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A spectacled cobra in India.

Rapid urbanization, habitat loss are forcing the snakes out in Dhaka

Shakera Tasnim 17 Dec 2025
kathmandu aerial view

Nepal’s cities must plan for resilience and inclusion for the future & nature (commentary)

Hitesh Raj Pant 11 Dec 2025

New arrangements should preserve Nairobi’s much-loved Karura Forest

Dann Okoth 4 Nov 2025
Kolkata was waterlogged after a sudden intense downpour on Sept. 23. Image by Dipanwita Saha.

Climate change and aging drains wreak havoc on Kolkata, India

Mongabay.com 13 Oct 2025
A jackdaw feeds from various bowls containing food.

Are crows really street smart? Science confirms the genius of corvids (commentary)

Deyatima Ghosh 19 Aug 2025
View of central Kampala.

From counting trees to enhancing climate resiliency, Kampala focuses on its forests

Victoria Schneider 15 Aug 2025

With nocturnal surveys and awareness building, Sri Lanka steps up to protect its owls

Malaka Rodrigo 11 Aug 2025
Banner image of motorists riding through a flooded road caused by heavy monsoon rain in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 10, 2025. Image by AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary.

Deadly monsoon rains in Pakistan made worse by climate change: Study

Kristine Sabillo 7 Aug 2025
Supertree grove is part of the Gardens by the Bay (GBTB) urban park in Singapore, covering 105 hectares (260 acres). Image by Tien Tran (tientran0019) via Pixabay (Pixabay Content License).

Singapore’s regreening is a model for cities everywhere

Mike DiGirolamo 22 Jul 2025
Heavy rainfall in Colombia and Venezuela caused deadly landslides and widespread flooding in June. A new analysis now points to rapid urbanization, deforestation, mining and overgrazing as having reduced the region’s climate resilience. 
 “The rapid growth of population and informal settlements in areas prone to landslides, particularly in Colombia, puts people and infrastructure at risk,” the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of scientists evaluating extreme weather events, said in its latest rapid analysis. It said the informal communities are growing as people seek livelihoods in cities or are displaced due to conflict. Roop Singh, report co-author from the Netherlands-based Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said at a media briefing that pasture- and agriculture-driven deforestation rose over the past two decades, increasing “the risk of landslides because tree roots are no longer binding and anchoring the soils.”
 The heavy rains during the last week of June triggered widespread flooding and damage in Colombia; a landslide in Antioquia department killed 27 people. In Venezuela, rivers overflowed, and smaller landslides cut off rural communities. WWA said in its report that rains in these regions had persisted since April, and that the June rain fell on already saturated ground where the deadly landslide occurred, and in rivers with already high levels of water. The scientists examined the total rainfall from April-June this year over the Magdalena River catchment in Colombia and the Falcón and Maracaibo basins in Venezuela. They also studied data on the accumulated rainfall from June 20-24 in the affected states in the Venezuelan Llanos, a grassland plain. “Neither events were particularly extreme,” Mariam Zachariah, co-author and research associate at Imperial College London, said at the briefing. The WWA analysis showed the heavy rain that fell in June is common, expected every 10 years in Colombia and every three years in Venezuela. The scientists also used climate models to understand the influence of human-induced climate change on the rains, but the findings were inconclusive. Instead, the models projected a drying trend for Colombia and mixed results for Venezuela. Friederike Otto, co-author and climate science professor at Imperial College London, said not being able to show clear linkages to climate change doesn’t mean there’s no influence. The researchers attributed some of the uncertainty to a lack of long-term observational weather data and weather stations in the region. “Unfortunately, extreme weather is not well understood in northern South America,” Paola A. Arias, a professor at the University of Antioquia, said in a statement. “We urgently need more investment in climate science to understand shifting risks and prepare for what’s ahead. More science will save lives." Zachariah said Colombia and Venezuela must prepare for both rainfall and drought, and build resilience to extreme weather. Banner image: People look at their destroyed home after a deadly landslide was triggered by heavy rain in Colombia’s Antioquia department on June 25, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Fredy Amariles.

