Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions have long guided the protection of plants and wildlife in a nature reserve on Tianmu Mountain in eastern China.

Local temples enforced strict rules and punishments against forest destruction, but, following the reserve’s recent expansion, state regulations now provide the formal legal framework for the area. Local officials say religious traditions from the past continue to shape public attitudes, reports contributor Keith Anthony Fabro for Mongabay. 

The Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve, located on the eastern coast of China,  expanded from 4,300 hectares (10,630 acres)  to become the 54,700-hectare (135,170-acre) Tianmushan-Qingliangfeng UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 2025. It represents a landmark expansion, the first of its kind in China.

Long known as the “kingdom of big trees” and home to the ancient, endangered Ginkgo biloba, the biosphere reserve is a crucial biodiversity haven for thousands of species  including the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons), Chinese golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis) and Tianmu ironwood (Ostrya rehderiana).

Religion has been one of Tianmu’s most steadfast guardians, like many mountainous regions in China, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“This place is special not only because of its nature,” Lu Senhong, head of the publicity and education division at the Tianmu National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, told Mongabay in an interview. “It is also because people here have long believed that every tree, flower, and bird carries a spirit. That respect has kept the mountain alive.”

Today, the administration formally manages the now expanded reserve, but its 10-year management plan (2023–2032) was developed alongside local communities, according to UNESCO. The reserve is split into core, buffer and transition zones, with the latter home to 47,340 residents across 41 villages. The co-management approach seeks to resolve historical land-use and compensation disputes, such as a 2001 lawsuit filed by 243 households from Bao Family Village over restrictions in protected areas.

Local residents hold decision-making power over ecotourism and sustainable industries development in the area, aligning economic incentives with ecological health.

Park authorities and religious institutions are also trying to get younger generations to run homestays or work in tourism rather than farming.

“They [young people ] know ecotourism needs a healthy environment,” Senhong told Mongabay. “So, protection and livelihood are aligned.”

But the reserve is battling pine wilt , a disease that kills pine trees. Additionally, scientists are analyzing how climate warming has shifted forest composition, increasing the abundance of evergreen trees that normally grow at lower and warmer altitudes.

Ultimately, by looking to the past, authorities say traditions offer lessons about how to relate to and protect remaining key biodiversity sites. “For Taoists and Buddhists, harmony between humans and nature is fundamental,” Senhong said. “You must respect them and take care of them.”

Read the full story by Keith Anthony Fabro here.

Banner image: For more than a millennium, a mix of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian traditions guided protection of plants and wildlife in this lush reserve. Image courtesy of UNESCO.

Brazilian authorities have temporarily relaxed an environmental rule for the Belo Monte hydropower plant on the Xingu River in the northeastern Amazon. The change comes in anticipation of another potentially severe, El-Niño-fueled dry season.

Under the temporary measure, Belo Monte’s operator Norte Energia can cut the flow of the dam’s 119 square-kilometer (46 square-mile) intermediate reservoir from the current minimum of 300 cubic meters per second (10,600 cubic feet per second) to 100 m³/s (3,530 ft³/s). It has already begun the gradual cuts to reduce flow. They will remain until Nov. 30.

Regulators told Mongabay the change will allow the plant to both preserve electricity generation and water flows through the Volta Grande do Xingu, a large bend in the Xingu River where Indigenous and riverine communities depend on the river for fishing, transport and daily life.

Reduced water flow in the reservoir increases the risk of poorer water quality, with potential consequences for both aquatic life and people as the river flows downstream.

“Between a worse option and a bad one, they chose the bad one,” André Oliveira Sawakuchi, a geoscientist at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, told Mongabay by phone.

Norte Energia said the measure will ensure that the required flow through the Volta Grande will remain unchanged. They also said that they will monitor water quality and fish movements and report back to regulatory agencies.

“Significant social and environmental impacts are not expected.” IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environment agency, told Mongabay by email. “If the measure were not adopted, it would probably be necessary to significantly draw down Belo Monte’s reservoirs to maintain the flow regime established for the Volta Grande do Xingu.”

Norte Energia has sought permission to reduce the flow during every dry season for the past three years. In 2024, regulators approved the request for the first time as a drought emergency measure. In 2025, the company submitted the same request again, but federal regulators rejected it, citing environmental risks.

Now, with another El Niño projected to cause extreme drought conditions, the measure was approved once again. Such stop gaps underscore a larger problem: A recent government report warned that hydropower plants in the region could lose up to 40% of their generation capacity over the coming decades.

