. Some researchers say they’re a potential model of food production for the modern metropolis. Agronomists also say this meandering maze of canals and floating gardens can help address the address the historic heat waves and severe drought experienced in the region in recent months. This is because they provide a series of key ecosystem services, including water filtration and temperature regulation, as the trees and vegetation growing on the fields provide shade and release water vapor. Each chinampa plot is built from mud dug out from the surrounding swamps or lakes, and encircled&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/photos-exploring-mexico-citys-aztec-era-farms-the-chinampas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283243</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As catches fall, Sierra Leone’s artisanal fishers turn to destructive practices</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/as-catches-fall-sierra-leones-artisanal-fishers-turn-to-destructive-practices/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/as-catches-fall-sierra-leones-artisanal-fishers-turn-to-destructive-practices/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2024 12:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Josef Skrdlik]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/24144737/bonga-babies-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282479</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Politics, Poverty, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PORT LOKO DISTRICT, Sierra Leone — At 5 a.m., as the horizon brightens and waves start to subside, more than a dozen wooden canoes along the shoreline between the settlements of Mahera Beach and Banda in northern Sierra Leone set off into the ocean. Each canoe casts a net, one end tied to a pole [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PORT LOKO DISTRICT, Sierra Leone — At 5 a.m., as the horizon brightens and waves start to subside, more than a dozen wooden canoes along the shoreline between the settlements of Mahera Beach and Banda in northern Sierra Leone set off into the ocean. Each canoe casts a net, one end tied to a pole on the beach, and traces a semicircle as it progresses into the water. Weights attached to the net fall to the ocean floor, trapping fish on the beach side. Once the semicircle is complete, the net’s other end is dragged to shore. Two groups of four fishers then take hold of each end and begin pulling the net out of the water. After three hours of intense work, the fishers haul the net onto the beach. It contains a few crabs, shrimps and hundreds of thrashing baby fish. This fishing method, called beach seining, is banned in Sierra Leone due to its lack of selectivity and tendency to bring in excessive catches of juvenile fish, which aggregate in shallow coastal waters before reaching maturity and migrating to the open sea. Yet it’s becoming increasingly popular among local fishers. “You just cast the net and after some time, you have fish,” said Foday Kamara, a 26-year-old owner of one of the nets on the beach. A Sierra Leonean fisher. Image by Josef Skrdlik for Mongabay. Kamara, who’s been a fisher since his early teens, also owns a drift net to catch adult bonga shad (Ethmalosa fimbriata)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/as-catches-fall-sierra-leones-artisanal-fishers-turn-to-destructive-practices/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282479</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spotted softshell turtle release boosts reptile conservation in Vietnam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Apr 2024 15:58:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/04155011/Banner_Anna-Rauhaus-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280675</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Farming, Forests, Habitat Loss, Herps, Hunting, Over-hunting, Overexploitation, Reintroductions, Reptiles, Rewilding, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam’s struggling population of spotted softshell turtles received a helping hand in December 2023 when researchers released 50 captive-bred hatchlings into a freshwater lake in a northern province. Now, new research indicates where further wild releases could result in the most conservation gains for the rare and threatened species, which was only described by scientists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Vietnam’s struggling population of spotted softshell turtles received a helping hand in December 2023 when researchers released 50 captive-bred hatchlings into a freshwater lake in a northern province. Now, new research indicates where further wild releases could result in the most conservation gains for the rare and threatened species, which was only described by scientists as recently as 2019. Spotted softshell turtles, Pelodiscus variegatus, were previously considered part of the genetically and morphologically variable Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis), a widely distributed species ranging from eastern Russia through China and Korea to Vietnam. However, scientists now classify Chinese softshell turtles as a species complex comprising seven separate species, one of which is the spotted softshell turtle. Although the orange-and-black-speckled turtles were described as distinct in 2019, frustratingly little is known about them in order to inform conservation actions, according to Thomas Ziegler, coordinator of nature conservation projects for Vietnam and Laos at Cologne Zoological Garden in Germany. “It’s actually a race against time, to discover species before they disappear,” Ziegler, who was involved in the scientific description of the species, told Mongabay in an email. “The joy of the discovery quickly gave way to worry — does it still exist, or has it already been extirpated?” One of the captive-bred juvenile spotted softshell turtles (Pelodiscus variegatus) photographed upon its the release into the wild in northern Vietnam. Image courtesy of C. T. Pham and T. Ziegler. Following the first scientific description of the species, Ziegler and his colleagues from Germany&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/spotted-softshell-turtle-release-boosts-reptile-conservation-in-vietnam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280675</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study identifies species with a long history but short future amid threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/study-identifies-species-with-a-long-history-but-short-future-amid-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/study-identifies-species-with-a-long-history-but-short-future-amid-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Mar 2024 09:05:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/28085326/Shoebill-c-ZSL-Claudia-Gray-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280376</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America, South America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Extinction, Fish, Fisheries, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Reptiles, Research, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over the past 4 billion years, lifeforms have evolved into the spectacular array of species that now inhabit the planet. While many species radiated into extensive families of closely related species, others are so unique that they alone embody millions of years of evolutionary history — sole representatives of entire lineages of the tree of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over the past 4 billion years, lifeforms have evolved into the spectacular array of species that now inhabit the planet. While many species radiated into extensive families of closely related species, others are so unique that they alone embody millions of years of evolutionary history — sole representatives of entire lineages of the tree of life. Weird and wonderful species, such as the finger-probing aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) of Madagascar; the bulbous-snouted gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) of South Asia; and the prehistoric-looking shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) of Africa, fall into this latter category. But an increasing body of evidence indicates these evolutionarily distinctive species are frequently also those most at risk of extinction. Now, a new study estimates that the loss of such unique and threatened species from the jawed vertebrates alone could eliminate between 86 billion and 160 billion years’ worth of evolutionary history over the next 50-500 years. It’s an almost inconceivable amount of history to lose, according to Rikki Gumbs, a research fellow at the Zoological Society of London and lead author of the study. “The universe itself is only around 14 billion years old,” Gumbs said. “But [species are] so varied that it all adds up once you start combining all the evolution that has happened concurrently during our planet’s history.” Gharials diverged from other crocodilians more than 40 million years ago. This one was photographed in Nepal, where numbers have been slowly recovering in recent years. Image courtesy of Rikki Gumbs/ZSL. To arrive at their assessment, Gumbs and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/study-identifies-species-with-a-long-history-but-short-future-amid-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/study-identifies-species-with-a-long-history-but-short-future-amid-threats/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280376</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishers’ memories on par with scientific data on historic catches: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/fishers-memories-on-par-with-scientific-data-on-historic-catches-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/fishers-memories-on-par-with-scientific-data-on-historic-catches-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2024 13:23:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/08124822/brazil-fisher-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279665</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Research, Traditional Knowledge, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Leandro Castello graduated with his degree in oceanography in 1998, he didn’t immediately get a job related to the ocean. Instead, he found himself in the Middle Solimões region of the Amazon, studying fisheries for arapaima (Arapaima gigas), freshwater behemoths that come the surface to breathe air. These fisheries had been banned in many [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Leandro Castello graduated