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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=trafficking&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/trafficking/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:49:45 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on trafficking</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/trafficking/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Laos’s illegal wildlife shops keep growing despite enforcement, investigators find</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/laoss-illegal-wildlife-shops-keep-growing-despite-enforcement-investigators-find/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/laoss-illegal-wildlife-shops-keep-growing-despite-enforcement-investigators-find/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 01:34:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/14121851/baby-pagolin-in-market-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law Enforcement, Monkeys, Organized Crime, Pangolins, Poaching, Rhinos, Tigers, Tourism, Trade, Traditional Chinese Medicine, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Schemes funneling Chinese tour groups through illegal wildlife shopping sites in Laos appear to be persisting and even expanding in spite of some law enforcement action by authorities, Mongabay has learned. In July 2025, a joint Mongabay investigation identified up to 21 illegal wildlife shopping sites embedded in package tours catering to Chinese [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Schemes funneling Chinese tour groups through illegal wildlife shopping sites in Laos appear to be persisting and even expanding in spite of some law enforcement action by authorities, Mongabay has learned. In July 2025, a joint Mongabay investigation identified up to 21 illegal wildlife shopping sites embedded in package tours catering to Chinese nationals in the Laotian cites of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Typically masquerading as cultural centers, restaurants, jewelry stores and the like, or as stores embedded in such venues, the shopping sites typically only showcase their products to Chinese-language tours run by Chinese and Laotian operators, while barring entry to anyone else. Since then, the number of these shops appears to have nearly doubled, according to multiple groups investigating these operations on the ground. Mongabay has seen evidence suggesting that as many as 35 shops are now operating in Luang Prabang and Vientiane, with 22 in the former and the rest in the latter. When Mongabay asked the Laotian Department of Forestry about the first 21 shops in mid-2025, a spokesperson suggested that at least some of them were not registered as retail shops and that they would investigate. Since then, authorities have made seizures of suspected illegal wildlife products at several shopping sites in Vientiane and Luang Prabang, including of nearly 50 kilograms (110 pounds) during inspections of 17 unnamed locations In November and December, and of more than 57 kg (126 lbs) at an unnamed location on June 13, according to local media reports.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/laoss-illegal-wildlife-shops-keep-growing-despite-enforcement-investigators-find/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/laoss-illegal-wildlife-shops-keep-growing-despite-enforcement-investigators-find/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How narcos moved 108 tons of timber infused with drugs from Bolivia to Chile</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 13:30:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Iván Paredes Tamayo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10131149/Chile-run-anti-drug-operation-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323075</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Chile, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Crime, Drug Trade, Environment, Forest Products, Forestry, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law, Timber, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New risks to South American forests emerge as trees becomes a key element in drug trafficking.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new case has exposed the connection between drug trafficking webs and the export of timber from the Amazon and other regions of Bolivia. After Chile announced in June the largest drug seizure — 108 tons of cocaine and ketamine — in its history, authorities confirmed the substances were detected impregnated in Bolivian wood planks. This is not the first time shipments of the so-called “narco-timber” have been caught: The illicit practice dates back at least 20 years, using the same recurring routes. Mongabay accessed prosecutorial sources in both Chile and Bolivia, two Andean nations in South America sharing a land border of 861 kilometers (535 miles). According to investigations in Chile, 32 shipments were made from Bolivia by 15 timber companies, mostly in 2026. In financial terms, the total amount of drugs moved through this system had a value exceeding $8.3 billion in international markets, according to the breakdown. “It is a six-month investigation developed by the Prosecutor&#8217;s Office of Arica [a northern Commune], the Maritime Police, and the National Customs Service of Chile, which culminated in the detection of 45 contaminated containers [with drugs] in the ports of Arica, Valparaíso, and San Antonio,” the Prosecutor&#8217;s Office of Arica and Parinacota stated in a report. Cocaine and ketamine impregnated in timber were detected in Arica, northern Chile. Image courtesy of the National Customs Service of Chile. The timber shipments departed from Bolivia, mainly from the departments of Pando, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Beni and La Paz. The cargoes had ports&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/how-narcos-moved-108-tons-of-timber-infused-with-drugs-from-bolivia-to-chile/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323075</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Foreign nationals attempt to fly to Europe with rare cacti from southern Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/foreign-nationals-attempt-to-fly-to-europe-with-rare-cacti-from-southern-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/foreign-nationals-attempt-to-fly-to-europe-with-rare-cacti-from-southern-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2026 15:49:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/29155203/image-e1782749030144-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322013</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Global, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Crime, Governance, Plants, and trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Agents from the Brazilian Federal Police found an unusual cargo with four Czech nationals stopped in February at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport: 214 cactus specimens and envelopes containing cactus seeds. The material was hidden in beer cans, paper bags and even inside one man’s shoes, according to the pending court case. The plants belonged [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Agents from the Brazilian Federal Police found an unusual cargo with four Czech nationals stopped in February at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport: 214 cactus specimens and envelopes containing cactus seeds. The material was hidden in beer cans, paper bags and even inside one man’s shoes, according to the pending court case. The plants belonged to seven species, all native to the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. In a report signed by cactus expert Rosana Singer, a biologist at Porto Alegre’s Botanical Garden, two of those species are listed as critically endangered: Parodia nothorauschii and Parodia neohorstii. Four others are endangered, including Gymnocalycium horstii and Frailea curvispina. The Czechs — identified in court documents as Jaroslav Vich, Karel Slajs, Vladimir Bradna and Vladimir Sorma — arrived from Montevideo and were about to board a flight to Vienna. They carried a map of Rio Grande do Sul and a printed itinerary with phrases translated from Czech into Portuguese and Spanish, such as “Do you know where small cacti grow?,” “Are cacti growing here?” and “Sorry. I don’t know if this is private!” The group was detained for one day but is prohibited from leaving Brazil by a court order, which also requested a forensic analysis of their phones. The travelers are now under investigation. Cacti from endangered species endemic to Rio Grande do Sul were seized at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. Image: IBAMA Inspection. Within a short period, three other foreigners have been caught trying to leave the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/foreign-nationals-attempt-to-fly-to-europe-with-rare-cacti-from-southern-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/foreign-nationals-attempt-to-fly-to-europe-with-rare-cacti-from-southern-brazil/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322013</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Thinking how traffickers think’: Study uses AI to detect marine wildlife smuggling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:53:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Shailer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16081112/6-spiny-seahorse-Hippocampus-histrix-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321275</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Sharks, Software, Solutions, Technology, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Sunday, April 26, Argentine officials stopped an unusual shipment arriving at an airport near Buenos Aires. Inside, they found so many dead and dying fish, octopuses and crabs that a national rescue center had to install 10 new emergency tanks to support the survivors. It was the third time in a year authorities had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Sunday, April 26, Argentine officials stopped an unusual shipment arriving at an airport near Buenos Aires. Inside, they found so many dead and dying fish, octopuses and crabs that a national rescue center had to install 10 new emergency tanks to support the survivors. It was the third time in a year authorities had seized an illegal shipment of sea life at the same airport, the Associated Press reported. Marine wildlife trafficking is a growing global business, driven by demand for ornamental fish, luxury foods and traditional medicines. Much of that trade is routed through airplane luggage or airmail, where the vast majority of animals, dead or alive, go undetected. The combined use of artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D X-ray machines could change that, according to an international team of researchers. Training an algorithm on samples of seahorses, shark fins and sea cucumbers, the scientists achieved successful detection rates between 86% and 96%, according to a research paper published last week. “As it stands, our methods of detecting something that shouldn’t be in our bags on the front line is reliant on human inspection and biosecurity dogs,” Vanessa Pirotta, a marine biologist at Macquarie University in Australia and the paper’s lead author, told Mongabay. “AI could be used to complement that. It’s not a silver bullet, but an assistant and a tool.” Image from the study showing (from top to bottom) shark fin, seahorse and sea cucumber samples next to a security X-ray of each item. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/thinking-how-traffickers-think-study-uses-ai-to-detect-marine-wildlife-smuggling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321275</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Huge ivory bust raises questions about follow-up investigations in Tanzania</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 18:06:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08180430/Elephant_Tanzania_sama093FlickrBYNCND2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320774</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A North Korean man is set to face trial in Tanzania this week following his arrest in April while in possession of 500 elephant tusks. Un Hyok Ra was arrested April 19 at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, and is scheduled on June 9 to answer to charges of unlawful possession of the ivory [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A North Korean man is set to face trial in Tanzania this week following his arrest in April while in possession of 500 elephant tusks. Un Hyok Ra was arrested April 19 at a hotel in Dar es Salaam, and is scheduled on June 9 to answer to charges of unlawful possession of the ivory and intent to trade it. Tanzania is a signatory to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, which requires parties to conduct forensic analysis of ivory seizures of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) or more to determine where it came from. This is intended to support investigations that go beyond the typically low-level traffickers who are caught in possession. Tanzanian police did not respond to questions from Mongabay about the origins of the seized ivory or who Ra allegedly planned to sell it to. During an administrative hearing on May 28, prosecutor Florida Wancelaus told the court only that investigations are ongoing. Chris Morris, founder of wildlife crime monitoring group Saving Elephants through Education and Justice (SEEJ), based in neighboring Kenya, estimated that 504 tusks would weigh roughly 2,500 kg (about 5,500 lbs). In an email to Mongabay, he said law enforcement in the region does not always meet the CITES requirement to conduct DNA analysis on confiscated ivory. “It remains to be seen if Tanzania will comply with this directive,” Morris wrote. Morris, a former war crimes investigator, said Tanzanian authorities have often withheld information that would help sister agencies in the region and beyond trace&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/huge-ivory-bust-raises-questions-about-follow-up-investigations-in-tanzania/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320774</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whale strike risk rises as international shipping reroutes around South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 06:37:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/04104305/IMG_9041-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320573</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Governance, Science, Shipping, trafficking, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April this year, two Bryde’s whales washed-up dead-on Dyer Island, a small nature reserve located a few kilometers off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Both whales carried severe injuries; their vertebrae had been shattered. “It was very clear that it was [vessel] strikes, because both those whales were snapped [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April this year, two Bryde’s whales washed-up dead-on Dyer Island, a small nature reserve located a few kilometers off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Both whales carried severe injuries; their vertebrae had been shattered. “It was very clear that it was [vessel] strikes, because both those whales were snapped in half, and you can also see the propeller marks,” Loraine Shuttleworth, head of research at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, told Mongabay. Two whale strandings linked to ship strikes in one month alone is an unusually high number, Shuttleworth said. A new risk assessment has linked the increase in risk of ships striking whales to the rerouting of maritime traffic around South African coast. Due to the Houthi rebels attacks on ships traversing the Red Sea, which started in 2023, and the more recent fallout from the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, many cargo companies have rerouted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. With greater shipping traffic comes a growing threat to marine species inhabiting the region: collisions with large, fast-moving vessels. Between December 2023 and December 2024, the number of large vessels traveling through South African waters at average speeds above 15 knots (28 kilometers per hour) has quadrupled, satellite data show. The scale of the increased maritime traffic struck scientist Els Vermeulen from the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit, on a flight into Cape Town in 2025. “It was a beautiful day, and there were just&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320573</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Investigators eye organized crime links in 3-ton pangolin scale haul at Jakarta port</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/investigators-eye-organized-crime-links-in-3-ton-pangolin-scale-haul-at-jakarta-port/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/investigators-eye-organized-crime-links-in-3-ton-pangolin-scale-haul-at-jakarta-port/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2026 12:26:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anggita Raissa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/24121549/Banten-Navy-Base-pangolin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318115</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pangolins, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia – Customs and excise investigators in Jakarta continue to trace the origin of more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales found in late February inside a shipping container at Indonesia’s largest port. “This is still under investigation,” Suhartoyo, a lead customs investigator at Tanjung Priok Port told Mongabay Indonesia, adding that evidence [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia – Customs and excise investigators in Jakarta continue to trace the origin of more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales found in late February inside a shipping container at Indonesia’s largest port. “This is still under investigation,” Suhartoyo, a lead customs investigator at Tanjung Priok Port told Mongabay Indonesia, adding that evidence in the case remained in the container storage area in early April. On Feb. 18, customs officials at Tanjung Priok inspected a container declared as sea cucumbers and instant noodles, but found more than 3 metric tons of dried pangolin scales concealed in 99 boxes — an illicit haul valued at more than $10 million. Pangolins are insectivores clad entirely by scales made from keratin, the same protein as human hair and nails. These scales are prized by traditional healers in China and Vietnam, despite no scientific evidence that consuming them has any health benefits. All eight known species of pangolin in Africa and Asia are listed as threatened on the Red List maintained by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Investigators remain focused on the company identified as the exporter of the shipping container, PT Temu Satu Rasa (TSR), as well as a company that may have provided customs clearance services. A review of corporate records held by the Directorate General of General Legal Administration showed TSR was registered to address in the west of Jakarta, the capital city, in January. Mongabay Indonesia visited this address by a minimart on a busy street,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/investigators-eye-organized-crime-links-in-3-ton-pangolin-scale-haul-at-jakarta-port/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/investigators-eye-organized-crime-links-in-3-ton-pangolin-scale-haul-at-jakarta-port/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318115</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jakarta port authorities seize 3 tons of pangolin scales in Cambodia-bound container</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/jakarta-port-authorities-seize-3-tons-of-pangolin-scales-in-cambodia-bound-container/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/jakarta-port-authorities-seize-3-tons-of-pangolin-scales-in-cambodia-bound-container/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2026 07:58:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anggita Raissa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/19102143/B-3X9A3024-scaled-e1773522042796-1536x927-1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315950</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Jakarta, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pangolins, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Customs inspectors at the Indonesian capital’s main port uncovered more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales in a shipping container bound for Cambodia in late February, in one of the largest seizures of the critically endangered mammal in years. “We are committed to tightening export controls and taking firm action against any [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Customs inspectors at the Indonesian capital’s main port uncovered more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales in a shipping container bound for Cambodia in late February, in one of the largest seizures of the critically endangered mammal in years. “We are committed to tightening export controls and taking firm action against any violations that threaten wildlife sustainability and harm the state,” Adhang Noegroho Adhi, the head of the Customs and Excise office at Tanjung Priok Port, said in a statement announcing the investigation in March. Pangolins are the only mammals covered head to toe in scales. This armor offers protection in the wild, but makes pangolins easy prey in a global wildlife trade worth up to $23 billion annually. The mammal’s scales, which are made from the same protein as human hair and nails, are prized by traditional healers in China and parts of Southeast Asia, despite the scales possessing no scientifically proven medicinal benefits. Adhang Noegroho Adhi, head of Tanjung Priok customs and excise office, at a press conference in March. Image by Tanjung Priok Customs Public Relations. On Feb. 18, officials became suspicious of a 20-foot shipping container after reviewing documentation provided by the exporter, PT TSR. According to the consignment document, the container held only sea cucumbers and instant noodles. However, a scan of the container showed three separate storage areas, raising suspicions of unreported goods inside. Officials then began an inspection of the crate. Inside, they found 99 boxes containing dried pangolin scales,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/jakarta-port-authorities-seize-3-tons-of-pangolin-scales-in-cambodia-bound-container/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/jakarta-port-authorities-seize-3-tons-of-pangolin-scales-in-cambodia-bound-container/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315950</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 