The Amur leopard lives in isolation in the freezing forests of southeast Russia and northeast China. It’s one of the most endangered of eight leopard subspecies in the world. Today, its population is on the upswing.

In the 20th century, poaching for its spotted fur, forest fires and conversion of land for farming caused the wildcat’s population to plummet to roughly 25 individuals in the wild. Today, there are approximately 130 in Russia alone, according to a recent Wildlife Conservation Society report.

Since 2016, the Wildlife Conservation Society in Russia (ANO WCS) has partnered with Land of the Leopard National Park in monitoring and conservation efforts. In 2014-15, researchers estimated a global population of 84 Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis), increasing recently to 130, the highest density of leopards recorded in 10 years of rigorous monitoring, according to the report.

Efforts to save the species date back decades. Collaboration between conservationists and Russian government agencies helped establish protected areas in the Primorsky Krai region since 1979, which halted the leopard’s rapid decline, according to WWF.

In 2012, the Russian government created Land of the Leopard National Park, which included all of the leopard’s breeding areas and about 72% of suitable habitat in Russian territory. “It was only the creation of the national park that set the conditions for these cats to recover,” Aleksandr Rybin, large carnivore specialist for ANO WCS, told Mongabay.

Simultaneous recovery of prey, the Sika deer (Cervus nippon), fire management, strong law enforcement and population monitoring gradually helped the population bounce back. “Without the protected area, we would be looking at a very different story,” Rybin said.

“We achieved amazing results,” Taisiia Marchenkova, assistant research scientist in Land of the Leopard National Park, told Mongabay. “The population has increased almost three times its size and started to spread. … It’s actually a wonderful case, because in most cases populations do not come back from such a rapid decline.”

With more than 200 camera trap stations, researchers have documented the population starting to recover since 2014. A 2018 Conservation Letters paper showed Amur leopards move extensively between Chinese and Russian borders, stating, “38% of all leopards were observed in China, but only about half of those … were observed exclusively in China.”

Scientists hope the subspecies is edging away from extinction. “But as the population declined rapidly in the 20th century, this comes with consequences,” Marchenkova said. Morphological abnormalities such as kinky tails and white paws might be signs of population inbreeding.

“Because of the low genetic diversity, Russia has created a conservation plan and aims to relocate leopards from zoos into the wild,” Rybin said, hoping this measure and international collaboration will increase the wildcat’s long-term chances of survival.

Banner image: A camera trap image of an Amur leopard, by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

NEW YORK (AP) — The United Nations reports a global shift toward renewable energy, calling it a “positive tipping point.” Tuesday’s U.N. reports reveal that 92.5% of new electricity capacity in 2022 came from renewables, with wind and solar leading the way. Renewables like solar and wind are now significantly cheaper than fossil fuels, driving investment to $2 trillion last year. However, officials warn the transition is not happening fast enough, especially in regions like Africa. Despite booming renewables, fossil fuel production continues to rise due to increasing energy demands. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on tech firms to power data centers completely with renewables by 2030.

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press 

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries.

Mangroves, the amphibious forests that fringe tropical and subtropical coastlines, are ecological powerhouses. They buffer communities against storm surges, support fisheries, and sequester carbon at rates that rival their terrestrial counterparts. Yet despite growing recognition of their value, mangroves remain imperiled. About 35% of global cover was lost in the late 20th century, largely to aquaculture and coastal development.

New research offers the most comprehensive look yet at the cost of reversing that damage. Drawing on nearly 250 projects and dozens of data sources, researchers have created the first global model of site-specific mangrove restoration costs. They find a median implementation cost of $8,143 per hectare ($3,297 per acre), with wide variability: From just $9 to more than $700,000. Site conditions matter. Rehabilitating abandoned shrimp ponds tends to be cheap; replanting eroded or hydrologically disrupted coastlines is far pricier.

Indonesia, with its vast archipelago and degraded deltas, holds the greatest potential. At least 204,000 hectares (504,100 acres) could be restored at less than $10,000 per hectare ($4,049 per acre) — making it a focal point for meeting national and international targets. Globally, 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of mangroves could be restored for $10.73 billion, or roughly what Americans spend on pet food every three months. That could remove up to 0.93 gigatons of CO₂ from the atmosphere, at an average cost of $11.49 per metric ton.

Such figures are competitive in the world of carbon markets, where blue carbon credits — those derived from coastal ecosystems — are gaining traction. But for now, the market is nascent.

Carbon finance alone is unlikely to underwrite the global mangrove revival. Opportunity costs, such as forgone aquaculture profits, could more than double restoration expenses. And the true success of such efforts will depend not just on trees planted or credits sold, but on long-term governance, local engagement, and ecological resilience.

Still, this cost model offers a tool for prioritizing investment. Where resources are scarce and climate ambitions high, identifying the most cost-effective hectares could help steer restoration efforts toward both fiscal prudence and environmental payoff.