with his degree in oceanography in 1998, he didn’t immediately get a job related to the ocean. Instead, he found himself in the Middle Solimões region of the Amazon, studying fisheries for arapaima (Arapaima gigas), freshwater behemoths that come the surface to breathe air. These fisheries had been banned in many places due to overfishing. “I met incredibly knowledgeable fishermen,” Castello, now a fish conservation biologist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the U.S., told Mongabay. “We tested the idea of whether this fisherman could count the numbers of fish, just like people do with whales in the ocean, and whether those counts of those fish could be used to foster management.” Castello said these counts were “incredibly accurate” and “200 times cheaper and faster” than assessing local fish stocks using an equivalent scientific method. In 2004, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, IBAMA, even issued a regulation that gave fishers special authorization to harvest arapaima if they presented their count data, and several NGOs and government organizations also began promoting and implementing these methods, Castello said. Currently, more than 400 fishing communities in Amazonas harvest arapaima based on fishers’ counts, which allows fishers to sustainably manage these fisheries, he said. “That experience taught me there&#8217;s a lot [one can do with] local knowledge,” Castello said. Currently, more than 400 fishing communities in Amazonas harvest arapaima based on fishers’ counts, which allows fishers to sustainably manage these fisheries. Image by Brian Gratwicke via Flickr (CC BY-NC&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/fishers-memories-on-par-with-scientific-data-on-historic-catches-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/fishers-memories-on-par-with-scientific-data-on-historic-catches-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279665</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia sea turtle nests spark hope amid coastal development &#038; species decline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/cambodia-sea-turtle-nests-spark-hope-amid-coastal-development-species-decline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/cambodia-sea-turtle-nests-spark-hope-amid-coastal-development-species-decline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Feb 2024 02:47:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/12/01184939/hawksbill-Gary-Rinaldi-Flickr-670x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278406</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Crime, Development, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Pollution, Rediscovered Species, Sea Turtles, Seagrass, Sustainable Development, Tourism, Turtles, Water Pollution, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — In late December 2023, on a remote island in Preah Sihanouk province, off the southwest coast of Cambodia, a team of conservationists uncovered nine nests belonging to sea turtles after more than a decade of searching for them. Cambodia’s marine turtle population has long been declining, but this discovery has sparked hope [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — In late December 2023, on a remote island in Preah Sihanouk province, off the southwest coast of Cambodia, a team of conservationists uncovered nine nests belonging to sea turtles after more than a decade of searching for them. Cambodia’s marine turtle population has long been declining, but this discovery has sparked hope among conservationists that the critically endangered hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) and endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas) have not vanished from Cambodia’s waters. Nine nests were discovered by volunteers from the Royal Cambodian Navy who are stationed on the island and have been trained by Fauna &amp; Flora to monitor for the presence of sea turtles after a nest was discovered in March 2022. That initial finding of a single nest represented the first time that a sea turtle nest had been seen in Cambodia for a decade, highlighting the species’ decline. During the final days of 2023, naval personnel uncovered the nine nests, two of which had already hatched, and were able to estimate that the nests could hold as many as 1,000 eggs. It is believed that all of the nests should have hatched before the end of January 2024. Hatched eggs were excavated by naval volunteers to assess the success rate. Image supplied by Fauna &amp; Flora. Matt Glue, a marine technical specialist working with Fauna &amp; Flora in Cambodia, was able to confirm that some of the newly discovered nests were laid by a green turtle due to a female being spotted&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/cambodia-sea-turtle-nests-spark-hope-amid-coastal-development-species-decline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/cambodia-sea-turtle-nests-spark-hope-amid-coastal-development-species-decline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278406</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>West African fishers strike for fair wages and ‘respect’ on EU-owned vessels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/west-african-fishers-strike-for-fair-wages-and-respect-on-eu-owned-vessels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/west-african-fishers-strike-for-fair-wages-and-respect-on-eu-owned-vessels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jul 2023 14:55:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/18134350/GP0STONU4_Web_size-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271064</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, European Union, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Business, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, Global Environmental Crisis, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Industry, Law Enforcement, Marine, Oceans, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Politics, Poverty, Saltwater Fish, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A four-day strike by nearly 2,000 Senegalese and Ivory Coast fishers who work on vessels owned by European companies operating in West African waters pulled back the cover on unfair and exploitative labor practices that plague the industrial fisheries sector. “The conditions are very tough, and we don&#8217;t get paid what we deserve,” Aliou Ngom, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A four-day strike by nearly 2,000 Senegalese and Ivory Coast fishers who work on vessels owned by European companies operating in West African waters pulled back the cover on unfair and exploitative labor practices that plague the industrial fisheries sector. “The conditions are very tough, and we don&#8217;t get paid what we deserve,” Aliou Ngom, 44, who works as a mechanic on Via Alize, a French-flagged tuna purse seiner that operates off West Africa and in the Indian Ocean, told Mongabay. “We don&#8217;t work to buy a car or build a house. We work just to eat.” The seafarers allege they are not paid the International Labor Organization minimum wage of $658 per month, set under the EU-Senegal and EU-Ivory Coast Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs). Some of the EU-owned vessels that employ the striking workers are flagged to EU nations and subject to the provisions of the SFPA. Others, however, while owned by EU-based companies, fly the flag of a different country and thereby evade labor regulations as well as sustainability provisions in the SFPAs. More than a third of EU-owned vessels operating in the region use such “flags of convenience.” The strike, which lasted from June 5-8, was backed by the International Transport Workers’ Federation headquartered in London and local unions in Senegal and the Ivory Coast. Fishers who were already on board vessels for the fishing season stopped working, bringing fishing to a halt on those boats. The unions called off the strike after the Senegalese government intervened&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/west-african-fishers-strike-for-fair-wages-and-respect-on-eu-owned-vessels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/west-african-fishers-strike-for-fair-wages-and-respect-on-eu-owned-vessels/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271064</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous women in Colombia protect rich Amazonian wetland from overfishing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/indigenous-women-in-colombia-protect-rich-amazonian-wetland-from-overfishing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/indigenous-women-in-colombia-protect-rich-amazonian-wetland-from-overfishing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2023 15:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Astrid Arellano]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/20144154/00-LIlia-en-los-Lagos-de-Tarapoto-Cred-Conservacion-Internacional-Colombia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267695</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Women Defenders of the Colombian Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Rainforests, Restoration, Solutions, Traditional Knowledge, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For Indigenous women in the Amazon, the wetland of Lake Tarapoto is a living classroom. The women consider it not just a home for the fish they rely on to feed their families, but also a repository of Indigenous history and culture. It is the place that fertilizes all life in their territory, says Lilia [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For Indigenous women in the Amazon, the wetland of Lake Tarapoto is a living classroom. The women consider it not just a home for the fish they rely on to feed their families, but also a repository of Indigenous history and culture. It is the place that fertilizes all life in their territory, says Lilia Isolina Java, a leader of the Cocama people in the southern Amazon region of Colombia. These spaces are where “one unlearns in order to learn,” she tells Monagaby. And in a impactful case, local fishers have been part of this “unlearning” process. They went from using large nets that caught almost every aquatic animal in their path, to creating fishing agreements designed to respect life in the wetland system — a process that took more than 20 years. Along with traditional authorities, institutions, and organizations, Java is leading a process to identify issues harming the lake’s ecosystem. But she has focused on one in particular: the overexploitation of fishery resources. Overfishing is destroying not only fish species and the food sovereignty