13:08:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Onrizal Onrizal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/11212405/Juv-of-Sumatran-orangutan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315549</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Orangutans, Pet Trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre while investigators built their files. On Dec. 23, 2025, the babies finally came home: three Sumatran orangutans and one critically endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre while investigators built their files. On Dec. 23, 2025, the babies finally came home: three Sumatran orangutans and one critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan, handed over by Thai authorities and repatriated for rehabilitation in North Sumatra. The images were moving — and they mattered. But a hard truth sits behind every heartwarming handover: if the pipeline stays open, the next baby will already be on the move. Just five weeks later, on Jan. 30, 2026, Indonesian officers in East Aceh stopped a truck carrying 53 packages filled with hundreds of protected wildlife specimens and parts, allegedly bound for Thailand. Seen together, these episodes read less like isolated crimes and more like a repeating pattern: seizure, repatriation, new shipment. Wildlife trafficking is an adaptive, transnational business. Repatriation is essential and humane, but it is not a strategy. Prevention is the strategy, and prevention starts by making trafficking unprofitable. Juvenile orangutans confiscated from a trafficker in Indonesia&#8217;s Aceh province in 2015. Photo by Junaidi Hanafiah for Mongabay. Transnational supply pipeline, not “petty crime” Orangutan trafficking and the broader trade in protected wildlife function like a supply chain: capture at the source → local collectors → transporters → cross-border smugglers → end-market buyers. In this chain, couriers are replaceable; organizers and financiers are not. Infant orangutans are especially lucrative because&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Baby gorilla seized from traffickers languishes in Turkish zoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/baby-gorilla-seized-from-traffickers-languishes-in-turkish-zoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/baby-gorilla-seized-from-traffickers-languishes-in-turkish-zoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2026 15:58:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11222802/1-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314164</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Central Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Turkey, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Poaching, Primates, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In December 2024, Turkish customs officers were flummoxed when they discovered a malnourished baby gorilla in the cargo hold of an airplane flying from Nigeria to Bangkok, transiting via Istanbul. Wearing a soiled T-shirt, the 5-month-old infant was shoved inside a wooden crate falsely declared to contain 50 rabbits. After a social media campaign, he [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In December 2024, Turkish customs officers were flummoxed when they discovered a malnourished baby gorilla in the cargo hold of an airplane flying from Nigeria to Bangkok, transiting via Istanbul. Wearing a soiled T-shirt, the 5-month-old infant was shoved inside a wooden crate falsely declared to contain 50 rabbits. After a social media campaign, he was named Zeytin, which means “olive” in Turkish. This critically endangered western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) was being smuggled to an animal farm in Bangkok without any export permits or paperwork. All great apes, including gorillas, are afforded the highest protection under CITES, an international treaty regulating wildlife trade, making commercial transnational trade illegal. They can be transferred between zoos or exported for scientific research but require official paperwork. After the seizure made global headlines, Turkish authorities sent Zeytin to Polonezköy Zoo in Istanbul. Meanwhile, they said they were working to imminently dispatch him to a sanctuary in Africa, where he could possibly be released into the wild. But one year on, those plans seem to have bitten the dust. As of September 2025, Zeytin was seen languishing in the same zoo, living a lonely life in a cage — the very life many thought he had escaped. “At present, Türkiye does not have adequate facilities to meet the long-term physical, social and psychological needs of a gorilla,” said primate expert Aslıhan Niksarlı at the Jane Goodall Institute who directs Roots &amp; Shoots Türkiye. “There are also no other gorillas in the country, which&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/baby-gorilla-seized-from-traffickers-languishes-in-turkish-zoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/baby-gorilla-seized-from-traffickers-languishes-in-turkish-zoo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314164</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With a target on their bellies, can California&#8217;s sturgeon survive?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2025 12:18:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laurel Neme]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/09180637/15365961103_419799657f_4k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310850</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Rivers, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using photographs submitted by the tipster. The fish was in the back of his vehicle, barely alive. The wardens quickly issued a citation and rushed the 165-centimeter (65-inch) ailing sturgeon to the nearby marina. For 90 minutes, they worked to revive the fish. They submerged it in the water and, crouching on the boat ramp, rocked the animal back and forth to run water through its gills and provide oxygen as if it were swimming. At last, the fish rallied and swam away, presumably healthy enough to survive. This was in 2022, but it’s far from an isolated incident, noteworthy because it had a happy ending. California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) officers periodically discover anglers taking sturgeon illegally, as they did while patrolling the Sacramento River early this year, when they spotted two groups of suspected sturgeon poachers. Each had caught a large fish and tied it off some 91 meters (100 yards) away in a seeming effort to conceal it. But the wardens weren’t fooled. They seized the fish and set them free. In California, and worldwide, poachers target sturgeon for their eggs, which become a coveted delicacy when processed into caviar. Caviar&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310850</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report finds 226 Indigenous land defenders in Peru at risk of violence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/report-finds-226-indigenous-land-defenders-in-peru-at-risk-of-violence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/report-finds-226-indigenous-land-defenders-in-peru-at-risk-of-violence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2025 17:25:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yvette Sierra Praeli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/29172239/LINA-Y-LITA-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306748</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drug Trade, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, extractives, Forests, Human Rights, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Palm Oil, Rainforests, and trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous territories and the people who defend them in the Peruvian Amazon face a litany of growing threats, activist groups warn in a recent report. In defending their land rights in the face of incursions by criminal, extractive and infrastructure activities, Indigenous peoples run the risk of harassment, criminalization, and even death, they warn. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous territories and the people who defend them in the Peruvian Amazon face a litany of growing threats, activist groups warn in a recent report. In defending their land rights in the face of incursions by criminal, extractive and infrastructure activities, Indigenous peoples run the risk of harassment, criminalization, and even death, they warn. The “Situation of Indigenous Defenders in Ucayali, 2024” report by ProPurús and AIDESEP, an umbrella group of Indigenous associations in the Peruvian Amazon, recorded 226 cases between 2010 and 2024 of Indigenous defenders in “situations of risk” in the region. Deforestation caused by the creation of the Bolognesi–Puerto Breu road in Ucayali. Image courtesy of Upper Amazon Conservancy. The report covers the department of Ucayali; Puerto Inca province in Huánuco department to the west of Ucayali; and two districts — Padre Márquez and Contamana  — in Loreto department to the north. According to the study, one in every 13 environmental defenders in Ucayali was killed during the study period. Between 2019 and 2024 alone, 11 environmental defenders were killed here, followed by Huánuco with a toll of eight killed. The report’s findings were presented May 15 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima. They provide a comprehensive look into the threats facing environmental defenders in the three departments, which are home to the 13 Indigenous federations and nearly 260 Indigenous communities that comprise ORAU, AIDESEP’s Ucayali chapter. Among the threats driving violence against Indigenous defenders in the Amazon, the report cites “illegal economies, including&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/report-finds-226-indigenous-land-defenders-in-peru-at-risk-of-violence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/report-finds-226-indigenous-land-defenders-in-peru-at-risk-of-violence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306748</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Controlling wildlife crime saves more than species (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/controlling-wildlife-crime-saves-more-than-species-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/controlling-wildlife-crime-saves-more-than-species-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2025 19:11:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kumar Paudel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/13152750/Trenggiling_Sunda_Sunda_Pangolin_Manis_javanica-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305754</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Illegal Trade, Organized Crime, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Despite concerted efforts to control illegal wildlife trafficking globally, more than 13 million items of wildlife parts were seized and reported in 162 countries in just the last seven years, according to the World Wildlife Crime Report 2024 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). These wildlife parts came from more than [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Despite concerted efforts to control illegal wildlife trafficking globally, more than 13 million items of wildlife parts were seized and reported in 162 countries in just the last seven years, according to the World Wildlife Crime Report 2024 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). These wildlife parts came from more than 4,000 species, of which at least 3,250 are CITES-listed. However, the reported seizures reflect only a fraction of the true scale of illegal wildlife trade, as developed countries have better detection and reporting mechanisms, but many countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, which are biodiversity hotspots and significant sources of trafficked wildlife, do not have adequate capacity and resources to detect, record and report seizures. Worryingly, the real picture is vastly different from what is captured when it comes to the full extent of wildlife crime. There is no doubt that uncontrolled and unsustainable wildlife exploitation damages ecosystems and biodiversity, but the continued prevalence of such crime goes far beyond impacting wildlife species&#8217; survival. It also jeopardizes local communities&#8217; well-being and livelihood, breaks down law and order in society, compromises people’s safety and security, and promotes overall corruption, especially as funding cuts loom large and budget allocations for conservation continue dwindling, even as the scale of nature exploitation shows few signs of decline. Hence, it is important to see wildlife crime as more than a conservation problem, and understand how controlling it has other significant benefits for society, and in maintaining law and order.