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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/tropics/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:55:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Tropics</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/tropics/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>A blueprint for effective activism 10 years after defeating a dam in Borneo (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-blueprint-for-effective-activism-10-years-after-defeating-a-dam-in-borneo-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-blueprint-for-effective-activism-10-years-after-defeating-a-dam-in-borneo-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2026 18:59:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jessica MerrimanJoe Lamb]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/09193920/Baram-dam-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320891</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Analysis, Commentary, Community Development, Conservation, Dams, Development, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Forests, Freshwater, Governance, Human Rights, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Rivers, Tropical Forests, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October 2015, Indigenous activists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Brazil, the United States, and Honduras, together with delegates from longhouse communities throughout the Malaysian state of Sarawak, gathered at Tanjung Tepalit, an Indigenous Kenyah village on the Baram River on the island of Borneo. They called the gathering WISER: the World Indigenous Summit [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October 2015, Indigenous activists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Brazil, the United States, and Honduras, together with delegates from longhouse communities throughout the Malaysian state of Sarawak, gathered at Tanjung Tepalit, an Indigenous Kenyah village on the Baram River on the island of Borneo. They called the gathering WISER: the World Indigenous Summit on Environment and Rivers. Tanjung Tepalit hosted the gathering because the village, along with more than two dozen others along the river, was scheduled to be drowned. The Baram Dam, a 1,200-megawatt hydroelectric mega project backed by the Sarawak state government and aligned with a regional industrial development scheme called the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), would have flooded an area of more than 400 square kilometers (more than 150 square miles) and displaced an estimated 20,000 Kenyah, Kayan, and Penan people. Muslims, Catholics, Evangelicals, Buddhists, agnostics, and people who followed traditional Indigenous religions were among the attendees. As we gathered, Peter Kallang, the Kenyah founder and chair of the local advocacy group SAVE Rivers, addressed the assembly: &#8220;We are people of many faiths,&#8221; he said, &#8220;but we are united in one mission. To protect our forest homes and our ways of life.&#8221; In one sense the WISER gathering was a strategy meeting to coordinate an international coalition against a state-corporate project. In another, and perhaps deeper sense, WISER was rooted in something older. It was an assertion that the values that hold communities to their land across generations — the sanctity of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-blueprint-for-effective-activism-10-years-after-defeating-a-dam-in-borneo-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-blueprint-for-effective-activism-10-years-after-defeating-a-dam-in-borneo-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320891</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lanka’s recent drowning deaths linked to aftermath of extreme weather events</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lankas-recent-drowning-deaths-linked-to-aftermath-of-extreme-weather-events/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lankas-recent-drowning-deaths-linked-to-aftermath-of-extreme-weather-events/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2026 18:09:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/10175248/Edited_No-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320930</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Flooding, Precipitation, Research, Rivers, Science, Sedimentation, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DEDURU OYA, Sri Lanka – On April 16, eight members of Priyantha Kumara’s family including his wife, son, brother, father-in-law, and four other relatives were swept away by strong currents in the Deduru Oya, a river in Sri Lanka’s North Western province. Sri Lanka Police reported more than 30 drowning deaths between April 12 and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DEDURU OYA, Sri Lanka – On April 16, eight members of Priyantha Kumara’s family including his wife, son, brother, father-in-law, and four other relatives were swept away by strong currents in the Deduru Oya, a river in Sri Lanka’s North Western province. Sri Lanka Police reported more than 30 drowning deaths between April 12 and 21 this year, underscoring the risks posed by flooding rivers. Sri Lanka Police media spokesperson Udaya Kumara Wootler told Mongabay that 376 individuals have died due to drowning in rivers last year while 595 fatalities were reported in 2024. Buddhika Sampath, spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Navy told Mongabay that the Navy Diving Unit recovered 148 bodies of people between May 2022 and May 2023. While the police are yet to disclose official statistics of deaths due to drowning from January to May 2026, the number of reported incidents show over 50 fatalities. Kumara is a resident of Gopallawa in the northwestern district of Kurunegala. His son had requested that they all go for a bath in the river. The group had been bathing at a popular spot named Kuriyagas Mankada when they met the tragedy. “My son was only 13 years old, and he was a bright student,” Kumara told Mongabay. “My brother was about to hold a housewarming ceremony at his newly built house. But all these dreams were shattered within seconds. My father used to take us to this same spot to bathe when we were young. But the river has changed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lankas-recent-drowning-deaths-linked-to-aftermath-of-extreme-weather-events/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/sri-lankas-recent-drowning-deaths-linked-to-aftermath-of-extreme-weather-events/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320930</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Northern Thai residents march for action on polluted rivers. &#8216;This is an emergency&#8217;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 04:19:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08040458/Peace_Walk_Chiang_Rai_06-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320710</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Energy Transition, Environment, extractives, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Mining, International Trade, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — More than 600 residents of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces embarked May 31 on a roughly 68-kilometer, six-day ‘peace walk’ to demand the Thai government take action on the river pollution crisis that has seen Thai rivers polluted with heavy metals. The ensemble of affected residents, civil society groups, monks and students [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — More than 600 residents of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces embarked May 31 on a roughly 68-kilometer, six-day ‘peace walk’ to demand the Thai government take action on the river pollution crisis that has seen Thai rivers polluted with heavy metals. The ensemble of affected residents, civil society groups, monks and students marched from Tha Ton subdistrict in Chiang Mai to the city of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, reaching their destination on June 5, World Environment Day. For more than a year, Thailand’s Pollution Control Department has reported dangerous levels of arsenic, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in rivers across northern Thailand, with mining operations across eastern Myanmar suspected to be responsible for the pollution. “We are walking because our rivers are slowly dying,” Pianporn Deetes, executive director of the Rivers and Rights Foundation, which helped to organize the peace walk, told Mongabay by phone. “Toxic contamination from unregulated mining upstream is already affecting water, fish, food, livelihoods, and public health. We do not want to wait until more people become sick. This is an emergency.” Pianporn said the walk (42 miles) was about taking collective action to share information, document impacts and build public pressure in a bid to force the government to address the issue, which Pianporn said has, so far, been lacking. “Monitoring has improved, but action has not matched the scale of the crisis,” she said. “We need urgent diplomatic engagement with neighboring countries, stronger health monitoring, transparency, and action to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/northern-thai-residents-march-for-action-on-polluted-rivers-this-is-an-emergency/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320710</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>19,000 Great Pyramids a year: Report flags unsustainable rate of sand mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 May 2026 17:33:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/18095047/WWF-Viet-Nam_Sand-Extraction-Mekong-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319631</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Coastal Ecosystems, Dredging, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Governance, Infrastructure, Mining, Rivers, Supply Chain, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sand is the most widely extracted solid material on Earth. The global sand mining industry removes roughly 50 billion metric tons of it a year, a pace that far outstrips the planet’s natural replenishment rates, according to a new report from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). Excessive sand extraction from landscapes, rivers and coastal zones [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sand is the most widely extracted solid material on Earth. The global sand mining industry removes roughly 50 billion metric tons of it a year, a pace that far outstrips the planet’s natural replenishment rates, according to a new report from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). Excessive sand extraction from landscapes, rivers and coastal zones threatens ecosystems, livelihoods and many processes on which life depends, the report says. Yet the current pace of removal — enough to build more than 19,000 Great Pyramids of Giza — is only set to grow, with demand for buildings alone expected to rise 45% by 2060. Without coordinated governance, stronger monitoring and long-term planning to mitigate the risks of surging global demand, the industry will continue operating at an unsustainable level, the authors say. The report, published by UNEP’s Global Resource Information Database Geneva (GRID-Geneva) team, calls on industry stakeholders to improve extraction practices to use sand more wisely by balancing meeting demand with environmental protection. Sand is used to make concrete to build everything from homes and offices to roads and seawalls. It’s also used to manufacture glass and silicon-based components like electronic chips and solar panels. “Sand is sometimes referred as the unrecognized hero of development,” Pascal Peduzzi, director of UNEP’s GRID-Geneva program, said in a press release. However, its role in sustaining biodiversity and coastal communities already vulnerable to the