of the communities of the Tikuna, Cocama, and Yagua (Ticoya) Indigenous people, but also the lives of other aquatic animals that have been victims of incidental catch such as dolphins, manatees, otters, and turtles. Lake Tarapoto. Image curtesy of Conservation International Colombia. “We focus, above all, on harmful fishing,” Java said. “Not only for those of us living in the communities, but also because our lakes, rivers and streams have already been degraded because&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/indigenous-women-in-colombia-protect-rich-amazonian-wetland-from-overfishing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/indigenous-women-in-colombia-protect-rich-amazonian-wetland-from-overfishing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-267695</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fishers in Flores Sea opt to limit harvest of overexploited sea cucumbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/fishers-in-flores-sea-opt-to-limit-harvest-of-overexploited-sea-cucumbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/fishers-in-flores-sea-opt-to-limit-harvest-of-overexploited-sea-cucumbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2022 12:24:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Wahyu Chandra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/28022834/Holothuria-scabra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262975</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sulawesi, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAKASSAR, Indonesia — At the end of September, fishermen on Sapuka Island in eastern Indonesia’s Flores Sea made a surprising announcement. They would regulate their sea cucumber harvests, they declared, taking only those specimens above a certain size, and from clearly designated areas during clearly designated times of the year. Resident fishers and village officials [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAKASSAR, Indonesia — At the end of September, fishermen on Sapuka Island in eastern Indonesia’s Flores Sea made a surprising announcement. They would regulate their sea cucumber harvests, they declared, taking only those specimens above a certain size, and from clearly designated areas during clearly designated times of the year. Resident fishers and village officials on the 14-square-kilometer (5.4-square-mile) island that sits 225 km (140 mi) off the city of Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province, voted to only harvest sea cucumbers weighing at least 200 grams (7 ounces). This applies to sea cucumbers from the Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae families. Fishers collectively agreed to limit their fishing activities in the waters around the islands of Kembanglemari and Tinggalungang, which the national fisheries ministry has zoned for ecosystem rehabilitation. During the monsoon months of January and February, fishers committed to not fish in area the ministry designated a core conservation area. They also limited entry to fishing grounds: Fishers from outside South Sulawesi province would only be allowed to gather sea cucumber in the core conservation area. Enforcement of existing fisheries regulations in this 320-km (200-mi) island chain that stretches between the main islands of Sulawesi and Sumbawa has been sporadic. The waters are notoriously hard to traverse. Annually, there are reports of fishers losing control of their boats at sea, or getting lost at sea sometimes for weeks on end. Less frequently, reports emerge from the area of blast fishing: the coast guard occasionally intercepts illegal shipments of fertilizer from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/fishers-in-flores-sea-opt-to-limit-harvest-of-overexploited-sea-cucumbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/fishers-in-flores-sea-opt-to-limit-harvest-of-overexploited-sea-cucumbers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262975</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Habitat loss, climate change threaten Bangladesh&#8217;s native freshwater fishes with extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/habitat-destruction-climate-change-threaten-bangladeshs-native-freshwater-fishes-with-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/habitat-destruction-climate-change-threaten-bangladeshs-native-freshwater-fishes-with-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2022 08:25:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rafiqul Islam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/20074031/fishing-family-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261682</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Lakes, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Rivers, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Water Pollution, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA – Khalilur Rahman, 65, has been fishing in a tributary of the old Brahmaputra River in Kishoreganj for 50 years. Nowadays, he often returns home empty-handed. “The river has dried up. Without enough flow of water, many species of fish have disappeared,” he said. Khalilur said when he was young, the Brahmaputra had an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA – Khalilur Rahman, 65, has been fishing in a tributary of the old Brahmaputra River in Kishoreganj for 50 years. Nowadays, he often returns home empty-handed. “The river has dried up. Without enough flow of water, many species of fish have disappeared,” he said. Khalilur said when he was young, the Brahmaputra had an abundance of fish all year round. “Even 20 to 30 years ago, I was often able to catch 80 to 90 kilograms [176 to 198 pounds] of fish a day. Now, on many days, I don’t even catch 1 kilogram of fish during the peak season,” he said. The open waters of the past had plenty of native fish species, many of which have now disappeared. “Many local fish species including bheda [Gangetic leaffish], Boicha, tengra and pabda have vanished from rivers. Now we get only taki [spotted snakehead] and shing [catfish],” said Khalilur, who lives on the bank of the Jhira Nodi, a tributary of old Brahmaputra River, in Gobaria village under Kuliarchar region in Kishoreganj. “Fishing used to be my bread and butter, but I had to change my occupation,” said Nazim Uddin, 40, a local. He now works as a farm laborer. In the past, there were more than 300 native fish species in Bangladesh, but many freshwater fishes have already disappeared while others are on the verge of extinction due to habitat loss, overfishing, pollution and climate change. Fisherpeople say the quantity of their catch has diminished drastically compared to just&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/habitat-destruction-climate-change-threaten-bangladeshs-native-freshwater-fishes-with-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261682</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sand mining a boon for illegal industry at expense of Bangladesh’s environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Aug 2022 07:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/16060544/sand-mining-bangladesh-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259195</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Degraded Lands, Development, Environment, Environmental Law, Erosion, Habitat Degradation, Illegal Mining, Industry, Infrastructure, Law, Mining, Overexploitation, Politics, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Mining of sand to feed the red-hot demand from Bangladesh’s construction industry has fueled an illegal industry that overshadows the legal one and that’s destroying ecosystems and exacerbating river erosion. As the country’s cities and towns grow on the back of solid economic growth over the past three decades, the construction industry has resorted to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Mining of sand to feed the red-hot demand from Bangladesh’s construction industry has fueled an illegal industry that overshadows the legal one and that’s destroying ecosystems and exacerbating river erosion. As the country’s cities and towns grow on the back of solid economic growth over the past three decades, the construction industry has resorted to extracting sand from rivers nationwide. This sand flows into the country year-round through 57 transboundary rivers from India and Myanmar. In all, these waterways carry around 2.4 billion metric tons of sediment, including sand, clay and silt. A large part of the extracted sand is used as landfill to reclaim new land in a country where much of the area is delta. These new lands, often created by filling in canals and drains, pose an obstacle to the flow of the monsoon runoff. The sand mining itself poses a threat to all kinds of physical infrastructure, including homes, agricultural lands, schools, bridges, and embankments in the river. It also destroys the adjoining groundwater system, according to a recent study. Hotspots of illegal sand mining include districts in the Ganges River Basin and the Meghna River Basin. The government has long been aware of the problem, and in 2010 passed the Quarry and Soil Management Act to control sand mining activities. But critics say the law is neither effective at discouraging sand mining, nor is it enforced seriously by the government. Demand from Bangladesh’s construction industry for sand has led to a boom in unregulated and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/sand-mining-a-boon-for-illegal-industry-at-expense-of-bangladeshs-environment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259195</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Billions rely on wild species for food, energy and more: IPBES report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/billions-rely-on-wild-species-for-food-energy-and-more-ipbes-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/billions-rely-on-wild-species-for-food-energy-and-more-ipbes-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Aug 2022 05:28:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/05050059/Nepalese-wild-honey-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258893</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Food, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Indigenous Peoples, Logging, Natural Resources, Overexploitation, Rainforests, Traditional Knowledge, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some 50,000 wild species provide for many of the world’s people, according to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). But today, those critical services are threatened by the global biodiversity crisis, the authors found in their review of more