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/controlling-wildlife-crime-saves-more-than-species-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/controlling-wildlife-crime-saves-more-than-species-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305754</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In southeast Nigeria, pangolins hunted for meat, not scales, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-southeast-nigeria-pangolins-hunted-for-meat-not-scales-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-southeast-nigeria-pangolins-hunted-for-meat-not-scales-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2025 18:18:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/10145805/White-bellied-pangolin-Edited-e1757522289509.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305728</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forests, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pangolins, Poaching, Traditional Medicine, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When headline after headline highlights tons of pangolin scale seizures in Nigeria, it’s easy to presume that most pangolin poaching in the country is driven by the international demand for the scales. A recently published research, however, finds that in Nigeria’s Cross River state, pangolins are hunted for their meat — much-prized locally — rather [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When headline after headline highlights tons of pangolin scale seizures in Nigeria, it’s easy to presume that most pangolin poaching in the country is driven by the international demand for the scales. A recently published research, however, finds that in Nigeria’s Cross River state, pangolins are hunted for their meat — much-prized locally — rather than for scales, with implications for conservation actions to protect the world’s most trafficked mammal. When Charles Emogor, who hails from southeast Nigeria, started his Ph.D. research at the University of Cambridge, U.K., he expected to find that the demand for scales for traditional medicine in East Asia is a leading driver for hunting pangolins, as has been documented elsewhere. Nigeria is a pangolin trade hub with nearly 190 tons of scales seized in the country between 2010 and 2021, estimated to have come from around 800,000 African pangolins, according to a 2021 study co-authored by Emogor. The Cross River forest landscape lies in a biodiversity hotspot and is home to three species of pangolins: the vulnerable black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla), the endangered white-bellied pangolin (P. tricuspis) and the endangered giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea). Study co-author Charles Emogor holding a white-bellied pangolin retrieved from a hunter who participated in the study. Prior to starting his research in Cross River, Emogor expected to find that demand for scales for traditional medicine in Southeast Asia is a leading driver for hunting pangolins, as has been documented elsewhere. Image courtesy of Alex Moore. While hunting pangolins — for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/in-southeast-nigeria-pangolins-hunted-for-meat-not-scales-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305728</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fences, tech and trust help save jaguars in Panama’s Darién</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fences-tech-and-trust-help-save-jaguars-in-panamas-darien/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fences-tech-and-trust-help-save-jaguars-in-panamas-darien/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2025 17:48:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marlowe Starling]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/09151841/JAGUAR-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304035</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Deforestation, Drones, Fires, Jaguars, Solutions, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, Wildlife Rangers, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DARIÉN, Panama — In a small town called Metetí, deep in Panama’s Darién province, Luis Gutiérrez manages La Reina, or “The Queen,” a cattle ranch named for his wife. His farm features a solar-powered electric fence that encloses the paddocks on his ranch, keeping the cattle contained and protected from jaguars (Panthera onca). On the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DARIÉN, Panama — In a small town called Metetí, deep in Panama’s Darién province, Luis Gutiérrez manages La Reina, or “The Queen,” a cattle ranch named for his wife. His farm features a solar-powered electric fence that encloses the paddocks on his ranch, keeping the cattle contained and protected from jaguars (Panthera onca). On the other side of the fence, about 50 yards into the forest, camera traps have been capturing footage of the elusive felines crossing the small stream on Gutiérrez’s land since 2022. It’s common for jaguars to kill cattle in the Darién, and for cattle owners to retaliate by killing the felines. That’s why, for the past three decades, Darién has been the country’s top province for jaguar killings. But near La Reina, the jaguars are safe — and so are the cattle. Gutiérrez is one of a small handful of farmers working with jaguar ecologist Ricardo Moreno and his nonprofit, Yaguará Panamá Foundation, to mitigate conflicts between humans and the big cats. “We need to first help people,” Moreno says. It’s the cornerstone of his nonprofit’s approach to jaguar conservation. Darién National Park extends over 579,000 hectares. Photo courtesy of the Panama’s Ministry of the Environment. Across Panama and Latin America, jaguars face a wide range of challenges, from retaliation to trafficking. But in Darién, which bridges jaguar habitats in South and Central America, conserving these animals through local communities is critical, experts say. A key piece of a long corridor Jaguar habitat extends from Mexico&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fences-tech-and-trust-help-save-jaguars-in-panamas-darien/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fences-tech-and-trust-help-save-jaguars-in-panamas-darien/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304035</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Suspicions surround international legal trade in Galápagos iguanas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/suspicions-surround-international-legal-trade-in-galapagos-iguanas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/suspicions-surround-international-legal-trade-in-galapagos-iguanas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 13:29:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/10131958/iguana-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302191</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Invasive Species, Lizards, Protected Areas, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2013, when Sandra Altherr, co-founder of the German NGO Pro Wildlife, began looking into the reptile trade in Europe, she wondered why people paid thousands of euros for little-known reptiles whose trade wasn’t regulated by CITES, the international agreement on wildlife trade. On investigating further, she found many of the expensive reptiles sold were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2013, when Sandra Altherr, co-founder of the German NGO Pro Wildlife, began looking into the reptile trade in Europe, she wondered why people paid thousands of euros for little-known reptiles whose trade wasn’t regulated by CITES, the international agreement on wildlife trade. On investigating further, she found many of the expensive reptiles sold were protected in the countries of their origin. While they were illegal to trade in their range countries, they could still be smuggled out and sold internationally, thanks to regulatory loopholes in EU wildlife trade regulations. What particularly struck Altherr were ads by an individual in Switzerland selling nationally protected reptiles from various parts of the world, including iguanas from the Galápagos, which have been illegal to remove from the archipelago since 1959, with the creation of the Galápagos National Park. “No one at the time in Europe even kept these animals. … It was clear he was special,” Altherr told Mongabay, referring to the individual that caught her eye. “Then we followed him, and collected data on him.” That digital sleuthing, which lasted for more than a decade, has now uncovered a “true crime” story of transnational trade in live Galápagos iguanas sought after by reptile collectors and private zoos worldwide, who are willing to pay top dollar. “Galápagos iguanas are at the top end of black market prices for reptiles,” Altherr said. In a recent study, Altherr and her colleagues — including herpetologists, wildlife trade experts and conservation scientists — present the case of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/suspicions-surround-international-legal-trade-in-galapagos-iguanas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/suspicions-surround-international-legal-trade-in-galapagos-iguanas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302191</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental crimes are often hidden by ‘flying money’ laundering schemes (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2025 20:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrea Crosta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/10075600/gekko-gecko-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300354</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Organized Crime, trafficking, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Tang dynasty, Chinese merchants began buying rice on credit with a system that relied on trust and trade to sidestep the authorities — and taxes — to deliver goods immediately. In China it&#8217;s called, feiqian, and across the Middle East and South Asia, it&#8217;s known as hawala. These days it&#8217;s about more than [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Tang dynasty, Chinese merchants began buying rice on credit with a system that relied on trust and trade to sidestep the authorities — and taxes — to deliver goods immediately. In China it&#8217;s called, feiqian, and across the Middle East and South Asia, it&#8217;s known as hawala. These days it&#8217;s about more than rice. It&#8217;s called “flying money,” and it&#8217;s the tool for concealing financial crimes: tax-free remittances, washing dirty money, even funding terror and concealing wildlife crime. &#8220;Flying money is often used to denote Chinese money laundering or paying in-kind with a commodity instead of cash,&#8221; explains Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior Brookings Institute fellow studying crime and terrorism. This can make cutting timber in Africa, mining Amazonian gold — even selling endangered species online — easier than drug smuggling. Police are trained to identify a kilo of cocaine, but spotting an outlaw bone tonic is another story. That&#8217;s also why buying a bowl of shark fin soup or taking a tiger selfie means you&#8217;re probably supporting organized crime. Shark fins and a dead hammerhead shark. Image courtesy of Earth League International (ELI). Gangs in Asia want wildlife products and natural resources that often come from Latin America, while gangs in Latin America want the ingredients to make drugs, which Asian companies make and ship via Chinese container ships traveling the world. &#8220;This money laundering scheme is the engine that fuels the fentanyl trade,&#8221; says Leland Lazarus, who tracks the Chinese-Latin American crime connection at Florida International University.