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Rokar Koang Commune, Kandal Province (Cambodia). Sand mining barges extract sand from the Mekong, May 2022.

Cambodia’s banned sand trade with Singapore appears to be back

Andy Ball 11 Aug 2026
Benthic jellyfish in the deep sea

UN regulator delays deep-sea mining rules, but extends criticized exploration contract

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 29 Jul 2026
Sand barges bearing the logo of Catalyst Marine and Resources documented in Trapeang Roung commune, Koh Kong province, Cambodia, by Mother Nature Cambodia activists in July 2026. Image supplied by Mother Nature Cambodia.

Activists allege Cambodia has resumed sea sand exports to Singapore

Gerald Flynn 21 Jul 2026
The Katas Raj Temples and the pond, 2014.

No corporation can buy the ‘right to destroy’: Interview with activist Raja Waseem Ahmed

Muhammad Talal 15 Jul 2026

Brazil’s expanding offshore oil frontier puts biodiversity at risk: study

Daniel Shailer 6 Jul 2026
Deep-sea glass squid

Experts say ‘bare bones’ US laws are unfit to regulate nascent deep-sea mining industry

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 9 Jun 2026
Buddhist monks who participated in the Peace Walk arrive to attend a ceremony marking World Environment Day in Chiang Rai, Thailand, on 5 June 2026. Photo by Ta Mwe.

Northern Thai residents march for action on polluted rivers. ‘This is an emergency’

Gerald Flynn 8 Jun 2026
The Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor from above on the Peruvian side, near the Peru-Brazil border.

In Peru and Brazil, extractivism threatens Indigenous people in isolation: Report

Aimee Gabay 5 Jun 2026

Local indigenous people get more land in a DRC community forest

Mongabay.com 4 Jun 2026
Deep-sea starfish in American Samoa

US prepares to auction leases for seabed mining blocks in federal waters

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 27 May 2026
Fishers in the Mekong River near Chiang Khong, Thailand. Elevated arsenic levels at testing sites in the Mekong indicate that contamination may be spreading into this vital waterway. Image by Stefan Lovgren.

Dangerous arsenic levels detected in Thailand’s Mekong mainstream for first time

Gerald Flynn 8 May 2026
Fishers collect their nets on the Sesan River, just a few hundred meters from the O’Ta Bouk-Sesan confluence. Fishers who use the O’Ta Bouk told Mongabay that their catches have declined significantly over the past three years. Photo by Andy Ball/Mongabay.

Cambodia tested waters amid pollution claims; months later, still no public results

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 4 May 2026
Luis Yanza. Courtesy of the Goldman Prize.

Luis Yanza, campaigner who battled big oil in the Amazon rainforest

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Apr 2026
Alannah Acaq Hurley in Dillingham, Alaska. January, 2026. Image by Goldman Environmental Prize.

Goldman Prize winner Alannah Hurley fights Pebble Mine “from a place of love”

Claudia Geib 20 Apr 2026
Pa Haw, father of Saw Si Paw, takes to the Salween River each morning to inspect their nets for fish, despite heavy metal contamination linked to mining sites upstream. Photo by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.

Asia’s longest free-flowing river contaminated by arsenic linked to Myanmar mines

Gerald Flynn 20 Apr 2026
The King River enters Macquarie Harbour, where decades of mining have contributed to contaminated sediment buildup at the river’s delta. Image by Stefan Lovgren.

In Tasmania, the mines have closed but the rivers remember

Stefan Lovgren 16 Apr 2026
Misty morning in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

10 forces that could reshape the future of the world’s forests

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Apr 2026
Luwowo Coltan mine near Rubaya, North Kivu. Image © MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Landslides claim more than 220 lives in DRC’s Rubaya coltan mining site

Didier Makal 9 Feb 2026

New data highlight Peru’s growing oil and gas footprint in the Amazon

Aimee Gabay 30 Jan 2026
A mine in Likasi on November 26, 2025. Image by Glody MURHABAZI / AFP).

In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests are on the frontline

Didier Makal, Latoya Abulu 16 Jan 2026

Latin America in 2025: Conservation promises collide with crime and extraction

Mie Hoejris Dahl 31 Dec 2025
A woman gathers plants along the banks of the Mekong River while a child plays in the background. Water levels of the mighty Mekong River have dropped drastically due to drought-like conditions and damming upstream. The drop disrupts the region’s water supply, transport routes, and the livelihood of communities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that more than one billion people will face water shortages due to climate change. Credit: © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

New mapping reveals hidden mining boom in Laos that threatens the Mekong

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Konlaphat Siri 10 Dec 2025

Across Latin America populist regimes challenge nature conservation goals

Timothy J. Killeen 8 Dec 2025

A fragile Sri Lankan island fights back against the threat of mineral extraction

Malaka Rodrigo 28 Nov 2025
Producing an AI chip requires 10-15 times more energy than making a standard chip.

AI data center revolution sucks up world’s energy, water, materials

Gerry McGovern, Sue Branford 14 Nov 2025
Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo stands next to an oil spill near Shushufindi

These banks fund oil & gas in the Amazon amid climate crisis: Report

Constance Malleret 4 Nov 2025
Dozens of Mashco Piro people appeared on a riverbank in Peru in 2024, just a few miles from logging concessions. The Mascho Piro are Indigenous nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabit Manú National Park in the Madre de Dios region of Peru. They have in the past actively avoided contact with outsiders.

Report urges full protection of world’s 196 uncontacted Indigenous peoples

Sue Branford 27 Oct 2025
Leaching ponds have been drilled into the mountains of Laos, using a mix of toxic chemicals to separate the rare earth minerals from the other materials siphoned out of the ground. Image supplied by source.

Rare earth mining expands into Laos, threatening entire Mekong River

Mongabay 27 Oct 2025
Female Indigenous guardians. Image by Brandi Morin.

Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests

Brandi Morin 22 Oct 2025
Flowing from Myanmar into Thailand, the Kok River carries toxic runoff from rare earth mines into Chiang Mai province. Image supplied by Brian Eyler.

More Thai rivers and downstream communities at risk from Myanmar’s rare earth mines

Mongabay 20 Oct 2025

Peru considers stripping protections for Indigenous people and their territories

Maxwell Radwin 13 Oct 2025
Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

MPs across Latin America unite to stop fossil fuels in the Amazon

Mie Hoejris Dahl 9 Oct 2025

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