than 6,200 sources. “The sustainable use of wild [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some 50,000 wild species provide for many of the world’s people, according to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). But today, those critical services are threatened by the global biodiversity crisis, the authors found in their review of more than 6,200 sources. “The sustainable use of wild species matters for all people and in all communities,” Anne Larigauderie, an ecologist and the IPBES executive secretary, said during a press conference launching a report summary for policymakers on July 8. “Billions of people around the world rely on wild species for their food, for their energy, for their medicine, and many other purposes, including the very important cultural aspects as well.” The aim of the report, scheduled for full publication later in 2022, is to move the use of wild species toward sustainability — that is, exploitation that will not endanger the future of these algae, animals, fungi and plants. Representatives from the nearly 140 member states of the IPBES, which is often described as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, for biodiversity, approved the report in early July. Global wildlife trade secretariat CITES and other international groups focused on species conservation had requested this assessment as a tool for leaders and policymakers. It will also likely contribute to the new global biodiversity framework, slated for adoption at the U.N. biodiversity conference from Dec. 5-17 in Montreal, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, who heads the Convention on Biological Diversity, said in a statement.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/billions-rely-on-wild-species-for-food-energy-and-more-ipbes-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/billions-rely-on-wild-species-for-food-energy-and-more-ipbes-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258893</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘It sustains us all’: IPBES report calls for accounting of nature’s diverse values</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/it-sustains-us-all-ipbes-report-calls-for-accounting-of-natures-diverse-values/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/it-sustains-us-all-ipbes-report-calls-for-accounting-of-natures-diverse-values/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2022 07:24:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/04063432/Children-catch-fish-in-rice-paddy-Thailand-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258876</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Environmental Services, Extinction, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Marketing, Overexploitation, Politics, Saving Species From Extinction, Social Justice, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A focus on valuing nature through the lens of the market has contributed to the global biodiversity crisis, according to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). IPBES produced an in-depth assessment in 2019, concluding that 1 million species of plants and animals could go extinct as part [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A focus on valuing nature through the lens of the market has contributed to the global biodiversity crisis, according to a recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). IPBES produced an in-depth assessment in 2019, concluding that 1 million species of plants and animals could go extinct as part of the worldwide decline in species. Building on that assessment, the authors of this new report note that the push for economic growth, at times leading to the unchecked consumption of resources and destruction of habitat, has helped to drive this slide. “Biodiversity is being lost and nature’s contributions to people are being degraded faster now [than] at any other point in human history,” Ana María Hernández Salgar, the IPBES chair, said in a statement. “This is largely because our current approach to political and economic decisions does not sufficiently account for the diversity of nature’s values.” Aerial view of Favela da Rocinha, Brazil. “Biodiversity is being lost and nature’s contributions to people are being degraded faster now [than] at any other point in human history,” Ana María Hernández Salgar, the IPBES chair, said in a statement. Image by Donatas Dabravolskas/Shutterstock.com. The new report, released July 11, focuses on the ways in which human societies value nature. “Market-based” values, such as the use of land for industrial-scale agriculture or the clearance of forest for timber that can be sold, have been dominant. But, the report says, shifting how humans look at the worth of natural&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/it-sustains-us-all-ipbes-report-calls-for-accounting-of-natures-diverse-values/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/it-sustains-us-all-ipbes-report-calls-for-accounting-of-natures-diverse-values/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258876</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Overexploitation threatens Amazon fisheries with collapse, study warns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/overexploitation-threatens-amazon-fisheries-with-collapse-study-warns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/overexploitation-threatens-amazon-fisheries-with-collapse-study-warns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2022 08:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz KimbroughPeter Speetjens]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/14093516/Fishing-on-the-Madeira-rapids_Michael-Goulding-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258201</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Overexploitation, Overfishing, and Rivers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fish are an essential part of the diet for most people living in the Amazon Rainforest. But overfishing is seriously threatening biodiversity and the ecosystem’s ability to feed people, according to the first large-scale pan-Amazonian survey of fisheries. “Amazon fisheries are showing clear signs of overexploitation, and we see indications this is threatening sustainability,” Sebastian [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fish are an essential part of the diet for most people living in the Amazon Rainforest. But overfishing is seriously threatening biodiversity and the ecosystem’s ability to feed people, according to the first large-scale pan-Amazonian survey of fisheries. “Amazon fisheries are showing clear signs of overexploitation, and we see indications this is threatening sustainability,” Sebastian Heilpern, presidential postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University and the study’s lead author, told Mongabay on a video call from New York. The U.S.-led study, conducted in cooperation with several South American partners and the Wildlife Conservation Society, collected data in six main urban ports: Chachapoyas, Pucallpa and Iquitos in Peru, and Porto Velho, Manaus and Santarém in Brazil. Fishers coming into these ports are required to report the origin, amount and species of fish they catch. This information, known as landings data, is the only type of long-term data on fish from the Amazon, spanning the previous 12 to 34 years, depending on the city. Landings data reveal that the average size of the fish brought to port has decreased over time, meaning that the larger species are declining and being replaced by smaller species in the fishers’ catch. People and products, including fish, arrive at the Port of Iquitos. The size of fish caught in Amazonian rivers is getting smaller, according to a U.S.-led study. Photo by Sebastian Heilpern. Researchers also calculated the weight of each species of fish relative to the total weight of the catch in a particular time and place, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/overexploitation-threatens-amazon-fisheries-with-collapse-study-warns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/overexploitation-threatens-amazon-fisheries-with-collapse-study-warns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258201</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Sierra Leone, local fishers and foreign trawlers battle for their catch</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/in-sierra-leone-local-fishers-and-foreign-trawlers-battle-for-their-catch/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/in-sierra-leone-local-fishers-and-foreign-trawlers-battle-for-their-catch/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 May 2022 13:12:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/24124609/11-Sierra-Leone-local-fishers-and-foreign-trawlers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256275</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Food, Food Industry, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Marine, Oceans, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Politics, Poverty, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — As dawn breaks, the fishing wharf at Tamba Kula in Freetown buzzes with the movement of early-morning commerce. Fishers just back from days spent far out at sea unload their catch from wooden boats, hauling snapper, barracuda and other fish out of icy compartments into cartons carried onto shore. There, women [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — As dawn breaks, the fishing wharf at Tamba Kula in Freetown buzzes with the movement of early-morning commerce. Fishers just back from days spent far out at sea unload their catch from wooden boats, hauling snapper, barracuda and other fish out of icy compartments into cartons carried onto shore. There, women hand over wads of cash and fill plastic containers destined for Freetown’s bustling markets. Bleary-eyed fishermen cluster in packs under palm trees, smoking cigarettes and cracking jokes as Nigerian pop music blares from nearby speakers. The scene is a familiar one along West Africa’s coast, where artisanal fishers like the ones at Tamba Kula provide millions of people with their daily nourishment. The ocean is the backbone of life in Sierra Leone, with fish accounting for around 80% of the country’s protein intake. Incomes generated from the sea build houses, are reinvested in businesses, and send the children of fishers and market traders to school. But life is getting harder in places like Tamba Kula. Over the past few years, fish have become scarcer, and the rickety boats with names like “God No Greedy” are having to go farther out to sea for catches that just a few years ago could be found