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/environmental-crimes-are-often-hidden-by-flying-money-laundering-schemes-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300354</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Amazon illegal gold mines drive sex trafficking in the Brazil-Guyana border</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/amazon-illegal-gold-mines-drive-sex-trafficking-in-the-brazil-guyana-border/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/amazon-illegal-gold-mines-drive-sex-trafficking-in-the-brazil-guyana-border/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2025 07:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Oliveira]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/23174416/OPERAO1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299597</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Guyana, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conflict, Crime, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Poverty and poor border controls have allowed young women to be trafficked into the sex trade catering to illegal gold miners in Brazil’s border areas with countries like Guyana and Venezuela.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOA VISTA, Brazil — After crossing the Brazilian border into the town of Lethem in Guyana, a billboard declares that human trafficking is a crime. It’s a jarring message in this otherwise tranquil town with its streets full of stores selling products imported from China. Those are just some of the products that draw traders here from across the border in the Brazilian city of Bonfim, 132 kilometers (82 miles) away from the capital of Boa Vista, the Amazonian state of Roraima. Separated by the Tacutu River (or Takutu in Guyana), the cities are easily accessible by the BR-401 highway. I crossed the border from Brazil into Guyana without being subjected to any inspections, despite the presence of a Federal Police post on the Brazilian side. Over the course of seven days in Roraima, three sources told me that traffickers in Boa Vista often recruit girls in Roraima and take them to Lethem, where they’re dragged into the sex trade at bars catering to gold miners. In Guyana, prostitution is prohibited and mining operations are supervised. However, sources who requested anonymity for security reasons told Mongabay that the sexual exploitation of young women, including Brazilians and especially Venezuelans, routinely occurs. In general, according to the sources, bars and other places frequented by young people in Boa Vista are targets for groomers working for organized crime networks that have invested heavily in mining activities in the Amazon. They lure girls and young women with invitations to business trips and promises of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/amazon-illegal-gold-mines-drive-sex-trafficking-in-the-brazil-guyana-border/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299597</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/smuggling-networks-exploit-migrant-debt-to-fuel-tiger-poaching-in-malaysia-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/smuggling-networks-exploit-migrant-debt-to-fuel-tiger-poaching-in-malaysia-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2025 03:20:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/31063827/MalayanTiger_WithLeech_CreditNuvistaTV-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296710</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Illegal Wildlife Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Conservation, Crime, Fishing, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Tigers, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fewer than 150 Malayan tigers remain in their home range of Peninsular Malaysia. Poaching to supply an illegal trade in their body parts is a major threat to the survival of this critically endangered subspecies of tiger, Panthera tigris jacksoni. A new study details a link between the trafficking of people and Malayan tiger parts: [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fewer than 150 Malayan tigers remain in their home range of Peninsular Malaysia. Poaching to supply an illegal trade in their body parts is a major threat to the survival of this critically endangered subspecies of tiger, Panthera tigris jacksoni. A new study details a link between the trafficking of people and Malayan tiger parts: Vietnamese migrant workers in Malaysia, indebted to their employers, often turn to the illegal wildlife trade, while network managers and vessel captains use fishing boats to smuggle tiger parts to Vietnam. The study, published in January in the journal Trends in Organized Crime, drew on six months of interviews with 53 people familiar with fishing-boat smuggling routes and wildlife trade networks between Malaysia and Vietnam. These individuals included poachers, transporters, brokers, wildlife traders and consumers who purchased the final products. Tiger skins, bones and other body parts are trafficked for traditional medicine and ornaments. Bones are particularly coveted for unproven treatment of ailments like joint pain, epilepsy and sexual performance issues. &#8220;Criminal groups are entrepreneurial and adaptive and can capitalize on emerging opportunities,” Rob Pickles, counter-wildlife crime research and analytics chief with wildcat conservation NGO Panthera Malaysia and lead author of the study, said in a news release. “Understanding how and where these networks converge provides law enforcement agencies with a wider range of options for disrupting wildlife trafficking and recovering the tiger.&#8221; Economic hardship, worker exploitation Between 1999 and 2018, nearly 6,000 species of flora and fauna were seized in global trade, contributing to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/smuggling-networks-exploit-migrant-debt-to-fuel-tiger-poaching-in-malaysia-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296710</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Regulation loopholes fuel illegal wildlife trade from Latin America to Europe</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/regulation-loopholes-fuel-illegal-wildlife-trade-from-latin-america-to-europe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/regulation-loopholes-fuel-illegal-wildlife-trade-from-latin-america-to-europe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2025 11:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/24110011/spiny-lizard-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296330</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[European Union, Latin America, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Illegal Trade, Ivory, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Regulations, Threatened species, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, a biodiversity hotspot home to 40% of the world’s species, is witnessing an alarming decline in its wildlife. Illegal wildlife trafficking to wealthier parts of the world, such as North America and Europe, is one of the factors driving the decline. A recent report highlights the scale of wildlife smuggled illegally from Latin [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, a biodiversity hotspot home to 40% of the world’s species, is witnessing an alarming decline in its wildlife. Illegal wildlife trafficking to wealthier parts of the world, such as North America and Europe, is one of the factors driving the decline. A recent report highlights the scale of wildlife smuggled illegally from Latin America into Europe, including the EU and Russia, and discusses how traffickers abuse loopholes in existing EU wildlife trade regulations. Published by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the report stems from a 2024 study that found staggering levels of illegal wildlife crimes in Spanish-speaking America. The report found 34 wildlife trafficking seizures in Europe involving almost 2,500 animals belonging to 69 species between 2017 and 2023. More than half of the seized individuals were amphibians (59%), followed by birds (29%) and reptiles (12%). More than 94% of all seized wildlife were live animals, suggesting the exotic pet trade is a key driver. “The EU is a major market, but it&#8217;s not only for illegal [trade], it&#8217;s legal and illegal, and the problem is, the illegal gets laundered through the legal system,” says Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). “It&#8217;s not new, but the problem hasn&#8217;t gone away.” An iguana with its front legs tied being illegally shipped from Honduras. Image by David M. Hillis / ©&#xfe0f; IFAW. With the EU set to act on its 2022 revised action plan to end wildlife trafficking by strengthening regulations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/regulation-loopholes-fuel-illegal-wildlife-trade-from-latin-america-to-europe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296330</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2025 12:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10072028/Hooded-Pitohui-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292804</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off parasites such as lice, ticks and fleas, and predators, including humans. When humans handle these birds, the neurotoxins irritate the nasal passage and cause allergy-like symptoms. Yet even the poison doesn’t seem enough to protect pitohuis from the songbird trade, as new research shows. A study published in the journal Bird Conservation International by a team of international researchers and an NGO presents the first evidence of poisonous pitohuis (genus Pitohuis) entering the songbird trade in Indonesia, which occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. The researchers find that these