Freshwater ecosystems News

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Seven years after Brazil’s worst dam disaster, mining operations bounce back

Felipe S. Duran, Mylena Melo 16 Feb 2026
A caddisfly in the Oligotricha genus.

Insects are moving pharmaceutical pollutants from rivers to land; risks unknown

Sean Mowbray 13 Feb 2026
Fishers in Takeo province rely on the annual flooding of wetlands where they raise and catch a variety of crustaceans. Image by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.

Farmers fear displacement, drought, flooding tied to Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal

Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 12 Feb 2026

In the Brazilian Amazon, community conservation success comes with a cost: Study

Logan Rance 29 Jan 2026

Overuse is pushing the world toward ‘water bankruptcy’

Bobby Bascomb 21 Jan 2026
Sand mining in the Mekong

Mekong sand mining risks collapse of SE Asia’s largest freshwater lake, study finds

Carolyn Cowan 23 Dec 2025
Unusual weather patterns in Sweden’s arctic region seem to be jeopardizing the migrating reindeer’s traditional grazing grounds, as rainfall during the winter has led to thick layers of snowy ice that block access to food.

Sámi reindeer herders protest EU-backed graphite mine, fearing lost grazing ground

Aimee Gabay 22 Dec 2025
A sewage outlet in Bangkok.

Marine heat waves and raw sewage combine to put human health at risk

Sean Mowbray 18 Dec 2025
Community members gather as a tagged Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) is prepared for release in the Cambodian stretch of the Mekong River.

Earth’s freshwater fish face harsh new climate challenges, researchers warn

Stefan Lovgren 17 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

In Chocó, river defenders say race for energy transition threatens lifelines

Euan Wallace 8 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

Behind Sri Lanka’s ‘fish rain’ lies a web of migrations now blocked by rising dams

Malaka Rodrigo 27 Nov 2025
Satellite imagery from February 2025 shows the transformation of the landscape at Global Green's gold mine, which is believed to be contaminating the O'Ta Bouk River. Image provided by Google Earth, Maxar Technologies.

Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 24 Nov 2025
Samuel Bourgault, leader of the project part of the drone program at the MWIFMA. Image by Boris R. Thebia.

Photos: Drones help First Nations track down cold-water havens for salmon amid warming

Boris R. Thebia 13 Nov 2025

Healthy rivers, healthy people: A Brazil project links human & ecosystem well-being

Fernanda Biasoli 6 Nov 2025
A beaver explores its new home at Tásmam Koyóm in 2023.

California learns from its beaver reintroductions

Rhett Ayers Butler 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
Shoebills are one of the endangered species that rely on Lake Victoria in Uganda. Image by Emilie Chen via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0).

Has Uganda done enough to prevent pollution of Lake Albert by oil drilling? (commentary)

Robert Agenonga 24 Oct 2025
The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita), an endangered species and one of the rarest felines in the Americas, in the central Andes of Chile. Image courtesy of Rodrigo Villalobos.

Researchers fear Chile copper project may threaten rare Andean cat population

Aimee Gabay 23 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

Local divers pick away at Lake Malawi’s underwater garbage problem

Charles Mpaka 14 Oct 2025

Cameroon inaugurates controversial dam despite local dissent

Yannick Kenné 10 Oct 2025
Cassandra Garduño in a wooden boat.

Women in Mexico step up to protect the island farms traditionally inherited by men

Teresa de Miguel, Associated Press 8 Oct 2025
A fisher mends his net at Yettinahalla.

Turning a stream into a river: Inside India’s Yettinaholé diversion project

Shradha Triveni 2 Oct 2025
The Mae Moh power plant in northern Thailand's Lampang province is a significant contributor to air pollution and has sickened residents across Mae Moh district. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Anguish for residents as Thailand’s most polluting coal plant gets new lease of life

Gerald Flynn 1 Oct 2025
A beaver explores its new home at Tásmam Koyóm in 2023.

When does beaver reintroduction make sense?

John Cannon 23 Sep 2025
Aerial photo of the March for Water held in Cuenca on Sept. 16. Image via @czamoramatute on X.

100,000 Ecuadorians protest Canadian mining project threatening key water source

Shanna Hanbury 19 Sep 2025
A beaver swimming in a pond just after its release at Tásmam Koyóm in northern California.

Beavers restored to tribal lands in California benefit ecosystems

John Cannon 15 Sep 2025
Irrigation Dam 2 is just the latest in a string of dams being built atop protected forests within the Cardamom Mountains. Image supplied by source.

Cambodian irrigation dam construction threatens riverine communities in the Cardamoms

Gerald Flynn 10 Sep 2025
A 1.72-meter (5.6-foot), 102-kilogram (225-pound) Mekong giant barb caught in Tonle Sap Lake in December, 2002.

Shrinking Mekong megafish underlines risks to the river, study finds

Anton L. Delgado 26 Aug 2025
The sun rises on the Salween River, which serves as a vital lifeline for Karen communities on both sides of the Thai-Myanmar border. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Asia’s longest free-flowing river faces threats of dams and diversions

Mongabay.com 6 Aug 2025

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