much closer to shore. Sometimes the crews come back near empty-handed. When that happens, the boat owners lose their upfront investment in fuel and the crews don’t get paid. Many fishermen say foreign trawlers are to blame. Those boats, made from steel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/in-sierra-leone-local-fishers-and-foreign-trawlers-battle-for-their-catch/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/in-sierra-leone-local-fishers-and-foreign-trawlers-battle-for-their-catch/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256275</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wild release marks return of giant forest tortoises to Bangladesh hills</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/wild-release-marks-return-of-giant-forest-tortoises-to-bangladesh-hills/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/wild-release-marks-return-of-giant-forest-tortoises-to-bangladesh-hills/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2022 15:21:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/01/10145108/1-e1641826769833-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251594</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Dry Forests, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Extinction, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Hunting, Overexploitation, Protected Areas, Reptiles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh’s population of one of the world’s largest tortoise species received a boost last month when researchers and villagers released 10 captive-bred juveniles into the evergreen forests of the Chattogram Hill Tracts. This initiative, in the rugged mountain range in the extreme southeast of the country bordering Myanmar and India, was the first rewilding of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh’s population of one of the world’s largest tortoise species received a boost last month when researchers and villagers released 10 captive-bred juveniles into the evergreen forests of the Chattogram Hill Tracts. This initiative, in the rugged mountain range in the extreme southeast of the country bordering Myanmar and India, was the first rewilding of the Asian giant tortoise in the country. The species, Manouria emys, is critically endangered due to heavy hunting pressure and habitat destruction throughout its range across South and Southeast Asia. Tipping the scales at 35 kilograms (77 pounds), it’s the fourth-largest tortoise in the world and highly prized by subsistence hunters for its meat. Scientists had thought the species was extinct in Bangladesh until 2011, when new hope was triggered by the discovery of a shell in a remote corner of the Chattogram Hills. “This confirmed that they still occur in that tiny pocket,” Shahriar Caesar Rahman, co-founder and CEO of the Creative Conservation Alliance (CCA), a Bangladesh-based nonprofit, told Mongabay. Without any action, he said, the species would likely be completely lost within the next decade. “What we needed to do was to increase their population size in captivity.” Over the next few years, local hunters relinquished several of the rare tortoises to conservationists, and in 2017 CCA established a captive-breeding center to help secure the reptile’s future in collaboration with local communities, the Bangladesh Forest Department, and U.S.-based nonprofit Turtle Survival Alliance. Today, the Turtle Conservation Center (TCC) in Bhawal National Park houses&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/wild-release-marks-return-of-giant-forest-tortoises-to-bangladesh-hills/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/wild-release-marks-return-of-giant-forest-tortoises-to-bangladesh-hills/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251594</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Advocates welcome halt to shortfin mako shark fishing, call for longer ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/advocates-welcome-halt-to-shortfin-mako-shark-fishing-call-for-longer-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/advocates-welcome-halt-to-shortfin-mako-shark-fishing-call-for-longer-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2021 19:05:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/08194249/mako-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249900</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Overexploitation, Overfishing, shark finning, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 50 countries have agreed to protect shortfin mako sharks, an endangered species that has been teetering on the brink of extinction due to fishing overexploitation. The decision has been welcomed by conservationists and scientists who have worked for years to enact a fishing ban on the species, Isurus oxyrinchus, although they say the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 50 countries have agreed to protect shortfin mako sharks, an endangered species that has been teetering on the brink of extinction due to fishing overexploitation. The decision has been welcomed by conservationists and scientists who have worked for years to enact a fishing ban on the species, Isurus oxyrinchus, although they say the victory may only be temporary. The agreement, led by Canada, the U.K., Senegal and Gabon, was made this week at the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), a coalition of 52 fishing nations that focuses on the management of tunas and tuna-like species. By the meeting’s end, countries had agreed “to end overfishing immediately and to gradually achieve biomass levels sufficient to support maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by 2070,” according to a press release. A full retention ban on shortfin mako sharks in the North Atlantic — meaning fishers will not be allowed to land the sharks, even those caught accidentally — will take effect in 2022 and extend into 2023. After that, fishing nations in the North Atlantic will only be able to land mako sharks if the total mako bycatch from the previous year has not exceeded 250 metric tons. In comparison, the European Union alone landed 1,261 metric tons in 2020, according to data compiled by the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS), the ICCAT’s scientific advisory body. Shortfin mako sharks are one of the fastest creatures in the ocean, with reported speeds of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/advocates-welcome-halt-to-shortfin-mako-shark-fishing-call-for-longer-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/advocates-welcome-halt-to-shortfin-mako-shark-fishing-call-for-longer-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249900</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil farming co-op carves a sustainable path through agribusiness stronghold</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Oct 2021 16:47:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/11125530/1-CoopCerrados-two-decade-bet-on-biodiversity-and-sustainable-family-farming-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248058</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Business, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Crops, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Overexploitation, Solutions, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When farmer Mônica de Souza Ribeiro moved into her landless settlement in the state of Goiás in central Brazil in the late 1990s, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of agrotoxins and chemicals deployed in the cattle- and soy-dominated region. At first, she followed suit, using chemical fertilizers to grow the vegetables that she [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When farmer Mônica de Souza Ribeiro moved into her landless settlement in the state of Goiás in central Brazil in the late 1990s, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of agrotoxins and chemicals deployed in the cattle- and soy-dominated region. At first, she followed suit, using chemical fertilizers to grow the vegetables that she sold for her family business. But she became increasingly concerned as she watched the destruction around her. Brazil’s Cerrado, a Mexico-sized tropical savanna, holds 5% of the world’s biodiversity, but almost half of the natural vegetation has now been replaced by agribusiness — mostly soy and corn monocultures as well as cattle pastures. The vast destruction is now fueling desertification, threatening regional climate stability, biodiversity, and Brazil’s energy and food supplies. “When we moved here, I wouldn&#8217;t see a single bird. The poison would kill everything,” Ribeiro told Mongabay in a telephone interview from the settlement in rural Guapó municipality. “I wanted to take care of nature and the Cerrado, but I didn’t know how.” That changed when she joined Coopcerrado, now a 5,000-family-strong organic farmers’ cooperative and the 2021 winner of the United Nations’ Equator Prize under the category “New Nature Economies” for its two-decade-long fight to make regenerative and organic production possible for smallholders. Coopcerrado is today made up of 238 smallholder and traditional communities across five states in Brazil’s agribusiness stronghold. Life has gotten harder for the region’s vulnerable communities under Brazil’s anti-environment president, Jair Bolsonaro. As economic and political pressures continue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248058</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Experts see no way back for NZ firm blocked from trying to mine the seabed</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/experts-see-no-way-back-for-nz-firm-blocked-from-trying-to-mine-the-seabed/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/experts-see-no-way-back-for-nz-firm-blocked-from-trying-to-mine-the-seabed/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2021 20:45:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/07185342/5201890268_d121e534e7_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247946</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea Mining 2021]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Exploration, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Mining, Oceans, Overexploitation, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists have expressed hope that a New Zealand company whose bid to mine the seabed was blocked by the country’s highest court last month has little chance of winning approval. The Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled unanimously on Sept. 30 to block consent for the mining operation that would extract millions of tons of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists have expressed hope that a New Zealand company whose bid to mine the seabed was blocked by the country’s highest court last month has little chance of winning approval. The Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled unanimously on Sept. 30 to block consent for the mining operation that would extract millions of tons of iron ore from the seabed off the coast of South Taranaki on the nation&#8217;s North Island. Experts say that the decision was primarily based on the finding that mining company Trans-Tasman Resources Limited (TTR) could not illustrate that its activities would not cause &#8220;material harm&#8221; to the environment. While TTR seems confident that it will be able to reapply for mining consent, conservationists who have spent years campaigning against seabed mining in New Zealand say the company will not find an easy path due to fundamental issues in its application. For instance, they point out that TTR&#8217;s most recent application lacked studies about resident marine life and the impacts of mining on species and the overall ecosystem. &#8220;The company hadn&#8217;t done its homework,&#8221; Cindy Baxter, chair of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM), one group that opposed the mining application, told Mongabay in an interview. &#8220;It didn&#8217;t even have baseline data for where it wanted to mine, so no one can even measure what the [impacts] would be if it went ahead.