birds appeared in the trade in 2015 and have since been sold in bird markets and online platforms, raising conservation concerns about the illegal trade of these birds. Birdkeeping is a traditional practice rooted in Javanese culture, where a third of households keep songbirds. Studies estimate that the island has anywhere between 66 million and 84 million caged birds. For most, it’s a cherished hobby, and for a few, they’re prize-winning contestants in singing competitions. But this penchant for songbirds has a dark side: the Asian songbird crisis. With soaring demand for songbirds, thousands of wild-caught birds are entering the trade in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292804</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Philippines, persecuted Lumads push for Indigenous schools to be reopened</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-the-philippines-persecuted-lumads-push-for-indigenous-schools-to-be-reopened/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-the-philippines-persecuted-lumads-push-for-indigenous-schools-to-be-reopened/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2024 18:03:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Beltran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/18025929/girl-through-barbed-wire-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291856</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Education, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Law, Politics, and trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“I tried to live a normal life,” Yana, 31, tells Mongabay. In 2020, after the Philippine government forcibly shut down schools for the Indigenous Lumad in the country’s south, Yana, a teacher, returned to her hometown of Davao de Oro to be with her family. “But the military kept coming to my house, asking me [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“I tried to live a normal life,” Yana, 31, tells Mongabay. In 2020, after the Philippine government forcibly shut down schools for the Indigenous Lumad in the country’s south, Yana, a teacher, returned to her hometown of Davao de Oro to be with her family. “But the military kept coming to my house, asking me to surrender or admit to supposedly teaching children about armed revolution,” says Yana, who, like all Lumad students and teachers interviewed for this story requested anonymity to avoid reprisals. Soldiers had their eye on Yana because of a November 2018 incident in which she helped other teachers and humanitarian workers evacuate around 50 Lumad students from their campus in the municipality of Talaingod, in Davao del Norte province. Earlier in the day, paramilitary groups had threatened to hurt the students and teachers staying on the campus if they didn’t leave, according to the teachers. When soldiers weren’t visiting Yana, they sought her father, intimidating him for information on subversive activity. Her mother died in 2019; Yana says it was the  stress from the constant harassment that caused this. She says she fears the same for her father should the military pressure escalate. Since the Talaingod evacuation, Yana and 12 others have been charged with kidnapping, child trafficking and child abuse. The accused, known as the Talaingod 13, include opposition congresswoman France Castro and former congressman Satur Ocampo, who were at the scene to aid the evacuation of the students. After six years on trial, Yana&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-the-philippines-persecuted-lumads-push-for-indigenous-schools-to-be-reopened/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/in-the-philippines-persecuted-lumads-push-for-indigenous-schools-to-be-reopened/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291856</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thousands of birds seized in massive Indonesian bird-trafficking bust</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2024 22:18:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/13044125/Prinia-familiaris-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Indonesia have rescued more than 6,500 wild birds being trafficked from the island of Sumatra and destined for Java, in what’s been hailed as the single largest seizure of its kind in the country’s modern history. Quarantine authorities at the port of Bakauheni in Lampung province, the main crossing point from Sumatra to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Indonesia have rescued more than 6,500 wild birds being trafficked from the island of Sumatra and destined for Java, in what’s been hailed as the single largest seizure of its kind in the country’s modern history. Quarantine authorities at the port of Bakauheni in Lampung province, the main crossing point from Sumatra to Java, worked with NGO FLIGHT to intercept a truck carrying the birds on Oct. 15. On board, they found 6,514 birds crammed into 216 boxes, mostly tightly packed and taped. They included 257 individuals from species protected under Indonesian law. Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia director for wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, said in a news release that her organization “has long monitored the caged bird trade in Indonesia and massive seizures like this one continue to alarm us.” Experts have long raised alarms that the bird trade, which heavily targets native species, is causing rapid declines in the numbers of various species in the wild, which, along with habitat loss, could drive many toward extinction. “It&#8217;s simply not sustainable and this level of extraction of unprotected species means we have little means to understand its impact on species until it&#8217;s too late,” Krishnasamy said. Keeping caged songbirds is a popular tradition in Indonesia, particularly in ethnic Javanese households. The birds are often entered into birdsong competitions, with champion birds selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among the birds rescued in the recent seizure, all of which survived, according to FLIGHT, were some of the world’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290026</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A key driver of decline, can wild orchid collectors change their ways?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-key-driver-of-decline-can-wild-orchid-collectors-change-their-ways/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-key-driver-of-decline-can-wild-orchid-collectors-change-their-ways/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2024 07:33:02 +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/20/2024/11/14071900/Banner_Paphiopedilum_hennisianum_plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290093</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Flowers, Forests, Green, Hunting, Orchids, Plants, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Orchids, known for their flamboyant petals, deceptive mimicry and fascinating lifestyles, have captivated biologists and horticulturists for centuries. With nearly 30,000 described species, they form one of the plant kingdom’s most diverse families. However, habitat loss and unsustainable harvesting for private collections have driven many species to the brink of extinction. Nowhere is this more [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Orchids, known for their flamboyant petals, deceptive mimicry and fascinating lifestyles, have captivated biologists and horticulturists for centuries. With nearly 30,000 described species, they form one of the plant kingdom’s most diverse families. However, habitat loss and unsustainable harvesting for private collections have driven many species to the brink of extinction. Nowhere is this more acute than in Southeast Asia, a renowned epicenter of orchid diversity. When a new species of slipper orchid, Paphiopedilum canhii, was described in 2010 in Vietnam, for instance, it was collected to near extinction within six months. Moreover, a 2015 study found 347 species of orchid native to the region, many of them rare and threatened, are harvested from the wild to supply the ornamental plant trade. Conservationists in Southeast Asia are now working urgently to stem further losses by collaborating with an unlikely ally: the collectors themselves. “Orchid collectors and plant collectors, who in some respects are maybe the drivers of loss, hold lots of expertise and they know a lot about these plants. So engaging with them is probably a productive thing to do,” Jacob Phelps, from the Orchid Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay. Several recent studies in orchid-harvesting hotspots like Vietnam and Indonesia have identified receptive communities eager to share their knowledge and showcase their collections to conservation organizations. However, many enthusiasts lack key knowledge about sustainable horticultural practices to ensure their passion for orchids doesn’t unintentionally impact the long-term survival of species in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-key-driver-of-decline-can-wild-orchid-collectors-change-their-ways/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/a-key-driver-of-decline-can-wild-orchid-collectors-change-their-ways/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290093</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thai plan to relax fishing law stokes fear of return to illegal catches, worker abuse</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/thai-plan-to-relax-fishing-law-stokes-fear-of-return-to-iuu-catches-worker-abuse/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/thai-plan-to-relax-fishing-law-stokes-fear-of-return-to-iuu-catches-worker-abuse/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2024 14:57:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/29094923/Image_05-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282614</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Forced labor, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Regulations, Saltwater Fish, Trade, and trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — For six years, Prasert Sriwaurai was trapped at sea aboard a Thai trawler. He and his crewmates rarely sighted land, let alone spent time ashore. Denied medical care after an on-deck facial injury , he lost sight in one eye, according to a report in U.K.-based news outlet The Telegraph. Exposed to violence, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — For six years, Prasert Sriwaurai was trapped at sea aboard a Thai trawler. He and his crewmates rarely sighted land, let alone spent time ashore. Denied medical care after an on-deck facial injury , he lost sight in one eye, according to a report in U.K.