Saalumarada Thimmakka, mother of trees, has died, aged 114 (November 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/saalumarada-thimmakka-mother-of-trees-has-died-aged-114/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in southern India, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travelers who pass beneath them […]
UK court finds mining giant liable for decade-old dam disaster in Brazil (November 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/uk-court-finds-mining-giant-liable-for-decade-old-dam-disaster-in-brazil/
A U.K. judge has found that the Australian multinational mining company BHP is liable for a 2015 dam collapse in southeastern Brazil. The incident killed 19 people and unleashed at least 40 million cubic meters (1.4 billion cubic feet) of toxic mine tailings onto downstream towns and waterways for 675 kilometers (419 miles). In […]
Mongabay Fellows share their ‘Letters to the Future’ (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/mongabay-fellows-share-their-letters-to-the-future/
Uncertainty and hope — these sentiments prevail in a series of commentaries published by the latest cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as they conclude their program and forge new paths into environmental journalism. Uncertainty centers on the future of our planet, the journalists who cover it and the people who defend it. […]
AI data center revolution sucks up world’s energy, water, materials (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ai-data-center-revolution-sucks-up-worlds-energy-water-materials/
- Data centers are springing up across tropical Latin America, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Africa. But these facilities are often unlike those of the recent past. Today’s advanced data centers are built to provide artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
- As large AI data centers proliferate, they are competing for water, energy and materials with already stressed tropical communities. National governments frequently welcome Big Tech and AI, offering tax breaks and other incentives to build AI complexes, while often not taking community needs into consideration.
- Aware that fossil fuels and renewables by themselves likely can’t handle the astronomical energy demands posed by AI mega-data centers, Internet companies are reactivating the once moribund nuclear industry, despite intractable problems with radioactive waste disposal.
- Voices in the Global South say that AI computing (whose producers remain principally in the Global North) is evolving as a new form of extractive colonialism. Some Indigenous people say it is time to question limitless technological innovation with its heavy environmental and social costs.
Researchers find evidence of elephant poaching in remote Bangladesh forest (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/researchers-find-evidence-of-elephant-poaching-in-remote-bangladesh-forest/
Communities living around a remote, mountainous forest in southeastern Bangladesh, close to Myanmar, have reported cross-border incidents of elephant poaching for years but there was no confirmed evidence. A new study has now documented the first known physical signs of elephant poaching in the forest. The Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar’s Rakhine […]
Climate leaders warn of ‘overshoot’ into warming danger zone (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/climate-leaders-warn-of-overshoot-into-warming-danger-zone/
BELEM, Brazil (AP) — After years of pushing the world to limit Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, climate leaders are starting to acknowledge that the target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement will almost surely be breached. But they’re not conceding defeat. They are hopeful that temperatures can eventually be brought back below that […]
Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/
- A sting by Mexican authorities in September uncovered more than 2,300 live, wild-caught freshwater turtles and other valuable wildlife products. Three men were arrested and charged with wildlife crimes.
- Vallarta mud turtles, the world’s smallest and the most imperiled in the Western Hemisphere, were among the eight species seized by authorities. All are in high demand as pets, and were headed for the U.S. and Asia.
- Smuggled under horrific conditions, nearly half of the turtles seized in this raid died; the rest are being cared for at Guadalajara Zoo.
- This operation highlights rampant turtle smuggling in Mexico, home to the second-most turtle species on the planet. Conservationists urge officials to tighten law enforcement and intelligence gathering to combat trafficking that threatens the survival of the country’s wildlife.
Reindeer numbers may fall by more than half by 2100 as Arctic warms: Study (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/reindeer-numbers-may-fall-by-more-than-half-by-2100-as-arctic-warms-study/
Global reindeer populations could fall by more than half by 2100 due to the impacts of climate change, including the shrinking of their habitats, according to a recent study, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reports. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), known in North America as caribou, live only in frozen tundra and boreal forests near the Arctic, and […]
As Indonesia turns COP30 into carbon market showcase, critics warn of ‘hot air’ (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-indonesia-turns-cop30-into-carbon-market-showcase-critics-warn-of-hot-air/
- Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit to aggressively market its carbon credits, launching daily “Sellers Meet Buyers” sessions and seeking international commitments 6 despite unresolved integrity issues in its carbon market.
- Experts warn Indonesia’s credits risk being “hot air,” since its climate targets are rated “critically insufficient,” meaning many claimed reductions may not be real, additional or permanent — especially in forest-based projects.
- Forest and land-use credits, Indonesia’s biggest selling point, are among the riskiest, with high risks of overcrediting, leakage and nonpermanence; ongoing fires and deforestation further undermine credibility.
- Environmental groups say the carbon push distracts Indonesia from securing real climate finance, enabling wealthy nations to offset rather than cut emissions, while leaving Indonesia vulnerable to climate impacts and dependent on a fragile market.
Sloth selfies are feeding a booming wildlife trafficking trade (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sloth-selfies-are-feeding-a-booming-wildlife-trafficking-trade/
- The apparent docility and friendliness of “smiling” sloths have made them tourist darlings, but have also put a target on their backs.
- The rise in trafficking of these animals led the governments of Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama to propose stricter rules for the international trade of two sloth species; the goal is to prevent them from becoming threatened with extinction.
- Cruel practices used by traders condemn most animals to death, with sloth babies separated from their mothers and subjected to unbearable levels of stress.
- In the Brazilian Amazon, tourism companies encourage customers to take photos with sloths, and the government fears the smuggling of animals to neighboring countries.