&#8221; Duncan Currie, an international environmental lawyer who acted as counsel to KASM and Greenpeace Aotearoa, said it would be &#8220;extremely difficult&#8221; for TTR to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/experts-see-no-way-back-for-nz-firm-blocked-from-trying-to-mine-the-seabed/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/experts-see-no-way-back-for-nz-firm-blocked-from-trying-to-mine-the-seabed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Billions in fishing subsidies finance social, ecological harm, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/billions-in-fishing-subsidies-finance-social-ecological-harm-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/billions-in-fishing-subsidies-finance-social-ecological-harm-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2021 14:37:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/07115014/GP0STQO6M_High_res-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244578</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Developing Countries, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Subsidies, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new report shows that the world’s top fishing nations are using subsidies worth billions of dollars to exploit the high seas and the waters of other nations, including some of the world’s least-developed countries. Published by researchers at the University of British Columbia and supported by the NGO Oceana, the report takes a shrewd [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new report shows that the world’s top fishing nations are using subsidies worth billions of dollars to exploit the high seas and the waters of other nations, including some of the world’s least-developed countries. Published by researchers at the University of British Columbia and supported by the NGO Oceana, the report takes a shrewd look at “harmful fishing subsidies,” payments made by governments that allow fishing fleets to operate beyond their normal capacity. The researchers found that 10 countries — China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, the U.S.A., Thailand, Taiwan, Spain, Indonesia and Norway — spent more than $15.3 billion on harmful fishing subsidies in 2018, which has likely contributed to a number of social, economic and ecological issues. About 60% ($9.2 billion) of these harmful fishing subsidies used by these 10 nations were spent on domestic fishing, while 35% ($5.4 billion) was spent on traveling long distances to fish in the waters of 116 other nations. The remaining 5% ($800 million) was spent on fishing in the high seas, which are parts of the ocean beyond any nation’s jurisdiction. China was found to be the top provider of harmful fishing subsidies, worth about $5.9 billion, followed by Japan at $2.1 billion and the European Union at $2 billion. Kathryn Matthews, chief scientist at Oceana, says the report shows the scale and magnitude of harmful fishing subsidies, which can transfer the risk of overfishing from one place to another. “It was reasonably well understood by the community that works on this&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/billions-in-fishing-subsidies-finance-social-ecological-harm-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/billions-in-fishing-subsidies-finance-social-ecological-harm-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244578</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>An export boom threatens to put Madagascar’s mud crabs in hot water</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/an-export-boom-threatens-to-put-madagascars-mud-crabs-in-hot-water/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/an-export-boom-threatens-to-put-madagascars-mud-crabs-in-hot-water/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2020 08:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/14040625/1280px-Mud_crab_2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232428</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Overexploitation, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For crab fishers on the western coast of Madagascar, where incomes are less than a thirtieth of those in the U.S., the Lunar New Year brings some cheer. Demand spikes for live mud crabs, considered a delicacy in China, and so does the price the crustaceans fetch. This hunger for live crabs is fueling a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For crab fishers on the western coast of Madagascar, where incomes are less than a thirtieth of those in the U.S., the Lunar New Year brings some cheer. Demand spikes for live mud crabs, considered a delicacy in China, and so does the price the crustaceans fetch. This hunger for live crabs is fueling a boom in Madagascar’s crab exports, now valued at nearly $10 million a year. But a recent decision by the Malagasy government to grant permits to export live mud crabs exclusively to five Chinese companies has sparked controversy and highlighted the country’s struggle to sustainably manage an overexploited fishery. The agriculture and fisheries ministry granted the permits in April to Santi Import-Export, Dragon de la Mer, Ocean Export, Drakk Company, and Mapro-Sud, but the decision came to light recently through local media reports. Civil society organizations like Southern African Regional Non-State Platform in Fisheries and Aquaculture (SANSAFA) Madagascar and the National Network of Women in Fisheries in Madagascar (RENAFEP) say the move harms local fishers and businesses. They are demanding the ministry cancel the permits. Issuing export permits to foreign companies will exacerbate the problem of unsustainable fishing, SANSAFA and RENAFEP said in a statement. In the short term, the export demand pushes up prices and leads to more harvesting; in the long term, a rush to satisfy overseas demand threatens the sustainability of the local fisheries, the groups said. The two organizations also alleged that the five companies are owned by a single individual. Mongabay&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/an-export-boom-threatens-to-put-madagascars-mud-crabs-in-hot-water/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/an-export-boom-threatens-to-put-madagascars-mud-crabs-in-hot-water/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232428</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deep-sea mining: An environmental solution or impending catastrophe?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/deep-sea-mining-an-environmental-solution-or-impending-catastrophe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/deep-sea-mining-an-environmental-solution-or-impending-catastrophe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2020 17:03:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/16164837/seafloor-hires-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231482</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Global Environmental Crisis, Land Rights, Marine, Marine Conservation, Mining, Oceans, and Overexploitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2007, a submersible with a large drill descended 1,600 meters (5,250 feet) into the sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), landing near a network of hydrothermal vents that host an array of rare and unique sea life. The machine operators, working for Canadian mining company Nautilus Minerals, Inc., began drilling into [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2007, a submersible with a large drill descended 1,600 meters (5,250 feet) into the sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), landing near a network of hydrothermal vents that host an array of rare and unique sea life. The machine operators, working for Canadian mining company Nautilus Minerals, Inc., began drilling into the seabed, searching for copper, gold, zinc and silver. In the years that followed, the company drilled again and again. By 2019, Nautilus, the first company to ever receive a deep-sea mining license, had gone bankrupt before extracting any minerals, and the PNG government, which had invested in the project, was left with millions of dollars in debt. Jonathan Mesulam and his son campaigning to ban deep-sea mining in PNG. Image by Jonathan Mesulam / MiningWatch Canada. The marine environment didn’t fare much better. Jonathan Mesulam, a resident of New Ireland province in PNG, located near a Nautilus project site, said his community experienced “serious impacts” when the company began exploring the seabed. “We were worried because the mining is experimental, there are no examples anywhere in the world, and Papua New Guinea has no regulatory framework,” Mesulam said in a presentation he gave at a MiningWatch Canada conference in 2019. “Also, we knew that there is an active undersea volcano at that site, could it cause a tsunami? “It also affected our unique shark calling culture that is our identity,” he added. “We can call sharks to our canoes. They are a major source&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/deep-sea-mining-an-environmental-solution-or-impending-catastrophe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231482</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Panic buying amid pandemic drives scarcity in medicinal herbs in Sri Lanka</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/panic-buying-amid-pandemic-drives-scarcity-in-medicinal-herbs-in-sri-lanka/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/panic-buying-amid-pandemic-drives-scarcity-in-medicinal-herbs-in-sri-lanka/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2020 06:32:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/21060741/Banner-by-Corp-768x365.