Banner image: A mangrove forest in the Raja Ampat archipelago in Indonesia. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

SÃO PAULO — The Brazilian government has fallen short of its promise to include Indigenous peoples in the decision-making process at the upcoming COP30 climate summit it’s hosting in the Amazonian city of Belém, according to prominent Indigenous leader Beto Marubo.

“The spaces that were created for Indigenous participation … these are bodies that do not make decisions. They only contribute information,” Marubo told Mongabay’s Karla Mendes at the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism conference in São Paulo on June 12. “I would like us to be at the decision-making table.”

Brazil is set to host the U.N. climate summit in November 2025. Measures such as the introduction of a People’s Circle, led by Brazil’s minister of Indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara, and the presence of Brazil’s Indigenous Committee on Climate Change, have created greater engagement with Indigenous communities. But Indigenous representation still falls short, Marubo said.

Beto Marubo is a leader of the Marubo people from the Vale do Javari region in the Brazilian Amazon. At a climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, in June that served as a run-up to COP30, he said Indigenous leaders were able to optimize their role by adding criteria for accountability and monitoring of decisions in advance of the main summit in November.

But Brazil, he said, remains full of contradictions, as the country tries to position itself as a leader on climate while at the same time weakening laws that protect the environment. “It’s a sad situation. It feels like every week they are going through a checklist of theirs: which laws are we going to use to destroy the environment now?” Marubo told Mendes.

He cited the controversy around the Marco Temporal, legislation that sets a cutoff date for Indigenous people to submit territorial claims. The idea is that Indigenous groups only have rights to the land if they were already occupying that land as of October 1988, when Brazil’s Constitution was passed. Critics say this ignores displacements that occurred before that date, with Greenpeace calling it “a great attack on Indigenous rights.”

On July 17, Brazil’s Congress approved legislation that environmentalists call the “destruction bill,” drastically loosening environmental regulations. The bill now awaits a decision from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who can either veto it or sign it into law.

“Unfortunately, we’re heading to [COP30] with little hope,” Marubo said. “We’re not going believing that all that much will change.”

Banner image: Beto Marubo in Vale do Javari, Brazil, in 2022. Image courtesy of Beto Marubo.

Tropical Storm Wipha has left a trail of heavy flooding, landslides, strong winds and several deaths in parts of Southeast Asia over the past few days.

The cyclone started as a low-pressure area east of the Philippines on July 15. By July 16, it had intensified into a tropical depression, according to the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

As the storm strengthened over the next couple of days, it brought heavy rains throughout the Philippines, flooding several communities and making roads impassable. Dams were also forced to release water, local media said. The public works department said the disaster caused 526 million pesos ($9.2 million) in infrastructure damage.

The storm and the Southwest Monsoon together affected more than 1.2 million people, with more than 20,000 of them forced to stay in evacuation centers. Almost 1,300 houses were partially or totally damaged. At least five people died and seven remain missing, according to the NDRRMC.

In rural areas of the Philippines, heavy rain damaged high-value crops such as rice, tomato, eggplant and bitter gourd. Livestock, especially goats, were reportedly affected by hypothermia. Fishers in provinces south of the capital region were also affected, prompting a group to call for relief, media reported.

By July 19, Wipha, known in the Philippines as Crising, had developed into a severe tropical storm, just as it exited the Philippine region. As it passed south of Taiwan that same day, domestic flights and ferry routes on the island were suspended or cancelled. Mudslides were reported in some villages, prompting preemptive evacuation in affected areas. Low-lying areas in Taitung City saw flash floods.

Wipha then intensified into a typhoon, and continued to bring heavy rains as it made landfall in Guangdong, on the Chinese mainland, on July 20, also affecting Hong Kong.

While strong winds forced 200 people to stay at temporary shelters, much of the damage in Hong Kong was limited to fallen trees and scaffolding, Reuters reported. Flights were also suspended at the city’s airport over the weekend, resulting in long lines at check-in counters by July 21. Flights were also cancelled and rescheduled in the neighboring Chinese territory of Macau, a popular gambling hub.

Over China, Wipha weakened into a tropical storm, but heavy rain was still projected through July 22 for regions such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Fujian.

As of publication of this report on July 22, Wipha had made landfall in northern Vietnam. Flights were cancelled on July 21 in anticipation of the cyclone, and more than 346,000 soldiers were on standby to attend to emergencies, local media reported.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s meteorological department has issued heavy rain alerts for the country, which is next in Wipha’s path.

Banner image of a heavy downpour after Tropical Storm Wipha caused intensified monsoon rains in Quezon City, Philippines, on July 21. Image by AP Photo/Aaron Favila.

WILLIAMSPORT, Ohio (AP) — As global temperatures rise under climate change, the bees responsible for pollinating many crops are under increasing stress and scientists are trying to understand how they are affected. It’s an important question because the bees are critical to the fruit, vegetables, nuts and other foods that humans need. Scientists have found that bees fly differently during extreme heat and may also cope the same way humans do — by finding a cooler environment. But they aren’t able to do as much as they normally do, and scientists worry that heat makes the bees more vulnerable to disease.

By Joshua A. Bickel, Isabella O’Malley and Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press