impacts of environmental change is too often overlooked, he added. “Sand is our first line of defence against sea level rise,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/19000-great-pyramids-a-year-report-flags-unsustainable-rate-of-sand-mining/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319631</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dangerous arsenic levels detected in Thailand’s Mekong mainstream for first time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 02:47:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/09223648/Fishers-Mekong-near-Chiang-Khong-3_stefan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318973</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Dolphins, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Energy Transition, extractives, Farming, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mining, Pollution, Rivers, Science, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Thai authorities have found what they described as dangerous levels of arsenic contamination in sediment from the Mekong River and three of its tributaries in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Heavy metal pollution has been reported from key tributaries of the Mekong for more than a year now, but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Thai authorities have found what they described as dangerous levels of arsenic contamination in sediment from the Mekong River and three of its tributaries in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Heavy metal pollution has been reported from key tributaries of the Mekong for more than a year now, but the tests conducted in March by Thailand’s Pollution Control Department mark the first time that arsenic contamination has been detected on the mainstream of the Mekong, a vital transboundary river that supports thousands of plant and wildlife species and the livelihoods of millions of people. The test results published in mid-April show that sediment taken from three separate monitoring stations along the Mekong mainstream contained arsenic concentrations of between 73 and 296 milligrams per kilogram of sediment. According to the Pollution Control Department, concentrations of less than 10 mg/kg are considered broadly safe for aquatic life; levels higher than 33 mg/kg are deemed dangerous. Arsenic levels in sediment taken from various points along the Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers, key tributaries of the Mekong, all ranged from below the 33 mg/kg safe limit up to 57 mg/kg, the Pollution Control Department said via its official Facebook page, noting the contamination appears to be spreading through the river system. Thailand&#8217;s Pollution Control Department posted results of the sediment tests to their official Facebook page on April 10, 2026. Image sourced from the Pollution Control Department&#8217;s Facebook. Heavy metal pollution in the Mekong Basin has been widely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318973</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Migratory freshwater fish are in trouble: Will we act in time to save them?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/migratory-freshwater-fish-are-in-trouble-will-we-act-in-time-to-save-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/migratory-freshwater-fish-are-in-trouble-will-we-act-in-time-to-save-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 May 2026 13:41:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefan Lovgren]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/01124053/24-BANNER-IMAGE-IMG_9540-dorado-parana-river-argentina-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318549</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brazil, Global, Latin America, Mekong Basin, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Food, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Migration, Planetary Boundaries, Planetary Health, Rivers, Tropics, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SALOBRA, Brazil — Life revolves around water in this quiet fishing village in Brazil’s southern Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland. Here, a clear tributary meets the broader Miranda River, part of a vast floodplain where multiple streams spill across the landscape and wildlife thrives. Jaguars prowl riverbanks, giant otters patrol the channels, parrots fill the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SALOBRA, Brazil — Life revolves around water in this quiet fishing village in Brazil’s southern Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland. Here, a clear tributary meets the broader Miranda River, part of a vast floodplain where multiple streams spill across the landscape and wildlife thrives. Jaguars prowl riverbanks, giant otters patrol the channels, parrots fill the skies, and beneath the rippling surface, fish of every size and shape swim through a shifting watery mosaic, tying a vast aquatic ecosystem together. For 72-year-old retired fisherman Alberto Oriozola, the Miranda River was once both livelihood and lifegiving. He recalls, as a young man, looking down from a hilltop and seeing the river bottom appear to move with swimming pintado — the spotted surubim catfish (Pseudoplatystoma corruscans), their jaguar-like markings visible in the clear water. “You could choose the size you wanted to catch,” he remembers. Fish 3 meters (10 feet) long were part of the catch. Now, the largest surubim are maybe half that length, and far less common. Maycon Lopes da Silva (left) and Alberto Oriozola (right), two generations of fishers from Salobra, Brazil, reflect on declining catches along the Miranda River. Image by Stefan Lovgren. These days, Oriozola’s grandson-in-law, Maycon Lopes da Silva, 26, works the same waters but in a different way. He guides sport fishers who come in search of surubim (in Portuguese, or sorubim in Spanish), along with other large species, and he shares the river with his more than 18,000 followers on Instagram. Bare-chested and quick to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/migratory-freshwater-fish-are-in-trouble-will-we-act-in-time-to-save-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/migratory-freshwater-fish-are-in-trouble-will-we-act-in-time-to-save-them/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vaupés River contamination identified near rapidly expanding Amazonian town</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/vaupes-river-contamination-identified-near-rapidly-expanding-amazonian-town/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/vaupes-river-contamination-identified-near-rapidly-expanding-amazonian-town/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2026 21:48:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/21211556/IMG_3726-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317894</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Colombia, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Tropics, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VAUPÉS, COLOMBIA — Traditionally, for members of the Indigenous Macaquiño community in the southeastern Colombian Amazon, the Vaupés River is not just a source of water, but a living being that must be respected. It supports all kinds of life, including fish, which have sustained the community for generations. Now, as a nearby Amazonian town [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VAUPÉS, COLOMBIA — Traditionally, for members of the Indigenous Macaquiño community in the southeastern Colombian Amazon, the Vaupés River is not just a source of water, but a living being that must be respected. It supports all kinds of life, including fish, which have sustained the community for generations. Now, as a nearby Amazonian town upstream rapidly transforms into an expanding urban municipality and increasingly brings untreated wastewater from its poorly constructed treatment plant to the banks of Macaquiño, that same water is bringing them sickness and disease, residents say. During a visit to Macaquiño in September 2025, community members told Mongabay the Vaupés River is contaminated by untreated sewage dumped into it in the town of Mitú. “It’s like an atomic bomb coming out of the sewer,” said Julian de Jesus Madrid Correa, a member of the Macaquiño community. He said it causes rashes, itches and fevers, especially in children, and has begun to spread diseases, such as dengue and hepatitis. The Indigenous Macaquiño community on the banks of the Vaupés River in Colombia’s Vaupés region. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay. To verify what the community told us, Mongabay obtained water quality studies from the Corporation for Sustainable Development of the Northern and Eastern Amazon. Its latest report, which contains results from water samples taken in 2025 across four sites in Mitú, confirms there is contamination above safe limits in the Vaupés River that could impact public health and the quality of the aquatic ecosystem. Fecal coliforms (fecal bacteria), which&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/vaupes-river-contamination-identified-near-rapidly-expanding-amazonian-town/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/vaupes-river-contamination-identified-near-rapidly-expanding-amazonian-town/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317894</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Asia’s longest free-flowing river contaminated by arsenic linked to Myanmar mines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/asias-longest-free-flowing-river-contaminated-by-arsenic-linked-to-myanmar-mines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/asias-longest-free-flowing-river-contaminated-by-arsenic-linked-to-myanmar-mines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2026 02:52:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/14102130/IMG_0208-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317477</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, Salween River, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Critical Minerals, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, extractives, Fisheries, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, International Trade, Mining, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAE HONG SON, Thailand — Saw Si Paw Rak Salween guns the wooden fishing boat’s engine and steers along the river that inspired his family name. He is ethnic Karen — his parents migrated from Myanmar’s side of the Salween River to the Thai side. When he acquired Thai citizenship, Saw Si Paw had to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAE HONG SON, Thailand — Saw Si Paw Rak Salween guns the wooden fishing boat’s engine and steers along the river that inspired his family name. He is ethnic Karen — his parents migrated from Myanmar’s side of the Salween River to the Thai side. When he acquired Thai citizenship, Saw Si Paw had to select his own family name, a convention not followed in much of Myanmar. He settled on Rak Salween, which translates to “Love the Salween River.” Saw Si Paw’s love for the wild, free-flowing waterway extends beyond his chosen name. Together with his father, he guides the boat to his family’s 8-meter (26-foot) fishing nets left overnight on the Myanmar side of the river. Fishing is all he’s ever known, having learned the trade from his father and plied it on the Salween his entire life. So, it was especially jarring for him to hear about toxic chemicals recently found in the Salween. Independent testing of the Salween River began in September 2025, when researchers from Thailand’s Institute of Health Sciences Research at Chiang Mai University found alarming levels of contamination detected in the nearby Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in Thailand, much of which has been linked to unregulated mining in Myanmar. In particular, rare earth mines exporting crucial minerals — needed for artificial