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Land subsidence is putting buildings in five Indian megacities, including Delhi, pictured here, at high risk of structural damage. Image by Pinakpani via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Indian megacities are sinking putting thousands of buildings at risk: Study

Mongabay.com 27 Nov 2025
A woman in her 60s fills empty jerrycans in a wheelbarrow with water she draws from an old well in Tallo village, Makassar.

Makassar women press for water as taps and wells run dry in sweltering Indonesian city

Sri Wahyuni 20 Nov 2025

New arrangements should preserve Nairobi’s much-loved Karura Forest

Dann Okoth 4 Nov 2025
A boy kicks a soccer ball near signage for the COP30 U.N. Climate Conference in Belem, Brazil, March 23, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Jorge Saenz.

Belém faces its social and natural demons as host to COP30

Peter Speetjens 28 Oct 2025
In February, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised planned investments by Vale during a public event in Pará state, urging the company to ensure dam safety. Image courtesy of Ricardo Stuckert/Presidência da República.

Copper rush pushes Vale to ramp up mining near Amazonian protected areas

André Schröder 14 Oct 2025
Kolkata was waterlogged after a sudden intense downpour on Sept. 23. Image by Dipanwita Saha.

Climate change and aging drains wreak havoc on Kolkata, India

Mongabay.com 13 Oct 2025

As Singapore heats up, pests are seeking refuge indoors

Robin Hicks 9 Oct 2025
A jackdaw feeds from various bowls containing food.

Are crows really street smart? Science confirms the genius of corvids (commentary)

Deyatima Ghosh 19 Aug 2025
View of central Kampala.

From counting trees to enhancing climate resiliency, Kampala focuses on its forests

Victoria Schneider 15 Aug 2025

With nocturnal surveys and awareness building, Sri Lanka steps up to protect its owls

Malaka Rodrigo 11 Aug 2025
Banner image of motorists riding through a flooded road caused by heavy monsoon rain in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 10, 2025. Image by AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary.

Deadly monsoon rains in Pakistan made worse by climate change: Study

Kristine Sabillo 7 Aug 2025
Damaged road littered with broken tree branches after a heavy rain in the Miyun district in the outskirts of Beijing, China. Image © Mahesh Kumar A./AP.

At least 60 dead in northern China due to extreme rainfall and floods

Shanna Hanbury 1 Aug 2025
A woman sits under a tree surrounded by dry waste in East Java.

Burning, burying and banning: Indonesia’s cities struggle to manage their garbage

Jeff Hutton 23 Jul 2025
Supertree grove is part of the Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) urban park in Singapore, covering 105 hectares (260 acres). Image by Tien Tran (tientran0019) via Pixabay (Pixabay Content License).

Singapore’s regreening is a model for cities everywhere

Mike DiGirolamo 22 Jul 2025
Heavy rainfall in Colombia and Venezuela caused deadly landslides and widespread flooding in June. A new analysis now points to rapid urbanization, deforestation, mining and overgrazing as having reduced the region’s climate resilience. 
 “The rapid growth of population and informal settlements in areas prone to landslides, particularly in Colombia, puts people and infrastructure at risk,” the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of scientists evaluating extreme weather events, said in its latest rapid analysis. It said the informal communities are growing as people seek livelihoods in cities or are displaced due to conflict. Roop Singh, report co-author from the Netherlands-based Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said at a media briefing that pasture- and agriculture-driven deforestation rose over the past two decades, increasing “the risk of landslides because tree roots are no longer binding and anchoring the soils.”
 The heavy rains during the last week of June triggered widespread flooding and damage in Colombia; a landslide in Antioquia department killed 27 people. In Venezuela, rivers overflowed, and smaller landslides cut off rural communities. WWA said in its report that rains in these regions had persisted since April, and that the June rain fell on already saturated ground where the deadly landslide occurred, and in rivers with already high levels of water. The scientists examined the total rainfall from April-June this year over the Magdalena River catchment in Colombia and the Falcón and Maracaibo basins in Venezuela. They also studied data on the accumulated rainfall from June 20-24 in the affected states in the Venezuelan Llanos, a grassland plain. “Neither events were particularly extreme,” Mariam Zachariah, co-author and research associate at Imperial College London, said at the briefing. The WWA analysis showed the heavy rain that fell in June is common, expected every 10 years in Colombia and every three years in Venezuela. The scientists also used climate models to understand the influence of human-induced climate change on the rains, but the findings were inconclusive. Instead, the models projected a drying trend for Colombia and mixed results for Venezuela. Friederike Otto, co-author and climate science professor at Imperial College London, said not being able to show clear linkages to climate change doesn’t mean there’s no influence. The researchers attributed some of the uncertainty to a lack of long-term observational weather data and weather stations in the region. “Unfortunately, extreme weather is not well understood in northern South America,” Paola A. Arias, a professor at the University of Antioquia, said in a statement. “We urgently need more investment in climate science to understand shifting risks and prepare for what’s ahead. More science will save lives." Zachariah said Colombia and Venezuela must prepare for both rainfall and drought, and build resilience to extreme weather. Banner image: People look at their destroyed home after a deadly landslide was triggered by heavy rain in Colombia’s Antioquia department on June 25, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Fredy Amariles.

