It’s been a century since an onager or Asiatic wild ass was last seen in Saudi Arabia. But in April this year, seven onagers were relocated from neighboring Jordan into one of Saudi Arabia’s nature reserves. One of the onagers has even birthed a female foal since then.

“These are the first free running onager seen in Saudi Arabia since their extinction in the early 1900s,” Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve (PMBSRR), which now hosts the onagers, said in a press release. “Their reintroduction represents a transformative step for their conservation and a major landmark in the Kingdom’s biodiversity efforts.”

Saudi Arabia was historically home to the Syrian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemippus), an onager subspecies that was hunted into extinction in the 1920s. 

The PMBSRR, in a report shared with Mongabay, said it has a policy of introducing “historically occurring species in its re-wilding program.” 

But with the Syrian onager gone forever, it’s closest living relative, the Persian onager (E. h. onager) from Jordan, “was deemed the best alternative sub-species with which to re-populate the Middle East.” The report said this choice follows the principle espoused by global wildlife conservation authority the IUCN that reestablishing an ecological function lost through extinction can involve “the most suitable” existing subspecies or a close relative.

With fewer than 600 individuals left in the wild, the Persian onager is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. The wild ass, native to Iran, has previously been introduced to Jordan and Mongolia. It’s one of the four remaining subspecies of the Asiatic wild ass, a species older than the horse and zebra.

According to the PMBSRR report, onagers were chosen from Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) also because there’s 50-60% similarity in the local vegetation of the two reserves.

“For the Persian Onagers, a major goal is to establish viable populations and restore the habitats that support them,” the report said. “Once populations have stabilized in protected, fenced zones of approximately 200 km2 [77 mi2], they will be selectively released into the larger 20,000 km2 [7,722 mi2] area in which more natural behaviour will be possible.”

The PMBSRR said it plans to add another stallion and two mares to the existing seven onagers to enable them to split the herd and ensure genetic variation. 

Batool Ajlouni, president of the RSCN’s board of directors, said in the press release that the organization has been conserving the wild onager since 1982. She added the joint project with PMBSRR is meant to “foster real collaboration in conserving ecosystems, habitats, and ecological connectivity through best practices in protected area management and effective capacity-building programs.”

The onager reintroduction program will eventually include ecotourism and educational components to promote the animal’s conservation in Saudi Arabia, the report said. 

Banner image of the recently born onager foal in Saudi Arabia, courtesy of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve.

When a massive coral colony was recently discovered in the Solomon Islands, it was believed to be the largest in the world. Then last week, scientists found an even bigger one in the waters off the Indonesian island of Bali. 

Coral restoration nonprofit Ocean Gardener announced that Indonesian marine biologists had measured a Galaxea astreata coral colony in Nusa Penida, a popular diving site, at 58 meters wide by 71 long (190 by 233 feet). It’s also 10 m (33 ft) deep and covers an area of more than 4,000 m2 (43,000 ft2).

In comparison, the Pavona clavus coral colony in the Solomon Islands measured 34 by 32 m (112 by 105 ft).

Vincent Chalias, founder of Bali-based Ocean Gardener, told Mongabay in an email, “Large colonies of that species [G. astreata] are quite common, but this one, definitely and by far [is] the biggest.”

Ocean Gardener research and science coordinator Manikmayang was quoted in the announcement saying that, “This discovery has the potential to set a new world record. However, further testing is needed to confirm its status among the world’s giant coral colonies.”

The coral is located in the Lombok Strait where the Pacific Ocean flows into the Indian Ocean, “a central location where corals can grow to gigantic sizes and produce billions of larvae that seed reefs all over the Indian Ocean,” Ocean Gardener said in its post. 

Chalias said that although the team knew about the large G. astreata coral colony, it only received training to measure giant corals recently with the “Map the Giants” initiative of Italy’s University of Milano-Bicocca MaRHE Center.

“What was known as ‘coral fields’ are now becoming [recognized as] single organism, coral colonies,” Chalias said. “We are planning on doing some genetics [testing] on it, to prove the one organism theory, but we could also do some aging [tests] on it.”

He said strong currents in the area proved a challenge during their dives, but were also why the coral colony is “well fed.” G. astreata coral is “very well adapted to extract food from the water column,” he said. “The colony shape creates turbulences in the flow, that slows down food, allowing polyps to easily catch preys.”

Despite its size, the coral is vulnerable to climate change impacts and is in its second year of massive coral bleaching.

Eric Brown, a U.S. National Park Service marine ecologist who was part of the P. clavus coral expedition, told Mongabay in an email that “the reproductive potential of large coral colonies is huge,” allowing them to be more resilient and bounce back “from major disturbance events.”