intelligence, mobile phones, laptops, electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies, among other things — have been blamed. But the mining of gold and various critical&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/asias-longest-free-flowing-river-contaminated-by-arsenic-linked-to-myanmar-mines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Giant otters, river sentinels, now listed as threatened migratory species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2026 18:36:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gustavo Faleiros]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/08224341/11190729853_d1e4efee8f_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317227</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Mammals, Rivers, Tropical Forests, Tropics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With evidence that the giant river otter is in an increasingly perilous state, delegates to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) listed it as an animal requiring urgent conservation action at its March 2026 meeting in Campo Grande, Brazil. The giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), endemic to tropical river systems in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With evidence that the giant river otter is in an increasingly perilous state, delegates to the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) listed it as an animal requiring urgent conservation action at its March 2026 meeting in Campo Grande, Brazil. The giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), endemic to tropical river systems in South America, once lived east of the Andes mountains from northern Venezuela to Argentina, a territory covering 9,021,590 square kilometers (3,483,255 square miles). The proposal advocating for stronger protection, submitted by France, noted that it was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2021, though it is extinct in Uruguay and Argentina, is critically endangered in Paraguay and  Ecuador and vulnerable in Brazil. The same document mentions a 50% decline in the giant otter population over the last 25 years. Individuals’ size has also been reduced, indicating a decrease in pups’ survival rates. Using climate projections such as reduced rainfall due to climate change, specialists point out that the downward trend in the species’ population will continue for a few decades. Illegal hunting for their fur wiped them out in large parts of their range; many populations never recovered, according to a 2025 report published by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a U.S.-based nonprofit. Although commercial hunting is no longer a serious threat, these otters still face serious challenges. Conflict continues, with local people competing for the fish that otters eat. Their habitat continues to disappear, frequently converted to farmland and cities. Rivers are dammed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/giant-otters-river-sentinels-now-listed-as-threatened-migratory-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/09183217/Sem-Titulo-2.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317227</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>325 Long-neglected migratory freshwater fish species need protection now: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/325-long-neglected-migratory-freshwater-fish-species-need-protection-now-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/325-long-neglected-migratory-freshwater-fish-species-need-protection-now-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2026 14:36:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefan Lovgren]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/25142004/0-BANNER-IMAGE-PHOTO-2026-03-24-11-41-16-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316282</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Global, and Mekong Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fishing, food security, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Migration, Rivers, Tropics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil — In the wide, sandy stretches of Brazil’s Araguaia River, the piraíba, South America’s largest catfish, is a cornerstone of local fisheries. Fishers often recognize individual fish by markings and scars, catching the same fish in the same places over time, leading many to believe the species did not move very far. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil — In the wide, sandy stretches of Brazil’s Araguaia River, the piraíba, South America’s largest catfish, is a cornerstone of local fisheries. Fishers often recognize individual fish by markings and scars, catching the same fish in the same places over time, leading many to believe the species did not move very far. But new work by researcher Lisiane Hahn reveals something surprising: The piraíba travels hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers to spawn. Using radio telemetry, Hahn and her colleagues implanted transmitters in nearly 100 catfish, some nearly 2 meters (6.5 feet) long, and tracked their movements via a network of receivers. The data provide the clearest evidence yet that piraíba (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum), which can reach 200 kilograms (more than 440 pounds), undertake extensive, long-distance migrations. “As a researcher, it’s emotional to discover this in such an iconic species,” said Hahn, who leads Projeto Peixara at the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Brazil. “You imagine the largest catfish in South America moving across entire river systems.” Researcher Lisiane Hahn and her team implant radio transmitters in a piraíba on Brazil’s Araguaia River as part of a project tracking the long-distance movements of giant catfish. Image courtesy of Lisiane Hahn. The finding underscores a broader reality: Some of the most important wildlife migrations in South America — and around the world — have remained largely out of view. In the Amazon and other rivers in South America, giant catfish move underwater between nations along routes that connect&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/325-long-neglected-migratory-freshwater-fish-species-need-protection-now-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/325-long-neglected-migratory-freshwater-fish-species-need-protection-now-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316282</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodian market survey a snapshot of a resilient — but stressed — Mekong</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cambodian-market-survey-a-snapshot-of-a-resilient-but-stressed-mekong/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cambodian-market-survey-a-snapshot-of-a-resilient-but-stressed-mekong/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Mar 2026 01:59:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stefan Lovgren]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/09230405/DSC00753-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315459</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Dams, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Freshwater Fish, Green, Rivers, Tropics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Sunrise is still a long way off when the first fishing boats slip into the landing site at this provincial town along the Mekong River in northern Cambodia. The night’s catch is hauled ashore and moved in tubs and woven baskets to a nearby side street off the town’s main boulevard. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[STUNG TRENG, Cambodia — Sunrise is still a long way off when the first fishing boats slip into the landing site at this provincial town along the Mekong River in northern Cambodia. The night’s catch is hauled ashore and moved in tubs and woven baskets to a nearby side street off the town’s main boulevard. By daylight, vendors have arranged the fish across tarps and reed mats laid directly on the street. Snakeheads, catfish, barbs and loaches lie in dense, gleaming rows as the market swells into a blur of motion and sound. Motorcycles crowd the edges while buyers weave through narrow passageways. Vendors weigh, sort and pack fish for kitchens, restaurants and traders heading off to Phnom Penh. On this morning in early February, a team of Cambodian and international researchers also converged on the fish markets here and in Kratie, a town about 140 kilometers (87 miles) downstream, to begin a two-week survey documenting the aquatic wealth of the world’s most productive river system. More than 2 million tons of fish are harvested from the Mekong each year. Biologist and survey member Sudeep Chandra observes Chitala ornata for sale at the Stung Treng market. Image © Chhut Chheana/Wonders of the Mekong. The survey builds on a rare historical benchmark. In 1994, the late ichthyologist Tyson Roberts conducted a detailed inventory of fish species appearing in the main Stung Treng market. Three decades later, researchers are replicating that work, returning in the same seasons, to enable a direct comparison&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cambodian-market-survey-a-snapshot-of-a-resilient-but-stressed-mekong/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315459</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Farmers fear displacement, drought, flooding tied to Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2026 06:33:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/12060609/FTC-pt-2-banner-img-v1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314184</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Canals, Conservation, Drought, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Farming, Fish, Fishing, Flooding, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, Water Scarcity, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second of two stories about the potential impact of Cambodia’s planned Funan Techo Canal. Read part one, about consequences for coastal communities and wildlife, here. TAKEO, Cambodia — Thet Chanton finally finished construction on his new home along the banks of the Prek Bassac (Bassac creek) in Prey Sambor village, a small farming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second of two stories about the potential impact of Cambodia’s planned Funan Techo Canal. Read part one, about consequences for coastal communities and wildlife, here. TAKEO, Cambodia — Thet Chanton finally finished construction on his new home along the banks of the Prek Bassac (Bassac creek) in Prey Sambor village, a small farming community in Cambodia’s southern province of Takeo. That was in June 2024. Just five months later, when Mongabay first interviewed Chanton in November 2024, he said local authorities had already told him his house would need to be demolished. “We had a meeting with the village chief, but there were commune, district and provincial authorities there too,” Chanton said. “They told us that Prek Bassac will be studied to become part of the Funan Techo Canal.” The canal is a controversial new waterway the Cambodian government is planning to link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand. It will cut a 180-kilometer (112-mile) trench through farms, wetlands and homes in Kandal, Takeo, Kampot and Kep provinces as it goes. Chanton’s household is one of 400 the government estimates will lose their houses to the mega-project’s construction. The same estimates suggest that, in total, 2,305 households consisting of 11,525 people will be directly impacted in some way by the Funan Techo Canal. “We spent about $20,000 to build this house, but we did that with a $10,000 microfinance loan,” said Chanton, who owned a small rice farm around his newly built home when Mongabay met&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/farmers-fear-displacement-drought-flooding-tied-to-cambodias-funan-techo-canal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mercury, dredges