Deadly landslide and flooding in Colombia and Venezuela linked to rapid urbanization

Kristine Sabillo 18 Jul 2025

Broadway Mall rewilding brings native plants and wildlife to New York City

Bobby Bascomb 19 Jun 2025
Banner image: Schoolchildren walk to school in Niamey, Niger in 2013.

Urban forests in Niger’s schoolyards serve climate resilience and education

Victoria Schneider 26 May 2025

A street-smart hawk uses a pedestrian signal to hunt in the city

Bobby Bascomb 23 May 2025
Banner image of a striped albatross butterfly (Appias libythea) on a red leea plant (Leea rubra), courtesy of NTU Singapore.

Singapore study says roadside flowers can improve urban butterfly biodiversity

Kristine Sabillo 12 May 2025
Two people sit in conversation on a bench beside a path along a stream in Karurua forest, Nairobi, Kenya. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninara/51944328733/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

African forum on urban forests calls for greater access to green spaces

Victoria Schneider 25 Mar 2025
Image of a board at the entrance to Aravalli Biodiversity Park in New Delhi. Image by ccarlstead via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

New Delhi transforms degraded lands into biodiversity parks

Mongabay.com 19 Mar 2025
Malir River near Damloti check dam, Karachi suburbs.

Ecology vs. development in Karachi: Interview with photographer Salman Baloch

Waqas Alam Angaria 14 Feb 2025
Banner image of a roof rat (Rattus rattus) by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Surge in rat numbers linked to climate warming, urbanization: Study

Kristine Sabillo 7 Feb 2025
Banner image: Tourists interact with birds at the Bouddhanath shrine in Kathmandu. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi

As Kathmandu’s birds get used to humans, biodiversity suffers, studies show

Abhaya Raj Joshi 28 Oct 2024
River Bagmati flowing through a religious site.

Supreme Court decision on saving Kathmandu rivers stirs up heated reactions

Abhaya Raj Joshi 23 Sep 2024
Benjakitti Forest Park

Bangkok turns to urban forests to beat worsening floods

Claire Turrell 10 Sep 2024
Boys swim in the Buriganga River near Dhaka during a heat wave in May 2024.

Conserving & restoring waterways can mitigate extreme urban heat in Bangladesh

Riley Comstock 20 Aug 2024
Building a pergola at the entrance to the Cocotá Agroforest, 2023. Image courtesy of Cocotá Agroforest collective.

Rio’s grassroots agroforestry sustains birds, bees & communities

Bernardo Araujo 13 Aug 2024

Streetlights make tree leaves tougher for insects to eat, Beijing study shows

Shreya Dasgupta 7 Aug 2024
Exhausted black kites

Black days for black kites in Bangladesh’s growing capital city

Sadiqur Rahman 10 Jun 2024
On May 29, 2024, five Mother Nature Cambodia activists stood trial on charges of plotting and insulting the king. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Trial begins for Mother Nature Cambodia activists on conspiracy charge

Gerald Flynn 29 May 2024
A bee with a sunflower in Tokyo.

In highly urbanized Japan, city farmers are key to achieving organic goal

Annelise Giseburt 10 Apr 2024
Bagmati River flowing through Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu.

Controversy brews over proposed dam on Kathmandu’s Bagmati River

Abhaya Raj Joshi 22 Feb 2024
A house sparrow (Passer domesticus) perched on a black metal fence in the city. Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash.

Discriminatory U.S. housing policies still affect bird sightings 90 years later

Chiara Villanueva 27 Nov 2023
Kuikuro men playing flutes.

The Amazon’s archaeology of hope: Q&A with anthropologist Michael Heckenberger

Peter Speetjens 18 Oct 2023

São Paulo students plant mini-forests on school grounds as urban oases

Sibélia Zanon 18 Jul 2023
Washington Square Park is another place to see birds in NYC.

Five ways to increase tree cover in cities (commentary)

Evan Beresford 6 Jul 2023

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