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=229250</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[COVID-19, Environment, Medicinal Plants, and Overexploitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka imposed a lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, but residents of this Indian Ocean island had been panic buying various foods and supplies long before then. Among the most sought-after items: several popular herbs known to boost the immune system. Days before the announcement of the preventive [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Sri Lanka imposed a lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, but residents of this Indian Ocean island had been panic buying various foods and supplies long before then. Among the most sought-after items: several popular herbs known to boost the immune system. Days before the announcement of the preventive nationwide lockdown, there was a surge in bulk buying of popular herbs such as ginger, lime, turmeric, and coriander seeds, driving prices up and causing scarcity in many areas. More than a month into the lockdown, demand for those same herbs remains strong, and supplies are short. In the capital, Colombo, goods distributor Afsan Ahamed told Mongabay that, “It’s as if people wanted extra doses of herbs to keep COVID-19 away from their homes.” Namel Thanaraja, a homemaker who has long used many of these same herbs for cooking, described people waiting for hours and fighting, in clear violation of social distancing guidelines, to get ginger and lime in a leading supermarket chain. “Turmeric was nowhere visible. All those shelves were wiped clean,” she said. “From the regular spices, turmeric was the first to go missing. I haven’t been able to buy ginger from any delivery services in one month.” Another shopper, Nishanthi Sandamai, said that she used to drink a concoction of boiled coriander twice a week, but that since the first COVID-19 cases were reported in the country, she’s been drinking it daily. Her latest trip to the supermarket failed to turn up&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/panic-buying-amid-pandemic-drives-scarcity-in-medicinal-herbs-in-sri-lanka/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-229250</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Former U.S. envoy under scrutiny for links to sanctioned Moldovan oligarch, land baron</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/former-u-s-envoy-under-scrutiny-for-links-to-sanctioned-moldovan-oligarch-land-baron/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/former-u-s-envoy-under-scrutiny-for-links-to-sanctioned-moldovan-oligarch-land-baron/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2020 07:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jack Davies]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/14073044/vlad_chaudhry-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228998</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Commodities and Investigation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Eastern Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Corruption, Environment, Organized Crime, Overexploitation, Plantations, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. President Donald Trump’s most senior intelligence official, Richard Grenell, came under scrutiny last month after it emerged he had carried out work for sanctioned Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. Mongabay has since learned that Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, is not the only Washington political figure with alleged ties to the man once [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. President Donald Trump’s most senior intelligence official, Richard Grenell, came under scrutiny last month after it emerged he had carried out work for sanctioned Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc. Mongabay has since learned that Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, is not the only Washington political figure with alleged ties to the man once dubbed “Moldova’s most-feared figure.” From 2008 until 2011, Asif Chaudhry was the U.S. ambassador to Moldova, a former Soviet republic on the Black Sea. For the duration of his posting he maintained a reputation as an impartial mediator between the country’s mercurial political parties. In the years since, he appears to have sided with Plahotniuc, observers say. In mid-2018, Chaudhry accepted a position as an independent director on the board of Trans-Oil, a Moldovan agricultural commodities firm. A recent Mongabay investigation showed how Trans-Oil gained a virtual monopoly over Moldova’s grain market. It was an achievement aided by multimillion-dollar U.S. government loans granted to the company while Chaudhry was still ambassador. The investigation raised questions about overexploitation of Moldova’s agricultural land and the use of offshore companies to avoid agribusiness firms paying tax. Contacted earlier this year, Chaudhry said there was nothing improper in his working for Trans-Oil: “There is nothing more important for me than my integrity,” Chaudhry wrote in an email to Mongabay, describing Trans-Oil as “unusually transparent.” A Trans-Oil freight train sits at a depot in Moldova in 2019. Photo: Jack Davies. In Moldova the line between commerce and politics is often&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/former-u-s-envoy-under-scrutiny-for-links-to-sanctioned-moldovan-oligarch-land-baron/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/former-u-s-envoy-under-scrutiny-for-links-to-sanctioned-moldovan-oligarch-land-baron/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228998</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Turning the tide for an endangered crab species in the Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/turning-the-tide-for-an-endangered-crab-species-in-the-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/turning-the-tide-for-an-endangered-crab-species-in-the-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2020 15:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jen Chan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Leilani]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/11214706/18126782745_9e80937025_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227834</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Culture, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Conservation, Over-hunting, Overconsumption, Overexploitation, and Tourism]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BATANES, Philippines — The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. Often found in small numbers around small islands, the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod gets its name from its diet, which consists mostly of coconut. It has evolved accordingly. With strong pincers, a coconut crab can crack coconuts [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BATANES, Philippines — The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. Often found in small numbers around small islands, the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod gets its name from its diet, which consists mostly of coconut. It has evolved accordingly. With strong pincers, a coconut crab can crack coconuts open and lift objects that weigh as much as 20 kilograms (44 pounds) — more than six times its body weight. A king among crabs, the coconut crab is fatty, delicious, and very endangered, which makes it an even more tempting catch in many ways. In the Philippines, coconut crabs occur in several places, including Batanes, a group of islands at the northernmost tip of the archipelago. Long before the province’s dramatic seascapes and rolling hills caught the attention of foreigners, locals were catching, selling and dining on these large crabs with hardly any consequences. They would serve them during birthdays and celebrations, as well as for the rare visitor. Cradled by the Pacific and lying in the direct path of storms, only the most adventurous braved the tides and harsh winds of Batanes — until the 2014 launch of daily flights opened the once quaint islands to mass tourism, sending up demand for its delicacies, including the famed coconut crabs. Coconut crabs were requested at restaurants, taken home as food souvenirs, and exported beyond the province, says Ariel Laguna from the provincial office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Preparing them&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/turning-the-tide-for-an-endangered-crab-species-in-the-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227834</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Killing gods: The last hope for the world’s rarest reptile</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/killing-gods-the-last-hope-for-the-worlds-rarest-reptile/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/killing-gods-the-last-hope-for-the-worlds-rarest-reptile/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2020 11:35:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/07144814/Screen-Shot-2020-01-07-at-2.46.56-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=226038</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Dams, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Extinction, Freshwater, Herps, Hunting, Hydroelectric Power, Lakes, Over-hunting, Overexploitation, Pollution, Reptiles, Rivers, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Tropics, Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Eighty-eight-year-old Le Huy Hoanh stands up from his bench and carefully poured tea in rural Vietnam, and mimes for us how he used to kill gods. With his long spear and a net flanked in cruel hooks, Hoanh was known for decades in his little village as an able hunter of the Yangtze giant softshell [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Eighty-eight-year-old Le Huy Hoanh stands up from his bench and carefully poured tea in rural Vietnam, and mimes for us how he used to kill gods. With his long spear and a net flanked in cruel hooks, Hoanh was known for decades in his little village as an able hunter of the Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei). Hoanh looks spry and healthy for