and crime: Illegal mining ravages Peru’s Nanay River</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 14:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrique Vera]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/31143542/FOTO-ABRE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312419</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Gold Mining, Illegal Mining, Mercury, Mining, Organized Crime, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Tropics, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a small airplane, José Manuyama, a professor, frowns and shakes his head with anguish while  thousands of feet below, five dredges operated by illegal miners excavate the Nanay River Basin, in the Loreto region in the Peruvian Amazon. “They are like enormous leeches in the water,” said Manuyama. The plane has begun its second [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a small airplane, José Manuyama, a professor, frowns and shakes his head with anguish while  thousands of feet below, five dredges operated by illegal miners excavate the Nanay River Basin, in the Loreto region in the Peruvian Amazon. “They are like enormous leeches in the water,” said Manuyama. The plane has begun its second hour of the flyover above the Nanay River and, so far, the people on board have seen about 40 dredges. The Nanay is surrounded by shiny riverbanks with an ochre hue, a result of the mercury used by the illegal miners to separate gold particles from other sediments. River mining is prohibited by Peruvian law. For Manuyama, the president of the Committee for the Defense of the Water of Iquitos, the situation is very disheartening. He says that seven years ago, the Nanay was a clear river, but the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic brought an increase in the mining rafts that have now given the river a milky appearance. Manuyama, a member of the Kukama community, is a social studies professor and is one of the 15 people on the plane, which is now flying over the Napo River. From the air, the orange pipes coming out of four dredges resemble the tentacles of a gigantic animal drilling into the river basin and disturbing the edge of the forest. Along with Manuyama are the prosecutor from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Environmental Matters of Loreto (FEMA Loreto), Bratzon Saboya, and the coordinator of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mercury-dredges-and-crime-illegal-mining-ravages-perus-nanay-river/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312419</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fish deformities expose ‘collapse’ of Xingu River’s pulse after construction of Belo Monte Dam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fish-deformities-expose-collapse-of-xingu-rivers-pulse-after-construction-of-belo-monte-dam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fish-deformities-expose-collapse-of-xingu-rivers-pulse-after-construction-of-belo-monte-dam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2025 09:43:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tiago da Mota e Silva]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/31094008/belo_monte090920214077-scaled-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312368</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Dams, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Infrastructure, Rivers, Tropics, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 17, 2016, the gears ground into life at the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, on the “Large Curve” of the Xingu River, or Volta Grande do Xingu, in the Brazilian Amazon. By April that year, the 11.2-gigawatt plant was already in commercial operation. That same year, researcher Jansen Zuanon visited Volta Grande do [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 17, 2016, the gears ground into life at the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, on the “Large Curve” of the Xingu River, or Volta Grande do Xingu, in the Brazilian Amazon. By April that year, the 11.2-gigawatt plant was already in commercial operation. That same year, researcher Jansen Zuanon visited Volta Grande do Xingu, the 130-kilometer (80-mile) stretch of this major Amazon tributary, whose course had been diverted and its flow reduced due to the operation of the hydropower plant. “I was there as soon as the first turbines started operating. At that moment, the reservoir was still filling up,” recalls Jansen, who was accompanied by observers from the Independent Territorial Environmental Monitoring (MATI) team and prosecutors from the Federal Public Ministry (MPF). “We’d go on canoes and find the caparari fish [spotted sorubim, Pseudoplatystoma corruscans] on the banks, in the shallow waters. They were clearly malnourished, with sunken eyes, wounds, missing teeth, and full of parasites. They were like zombie fish, dying little by little.” Today, almost 10 years after the start of operations, new adverse impacts from the Belo Monte dam continue to emerge. In 2025, the same monitoring group released a technical note describing visible physical changes in silver croakers (Plagioscion squamosissimus). The specimens they found had squat, oval and rounded bodies — very different from their normal elongated aspect, indicating spinal deformities. Born and raised in the Xingu area, in the riverside village of Belo Monte, Sara Rodrigues Lima was one of the fisherwomen&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fish-deformities-expose-collapse-of-xingu-rivers-pulse-after-construction-of-belo-monte-dam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/fish-deformities-expose-collapse-of-xingu-rivers-pulse-after-construction-of-belo-monte-dam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312368</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mekong sand mining risks collapse of SE Asia’s largest freshwater lake, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mekong-sand-mining-risks-collapse-of-se-asias-largest-freshwater-lake-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mekong-sand-mining-risks-collapse-of-se-asias-largest-freshwater-lake-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 11:08:48 +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/20/2025/12/23105515/20250612_UoS_00005-scaled-e1766487408383-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Dredging, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Governance, Mining, Rivers, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rampant sand mining in the Mekong River is directly weakening critical seasonal river flows that sustain Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, new research indicates. The Mekong’s annual wet season flood pulse that feeds water into Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake has been dwindling year by year. Experts have long pointed to upstream hydropower dams in China [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rampant sand mining in the Mekong River is directly weakening critical seasonal river flows that sustain Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, new research indicates. The Mekong’s annual wet season flood pulse that feeds water into Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake has been dwindling year by year. Experts have long pointed to upstream hydropower dams in China and Laos that trap sediments and alter the Mekong’s flow, combined with droughts intensified by climate change, as major drivers of the gargantuan river system’s declining vitality. A new study by researchers from the U.K. and Vietnam now shows that sand mining in the Lower Mekong Basin countries of Cambodia and Vietnam has a far greater impact on the flood pulse-lake dynamics than previously understood. “Upstream dams do have a measurable effect,” said lead author Quan Le, a flood risk researcher at Loughborough University in the U.K. “However, the primary driver of the declining Tonle Sap flood pulse is extensive downstream sand mining.” The Mekong’s heartbeat Tonle Sap Lake, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, lies within the lower basin of the Mekong River, the world’s second-most biodiverse aquatic ecosystem (after the Amazon). Each wet season, the lake swells up to five times in size as the Mekong’s annual flood pulse surges up the Tonle Sap River, reversing its flow. The situation then flips during the dry season, when water flows out of the lake downstream into the densely populated Mekong Delta. This rhythmic expansion and contraction is often referred to as the Mekong’s “heartbeat” due to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mekong-sand-mining-risks-collapse-of-se-asias-largest-freshwater-lake-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-311946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ethiopian youth groups restore Rift valley lake &#038; livelihoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ethiopian-youth-groups-restore-rift-valley-lake-livelihoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ethiopian-youth-groups-restore-rift-valley-lake-livelihoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 12:52:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Solomon Yimer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/22063158/DSC_1259_1-BANNER-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311779</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Lakes, Rivers, Tropics, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Abijata-Shalla National Park, ETHIOPIA — Under the scorching midday sun in the upper catchment of Ethiopia’s Abijata-Shalla National Park, a local youth group toils along the edges of a deep gully carved into the hills by erosion. The young men shovel soil from the loose edges of the gorge, while women fill sandbags they stack [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Abijata-Shalla National Park, ETHIOPIA — Under the scorching midday sun in the upper catchment of Ethiopia’s Abijata-Shalla National Park, a local youth group toils along the edges of a deep gully carved into the hills by erosion. The young men shovel soil from the loose edges of the gorge, while women fill sandbags they stack in the gullies, building barriers to hold back the next rains that strike this battered landscape “The land is healing, and so are we,” says Hamid Belo, chairman of the Mekane Fike Forest Conservation Association. Once covered with acacia woodlands and fed by steady streams, the land here has been steadily stripped bare. The loss of tree cover has allowed erosion to scar the hillsides and upset the flow of water into the lakes in this closed river system. Abijata and Shalla — the two lakes that give the national park its name — now receive less water and more sediment — their boundaries have shrunk and the quality of the water has changed, affecting fish and other aquatic life, along with flamingos and other migratory birds that once crowded their shores. For the past five years, this group of youth has been working to prevent degradation of soil and water in the landscape and begin restoring the ecosystem. Increased sediment and reduced water have caused Lake Abijata&#8217;s shoreline to retreat, but its water levels are now beginning to rise. Image courtesy of Berihun Tadele. Lake Abijata. The satellite image on the right shows lakes&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ethiopian-youth-groups-restore-rift-valley-lake-livelihoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ethiopian-youth-groups-restore-rift-valley-lake-livelihoods/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311779</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New mapping reveals hidden mining boom in Laos that threatens the Mekong</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-mapping-reveals-hidden-mining-boom-in-laos-that-threatens-the-mekong/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-mapping-reveals-hidden-mining-boom-in-laos-that-threatens-the-mekong/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2025 05:02:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnKonlaphat Siri]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10044442/l.