Sawakuchi said that the Belo Monte project, the largest hydropower plant in the Amazon, was designed using historical river flows dating back to the 1950s, rather than projected river flows that accounted for climate change and deforestation. 

“There are two factors that reduce water availability in the Xingu. One is deforestation in the basin over the past few decades. The other is longer-lasting and more intense droughts, which may be associated with climate change,” Sawakuchi said. “The project wasn’t designed with this in mind, so the likelihood is that this situation will get worse.”

Banner image: Belo Monte hydropower dam on the Xingu. Image courtesy of TV Brasil.

Kenya’s secondhand clothing trade, locally known as mitumba, clothes millions of people and supports an estimated 2 million livelihoods, making it one of Africa’s largest markets for used garments. That makes Kenya a useful lens for understanding the growing global public health problems associated with textile waste disguised as reusable clothing.

More than 4.5 billion used garments are shipped to Africa each year, according to a recent letter published in Science. Many end up in dumpsites or are burned when local sorting systems are overwhelmed.

The researchers argue that discarded textile waste can become reservoirs for harmful bacteria, including Escherichia (which includes E. coli) and Klebsiella. These bacteria are linked to illnesses ranging from diarrheal disease and urinary tract infections to pneumonia, bloodstream infections and, in severe cases, life-threatening sepsis.

A growing body of research links health risks with textile waste. A recent review found that discarded textiles can harbor pathogenic microorganisms and antimicrobial-resistant genes. Another study showed that microplastics released from degrading synthetic textiles can transport pathogens and toxic chemicals through the environment. Recent reporting by Mongabay highlighted evidence that microplastic pollution may contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance.

For Kenya, the enormous scale of the secondhand clothing trade is at the root of the problem. A 2023 report estimates that Nairobi’s largest dumpsite receives roughly 86 metric tons of textile waste each day. Once discarded, synthetic textiles can fragment into microplastics that pollute both the air and waterways.

To combat the problem, the authors of the Science letter call for stricter enforcement of international environmental laws, tighter quality controls before export and greater investment in waste management and recycling infrastructure in importing countries. They also recommend a more rigorous international definition of “used goods” to close legal loopholes that allow waste trafficking.

“It is critical to consider the potential risks, including bacterial contamination,” Ebenezer Amadi, a senior program manager at Bopinc, told Mongabay in a WhatsApp conversation. “However, this can be addressed through inspection and appropriate controls at the point of entry.”

Kenya has started to address the textile waste problem with its Sustainable Waste Management Act, which promotes waste reduction, recycling and extended producer responsibility (EPR), but the researchers argue that importing countries cannot shoulder the burden alone.

According to Akshay Shah, the outgoing board chair of the Kenya Extended Producer Responsibility Organization, a concrete step forward would be for the textile import sector to form its own EPR mechanism. “The retailer that ultimately benefits from the textile to sell to consumers will need to be liable to pay the EPR fee.” That fee can then flow back to the waste pickers and recyclers who process the material.

Without stronger oversight by exporting nations, the Science letter’s authors warn, the environmental and public health costs of the world’s discarded clothing will continue to fall disproportionately on African countries.

Banner image: A woman displays her wares for sale at a market in Nairobi. Image by Biva2017 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China have killed at least 75 people and left hundreds missing. On Wednesday, officials in Nepal reported 403 people missing, including 341 foreign nationals. Many were said to be on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in China’s autonomous region of Tibet. China’s state broadcaster said a mudslide in Tibet killed at least three people and left 265 missing. The floods have destroyed villages, roads, and hydropower projects. Nepal said it has asked India and China to help with rescue efforts.

By Niranjan Shrestha and Sibi Arasu, Associated Press

Banner image: Rescuers use an earthmover to carry a victim of flash flooding to safety along the Trishuli River in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. Image courtesy of Niranjan Shrestha, Associated Press. 

At least four suspects have been arrested in connection with the deaths of 18 elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya, near the border with Tanzania. Preliminary investigations by a multiagency team suggest poisoning from agricultural pesticides, authorities say.

In July, 16 elephants were found dead at Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Group Ranch in the Amboseli ecosystem. The death toll rose to 18 in August, after two more elephant carcasses were found in Kitenden B reserve, near the Amboseli National Park.

On Aug. 21, Kenya Wildlife Service’s (KWS) communication director Duncan Wanyama told Mongabay by phone that another elephant was in critical condition in Amboseli and under close watch by animal experts. The KWS has previously said that most of the elephants found dead were female and their calves.