an octogenarian, speaking animatedly in Vietnamese. It’s not difficult to imagine him as a younger man, catching and killing the world’s biggest non-marine turtle, weighing upward of 200 kilograms (440 pounds) — now perhaps the most endangered animal on the planet. The Yangtze giant softshell turtle. Photo by Gerald Kuchling. In Vietnamese mythology, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is also the living representative of the Great Turtle God, Kim Qui. The story goes something like this: Kim Qui’s master, a deity called the Dragon King, gave Emperor Lê Lợi his legendary sword, known as “Heaven’s Will.” With it, Lê Lợi freed Vietnam from a thousand-year rule by the Chinese. After his success, he was approached by Kim Qui, who asked for the sword back for the Dragon King. Lê Lợi handed over the legendary sword to the Turtle God and named the spot “The Lake of the Returned Sword,” or Hoan Kiem Lake. While the last turtle god of Hoan Kiem perished in 2016 (“It was like losing part of our culture,” Hoang Van Ha, a conservationist with the Asian Turtle Program, or ATP, told The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/killing-gods-the-last-hope-for-the-worlds-rarest-reptile/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-226038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly extinct vaquita mothers with calves spotted in recent expeditions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/vaquita-mothers-calves-spotted-expeditions-endangered-mexico/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/vaquita-mothers-calves-spotted-expeditions-endangered-mexico/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Nov 2019 11:39:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/29050458/Vaquita4_Olson_NOAA-1200x590-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224833</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, China, Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Gillnets, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Illegal Fishing, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Natural Resources, Oceans, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Vaquita, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There may be a glimmer of hope for the extremely rare vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest cetacean, a group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. The vaquita is also the most threatened marine mammal in the world, nearly extinct because of entanglement in fishing nets. The latest expeditions to survey the mammal in the northern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There may be a glimmer of hope for the extremely rare vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest cetacean, a group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. The vaquita is also the most threatened marine mammal in the world, nearly extinct because of entanglement in fishing nets. The latest expeditions to survey the mammal in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico, have yielded sightings of both vaquita mothers and calves. This, researchers say, indicates that the small porpoises are still reproducing despite threats. “So the good news is they are producing calves,” Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, who leads marine mammal research at Mexico’s National Commission on Protected Areas (CONANP), told the San Diego Union Tribune. “And we have the survivors who have been able to survive all these years, and it’s important to protect them, because the survival of vaquita depends on these individuals we have now.” During the summer of 2018, fewer than 19 vaquitas (Phocoena sinus) were estimated to survive in the Gulf of California, according to a recent study. This year, in a survey carried out between August and September, researchers spotted what they say are likely six distinct individual vaquitas. During a subsequent expedition in October, researchers say that they spotted vaquitas several times, including six different vaquitas in two groups. They also sighted three pairs of mothers and calves, said Rojas-Bracho. In 2017 and 2018, too, the researchers had observed vaquita mothers and babies. In fact, they saw the same female with two separate calves in 2017 and 2018,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/vaquita-mothers-calves-spotted-expeditions-endangered-mexico/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224833</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>’Rampant’ fishing continues as vaquita numbers dwindle</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/rampant-fishing-continues-as-vaquita-numbers-dwindle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/rampant-fishing-continues-as-vaquita-numbers-dwindle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Oct 2019 10:14:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/29050532/191016_fishing-skiff-hauling-net_%C2%A9_Sea-Shepherd_Melissa_Romao_FUJI6089.cad8b0c3dede4e89941a3cd560d5defa-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223939</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, China, Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Gillnets, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Illegal Fishing, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Natural Resources, Oceans, Overexploitation, Overfishing, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists and conservation activists conducting a survey for the critically endangered vaquita in October witnessed more than 70 fishing boats within the porpoise’s protected Gulf of California refuge, according to the environmental NGO Sea Shepherd. “It is heartbreaking that with less than 20 vaquitas left, this small critical area is still impacted by gillnets,” Sea [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists and conservation activists conducting a survey for the critically endangered vaquita in October witnessed more than 70 fishing boats within the porpoise’s protected Gulf of California refuge, according to the environmental NGO Sea Shepherd. “It is heartbreaking that with less than 20 vaquitas left, this small critical area is still impacted by gillnets,” Sea Shepherd campaigns director Lockhart MacLean said in a statement from the organization, which described the fishing activity as “rampant.” A vaquita swims in the Gulf of California. Image by Paula Olson/NOAA via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the smallest and most threatened of the world’s cetaceans, a group that also includes whales and dolphins. A 2019 study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science concluded that no more than 18 individuals survive in the upper reaches of Mexico’s Gulf of California, part of the Sea of Cortez wedged between Baja California and mainland Mexico. In 1997 vaquita likely numbered in the hundreds. But intense pressure on another critically endangered species, a fish called the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi), has had a devastating collateral effect on the porpoise. Totoaba swim bladders, prized for their purported medicinal value, sell for up to $20,000 per kilogram ($9,000 per pound) in markets in China and elsewhere in Asia. In the past decade, gillnets set by illegal fishers to feed skyrocketing demand have snagged and drowned countless vaquita. The Mexican government banned gillnets in the vaquita’s habitat temporarily in 2015 and then permanently in 2016. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/rampant-fishing-continues-as-vaquita-numbers-dwindle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223939</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sea Around Us: Global fisheries data and the goose that laid the golden egg (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/sea-around-us-global-fisheries-data-and-the-goose-that-laid-the-golden-egg-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/sea-around-us-global-fisheries-data-and-the-goose-that-laid-the-golden-egg-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2019 12:19:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Pauly]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=221257</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, data, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Overexploitation, Overfishing, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The end of the 2010s will be remembered as the time when the world realized that we are in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis, as illustrated by the widespread collapse of insect populations. A similar realization occurred about two decades earlier, when it became obvious to anyone with a passing interest in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The end of the 2010s will be remembered as the time when the world realized that we are in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis, as illustrated by the widespread collapse of insect populations. A similar realization occurred about two decades earlier, when it became obvious to anyone with a passing interest in the matter that fish populations were collapsing all over the world under the onslaught of out-of-control fisheries. The generality of this pattern had long been contested: fish population collapse had long been seen as isolated events, each with its own cause, usually attributed to environmental fluctuations. However, the 1980s had also seen a slowing down of the global catch increases, which, since the post-WWII period, had masked localized fisheries collapses. Later, this stagnation of global catches — occasionally if optimistically described as &#8220;stabilization&#8221; — turned into a continuous decline now known to have started following 1996, the year of peak catches. For global marine catches to decline in spite of the massive increase in the size and power of international fishing fleets implies that we are essentially everywhere past the amount of fishing that generates Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). Thus, the biomass (or abundance) of fish everywhere is well below that which can generate MSY. This is confirmed by multiple single species &#8220;stock assessments,&#8221; i.e., the estimation of time series of abundance of fish &#8220;stocks&#8221; based on their catch, ancillary information, and mathematical models representing the growth and decline of fish populations. Government subsidies and fisheries&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/sea-around-us-global-fisheries-data-and-the-goose-that-laid-the-golden-egg-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-221257</doi>				</item>
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