Degraded lands News

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In Brazil, regenerative farming advances, but deforestation still pressures ecosystems

Mie Hoejris Dahl 17 Mar 2026
Gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelada) in Ethiopia’s Semien Mountains. Image by Alastair Rae via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Climate or biodiversity? Global study maps out forestation’s dilemma

John Cannon 6 Mar 2026
Farmers on a 1.6-hectare (4-acre) plot of oranges, avocado, maize and vegetables in Kenya.

Earth Rover Program seeks to track the world’s soil health

John Cannon 21 Jan 2026
A mule deer buck at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge outside Denver, Colorado.

Involuntary parks: Human conflict is creating unintended refuges for wildlife

Annelise Giseburt 15 Jan 2026
A woman working on a landscape restoration project in Abijata-Shalla National Park, Ethiopia. Image by Solomon Yimer for Mongabay.

Ethiopian youth groups restore Rift valley lake & livelihoods

Solomon Yimer 22 Dec 2025
The river survey team near the Zambian border. Image courtesy of Jen Guyton / TWP/NGOWP.

Scientists chart a new source, and length, for Africa’s famous Zambezi River

Ryan Truscott 3 Dec 2025
Youth activist Oliver Nyirenda in Kabwe. Image courtesy of Radio Workshop.

As Zambia eyes green minerals, Kabwe’s poisoned past looms large

Chisapi Kumbutso 19 Nov 2025

Coal-dependent South Africa struggles to make just energy transition real

Anna Weekes 11 Nov 2025
Recent fires in the Amazon Rainforest degraded a large portion of the world’s primary forests. Image © Marizilda Cruppe/Greenpeace.

Global goal of zero deforestation by 2030 is severely off track

Shanna Hanbury 14 Oct 2025

From shamba to PELIS: Kenyan farmers derive livelihoods from government timber plantations

Isaiah Esipisu 17 Sep 2025
Joseph Lijodi, a tree nursery owner, with one of his Prunus african seedlings.

Kenya’s PELIS trades biodiversity for livelihoods and tree cover gains

Isaiah Esipisu 9 Sep 2025
A forest gardener waters vegetables in his forest garden in Kaffrine, Senegal.

A forest garden project attempts to expand into the Sahel

Victoria Schneider 28 Jul 2025
The Wilderness Project team stops to conduct research on the island, surrounded by the waterberry trees’ fluted trunks.

Bicolored waterberry: The overlooked tree shaping Zambia’s rivers

Ryan Truscott 16 Jul 2025
While navigating the Kafue River inside the national park, the team regularly pauses to deliberate on the best route to take around hippos that block their way.

River of giants: Canoe team tracks hippos in one of Africa’s last strongholds

Ryan Truscott 15 Jul 2025
A herd of elephants gathers to drink beside the river several kilometers below Hook Bridge, on the main highway running through the middle of the park. Reid says elephants that had very specific distributions previously are now moving more freely through the park.

Wildlife & tourists on the up in Zambia’s Kafue Park: Q&A with manager Craig Reid

Ryan Truscott 15 Jul 2025
Expedition leader Mike Ross and boat captain Dominic Mwahamubi ease their canoe down rapids along the Kafue River.

‘Croc on a rock’: How a group of explorers suffers for science

Ryan Truscott 14 Jul 2025
A leopard caught on a camera trap in the Musekese Lumbeya section of Kafue National Park, where Musekese Conservation conducts its research into recovering carnivore populations.

A success story at Zambia’s leopard hotspot: Interview with ecologist Chisomo M’hango

Ryan Truscott 14 Jul 2025
Team makes their way down the center of the river in a canoe.

From cattle to crayfish, human pressures mount on Zambia’s Kafue River

Ryan Truscott 11 Jul 2025

Mining spill highlights need to protect Zambia’s vital Kafue River & its fish

Ryan Truscott 10 Jul 2025
Oils extracted from macaúba palm fruits can be used in a wide range of industrial processes, including foods cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel

Sean Mowbray 21 May 2025
Banner image of an Iban woman in Sarawak, Malaysia, courtesy of Luciana Téllez-Chávez/Human Rights Watch.

Malaysian timber company accused of abuse & rights violations: Report

Kristine Sabillo 14 May 2025
Amazon people in the BR-163 area, such as Mariana, face challenges from the economic model imposed by agribusiness, logging and gold mining. Image by Fernando Martinho.

Lack of funds, cattle ranchers challenge Brazil’s sustainable farmers

Mongabay.com 13 May 2025
Banner image of oil palm plantation in Malaysia by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Study offers new tool to compare environmental impacts of crops

Kristine Sabillo 13 May 2025
Olivier Nsengimana, founder of Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association. Image courtesy James Rooney/National Geographic Society.

Rwanda’s Olivier Nsengimana inspires protection for gray crowned cranes in East Africa

Musinguzi Blanshe 30 Apr 2025

Indonesia’s peatlands face growing flood risks amid widespread degradation

Hans Nicholas Jong 7 Apr 2025

On a São Paulo eco-farm, Brazil’s landless movement makes its case for occupation

Peter Speetjens 30 Jan 2025
Janet Nyakiru Abwoli, Kasese district, Uganda. Image by Innocent Kiiza for Mongabay.

In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion

Innocent Kiiza 23 Jan 2025
Coal miners in Meghalaya, India.

Coal gasification, an old technology, is quietly expanding across Asia

Nithin Coca 21 Jan 2025

Turn problems into solutions for culture and agriculture across Australia and the Americas, Anthony James says

Mike DiGirolamo 14 Jan 2025

Science brings the bloom of farming to a Brazilian desert

Mongabay.com 24 Dec 2024
A pale spear-nosed bat covered in pollen.

Brazil natural landscape degradation drives toxic metal buildup in bats

Sean Mowbray 11 Dec 2024
Cutting a tree with a chainsaw.

Land use change impacting seven planetary boundaries, solutions urgent, say scientists

Sean Mowbray 2 Dec 2024

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