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Open burning of plastic in a community in Guiyu, China. This practice is fast becoming a common way to dispose of plastic and other waste.

Plastic household waste burned as fuel on rise in Global South, risking health

Sean Mowbray 5 Feb 2026

Light pollution could worsen allergy seasons, new study suggests

Bobby Bascomb 5 Feb 2026
The government of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state has banned shark meat for meals in most of the schools it manages, after pressure from conservationists and school meal advisers raising health and environmental concerns.

Rio de Janeiro state bans shark meat for school meals

Karla Mendes 27 Jan 2026

Overuse is pushing the world toward ‘water bankruptcy’

Bobby Bascomb 21 Jan 2026

Mosquitoes in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest prefer human blood

Bobby Bascomb 16 Jan 2026
After burning off the mercury, a relatively pure piece of gold remains. Image by Thomas Graham for Mongabay.

Turning the Amazon’s toxic gold mine waste liability into economic opportunity (analysis)

Timothy J. Killeen 13 Jan 2026
Ningsih is about to add chlorine to the "Gentong Mas Santun" septic tank, which functions to inhibit the growth of and eliminate bacteria and microbes in feces.

On Indonesia’s longest river, a Borneo community passes crucial public health milestone

Anggita Raissa 29 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
A double-hooked blue shark.

Brazilian government serves shark to infants, prisoners and more: How Mongabay broke the story

Mike DiGirolamo 16 Dec 2025
Women and children return from their farmlands after the day's work in northcentral Nigeria.

Banned for years, dangerous pesticides persist in Nigerian farming

Samuel Ogunsona 12 Dec 2025
Smoke rises from a coal-burning power plant. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which includes large amounts of plastics, is replacing fossil fuels in some energy and industrial furnaces. But critics say this practice is merely replacing one dirty fuel for another.

Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk

Sean Mowbray 10 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
Bamboo lemur in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Lemurs are at risk. So are the people protecting them.

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Dec 2025
A child at work collecting e-waste in the Agbogbloshie dump in Ghana.

Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world

Gerry McGovern, Sue Branford 3 Dec 2025
Spraying pesticides on a field. Chemical pesticides have become ubiquitous in industrial agriculture, and have contributed to a rapid rise in chronic diseases, researchers say.

‘Silent epidemic of chemical pollution’ demands radical regulatory redo, say scientists

Mike Gaworecki 3 Dec 2025
Where cars go to die: an auto graveyard.

A ‘Life After Cars’ can provide huge human health and environmental benefits

Mike DiGirolamo 2 Dec 2025
A farmer cuts cacao pods from the tree in Colombia.

Conservation can emphasize human well-being to navigate its current funding crisis (commentary)

24 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

Gold mining exposes Indigenous women in Nicaragua to high mercury levels

Aimee Gabay 20 Nov 2025
Watcharakon Jatoenpun, AKA Sprite, showed reporters the expansive maize farms he works on in Mae Cham district, where seasonal air pollution is tied to agricultural burning. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Karen community fighting corn and coal for clean air in northern Thailand

Gerald Flynn 6 Nov 2025
A shark is hauled into the hold of the Pedra da Grelo, a Spanish longliner targeting swordfish in the south Atlantic ocean.

Report finds dangerous mercury levels, highlights mislabeling in shark meat sold in EU

Elizabeth Fitt 29 Oct 2025

Drax pellet mill wins appeal to raise pollution limits in small Mississippi town

Justin Catanoso 28 Oct 2025
Students in Afghanistan walk to school in a sand storm during a drought in 2019.

Supercharged dust storms are exposing millions to deadly air pollution

Mongabay.com 28 Oct 2025

Radioactive leak in Banten exposes workers to danger & reveals regulatory failures

Anggita Raissa 25 Oct 2025

Deforestation and disease spread as Nicaragua ignores illegal cattle ranching

Maxwell Radwin 20 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

Nepal seeks World Bank loan to fight air pollution despite hefty taxes to do so

Abhaya Raj Joshi 17 Oct 2025
After a game of beach footvolley on a sweltering hot day in Beirut, Lebanon, a man cools off by pouring water on himself.

Feel the heat: New app maps heat stress anywhere on Earth, 1940 to now

Ruth Kamnitzer 15 Oct 2025
A free-ranging chicken amid metal scrap in Thailand. The mismanagement of ash from incineration and metal production is another serious public health issue.

‘Alarming’ levels of toxins found in free-range eggs near dumpsites globally

Sean Mowbray 15 Oct 2025

In Kenya, a search for links between a changing climate and mental health

Associated Press 10 Oct 2025
A giant dust storm approaches the metro area of Phoenix, Arizona, Aug. 25, 2025.

Climate change is messing with global wind speeds, impacting planetary health

Sean Mowbray 3 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

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