“In addition, the large colony may have a size advantage that enables it to resist disturbance events because some parts of the colony are likely to survive,” Brown wrote.

Banner image of Galaxea astreata coral colony in Nusa Penida in Bali, Indonesia, courtesy of Ocean Gardener.

The world’s top court has finished hearing its largest-ever climate change case.

For the first time, 96 countries and 11 international organizations presented their cases before the U.N.’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) from Dec. 2-13, arguing about the obligations of major greenhouse gas-emitting nations in tackling climate change, and the legal frameworks that could hold them accountable for the climate-related harms they’ve caused.

Several countries from the Global South, including small island nations like Vanuatu, Timor-Leste and Tuvalu, argued that climate change has put their existence at risk. They highlighted that a handful of industrialized nations have been responsible for the climate crisis yet have doubled down on fossil fuel extraction and use. Countries including Zambia added that climate change has touched “every aspect” of their economy.

The plaintiffs said that existing climate frameworks governing climate change responsibilities, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, have failed to be effective. Instead, they urged the ICJ to go beyond these frameworks and draw from other international environment and human rights laws that are also relevant to climate change, while giving its advisory opinion in early 2025.

“This landmark case has shown a shared determination from representatives across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Pacific Island States and even a few European States to uphold and apply the rule of international law in the context of climate change,” Arnold Kiel Loughman, attorney general for the Republic of Vanuatu, said in a statement.

Several youth climate groups, such as Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change and the World’s Youth for Climate Justice, and international organizations like the IUCN also urged the court to consider the testimonies of those facing the worst climate consequences and to protect current and future generations.

Major emitters like the U.S., U.K., Germany, Saudi Arabia and China argued that the ICJ wasn’t the right platform to clarify climate obligations and consequences. They added that the existing climate change frameworks and treaties were adequate and that additional legal liabilities could discourage countries from participating in the climate processes.

However, the “fossil fuel giants and major polluters found themselves isolated in their attempts to sweep their historical responsibility for the climate crisis under the rug and claim that their legal obligations start and end with the Paris Agreement,” Nikki Reisch, director of the Climate and Energy Program, Center for International Environmental Law, said in a press briefing.

“The majority of states agree: making empty promises at the annual climate talks doesn’t cut it, and no amount of emphasis on ‘cooperation’ can make up for individual states’ failure to uphold their duties to respect and protect human rights and the environment,” Reisch added. “There is no greater betrayal of solidarity than continuing to destroy the climate on which we all depend.”

Banner image: Small island nations led by Vanuatu drove the climate change case at the International Court of Justice. Image courtesy of Ben Bohane.

Brazil has passed a law to cap greenhouse gas emissions from companies and set up a nationwide system to trade carbon credits. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the landmark bill Dec. 12.

“The main goal of the law is to position Brazil as a leader in protecting the climate system for the benefit of our population,” said senator Leila Barros, who led the bill in the Senate.

With the law now sanctioned, Brazil will join the short list of countries, which includes China, Mexico and Kazakhstan and most EU member states, with a nationwide regulated carbon emissions system.

The Brazilian government and the law’s proponents in the industrial sector say a regulated market will encourage companies to adopt low-carbon technologies and innovate toward greener production methods. The market will also generate an estimated $7 billion a year, Brazil’s Green Party said.

Each carbon credit is worth 1 metric ton of emissions, and any company that emits more than 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent in other gases, will need to report their emissions to the newly formed Brazilian Emissions Trading System, which has six years to be set up.

If companies exceed their emissions quota, they will need to buy carbon credits from companies that are below their allocated limit and submit a plan to reduce emissions.

Fines for not complying will be largely rerouted toward Brazil’s national climate change fund and administrative costs, with 5% of the fines destined to compensate Indigenous communities for their role in preserving the nation’s several ecosystems, including the Amazon Rainforest and the Cerrado savanna.

Notably, Brazil’s powerful agribusiness industry was left out of the bill after a 2022 amendment excluded agricultural activity from the regulated market, citing difficulties in properly quantifying emissions from agriculture. Critics say it is a “major flaw” in the law, given that agriculture is the leading source of emissions in Brazil.

“It is unacceptable and inconceivable that the agricultural sector is left out of the emissions reduction targets,” Beto Mesquita, director of public policy and forests at environmental finance nonprofit BVRio, previously told Mongabay.

The amended law received widespread support from both houses and was approved, after being held up in Congress for a decade. But not everyone was on board. Right-wing Senator Márcio Bittar spoke out against the law in the Senate, claiming that climate change doesn’t exist and that the measure would unnecessarily hinder Brazil’s economic production.

