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Masahiro Miura, a researcher in the national breeding division of the Forest Tree Breeding Center, in Hitachi, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan.

As hay fever sufferers grow in Japan, the country is looking to plant no-pollen trees

Jonathan Vit 26 Aug 2026
Japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster).

How ‘gentle power’ can preserve traditional biodiversity in Tokyo

Annelise Giseburt 21 Aug 2026

Hermit crabs and cockroaches emerge as unlikely seed dispersers on a Japanese island

Naina Rao 21 Aug 2026
Night view of Handa Biomass Power Plant

Concerns grow over ‘green’ biomass power in Japan after spate of accidents

Nithin Coca 17 Aug 2026
A female Eupelmus curvator. Image courtesy of Taisuke Kawano.

Social media images lead to first recording of parasitoid wasp species in Japan

David Brown 6 Aug 2026
Volunteers carry bags of straw at a tree planting event in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan on June 7, 2026.

In coastal Japan, one project is planting forests to stand against tsunamis

Jonathan Vit 4 Aug 2026
The bottom otter trawler Hendrika Jacoba operating in the Dogger Bank waters in the North Sea. Image © Greenpeace.

NPFC adopts illegal fishing measures — but no Emperor Seamount protections

Francesco De Augustinis 24 Apr 2026

A chimpanzee’s rhythmic drumming with floorboards hints at origins of instruments

Liz Kimbrough 16 Apr 2026

A new bird species has been discovered in Japan after 45 years

Naina Rao 13 Apr 2026
A child touches a freshly caught albacore tuna in Vairao, Tahiti, French Polynesia, in January 2024. Image by AP Photo/Daniel Cole.

Pacific fisheries summit gives a boost to albacore & seabirds

Edward Carver 16 Dec 2025
Parasitic ant queen Lasius orientalis, left, approaches the queen of L. flavus to spray her with a fluid. Image by Takasuka et al., 2025 (CC BY 4.0)

Game of tiny thrones: Parasitic ants grab power by turning workers against their queen

Mongabay.com 20 Nov 2025

Sea anemones and hermit crabs form a mutualistic relationship in Japan

Bobby Bascomb 13 Nov 2025

First documented case of plant smelling like an ant to attract pollinators

Liz Kimbrough 30 Oct 2025
A yellowfin tuna. Image © Jeff Rotman/naturepl.com, courtesy of WWF.

Countries shorten tuna fishing closure at Pacific summit with few conservation ‘wins’

Edward Carver 12 Sep 2025
Banner image of an Encephalartos horridus in a greenhouse under natural sunlight. Image courtesy of Takashi Nobusawa/Hiroshima University.

Scientists decode the unusual silver-blue color of an ancient South African plant

Kristine Sabillo 29 Aug 2025
Drax is the largest consumer of wood pellets for energy in the UK.

Sustainable biomass certification scheme is flawed, degrades forests, report finds

Annelise Giseburt 21 Aug 2025

Torrential rains in southern Japan cause flooding & mudslides, several people missing

Associated Press 11 Aug 2025
A bag of soil, slightly radioactive but decontaminated one from Fukushima, is delivered to the Japanese prime minister's office to be reused in the garden, in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

Slightly radioactive Fukushima soil being used at Japanese prime minister’s office to prove safety

Associated Press 21 Jul 2025
Representatives from several associations submit an open letter to the UNFCCC, stating that climate finance must adhere to the principle of historical responsibility for the climate change by wealthy industrialized countries by repaying the 'ecological debt' to developing countries in the Global South.

Carbon capture projects promise a climate fix — and a fossil fuel lifeline

Nithin Coca 4 Jun 2025
Asian small-clawed otter

DNA probe links Japan’s otter-themed cafes to poaching hotspots in Thailand

Carolyn Cowan 26 May 2025
Sardines caught by fishing vessel. Nicolas Job / Ocean Image Bank

World’s top seafood firms lobby against ocean conservation measures: Report

Edward Carver 8 May 2025

Corals recover faster on artificial structures than on natural reefs, study finds

Bobby Bascomb 11 Apr 2025

‘Substantial’ transshipment reforms adopted at North Pacific fisheries summit

Edward Carver 31 Mar 2025
Banner image: Satellite image of Japan on Feb. 11 via Himawari Satellite, CSU/CIRA & JMA/JAXA.

Japan sees record snowfall as Australia braces for cyclone Zelia

Kristine Sabillo 11 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
The Hadong power plant in South Korea co-fires coal with woody biomass, allowing it to claim it is reducing emissions under the UN loophole.

South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform

Annelise Giseburt 20 Dec 2024

Indonesian forests put at risk by South Korean and Japanese biomass subsidies

Annelise Giseburt 12 Dec 2024
Banner image: JBIC-funded Ilijan LNG Terminal in the Philippines’ Verde Island Passage. Image courtesy of CEED.

Japan’s LNG financing abroad harms biodiversity, human rights: Report

Kristine Sabillo 18 Oct 2024

Japanese ship hunts massive fin whale, country’s first in 50 years

Mongabay.com 8 Aug 2024
Trees cut down for biomass.

Biomass power grows in Japan despite new understanding of climate risks

Annelise Giseburt 29 Jul 2024
One of the roughly 1,300 sacred Nara deer seen close up.

Messengers of the gods: Nara’s ‘sacred’ deer at a conservation crossroads

Annelise Giseburt 22 May 2024
A recovering scleractinian coral reef on Hancock Seamount in the Northwestern Hawaiian Ridge, just inside U.S. waters. Research shows that seafloor ecosystems can undergo some recovery from the effects of bottom fishing if they are protected for 30 to 40 years afterwards. Image courtesy of A. Baco-Taylor and E. B. Roark, National Science Foundation, with Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory pilots T. Kerby and M. Cremer.

No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific

Edward Carver 22 Apr 2024

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