-based news outlet The Telegraph. Exposed to violence, forced labor and pitiful working conditions up until his escape from the ship in 2014, Prasert was one of many victims of the modern slavery rife at the time in Thailand’s fishing industry and revealed through a series of investigations roughly one decade ago. In response to the investigations, international seafood buyers such as the EU and U.S. imposed strict sanctions on Thailand’s fisheries sector, spurring the government to enact a series of legal reforms in 2015 and 2016 to clamp down on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and associated labor abuses. But eight years after those reforms, Thai lawmakers are now discussing amendments to Thailand’s Fisheries Act in a bid to improve profits and reduce legal burdens on commercial fishers. Observers say the proposed changes risk a return to the lawlessness of the not-too-distant past, placing human rights, local livelihoods and fish stocks at risk. “Marine resources are shared resources,” Piya Thedyam, a leader from the Federation of Thai Fisherfolk Association, told Mongabay. “The spirit of the Fisheries Act clearly states that this law is intended to take care, protect, remediate and help local fisherfolk. However, this written spirit is about to be&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/thai-plan-to-relax-fishing-law-stokes-fear-of-return-to-iuu-catches-worker-abuse/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/thai-plan-to-relax-fishing-law-stokes-fear-of-return-to-iuu-catches-worker-abuse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282614</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Peru, conservationists and authorities struggle to get turtle eggs off the menu</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/in-peru-conservationists-and-authorities-struggle-to-get-turtle-eggs-off-the-menu/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/in-peru-conservationists-and-authorities-struggle-to-get-turtle-eggs-off-the-menu/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Mar 2024 11:12:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Biller]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/18110510/DSC_4008-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279712</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Food, Freshwater, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[IQUITOS, Peru — &#8220;Oh, they&#8217;re so delicious,&#8221; said Soledad Coronil, an elderly local woman, as she enjoyed a boiled tortoise egg earlier this year. &#8220;You have to open the shell and dig out the insides, either with your hand or with a spoon. I like to add a bit of salt, too.&#8221; Coronil&#8217;s meal, which [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[IQUITOS, Peru — &#8220;Oh, they&#8217;re so delicious,&#8221; said Soledad Coronil, an elderly local woman, as she enjoyed a boiled tortoise egg earlier this year. &#8220;You have to open the shell and dig out the insides, either with your hand or with a spoon. I like to add a bit of salt, too.&#8221; Coronil&#8217;s meal, which came from a yellow-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis denticulata) is not uncommon in a country that serves bull testicles, llama jerky and guinea pig. In the Peruvian Amazon, turtle eggs are a cherished — and illegal — delicacy. And the only way to get them is via illegal poachers. Peruvian authorities have grappled with the ongoing and brazen issue for decades, unable to effectively curb the illicit trade. Factors such as corruption, being stretched too thin and other more pressing forms of crime have all played a role. Soledad Coronil enjoying a turtle egg at Belén market. Image by Ryan Biller. Turtle eggs are a culinary staple in Iquitos, the Peruvian Amazon&#8217;s unofficial capital, with dishes such as &#8220;river turtle in ginger on rice&#8221; or &#8220;turtle eggs with garlic sauce&#8221; frequently present on the city’s restaurant menus. Between 2015 and 2020, two of the nine most-trafficked species in Peru were turtles: the yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis), locally known as taricaya, and the yellow-footed tortoise. Both species, listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, can be found, butchered but still writhing, in Belén, Iquitos&#8217; notorious wet market. At the headwaters of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/in-peru-conservationists-and-authorities-struggle-to-get-turtle-eggs-off-the-menu/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/in-peru-conservationists-and-authorities-struggle-to-get-turtle-eggs-off-the-menu/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279712</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rehabilitation of Guatemalan fauna highlights opacity of illegal wildlife trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/rehabilitation-of-guatemalan-fauna-highlights-opacity-of-illegal-wildlife-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/rehabilitation-of-guatemalan-fauna-highlights-opacity-of-illegal-wildlife-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Mar 2024 18:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandra Cuffe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/07183343/hsus_photo_624064-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279592</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Guatemala, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Poaching, Rainforests, Research, Species, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[EL ARROZAL, Guatemala – A Yucatán black howler monkey, an endangered species, swung from a branch in its enclosure at the ARCAS wildlife rescue center in northern Guatemala. It was just days away from being released back into the wild in November 2023 along with two other black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) rescued from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[EL ARROZAL, Guatemala – A Yucatán black howler monkey, an endangered species, swung from a branch in its enclosure at the ARCAS wildlife rescue center in northern Guatemala. It was just days away from being released back into the wild in November 2023 along with two other black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) rescued from the illegal pet trade. They hadn’t spent much time in captivity. “As a general rule, the less time animals have been with humans outside of ARCAS, the greater their chance of being released,” said Alejandro Morales, a veterinarian and coordinator of animal health at the center run by ARCAS, the Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association. The ARCAS center sits at the southern edge of Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, a patchwork of national parks, other protected areas, community forest concessions and other multiuse areas, and a buffer zone. The NGO was created in 1989, just ahead of the reserve’s establishment in 1990. A group of golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) being released in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Image by Santiago Bill/AP Images for The Humane Society of the United States. In another enclosure at the center, rambunctious white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) seized in poor health from wildlife traffickers have no chance of release in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Even if they could be rehabilitated for life in the wild, their habitat range is further south, in Panama, Colombia and Ecuador — not Guatemala. The illegal wildlife trade in Guatemala carries on with little clarity and little control&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/rehabilitation-of-guatemalan-fauna-highlights-opacity-of-illegal-wildlife-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/rehabilitation-of-guatemalan-fauna-highlights-opacity-of-illegal-wildlife-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279592</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Takin’ out the trash: How do transnational waste traffickers operate?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/takin-out-the-trash-how-do-transnational-waste-traffickers-operate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/takin-out-the-trash-how-do-transnational-waste-traffickers-operate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2023 07:04:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Guia BaggiLaura CarrerRahma BehiVirginia Kirst]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/08/02145303/landfill-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271715</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Consumed]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, Italy, and Tunisia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Circular Economy, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Organized Crime, Plastic, Politics, Pollution, Recycling, Social Justice, Trade, trafficking, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2020, 282 containers full of mixed waste bales sailed from Salerno, Italy, to Sousse, Tunisia, in four shipments. Italian customs did not raise any flags. Customs classified them as CA, or automated control (controllo automatizzato in the local language), simply meaning no control. Back then, the COVID-19 pandemic was kicking, and officials relaxed scrutiny [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2020, 282 containers full of mixed waste bales sailed from Salerno, Italy, to Sousse, Tunisia, in four shipments. Italian customs did not raise any flags. Customs classified them as CA, or automated control (controllo automatizzato in the local language), simply meaning no control. Back then, the COVID-19 pandemic was kicking, and officials relaxed scrutiny of goods between countries. But even outside global emergencies, only a tiny portion of outbound containers undergo some control. In Italy, it’s roughly 2%. &#8220;We run very few checks because controlling in an excessive and massive manner is unthinkable,&#8221; the former head of the Salerno customs office, Maurizio Pacelli, told Mongabay. &#8220;Otherwise, no goods would leave.&#8221; However, those seemingly innocuous 282 containers would erupt into an international scandal, leading to protests, the arrest and the sentencing of six Tunisian officials, and a lengthy dispute between Italy and Tunisia on waste repatriation. There was even a fire that may have destroyed evidence. In Italy, prosecutors are still investigating the responsibilities of a broker, the exporting company, Sviluppo Risorse Ambientali (SRA) and the officials who authorized the shipment, among others. In 2020, 282 containers full of mixed waste bales sailed from Salerno, Italy, to Sousse, Tunisia, in four shipments. Pictured are standard containers in Salerno. Image by Guia Baggi. Those seemingly innocuous 282 containers would erupt into an international scandal, leading to protests, the arrest and the sentencing of six Tunisian officials, and a lengthy dispute between Italy and Tunisia on waste repatriation. Pictured are standard containers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/takin-out-the-trash-how-do-transnational-waste-traffickers-operate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271715</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Alleged torturers roam free as Indonesia struggles to bring charges in palm oil slavery case</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/alleged-torturers-roam-free-as-indonesia-struggles-to-bring-charges-in-palm-oil-slavery-case/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/alleged-torturers-roam-free-as-indonesia-struggles-to-bring-charges-in-palm-oil-slavery-case/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2023 01:46:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/20134537/oil-palm-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270015</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Forced labor, Human Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Slavery, Social Justice, trafficking, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Only 13 of some 60 men implicated in a human trafficking case in which Indonesian drug users were imprisoned under the guise of a rehabilitation program and forced to work on a palm oil plantation