But the Brazilian Green Party congressman Aliel Machado, the bill’s rapporteur, said it will create thousands of “green” jobs, especially in the most underserved regions of the country.

Banner image: Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with Environment Minister Marina Silva in July. Image courtesy of Agência Brasil.

A recent proposal to protect the iconic orange-and-black monarch butterfly under the U.S. Endangered Species Act could make federal protections available to help the species avoid extinction and rebound.

In a press release, Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, an NGO, said the ESA listing is a science-based decision and “a national call to action for all Americans to save this majestic species.”

The population of western monarchs (Danaus plexippus), those that live west of the Rocky Mountains, has declined by roughly 95% since the 1980s. They’re particularly vulnerable when the entire population gathers to overwinter in a stretch of forest in California. “The Bureau of Land Management cut down a grove of monarch trees intentionally a couple of months ago to build a parking lot and there was nothing we could do about it,” Tierra Curry, endangered species coordinator with the Center for Biological Diversity, another NGO, told Mongabay by phone. With ESA status, the forest will be protected.

Eastern monarchs, famous for their generational migration from Mexico to Canada and back again each year, are down by roughly 80%. Along their migration route, each of four generations of monarchs must navigate monoculture farms in search of nectar and milkweed, the only food a monarch caterpillar can eat. As wildflower meadows are replaced by monocultures of agricultural crops, the search for food has become increasingly difficult, while exposure to deadly pesticides has caused populations to plummet.

ESA funding will mean continued programs to plant milkweed, though it remains to be seen how the government will address the rampant use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are mostly banned in Europe and toxic at every stage of monarch development.

Climate change has also been a tremendous challenge, though at present the ESA has little capacity to address that growing threat. In 2024, the combination of a cold summer, abnormally warm autumn and several large hurricanes meant monarchs didn’t reproduce as much as they should and were late to return to Mexico. “And we know that when they get to Mexico late, the population size is smaller,” Curry said.

In Mexico the entire population of eastern monarchs overwinters in the International Monarch Biosphere Reserve, which is protected. However, the forests around the reserve are being converted to avocado plantations to meet demand for the fruit in the U.S. Avocados require a lot of water and are causing drought and wildfires in the region.

“People think monarchs can’t be endangered because they’re in 48 states, that is true. But in the winter, they’re all in one basket and that basket is on fire and being exported in the form of avocados,” Curry said. “Telling vegans to put down their avocados is probably the most unpopular thing that I do,” she added.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened a public comment page on the proposed listing.

Banner image of a monarch butterfly by Peter Miller via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

The Amazon River and its tributaries, which make up the largest freshwater basin in the world, are showing signs of recovery after dropping to record-low levels between September and November 2024.

Abnormally low rainfall and high temperatures across the Amazon caused water levels to plummet, shutting down river transport, isolating communities and leaving industries without supplies. Indigenous children were forced to drink water contaminated with mercury, and fishers faced a mass fish die-off likely due to high water temperatures.

The Madeira River in Rondônia state in northwest Brazil, responsible for 15% of the water in the Amazon Basin, was 6.7 meters (22 feet) high on Dec. 9, marking a significant improvement over the 25 centimeters (9.8  inches) measured Oct. 12.

Farther east, on the Negro River near Amazonas state’s capital, Manaus, large grain barges owned by Cargill, Louis Dreyfus and Bunge, among others, resumed shipping soy and corn at full capacity following a 70-day hiatus. The river there is rising at an average of 3 cm (1 in) a day.

More than 118,000 hectares (291,000 acres) of the Amazon Rainforest were cleared between 2009 to 2019 to make way for large-scale soy farms, according to a recent investigation.

Deforestation is one of the leading causes of climate change in the region, which has led to the devastating droughts that have gripped the Amazon over the past two years.

Some relief has reached the region’s residents as the drought begins to ease. Water levels are now rising, but 16 of the 18 monitoring stations across the Amazon Basin in Brazil remain below normal.

“It’s very good to see that the rivers are returning,” Ane Alencar, the science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, told Mongabay in an audio message. “What we don’t know yet are the long-term impacts of this severe drought,” Alencar added.

The incoming rain poses a paradox, she said. Too much rain all at once and there will be flooding, which can cause houses to collapse and plantations to fail. But at the same time, much more rain is needed to get back to previous water levels.

“Anything is possible. The climate is very unstable, and the tendency is for these events to become more frequent and intense,” Alencar said. “Unfortunately, it’s always the most vulnerable communities that are hardest hit.”

Banner image: Rivers in the Brazilian Amazon are recovering following historic lows. Image courtesy of João Dejacy/Rios de Notícias.