-GP0KGK_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310956</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, Mekong Basin, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Chemicals, Ecosystems, extractives, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, Pollution, Public Health, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — A new satellite analysis from U.S. think tank the Stimson Center has identified 517 suspected mines along rivers in Laos, including major tributaries of the Mekong, Southeast Asia’s longest river, heightening concerns about contamination of waterways that sustain local communities. Stimson has not ground-truthed the mine sites identified through satellite imagery, but Mongabay spoke [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — A new satellite analysis from U.S. think tank the Stimson Center has identified 517 suspected mines along rivers in Laos, including major tributaries of the Mekong, Southeast Asia’s longest river, heightening concerns about contamination of waterways that sustain local communities. Stimson has not ground-truthed the mine sites identified through satellite imagery, but Mongabay spoke by phone with several government officials in Laos’s southern border province of Attapeu, home to 188 mines in the data, who said illegal mining remains widespread despite recent crackdowns. “We still see officials carrying out inspections and confiscating equipment” from illegal mines in Attapeu, said one government official who spoke to Mongabay on condition of anonymity due to the limited press freedoms in Laos. The analysis shines new light on the scale of mining in river basins across mainland Southeast Asia. The issue previously caught the spotlight in northern Thailand earlier this year after dangerous levels of arsenic were found to be flowing downstream from unregulated gold mines in Myanmar’s Shan state. A proliferation of rare earth mines in Laos and Myanmar has also raised concerns about deforestation, displacement of local communities, and the transboundary contamination of rivers flowing downstream into Thailand and Vietnam. Using satellite imagery analysis, the Stimson Center has produced a dataset of various mining types identified across mainland Southeast Asia&#8217;s river basins. Image by Emilie Languedoc / Mongabay. Besides Laos, the analysis flagged 1,868 mines in Myanmar, 17 in Cambodia and one in Malaysia, believed to be a mix of gold,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-mapping-reveals-hidden-mining-boom-in-laos-that-threatens-the-mekong/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-mapping-reveals-hidden-mining-boom-in-laos-that-threatens-the-mekong/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310956</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists chart a new source, and length, for Africa&#8217;s famous Zambezi River</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-chart-a-new-source-and-length-for-africas-famous-zambezi-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-chart-a-new-source-and-length-for-africas-famous-zambezi-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2025 20:26:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03150506/Adobe-Express-file-37-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310534</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Dry Forests, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, forest degradation, Freshwater, Grasslands, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Trees, Tropics, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study suggests that the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-longest, is 11% longer than previously thought, with its most distant source lying in Angola, not Zambia. While the finding leaves the Zambezi as Africa’s fourth-longest river — after the Nile, the Congo and the Niger — the redefinition of its most distant source underscores Angola’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study suggests that the Zambezi River, Africa’s fourth-longest, is 11% longer than previously thought, with its most distant source lying in Angola, not Zambia. While the finding leaves the Zambezi as Africa’s fourth-longest river — after the Nile, the Congo and the Niger — the redefinition of its most distant source underscores Angola’s enormous contribution to sustaining the river best known for Victoria Falls. This newly identified source in Angola’s southern highlands sits 3,421 kilometers (2,126 miles) from the Zambezi’s mouth at the Indian Ocean — 342 km (213 mi) farther than its original source, a spring bubbling out of the ground in a marshy patch of woodland near the Zambian town of Mwinilunga. The source of the Lungwebungu River in Angola: Spanning a total of 1,032 km (640 miles), the river is an essential water source, contributing significantly to the flow of the upper Zambezi River. Image courtesy Rainer von Brandis /The Wilderness Project/NGOWP. The geographic definition of a river’s source is the farthest point from its mouth, and based on that criterion, the team behind the study published in the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences has identified the source of the Zambezi as a small trickle oozing from a peatland bog in southern Angola, which is also the source of a river known as the Lungwebungu. Lead author Rainer von Brandis of The Wilderness Project (TWP), a group of scientists and explorers that conducted the study, says the findings highlight the critical importance of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/scientists-chart-a-new-source-and-length-for-africas-famous-zambezi-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310534</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2025 08:17:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andy BallGerald FlynnPhoung Vantha]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/24072528/Header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310021</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chemicals, Corruption, Ecosystems, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Gold Mining, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Mining, Public Health, Rainforests, Rivers, Traditional People, Tropics, Waste, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[*Sources have requested pseudonyms be used to protect their identity out of fear of retaliation from the government or mining companies BANGKOK, Thailand/RATANAKIRI, Cambodia — “When you touch the water of the O’Ta Bouk River, the mud will stick to your skin,” said Thao*. “It creates skin issues and we can’t catch fish this year anymore. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[*Sources have requested pseudonyms be used to protect their identity out of fear of retaliation from the government or mining companies BANGKOK, Thailand/RATANAKIRI, Cambodia — “When you touch the water of the O’Ta Bouk River, the mud will stick to your skin,” said Thao*. “It creates skin issues and we can’t catch fish this year anymore. It’s thick, like condensed milk. The oil from the machinery floats on the water surface, so it might affect our health, like our stomach or intestines.” On the quiet banks where the Sesan River and O’Ta Bouk River (also known as the Prek Liang River) meet in the northeastern Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, Ta Bouk village is where Thao calls home. The O’Ta Bouk River flows some 90 kilometers (56 miles) through Virachey National Park, one of Cambodia’s oldest protected areas, before feeding into the Sesan River and providing water to Ta Bouk village, just 2 km (1.2 mi) from the park’s border. The O’Ta Bouk has long sustained the Brao Indigenous communities who live, farm and fish along the river’s banks, providing them with clean, potable water for generations. But Thao’s village is just one of the hundreds across the Mekong region that have seen their life-giving rivers poisoned by toxic runoff from an explosion of unregulated mining, much of this is driven by surging gold prices, rising demand for rare earth elements and limited government oversight or environmental standards. Extensive satellite imagery analysis conducted by U.S. think tank the Stimson Center has uncovered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310021</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More Thai rivers and downstream communities at risk from Myanmar’s rare earth mines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/more-thai-rivers-and-downstream-communities-at-risk-from-myanmars-rare-earth-mines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/more-thai-rivers-and-downstream-communities-at-risk-from-myanmars-rare-earth-mines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2025 03:08:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/20024951/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-08-at-10.22.31-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307939</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critical Minerals, Ecosystems, extractives, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, International Trade, Mining, Public Health, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Toxicology, Traditional People, Tropics, Waste, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — New satellite data identified 513 sites of rare-earth mining that have cropped up across at least six key tributaries of the Mekong, Salween and Irrawaddy rivers in Myanmar over the past 10 years. These include 40 believed to have opened this year alone, with the total marking a dramatic increase from previous estimates and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — New satellite data identified 513 sites of rare-earth mining that have cropped up across at least six key tributaries of the Mekong, Salween and Irrawaddy rivers in Myanmar over the past 10 years. These include 40 believed to have opened this year alone, with the total marking a dramatic increase from previous estimates and suggesting the risk of transboundary river pollution is significantly higher than once thought. The new data and analysis from nonprofit think tank the Stimson Center, published Sept. 22, warns that the proliferation of unregulated mining operations in Myanmar, which are already having dire outcomes in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, could be worse for the region’s rivers than expected. Brian Eyler, director of the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia program, who conducted research on the river contamination in northern Thailand, said further testing is urgently needed. He urged other countries to begin testing their waterways potentially as far afield as Cambodia and Vietnam, because the potential for acids, heavy metals, arsenic and other toxins linked to mining flowing downstream is now significantly higher than previously reported. This testing, he added, needs to include the water, sediment and surrounding soil from rivers. It was the “sticky mud” that inundated parts of northern Thailand following heavy rainfall that first alerted his team to contamination on the Kok River, which flows into Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district from Myanmar, before going on to feed into the Mekong River in Chiang Saen district, Chiang Rai. “That’s what’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/more-thai-rivers-and-downstream-communities-at-risk-from-myanmars-rare-earth-mines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307939</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cameroon inaugurates controversial dam despite local