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Sand mining along the Mekong River

19,000 Great Pyramids a year: Report flags unsustainable rate of sand mining

Carolyn Cowan 18 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
The Golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis), a powerful migratory freshwater fish native to the Pantanal and Paraná River Basin, shown here being held by researcher Zeb Hogan. Highly prized by recreational anglers and important to commercial fisheries, the species has declined in parts of its range due to dam construction.

Migratory freshwater fish are in trouble: Will we act in time to save them?

Stefan Lovgren 1 May 2026
Indigenous protests in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 7. Image courtesy of Anderson Barbosa/Amazon Watch.

Brazilian state greenlights deforestation for contested open-pit gold mine

Shanna Hanbury 29 Apr 2026

Vaupés River contamination identified near rapidly expanding Amazonian town

Aimee Gabay 21 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
Pista Velha mining site in the Baú Indigenous Territory captured during an overflight on July 19, 2025. Image courtesy of the Xingu+ Network.

Brazil: Satellites expose rampant gold mining expansion on Indigenous Kayapó land

Shanna Hanbury 15 Apr 2026

Giant otters, river sentinels, now listed as threatened migratory species

Gustavo Faleiros 9 Apr 2026
Researcher Lisiane Hahn and colleagues have tagged and released piraíba fitted with tracking devices, generating new data that reveal previously undocumented migrations of this South American species. Image courtesy of Lisiane Hahn.

325 Long-neglected migratory freshwater fish species need protection now: Report

Stefan Lovgren 25 Mar 2026
Occupation of Funai’s Altamira branch. Image courtesy of the Medio Xingu Indigenous Women’s Movement.

Indigenous groups demand halt to Belo Sun Amazon gold mine

Shanna Hanbury 23 Mar 2026

Cambodian market survey a snapshot of a resilient — but stressed — Mekong

Stefan Lovgren 10 Mar 2026
Demonstrators in Santarém, Pará state, Brazil. Image courtesy of Amazon Watch.

Brazil revokes decree privatizing three Amazonian rivers after Indigenous protests

Shanna Hanbury 26 Feb 2026
Dams limited the natural flow of the Madeira River, disrupting the currents that fish need and causing up to a 90% reduction in stocks in some locations. Image by Kelvily Santos de Souza for Mongabay.

Fishers denounce plummeting fish stocks following Amazon hydroelectric dam

Mongabay.com 12 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
The mining dredges installed along the Nanay River have begun to consume sections of forest. Image courtesy of FCDS Peru.

Mercury, dredges and crime: Illegal mining ravages Peru’s Nanay River

Enrique Vera 31 Dec 2025
The Belo Monte hydropower dam on the Xingu River in Brazil’s Pará state. Image courtesy of TV Brasil.

Fish deformities expose ‘collapse’ of Xingu River’s pulse after construction of Belo Monte Dam

Tiago da Mota e Silva 31 Dec 2025
Sand mining in the Mekong

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

Carolyn Cowan 23 Dec 2025
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
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
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
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
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

Cameroon inaugurates controversial dam despite local dissent

Yannick Kenné 10 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
Giant South American river turtles nesting on a sandbank in the Amazon’s Guaporé River. Image courtesy of Omar Torrico/Wildlife Conservation Society.

Largest turtle nest in the world revealed in drone study

Shanna Hanbury 11 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

Sacred sites & cultural practices key to Indonesia fish conservation: Study

Basten Gokkon 23 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

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