Deadly landslide and flooding in Colombia and Venezuela linked to rapid urbanization

Kristine Sabillo 18 Jul 2025

Indonesia moves to revise sea sand export policy after court ruling

Basten Gokkon, M Ambari 18 Jul 2025

Broadway Mall rewilding brings native plants and wildlife to New York City

Bobby Bascomb 19 Jun 2025
Urban greenspace in Bangkok

As tree planting gathers pace in Bangkok, urban green spaces still under threat

Carolyn Cowan 10 Jun 2025
Biyem-Assi is one of the most populous districts, with nearly 49,000 inhabitants, not far from the city center.

In Yaoundé, fecal sludge flows through ‘Caca Junction’ streets

Fanta Mabo 9 Jun 2025
Siphe Mlawuli getting ready to deliver an order in the Cape Town suburb of Parklands. Image by Barry Christianson for Mongabay.

Riding toward a greener future: E-bikes transform food delivery in South Africa

Barry Christianson 9 Jun 2025
Rescuers evacuate people from a flooded hospital following landslides and flash flooding in India's northeast state of Manipur, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Donald Sairem)

Heavy rains inundate northeast India

Kristine Sabillo 6 Jun 2025
Banner image of Mokwa after the flooding, by the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency via X.

Hundreds die after flash floods tear through Nigerian market town

Kristine Sabillo 5 Jun 2025
Marwati prepares a flashlight that is the main source of light in her house.

Indonesia new capital yet to spark electricity for low-income neighbors on Borneo

Niken D. Sitoningrum 5 Jun 2025
Banner image: Schoolchildren walk to school in Niamey, Niger in 2013.

Urban forests in Niger’s schoolyards serve climate resilience and education

Victoria Schneider 26 May 2025

A street-smart hawk uses a pedestrian signal to hunt in the city

Bobby Bascomb 23 May 2025

Extreme heat, violent storms: How Rio de Janeiro is facing its new climate reality

Ambiental Media 21 May 2025
Under-construction residential buildings in Kolkata. Image by Biswarup Ganguly via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

India sets construction waste recycling targets with new rules

Mongabay.com 21 May 2025
A sarus crane photographed in Lumbini. Image by Mukesh Pokhrel.

Concrete sprawl in Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal threatens sarus cranes

Mukesh Pokhrel 19 May 2025
Banner image of a striped albatross butterfly (Appias libythea) on a red leea plant (Leea rubra), courtesy of NTU Singapore.

Singapore study says roadside flowers can improve urban butterfly biodiversity

Kristine Sabillo 12 May 2025
A forest fire in Sancheong County, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, in March 2025. Image by 경상남도 via Wikimedia Commons (KOGL Type 1).

Deadly South Korea wildfires made twice more likely by climate change

Shreya Dasgupta 1 May 2025
Banner image of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo by Garcia-Pavilion via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

DRC’s Kinshasa could see deadly rain and floods every 2 years: Study

Kristine Sabillo 23 Apr 2025
Red-throated bee-eaters (Merops bulocki), Pehonko, Benin. Image by Yves Bas via iNaturalist (CC BY 4.0).

Africa’s growing cities are endangering birdlife (commentary)

Bello Adamu Danmallam 16 Apr 2025

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