dissent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/cameroon-inaugurates-controversial-dam-despite-local-dissent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/cameroon-inaugurates-controversial-dam-despite-local-dissent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Oct 2025 14:31:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10134434/b4abb60b-e9a6-4e2d-9b25-c1afbfa6f00e-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307404</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Dams, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Green, Human Rights, Hydroelectric Power, Infrastructure, Land Rights, Politics, Renewable Energy, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Tropics, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon — In the village of Ndji, old electrical cables are draped over rickety wooden poles, hanging so low in places, they touch the ground. These makeshift installations provide electricity in this hamlet of about a thousand inhabitants. But Wilfried Eyebe, a local fisherman, explained that this power supply is unreliable. “The voltage is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon — In the village of Ndji, old electrical cables are draped over rickety wooden poles, hanging so low in places, they touch the ground. These makeshift installations provide electricity in this hamlet of about a thousand inhabitants. But Wilfried Eyebe, a local fisherman, explained that this power supply is unreliable. “The voltage is not stable. We’re facing power cuts all the time.” This concern persists even though Ndji is located close to the Nachtigal hydroelectric dam on the Sanaga River, 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Yaoundé and the new source of around 30% of Cameroon’s electricity production. Transmission line carrying electricity from the Nachtigal hydroelectric dam. Image by Yannick Kenné/Mongabay. Hydroelectric power: Essential for Cameroon’s energy supply Hydroelectric power plays a vital role in Cameroon’s electricity grid and economy. It is a renewable energy source with a far lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels. Since March 2025, 420 megawatts of power generated by the $1.3 billion dam at Nachtigal has been fed into the Southern Interconnected Grid (RIS in French) which serves seven of Cameroon’s 10 regions with power produced by hydropower plants at Edea (267 MW, commissioned in 1954), Songloulou (384 MW, 1981), and now Nachtigal. Power cuts are still a frequent occurrence, though, due to incidents affecting the power transmission network. Numerous disruptions have been recorded recently at the new transformation station on the outskirts of Yaoundé, which enables the onward transport of electricity produced by Nachtigal. The villages near the dam are not spared&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/cameroon-inaugurates-controversial-dam-despite-local-dissent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/cameroon-inaugurates-controversial-dam-despite-local-dissent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307404</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Turning a stream into a river: Inside India’s Yettinaholé diversion project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/turning-a-stream-into-a-river-inside-indias-yettinahole-diversion-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/turning-a-stream-into-a-river-inside-indias-yettinahole-diversion-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2025 16:49:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shradha Triveni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/02133930/fisher-at-yettinahole-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306921</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conflict, Dams, Development, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Environment, Fellows, Fishing, Freshwater, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Land Rights, Renewable Energy, Resource Conflict, Rivers, Tropics, Water, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Daybreak is almost nonexistent during monsoons in Raxidi, a village perched in the thick of the Western Ghats, an Indian biodiversity hotspot. It is the 7 a.m. body clock that pushes most villagers out of slumber — to enter the accurate measure of the day’s rainfall in a log, a habit passed on by the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Daybreak is almost nonexistent during monsoons in Raxidi, a village perched in the thick of the Western Ghats, an Indian biodiversity hotspot. It is the 7 a.m. body clock that pushes most villagers out of slumber — to enter the accurate measure of the day’s rainfall in a log, a habit passed on by the British in coffee estates. There are, however, occasions where it dawns sooner when sharp-edged winds split trees into halves and bring them to a thud. Or gusts that constantly stab the windowpanes. In Raxidi, rain, as much as coffee, is a part and parcel of life, and livelihood. Mountain slopes are covered with coffee plantations, dotted with tall silver oak trees for shade. Men and women in gumboots hold sickles and hover around the coffee bush till dusk. Raingear is paramount for protection from water and leeches. Roads that snake like garland along the hills provide breathtaking views of greener mountains farther away, engulfed by thick, heavy clouds. One such mountain is Muru Kannu Gudda, or Three-Eyed Hill, more than 1,100 meters (3,900 feet) above mean sea level in Sakleshpur taluk (administrative division) in the heart of Karnataka’s Western Ghats, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Bengaluru, the capital city of the southern Indian state. “This is where the Yettinahalla is born,” said Prasad Raxidi, a writer, theater person and longtime resident of Raxidi, as he pointed to the longshot view of Muru Kannu Gudda from atop an amphitheater he built with the villagers. In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/turning-a-stream-into-a-river-inside-indias-yettinahole-diversion-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/turning-a-stream-into-a-river-inside-indias-yettinahole-diversion-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306921</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodian irrigation dam construction threatens riverine communities in the Cardamoms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/cambodian-irrigation-dam-construction-threatens-riverine-communities-in-the-cardamoms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/cambodian-irrigation-dam-construction-threatens-riverine-communities-in-the-cardamoms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2025 03:23:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/10031927/Pursat-Irrigation-Dam-2-banner-image-V2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305650</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Fisheries, Forest Destruction, Freshwater, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Infrastructure, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Redd, Rivers, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropics, Water Pollution, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Forest clearance has begun to make way for a new irrigation dam deep in the heart of the Cardamom Mountains, in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat, Mongabay has learned. The dam, which officials say will safeguard against floods and secure water for agriculture, looks set to clear more than 7,300 hectares (18,000 acres) of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Forest clearance has begun to make way for a new irrigation dam deep in the heart of the Cardamom Mountains, in Cambodia’s western province of Pursat, Mongabay has learned. The dam, which officials say will safeguard against floods and secure water for agriculture, looks set to clear more than 7,300 hectares (18,000 acres) of protected forest within Kravanh National Park, according to an overlay of official project maps with satellite imagery of rainforest cover. Mongabay first reported on the existence of the dam project in March. More recently, sources familiar with the area provided us with geolocated photos showing that ground broke on the project in February, with development continuing over the following months. Mongabay spoke with several residents in affected communities who confirmed that forest clearance and construction were taking place. Satellite imagery appears to show a roughly 10-kilometer (6-mile) road being carved through the forest to the dam site between February and March 2025, followed by some 60 hectares (150 acres) of forest clearance taking place within the project area through at least Aug. 12. Of the 7,300 hectares to be cleared, nearly 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) will be inundated with water as part of the Irrigation Dam 2 project, as it’s formally known, with the rest of the area also being cleared, documents indicate. Eng Rasmey, chief of the Pursat Provincial Department of Environment, told Mongabay that the forest clearance was happening under the onus of the dam project, which is overseen by the Ministry of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/cambodian-irrigation-dam-construction-threatens-riverine-communities-in-the-cardamoms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/cambodian-irrigation-dam-construction-threatens-riverine-communities-in-the-cardamoms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305650</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Shrinking Mekong megafish underlines risks to the river, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/shrinking-mekong-megafish-underlines-risks-to-the-river-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/shrinking-mekong-megafish-underlines-risks-to-the-river-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2025 14:16:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anton L. Delgado]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/26093159/imgonline-com-ua-FrameBlurred-mmealfk1s0NBv-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304811</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Dams, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Megafauna, Overfishing, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Water Pollution, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The megafish of the Mekong River are shrinking, a new study has found. In the most comprehensive analysis of species size in Southeast Asia’s Lower Mekong Basin, researchers have tracked a generational shrinkage among the river’s iconic gargantuan fish, which are among the largest freshwater fish in the world. The size decline in the Mekong [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The megafish of the Mekong River are shrinking, a new study has found. In the most comprehensive analysis of species size in Southeast Asia’s Lower Mekong Basin, researchers have tracked a generational shrinkage among the river’s iconic gargantuan fish, which are among the largest freshwater fish in the world. The size decline in the Mekong is a troubling trend for the ecosystem on which more than 65 million people across six countries depend. It also mirrors shrinkages of other megafauna in river basins around the world. “At its core, the analysis shows that the Mekong River’s biggest, slowest-to-mature fish species, and especially those at highest risk of extinction, are the ones shrinking fastest,” Zeb Hogan, a co-author of the study and biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, said in an interview with Mongabay. “Declining fish size isn’t just a symptom of overfishing — it’s a warning sign of deeper population instability.” A Mekong giant catfish release in 2007. Image courtesy of Zeb Hogan with Wonders of the Mekong. The study results are based on more than seven years of catch-monitoring data that tracked 257 species across 23 sites in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. More