have been charged, with the local district attorney citing a lack of police cooperation as impeding his office from prosecuting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Only 13 of some 60 men implicated in a human trafficking case in which Indonesian drug users were imprisoned under the guise of a rehabilitation program and forced to work on a palm oil plantation have been charged, with the local district attorney citing a lack of police cooperation as impeding his office from prosecuting many of the alleged culprits, according to a new article by The New York Times. The scandal came to light last year after Terbit Rencana Perangin-angin, the leader of the district of Langkat in North Sumatra province, was arrested for bribery. When anticorruption officers raided his residential compound, they discovered dozens of men locked in barred cells on the estate. Instead of receiving treatment for their addiction, they had been tortured and made to toil on a plantation and palm oil factory owned by Perangin-angin and his family, witnesses said. The men have since been freed, and horrific accounts of physical assault have circulated in courtrooms and media reports, with some suggesting Perangin-angin was able to get away with a forced-labor operation because of his considerable influence in Langkat district. His son, Dewa Perangin-angin, 25, was among the few people punished for their role in the scheme. Judges ruled last November that he had tortured a man to death, beating him during an interrogation about whether he had used drugs before ordering guards to push him into a pond, where he drowned. “He had this excitement seeing people being tortured,” one victim told the Times&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/alleged-torturers-roam-free-as-indonesia-struggles-to-bring-charges-in-palm-oil-slavery-case/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/alleged-torturers-roam-free-as-indonesia-struggles-to-bring-charges-in-palm-oil-slavery-case/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270015</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Borders between Mercosur countries have become a hub for trafficking agrochemicals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/borders-between-mercosur-countries-have-become-a-hub-for-trafficking-agrochemicals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/borders-between-mercosur-countries-have-become-a-hub-for-trafficking-agrochemicals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2023 16:17:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aldem BourscheitAldo Benítez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/26170122/00-CAPA-CRIMINALF-DESK-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269060</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Biodiversity, Environment, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Infrastructure, Plantations, and trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The borders between the countries that make up the South American trading bloc Mercosur (or Mercosul in Brazil) have an economic life of their own, where different characters subsist. An important part of the commercial force is connected to the trafficking of goods through these national borders, which maintains a large illegal industry. In the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The borders between the countries that make up the South American trading bloc Mercosur (or Mercosul in Brazil) have an economic life of their own, where different characters subsist. An important part of the commercial force is connected to the trafficking of goods through these national borders, which maintains a large illegal industry. In the center of South America, the triborder region between the cities of Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil), Puerto Iguazú (Argentina) and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) is a hotspot for crimes of all sorts. The Paraguayan city of about 250,000 inhabitants is linked to Brazil by the Friendship Bridge. Every day, more than 40,000 vehicles and more than 80,000 pedestrians cross it. Connecting Argentina and Brazil in the same region, the Fraternity Bridge is crossed by 5,000 vehicles daily. The Brazil-Uruguay border extends along the entire southern border of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Goods arrive in Ciudad del Este from all over the world through the municipal customs office or the customs office at Guarani Airport, 15 kilometers (9 miles) away by road. The 3,366 metric tons of agrochemicals that arrived in Paraguay in 2022 through these two ports represent 27% of all the country&#8217;s agrochemical imports last year, says the National Customs Directorate (DNA). At the same time, seizures of agrochemicals (pesticides, fertilizers and other farming inputs) have skyrocketed in recent years, with 29,000 bottles, boxes and bags confiscated in 2022 on the Brazilian side. All came from Paraguay. This is a 549%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/borders-between-mercosur-countries-have-become-a-hub-for-trafficking-agrochemicals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/borders-between-mercosur-countries-have-become-a-hub-for-trafficking-agrochemicals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269060</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal mines and “floating towns” on the Puré River leave uncontacted Indigenous peoples at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/illegal-mines-and-floating-towns-on-the-pure-river-leave-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/illegal-mines-and-floating-towns-on-the-pure-river-leave-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2023 14:35:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Pilar Puentes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/06141046/Pure-River-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265269</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Illegal Deforestation and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Health, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Logging, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, trafficking, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Throughout 2022, Colombian authorities identified the presence of 40 dredgers on the Colombian side of the Puré River, with another 200 operating on the Brazilian side, where it is known as the Pururé River. This body of water crosses the border, and with it, so do various types of illegal activities. The public’s attention was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Throughout 2022, Colombian authorities identified the presence of 40 dredgers on the Colombian side of the Puré River, with another 200 operating on the Brazilian side, where it is known as the Pururé River. This body of water crosses the border, and with it, so do various types of illegal activities. The public’s attention was first drawn to this region in the Amazon jungle through the book ‘Lost in the Amazon’, by Germán Castro Caycedo, which includes the voices of those living there. The book narrates the story of the disappearance and rescue attempts of Julián Gil, a fur trader who decided to go deep into the rainforest lying between the departments of Caquetá and Putumayo. Since its publication, no reliable data regarding the existence of the peoples around Puré River was available until 2010, when Roberto Franco García, an anthropologist and environmentalist, carried out an investigation in the area. Now it is known that more than 200 people from the Yuri-Passé ethnic group live in the jungle between the Caquetá, Putumayo, and Puré rivers. Exact figures remain unknown because no national census has been carried out in the area, in line with the Yuri-Passé people’s wishes to continue living in isolation from the rest of society. This is a decision made out of the desire to preserve their lives and customs, and to protect themselves from evangelization, exploitation and the presence of armed groups. What is known about these groups comes from the findings of Franco García’s investigations before&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/illegal-mines-and-floating-towns-on-the-pure-river-leave-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/illegal-mines-and-floating-towns-on-the-pure-river-leave-uncontacted-indigenous-peoples-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265269</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New protections for sharks, songbirds, frogs and more at CITES trade summit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-protections-for-sharks-songbirds-frogs-and-more-at-cites-trade-summit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-protections-for-sharks-songbirds-frogs-and-more-at-cites-trade-summit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2022 21:40:09 +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/20/2022/11/25210549/OceanImageBank_KimberlyJeffries_04-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262955</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Elasmobranchs, Elephants, Endangered Species, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Ivory, Pet Trade, Regulations, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, shark finning, Sharks, Solutions, Species, timber trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amid a global biodiversity crisis, nations have agreed to protect threatened species like sharks, songbirds, glass frogs and tropical timber by regulating their trade. Over the past two weeks, member states of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, met in Panama for its 19th meeting, CoP19, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amid a global biodiversity crisis, nations have agreed to protect threatened species like sharks, songbirds, glass frogs and tropical timber by regulating their trade. Over the past two weeks, member states of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, met in Panama for its 19th meeting, CoP19, to discuss matters related to the protection of species. By the meeting’s end on Nov. 25, parties agreed to establish new or revised trade regulations on more than 600 animal and plant species. They also discussed ways to address the ongoing illegal trade of species like jaguars, pangolins and elephants, already protected under CITES. Experts say one of the most significant developments was the decision to protect requiem sharks, hammerhead sharks and guitarfish on CITES Appendix II, which restricts trade by requiring export permits. Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), called this decision a “victory” since these sharks account for about 95% of the global fin trade. “Finally, the vast majority of the fin trade will require some regulation that it&#8217;s legal and sustainable,” Lieberman told Mongabay. Before this decision, some sharks were previously listed on CITES, but they accounted for “a relatively small percentage of the global fin trade,” she said. Other vital decisions included protecting all 160 known species of glass frogs (family Centrolenidae), also on CITES Appendix II. Member states of CITES agreed to protect 160 known species of glass frogs (family Centrolenidae) on CITES&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/new-protections-for-sharks-songbirds-frogs-and-more-at-cites-trade-summit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262955</doi>				</item>
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