Newly described ‘lucifer’ bee found visiting critically endangered plant in Australia (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/newly-described-lucifer-bee-found-visiting-critically-endangered-plant-in-australia/
In 2019, researcher Kit Prendergast was surveying the insects visiting an incredibly rare plant in the Bremer Ranges of Western Australia when a bee grabbed her attention. Prendergast and her colleague dug deeper and found that the native bee, now named Megachile lucifer, is a new-to-science species, according to a recent study. The species name […]
From rock music to rainforests: Akhyari Hananto’s unlikely path to impact (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/from-rock-music-to-rainforests-akhyari-hanantos-unlikely-path-to-impact/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Before dawn breaks over Surabaya, Indonesia’s “City of Heroes,” Akhyari Hananto is already at work. After morning prayers, he opens Google Analytics to watch the night’s reading patterns unfold — what stories drew attention, which headlines resonated, and […]
Small grants are key to a successful next generation of conservationists (commentary) (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/small-grants-are-key-to-a-successful-next-generation-of-conservationists-commentary/
- Large numbers of early-career conservationists and fledgling organizations are poised to implement solutions to the biodiversity crisis, but the prevailing funding logic isn’t adapting fast enough to support them.
- Small grants can make a huge difference in this moment, as they are fast, flexible and comprehensible to people on the ground doing local conservation work, especially when unhinged from onerous restrictions and reporting requirements.
- “We must support the next generation of conservation leaders to ensure they have viable career paths that do not come at the expense of burnout,” a new op-ed argues. “Small grants must step forward, not as charity, but as infrastructure for resilience.”
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
‘Green’ energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines’ nickel belt (November 14, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/green-energy-transition-leaves-a-dirty-trail-in-the-philippines-nickel-belt/
- Nickel mining in the southern Philippines is damaging the environment and health and livelihoods of local communities, according to a recent report from U.S.-based NGO Climate Rights International.
- The report looked at the Caraga region on the island of Mindanao, where 23 active nickel mines currently operate.
- Residents interviewed for the report cited siltation of rivers, farms and coastal areas as damage caused by nickel mines, as well as dust pollution during the dry season. They also listed human rights violations against people opposed to the mines.
- The vast majority of nickel mined in the region is exported to China.
Cacao rush fuels conflict and deforestation in southeastern Liberia (November 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/cacao-rush-fuels-conflict-and-deforestation-in-southeastern-liberia/
Soaring cacao prices over the last three years are fueling deforestation and conflict in Grand Gedeh county of Liberia, in West Africa, Mongabay staff writer Ashoka Mukpo reported. Satellite imagery by Global Forest Watch indicates that forest loss in and around Grand Gedeh, which borders the neighboring nation of Côte d’Ivoire in southeastern Liberia, has […]
Rare parrots return to Atlantic Forest fragment after decades of silence (November 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rare-parrots-return-to-atlantic-forest-fragment-after-decades-of-silence/
- Twenty red-browed amazons were released in January 2025 in a forest reserve in Alagoas, Brazil, where only four wild individuals remained after the species was driven to near-extinction by illegal trade and deforestation.
- The ARCA project aims to restore ecological processes in the Atlantic Rainforest, which today covers just 3% of its historical range in Alagoas — the result, in part, of the loss of seed-dispersing animals.
- The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Alagoas shifted from reactive to preventive environmental protection in 2017, facilitating partnerships between scientists and private land owners to create a network of private reserves covering more than 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres).
- Between 2010 and 2020, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lost an area the size of Washington, D.C., in mature trees each year, despite federal protection laws.
Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary) (November 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/strategic-ignorance-climate-change-and-amazonia-commentary/
- With the support of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, essentially all of Brazil’s government outside of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is promoting actions that push us toward tipping points, both for the Amazon Rainforest and the global climate.
- Crossing any of these tipping points would result in global warming escaping from human control, with devastating consequences for Brazil that include mass mortalities.
- The question of whether Brazil’s leaders understand the consequences of their actions is relevant to how they will be judged by history, but the climatic consequences follow automatically, regardless of how these actions may be judged, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Ecuador freezes bank accounts of Indigenous leaders, land defenders (November 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-leaders-land-defenders/
- Dozens of bank accounts that belong to Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have been reportedly frozen for weeks, by order of the state.
- Sources told Mongabay their accounts froze suddenly without warning or explanation. Some have gone over six weeks, unable to access their funds, saying it has drastically affected their mobility.
- The freezes come at a time of social protests and rising tensions in the country, and ahead of a controversial referendum in November that will ask citizens if they want to re-write the country’s constitution.
- The freeze on some bank accounts have been lifted with help from lawyers. However, dozens remain in place.
What’s at stake for the environment in Chile’s upcoming election? (November 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/
- Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies.
- The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues.
- Candidates range from the left-wing Jeannette Jara to conservatives José Antonio Kast, Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei.
- Whoever wins will have to address the clean energy transition, ongoing land disputes with Indigenous groups, and a controversial mining sector that has clashed with local communities.
Sea anemones and hermit crabs form a mutualistic relationship in Japan (November 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/sea-anemones-and-hermit-crabs-form-a-mutualistic-relationship-in-japan/
Japanese researchers have described a new species of sea anemone that appears to share a mutually beneficial relationship with hermit crabs. The pale pink sea anemones, now named Paracalliactis tsukisome, were found attached to the shells of hermit crabs (Oncopagurus monstrosus). The researchers described the anemone based on 36 specimens that fishing trawlers collected between […]