than 397,000 samples were collected from mid-2007 to mid-2014. These samples were compared to historical data from conservation information hub FishBase and the Mekong River Commission’s fisheries monitoring database. Changes in fish body size are a key indicator of fish stock health that informs fisheries management and conservation planning. Small and medium-sized fish species didn’t&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/shrinking-mekong-megafish-underlines-risks-to-the-river-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/shrinking-mekong-megafish-underlines-risks-to-the-river-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304811</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sacred sites &#038; cultural practices key to Indonesia fish conservation: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sacred-sites-cultural-practices-key-to-indonesia-fish-conservation-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sacred-sites-cultural-practices-key-to-indonesia-fish-conservation-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2025 03:56:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/23035416/Sungai-Subayang-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302947</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, In-situ Conservation, Indigenous Peoples, Protected Areas, Rivers, Tropics, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have recently found that sacred waters protected by Indigenous traditions are key to fish conservation in Indonesia, yet they remain largely unrecognized and excluded from national frameworks for biodiversity and cultural heritage preservation. In Indonesia’s vast archipelagic region, where traditional practices often intersect with biodiversity conservation efforts, many bodies of water have been highly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have recently found that sacred waters protected by Indigenous traditions are key to fish conservation in Indonesia, yet they remain largely unrecognized and excluded from national frameworks for biodiversity and cultural heritage preservation. In Indonesia’s vast archipelagic region, where traditional practices often intersect with biodiversity conservation efforts, many bodies of water have been highly revered as inhabited by sacred spirits or deities, making them de facto protected areas for native fish species, according to a peer-reviewed study published in June in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. However, the paper’s researchers said the relevance of sacred natural sites for fish conservation has been overlooked by conservation authorities even though many customary practices were still being observed across the country. “Our motivation for addressing this topic in a scientific article stems from the widespread lack of public awareness about aquatic environmental conservation,” Darmawan Setia Budi, aquaculture lecturer at Airlangga University who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an email. “We observed that many people still pollute rivers and other water bodies, and engage in overfishing using environmentally harmful methods,” he added. A sacred river in the forest. Image by Aseanty Pahlevi/Mongabay Indonesia. The study used a qualitative, ethnobiological review to examine the cultural role of sacred waters in Indonesian freshwater fish conservation, drawing on literature, community narratives, and case studies. The authors highlighted in the paper traditional practices’ relevance to modern ecological and community resilience efforts, grounding them in both academic and cultural perspectives.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sacred-sites-cultural-practices-key-to-indonesia-fish-conservation-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/sacred-sites-cultural-practices-key-to-indonesia-fish-conservation-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302947</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bicolored waterberry: The overlooked tree shaping Zambia’s rivers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/bicolored-waterberry-the-overlooked-tree-shaping-zambias-rivers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/bicolored-waterberry-the-overlooked-tree-shaping-zambias-rivers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2025 12:39:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/16123024/RT_Syzygium_island-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302610</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — At a bend in Zambia’s Kafue River, the bicolored waterberry trees resemble an avenue planted along a city boulevard. Their evergreen crowns stretch as far as the eye can see, reflected in the still, glassy water, only broken by the surfacing of two curious hippos. These trees — Syzygium guineense [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — At a bend in Zambia’s Kafue River, the bicolored waterberry trees resemble an avenue planted along a city boulevard. Their evergreen crowns stretch as far as the eye can see, reflected in the still, glassy water, only broken by the surfacing of two curious hippos. These trees — Syzygium guineense subsp. barotsense — are a dominant feature of this stretch of river, yet their role in maintaining river ecology is only just beginning to be understood. During a recent 300-kilometer (186-mile) canoe expedition through Kafue National Park, Mongabay joined The Wilderness Project (TWP) — a group of researchers and explorers gathering data on Africa’s major rivers and their basins — to document the Kafue River’s biodiversity and human impact along its course. On one island, shortly after the river crosses the northern boundary of the park, the team encountered the fantastical, deeply fluted trunks of waterberry trees, the soil at their bases threaded with the spoor of African clawless otters (Aonyx capensis). Further downstream, dozens of white-breasted cormorants (Phalacrocorax lucidus) burst from nests wedged into branches of a small copse of waterberries growing directly in the river’s current. Bicolored waterberry roots clasping rocks in the middle of the river channel. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. The Wilderness Project team stops to conduct research on the island, surrounded by the waterberry trees’ fluted trunks. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. Known for fruits that sometimes emerge half-white, half-purple, the bicolored waterberry is one of several&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/bicolored-waterberry-the-overlooked-tree-shaping-zambias-rivers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/bicolored-waterberry-the-overlooked-tree-shaping-zambias-rivers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302610</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>River of giants: Canoe team tracks hippos in one of Africa’s last strongholds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/river-of-giants-canoe-team-tracks-hippos-in-one-of-africas-last-strongholds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/river-of-giants-canoe-team-tracks-hippos-in-one-of-africas-last-strongholds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2025 15:51:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/15152623/RT_Kafue_canoes_congregate-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302532</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — “Hippos ahead.” The warning comes from the lead canoe. Hippos are dangerous — highly territorial and fiercely protective of their young. They are capable of capsizing boats and inflicting serious injuries. The line of five canoes hugs the riverbank to avoid a group midstream, but suddenly a mother hippo (Hippopotamus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia — “Hippos ahead.” The warning comes from the lead canoe. Hippos are dangerous — highly territorial and fiercely protective of their young. They are capable of capsizing boats and inflicting serious injuries. The line of five canoes hugs the riverbank to avoid a group midstream, but suddenly a mother hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) and her calf charge down from the bank where they’d been grazing unseen. The animals barrel toward the river and the flotilla, the mother braking at the last second. Changing course, she and her calf plunge into the water just behind the last canoe. It’s only the second close encounter of the 34-day expedition, says Mike Ross, leader of The Wilderness Project (TWP) team. “You can’t really blame them — the water is their safe place.” And this particular stretch of the Kafue River, in central Zambia, is especially so. Hippos wallowing on the sunny, muddy shallows beside the Kafue River. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. Over 82 days in 2024, Ross and a TWP team journeyed along the entire length of the Kafue, tracing its path from the river’s source near the Democratic Republic of Congo border, through the Copperbelt’s industrial zones, across the papyrus-lined dambo wetlands of the Kafue Flats and down to the steep Kafue Gorge — a topographical bottleneck that prevents some species, like African tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus), from moving upstream from the Zambezi. “An ever-changing river,” is how Ross describes the Kafue — slouching across open floodplains in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/river-of-giants-canoe-team-tracks-hippos-in-one-of-africas-last-strongholds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/river-of-giants-canoe-team-tracks-hippos-in-one-of-africas-last-strongholds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302532</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife &#038; tourists on the up in Zambia’s Kafue Park: Q&#038;A with manager Craig Reid</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/wildlife-tourists-on-the-up-in-zambias-kafue-park-qa-with-manager-craig-reid/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/wildlife-tourists-on-the-up-in-zambias-kafue-park-qa-with-manager-craig-reid/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2025 08:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/15083547/KNG_elephants-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302486</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Interviews, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[African Parks, the conservation NGO, has a 20-year agreement with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) to co-manage Kafue National Park. Running through the heart of the park is the Kafue River, which is crucial for Zambia&#8217;s economy and people. But it faces threats from pollution, including a major acid spill hundreds of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[African Parks, the conservation NGO, has a 20-year agreement with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) to co-manage Kafue National Park. Running through the heart of the park is the Kafue River, which is crucial for Zambia&#8217;s economy and people. But it faces threats from pollution, including a major acid spill hundreds of kilometers upstream near the city of Kitwe, and from overfishing outside the safety of the park. At least half of the area contained within nine Game Management Areas (GMAs) that surround the park has been occupied by small-scale farmers, driven there partly by the impact of climate change. But significant intact habitat remains, and recovering wildlife is beneficial to the communities that live around the park. Co-managed by Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife and conservation NGO African Parks, Kafue NP is home to up to 22 different species of antelopes, the highest diversity in Africa, more than 500 species of birds and at least 2,400 hippos in the river from which the park takes its name. In 2026, park authorities plan to reintroduce black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), whose population was wiped out in the 1980s. At Chunga, the headquarters of Kafue National Park, Mongabay met Craig Reid, the park manager, and spoke with him about the work AP and the DNPW are doing to safeguard this biodiversity hotspot. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. A drone shot of a section of the Kafue National Park, near its southern boundary. The park&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/wildlife-tourists-on-the-up-in-zambias-kafue-park-qa-with-manager-craig-reid/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302486</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Croc on a rock’: How a group of explorers suffers for science</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/croc-on-a-rock-how-a-group-of-explorers-suffers-for-science/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/croc-on-a-rock-how-a-group-of-explorers-suffers-for-science/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 15:40:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/14152837/Ross_canoe_portage-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302403</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A crocodile flips over on the river’s surface right in front of the canoe, then disappears into the white water frothing through the narrow channel. It’s too late to stop, but fortunately the croc (Crocodylus niloticus) is just as alarmed by the intruders as they are by it, and the canoe passes quickly over the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A crocodile flips over on the river’s surface right in front of the canoe, then disappears into the white water frothing through the narrow channel. It’s too late to stop, but fortunately the croc (Crocodylus niloticus) is just as alarmed by the intruders as they are by it, and the canoe passes quickly over the spot, alighting safely alongside some rocks. The Kafue River, in central Zambia, is impassable at this point. “There’s quite a big drop here that we have to do somewhere,” says Mike Ross, the expedition leader. The rapids are flanked by conglomerate rocks: small pebbles cemented together, some of them bleached pink as a hippo’s belly by the sun and water. To the uninitiated, carrying the canoes over this large, uneven jumble of boulders doesn’t look remotely possible. Boat captain Mfundisi Nowake and research assistant Katongo Kampamba carry a canoe across boulders at Mayukuyuku rapids. Image by Ryan Truscott for Mongabay. The maneuver, known as portage, is nothing new to Ross. Earlier this year, on an expedition down Angola’s Cubango River, he and colleagues from The Wilderness Project (TWP) had to carry their gear and canoes over 26 rapids. This current expedition began its journey at the source of Zambia’s Lunga River, one of the Kafue’s major tributaries, more than 600 kilometers (373 miles) to the north, and the team has already been on the water for a month. Weary but well-drilled, they get ready to lift the five boats out of the water. At these&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/croc-on-a-rock-how-a-group-of-explorers-suffers-for-science/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302403</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A success story at Zambia’s leopard hotspot: Interview with ecologist Chisomo M’hango</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-success-story-at-zambias-leopard-hotspot-interview-with-ecologist-chisomo-mhango/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-success-story-at-zambias-leopard-hotspot-interview-with-ecologist-chisomo-mhango/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 11:39:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11103724/Chisomo_QNA_leopard-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302244</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Interviews, Leopards, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chisomo M’hango is a trainee field ecologist at Musekese Conservation (MC), a nonprofit whose research station is located deep inside the Musekese-Lumbeya section of Zambia’s Kafue National Park. M’hango and her colleagues have captured images of 95 individual leopards — or 9 leopards per 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) in some parts of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chisomo M’hango is a trainee field ecologist at Musekese Conservation (MC), a nonprofit whose research station is located deep inside the Musekese-Lumbeya section of Zambia’s Kafue National Park. M’hango and her colleagues have captured images of 95 individual leopards — or 9 leopards per 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) in some parts of the study area. It represents one of the highest densities of this vulnerable species in Southern Africa. Leopards aren’t the only carnivores studied by staff members like M’hango. Musekese-Lumbeya is home to four other charismatic carnivores — spotted hyenas, African wild dogs, lions and cheetahs. Camera trap surveys, monitoring of individual animals, and citizen science projects that M’hango and MC are helping to run in collaboration with other research partners are providing promising signs on the recovery of leopards, wild dogs and lions. Mongabay spoke to M’hango at MC’s research center on the banks of the Kafue River in late May 2025. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Chisomo M’hango conducting fieldwork in the Musekese Lumbeya section of Kafue National Park. Image courtesy of Musekese Conservation. Mongabay: I understand that this area of Kafue National Park is an important leopard stronghold. Why is that? Chisomo M’hango: We have an ongoing project looking into this. We started our camera trapping efforts in 2022 to establish baseline estimates of leopard populations. We are now at a stage where we have enough data to be able to start looking into what variables are creating such an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/a-success-story-at-zambias-leopard-hotspot-interview-with-ecologist-chisomo-mhango/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302244</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From cattle to crayfish, human pressures mount on Zambia’s Kafue River</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/from-cattle-to-crayfish-human-pressures-mount-on-zambias-kafue-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/from-cattle-to-crayfish-human-pressures-mount-on-zambias-kafue-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2025 14:51:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11143322/RT_Kafue_canoes_woodland-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302279</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE, Zambia — “Three cattle on the left, 20 elephants on the right,” shouts the expedition leader from the bow seat of the first of five canoes snaking along a stretch of the Kafue River in central Zambia. The cattle are grazing near one of the many small farms and settlements that dot the river’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE, Zambia — “Three cattle on the left, 20 elephants on the right,” shouts the expedition leader from the bow seat of the first of five canoes snaking along a stretch of the Kafue River in central Zambia. The cattle are grazing near one of the many small farms and settlements that dot the river’s southern bank. On the northern bank lies the Lunga-Luswishi Game Management Area (GMA). Originally designated as buffer zones between populated areas and Kafue National Park, at least half of the area within the nine GMAs has now been settled and converted to farmland and homesteads, according to park officials. At the front of the lead canoe sits expedition leader and biologist Mike Ross, binoculars around his neck. He calls out observations, which are recorded by fellow scientists Lauren Searle and Katongo Kampamba, who briefly lower their paddles to log the data while their respective boat captains, brothers Vincent and Earnest Ifunga, continue to steer and propel the second and third canoes downstream. The team records fishing camps, nets and traps along the banks; farming activity and people traveling on foot or bicycle; boats, water pumps, buildings, invasive plants — and wildlife: mammals, reptiles and birds. Grey crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) gather at the edge of an island in the middle of the river. Waterbirds, and others like white-fronted bee-eaters that need steep river banks in which to build their nesting colonies, are a key component of the data the team collects to measure the ecological&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/from-cattle-to-crayfish-human-pressures-mount-on-zambias-kafue-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302279</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mining spill highlights need to protect Zambia’s vital Kafue River &#038; its fish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mining-spill-highlights-need-to-protect-zambias-vital-kafue-river-its-fish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mining-spill-highlights-need-to-protect-zambias-vital-kafue-river-its-fish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 12:04:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/09134254/KNG_fish_net_placement-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302103</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Kafue River Transect]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Degraded Lands, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Monitoring, Research, Rivers, Tropics, Wetlands, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
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							<![CDATA[-14.485383519365906, 26.580594798057326]]>
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							<![CDATA[KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia – Biologist Mike Ross, balanced in a canoe beneath a star-filled sky in central Zambia, slaps the water with a net attached to a wooden pole and draws it toward him. In the net are several small silver fish. At dawn the next morning, as three snowy white cattle egrets (Bubulcus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, Zambia – Biologist Mike Ross, balanced in a canoe beneath a star-filled sky in central Zambia, slaps the water with a net attached to a wooden pole and draws it toward him. In the net are several small silver fish. At dawn the next morning, as three snowy white cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) glide through the mist hanging low over the Kafue River, Ross and fellow scientists Lauren Searle and Katongo Kampamba identify the catch: among them, a banded tilapia (Tilapia sparrmanii), an orangefin minnow (Enteromius eutaenia) and a silver robber (Micralestes acutidens). All three are native to the Kafue — Zambia’s longest river — and documenting them contributes to a growing database of the river’s biodiversity, now under increasing threat. In February, a dam holding acidic mine waste near Kitwe, hundreds of kilometers upstream from the where the trio of scientists now work near Kafue National Park, failed. It released more than 50 million liters (13.2 million gallons) of acidic, heavy metal-laden sludge into a Kafue tributary. As the toxic plume moved downstream, it left at least one hippo dead, as well as numerous crocodiles, fish and monitor lizards. Zambia Air Force helicopters dumped lime into the river near the spill and upstream of the park in an effort to neutralize the acid. Biologist Katongo Kampamba identifies a fish caught at one of the team’s campsites along the Kafue river, while TWP’s Kyle Gordon removes a clipping from one of the fish’s fins for DNA analysis.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/mining-spill-highlights-need-to-protect-zambias-vital-kafue-river-its-fish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302103</doi>				</item>
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