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Sirsiya river in Nepal. image by Suresh Bidar

‘Holy river’ carries industrial waste & sewage from Nepal to India

Suresh Bidari 21 Jan 2026
Loading a barge with iron ore from Simandou. Image by Paul Kagame via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Hopes and fears as Guinea exports iron ore from Simandou mines

Ashoka Mukpo 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
Foothills of the Atewa forest range, one of several ecologically sensitive areas where mining permits have been issued. Image by Ahtziri Gonzalez/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ghana repeals legislation that opened forest reserves to mining

Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda 8 Jan 2026
Rescuers search for victims at the site of a landslide in Suwawa on Sulawesi Island in July 2024.

Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution

Sarjan Lahay, Junaidi Hanafiah, Teguh Suprayitno 7 Jan 2026
The Indigenous Macaquiño community on the banks of the Vaupés River in Colombia’s Vaupés region. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay.

Urban sprawl and illegal mining reshape a fragile Amazon frontier

Aimee Gabay 6 Jan 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
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
Scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini), photographed in Yonaguni, Japan.

Top ocean news stories of 2025 (commentary)

Alfredo Giron, Ana Spalding, Erin Skoczylas, Vanessa Constant 24 Dec 2025
asian small clawed otter

In Nepal, the world’s smallest otter continues to elude researchers

Abhaya Raj Joshi 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
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa uses a stick to measure how deep the area is, in the Aguarico 4 oil field where a sign reads in Spanish "Danger. Contaminated area" in Ecuador, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. Correa visited the site to call attention to oil contamination in Ecuador's Amazon region. Earlier this year, Ecuador awarded a $19 billion judgment to the residents of this area for Texaco's contamination of this rainforest between 1972 and 1990. But Chevron Corp., which bought Texaco in 2001, said it won't pay because it says Texaco dealt with the problem before it was bought. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

‘Neither appropriate nor fair’: Ecuador ordered to pay oil giant Chevron $220m

Shanna Hanbury 18 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 resulting piles of plastic after beach clean-up volunteers sifted microplastics from water and sand in Kailua Bay, a few miles south Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu. Image courtesy of: Ken G Kosada/Lethal Lens Photography.

Another threat to reefs: Microplastic chemicals may harm coral reproduction

Kari Goodbar 5 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
Tourists Bharat Lake Nepal

New riverside lake in Nepal wins hearts, but faces government opposition

Suresh Bidari 28 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
Pastoralists in Lesotho.

Lesotho communities allege greenwashing by project transferring water to South Africa

Malavika Vyawahare 21 Nov 2025

IDB financed meat & poultry company that polluted Indigenous Ecuador lands: Report

Ana Cristina Alvarado 21 Nov 2025
A turtle consumes a plastic bag.

Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 19 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

‘Green’ energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines’ nickel belt

Bong S. Sarmiento 14 Nov 2025

Study finds deforestation fuels West Africa’s water crisis

David Akana 7 Nov 2025

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

Fernanda Biasoli 6 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
Satellite images of the chemical spill in Bais Bay. Images courtesy of Sentinel-2L2A.

Ethanol plant spills harmful wastewater into Philippine marine reserve

Mongabay.com 5 Nov 2025
Gold mine in the Dimonika Biosphere Reserve, the Republic of the Congo

Gold mining impacts persist after DRC shuts down company operations: Video

Mongabay.com 28 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

Negro River study finds genetic damage in fish after oil spill

Tiago da Mota e Silva 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

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