Investigations have led to the recovery of substances, including chemicals that are potentially toxic, and “unlabelled materials”, which have been secured for further scientific analysis, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Rebecca Miano said in a statement seen by Mongabay. “Although the investigations remain active, the arrest of persons of interest and the recovery of exhibits do not in themselves establish criminal culpability,” she said.

Miano added that a suspect believed to have crucial information about the killings of the elephants was still at large.

Initial investigations indicated that the elephants died after ingesting a toxic substance, with laboratory tests pointing to cyanide. The elephants were thought to have come into contact with the chemical in pesticides sprayed on tomatoes in nearby farms, although Miano said this is yet to be scientifically proven.

Farmers from the area have refuted the allegation and told the Associated Press on Aug. 7 that the communities there have long coexisted with elephants.

Kenya-based conservation NGO WildlifeDirect has sought more independent and transparent investigations. “The reported deaths … are a warning that Kenya’s pesticide governance, regulatory oversight, and enforcement systems require urgent reform,” Paula Kahumbu, WildlifeDirect’s CEO, said in a statement when the death of the first 15 elephants was announced. “If toxic chemicals are capable of entering crops consumed by elephants, we must ask whether farmers, farm workers, neighbouring communities, livestock, and consumers are being adequately protected.”

A multi-government-agency team has been investigating the matter, including within the community that lives adjacent to the national park.

Miano commended the local communities for their “vigilance and cooperation during these investigations”.

“Their readiness to share information and support the multi-agency operation demonstrates that communities are not passive beneficiaries of conservation, but indispensable partners and the primary guardians of Kenya’s wildlife heritage,” she said.

Miano called for cross-border collaboration to ensure the safety of the animals that move freely between Kenya and Tanzania and promised a sustained probe until the truth about the jumbos’ deaths is established.

Banner image: A Kenya Wildlife Service team rescued this elephant that was stuck in the mud in Muchuro, Isiolo County, on Aug. 22, 2026. Image courtesy of KWS.

As the 2026 El Niño strengthens in the equatorial Pacific, satellites are capturing the first major signs of disruption to the marine food web.

According to by NASA’s Earth Observatory observations, satellite measurements show a substantial drop in surface concentrations of chlorophyll across the Central Pacific compared with neutral conditions in June 2025. Chlorophyll is the pigment that helps plants absorbs sunlight to generate energy, and its reduction indicates a decline in phytoplankton, the base of the ocean’s food webs.

Hyung-Gyu Lim, an associate professor of oceanography at Chonnam National University in South Korea, told Mongabay by email that a developing El Niño can slow the process of upwelling, where nutrient-rich cold waters rise from the ocean depths to the surface. “This may trigger less nutrient supply. It is not surprising for me,” Lim said.

Matthew Kehrli and Graham Trolley, oceanographers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, wrote in a NASA Earth Observatory article that El Niño can suppress upwelling because easterly equatorial trade winds weaken, causing the warm surface layer of the ocean to extend deeper.

They added that as El Niño progresses, chlorophyll concentrations will likely decrease further over a broader region.

The ecological consequences of this nutrient decline would mean less food available for zooplankton, as well as for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, the NASA Earth Observatory article said. This affects fisheries: Peru’s anchovy fisheries, for example, saw significant declines in catch during previous El Niño events, driven by warmer surface waters, reduced upwelling, and lower phytoplankton levels. This year, the country has repeatedly suspended its vital anchovy fishery to protect vulnerable fish stocks, while starving pelicans have begun invading urban ports in search of food.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center estimates a greater than 90% chance the current El Niño will persist into early 2027.

Despite the severe immediate disruptions, the NASA Earth Observatory said oceans often undergo a “chlorophyll rebound” once the event subsides.

Research led by Lim also suggests  higher iron concentrations from ocean currents, as well as iron dust blown from dry land in parts of Central and South America, help fuel the resurgence of chlorophyll after El Niño. Iron is a key nutrient that stimulates phytoplankton growth.

Lim said recent Earth System Model studies “suggest that oceanic drivers facilitate a post-El Niño chlorophyll rebound fueled by subsurface iron supply. Furthermore, atmospheric drivers — such as dust-iron deposition — can significantly modulate marine productivity.”

Lim added surface satellite maps only show part of the ecological picture. To truly capture the dynamics, he said, advanced observation systems must integrate both surface and subsurface observations from oceans.

Banner image: Average chlorophyll concentrations in the Central Pacific for June 2026, right, appear significantly reduced under a strengthening El Niño compared to June 2025, when conditions were neutral. Images courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison.