Singapore made a crow-friendly city. Now it wants to shoot them (August 28, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/singapore-made-a-crow-friendly-city-now-it-wants-to-shoot-them/
The resumption of a crow-shooting campaign in Singapore has revived intense debate over lethal wildlife management in the highly urbanized city-state. Government officials revived the culling program in response to public complaints about crow attacks on pedestrians and cyclists, reports contributor Robin Hicks for Mongabay. In a public statement in March announcing the resumption of […]
Community programs linked to lower forest loss in Indonesia’s Borneo during COVID-19 (August 28, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/community-programs-linked-to-lower-forest-loss-in-indonesias-borneo-during-covid-19/
- As climate and economic shocks put pressure on tropical forests, a new study suggests support for rural communities could help protect forests while strengthening their ability to withstand crises.
- Forest loss in protected areas of West Kalimantan on the Indonesian part of Borneo fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a larger decline in villages receiving health and livelihood support, the study finds.
- The findings point to health care, alternative livelihoods and other social support as potential tools for easing pressure on forests and helping forest-dependent communities adapt to future economic and environmental shocks — although the study does not establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
South Africa’s new gold rush: Big money, high stakes in emerging spekboom restoration sector (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/south-africas-new-gold-rush-big-money-high-stakes-in-emerging-spekboom-restoration-sector/
- After decades of livestock pressure, 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of farmland in South Africa’s Albany thicket biome need rehabilitation — the way a burn victim needs lifesaving skin grafts.
- Carbon finance seems the most likely source of funding, kickstarting the process with the mass planting of an endemic drought-tolerant succulent called spekboom (Portulacaria afra).
- Until now, restoration projects have been artisanal, but that’s changed with a $91 million loan to a new entrant and tech giant Amazon throwing its hat into the ring.
- A flush of new funding shows growing faith in a business model for ecosystem restoration, but there’s concern that if projects grow too fast and promise more carbon dioxide drawdown than the emerging science can account for, it could leave projects on shaky ground.
Costa Rica to require wildlife crossings for roads when they impact fauna (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/costa-rica-to-require-wildlife-crossings-for-roads-when-they-impact-fauna/
Costa Rican lawmakers unanimously voted to require wildlife crossings for new and existing road infrastructure when evidence shows the infrastructure interrupts natural connectivity and threatens wildlife safety. The measure, approved in August 2026, will help wildlife avoid being struck by cars while crossing roads and connect habitat, the regulation notes. Once signed into law by […]
Australia’s 30×30 conservation promise matters a lot, but how it’s achieved is key (commentary) (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/australias-30x30-conservation-promise-matters-a-lot-but-how-its-achieved-is-key-commentary/
- How Australia — one of the planet’s most megadiverse nations — tackles its goal to conserve 30% of its land and seas by 2030 (30×30) may signal whether this, the world’s most ambitious conservation commitment, can succeed.
- With just four years to meet its promise, Australia has a way to go, but has also achieved some important milestones in part by involving Indigenous communities closely in the effort.
- “If Australia meets the target well, it will help demonstrate that conservation can be representative, rights-based, well-funded, and effective,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
13 peccaries sail home to heal a Costa Rican forest (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/13-peccaries-sail-home-to-heal-a-costa-rican-forest/
- Costa Rica’s Osa Conservation moved 13 white-lipped peccaries by truck and boat across the Golfo Dulce to reintroduce the threatened species to Piedras Blancas National Park, where hunters had wiped it out roughly 18 years ago.
- The peccaries function as ecosystem engineers, churning soil, dispersing seeds, and digging wallows that become microhabitats, and serve as key prey for jaguars, which had also vanished from the park.
- The translocation followed more than a decade of population study, community outreach, and patient corral-baiting, culminating in a 16-hour, 20-person relay to capture, transport, and soft-release the herd, which now appears healthy and cohesive based on tracking data and camera-trap monitoring.
- The herd’s long-term safety still hinges on curbing poaching and sustaining local support, and Osa Conservation plans further translocations this year toward a target of 25-30 peccaries in the park.
More than 380 coastal World Heritage Sites may face climate risks, new data shows (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/
- Coral reefs, medieval coastal castles and mangrove forests on UNESCO’s World Heritage list now share something in common: Precise digital boundaries.
- A new dataset maps 386 coastal World Heritage Sites, offering the clearest picture yet of what stands to be lost as the world’s climate changes.
- Covering 235 million hectares (~581 million acres) of coastline, the new high-resolution, open-access dataset can be used by researchers and local managers to study flooding, erosion and other climate risks faced by heritage sites.
- The tool is a critical first step to understand climate risks, but not a substitute for the local knowledge needed to help these places survive, some experts say.
‘Devastating’ rush for critical minerals has little to do with green energy: Report (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/devastating-rush-for-critical-minerals-has-little-to-do-with-green-energy-report/
A new report published by U.S.-based think tank the Oakland Institute warns that the rush for critical minerals comes with massive implications for the world, especially African countries. The report, “RUSH: Global Scramble for Minerals Wages War on People and Planet,” challenges the popular narrative that an expansion of mining operations is necessary for the […]
US environmental groups plan to sue to relist gray whales under Endangered Species Act (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/us-environmental-groups-plan-to-sue-to-relist-gray-whales-under-endangered-species-act/
A group of environmental organizations announced their intent to sue the United States National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) for failing to consider protections for Eastern Pacific gray whales under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are experiencing a potentially catastrophic population decline, a sharp reversal from what had been considered a conservation […]
Nepal floods highlight growing glacier risks in warming Himalayas (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/nepal-floods-highlight-growing-glacier-risks-in-warming-himalayas/
BENGALURU, India (AP) — Scientists say a deadly flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday was likely caused by a glacier chunk breaking off and temporarily damming a river. This may have led to a surge of water downstream, killing at least 353 people and leaving over 1,300 missing. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude […]
Cambodia defies UN call to free ‘arbitrarily jailed’ environmental activists (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/cambodia-defies-un-call-to-free-arbitrarily-jailed-environmental-activists/
- Cambodia insists five environmental activists jailed in 2024 will remain behind bars, after a U.N. working group called their detention arbitrary and urged their immediate release.
- The five members of Mother Nature Cambodia were sentenced to six to eight years in prison for allegedly plotting against the government.
- The U.N. working group found no legal basis for their detention and said their prosecution and trial violated their rights, including through discriminatory treatment and a lack of a fair trial.
- Cambodian officials maintain the activists were detained through lawful judicial proceedings, while rights advocates say the case reflects a broader government crackdown on environmental defenders.
In Java’s hills, former bird hunters are rebuilding a songbird haven (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-javas-hills-former-bird-hunters-are-rebuilding-a-songbird-haven/
- Some former hunters on the Indonesian island of Java have abandoned catching birds for the songbird trade and have since become notable local conservation figures.
- The Menoreh Hills is a karst biosphere in Central Java province where sightings of songbirds have declined over several years due to hunting and land-use change.
- One local songbird, the Javan blue flycatcher, has become critically endangered due to hunting, with population assessments indicating the number of caged birds is at least an order of magnitude greater than the total population living freely in low- and mid-lying forests in Java.
A ‘leading’ Chinese miner of Mozambique’s heavy sands linked to environmental destruction (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-leading-chinese-miner-of-mozambiques-heavy-sands-linked-to-environmental-destruction/
- Rapid loss of mangroves in Mozambique’s Zambezia Province is linked to the activities of Mozambique Heavy Sand Company VIII, which is part-owned by an influential Chinese mining group, Mongabay has found.
- The mangrove loss occurred inside a site considered “one of the most diverse and productive river delta systems in the world.”
- Satellite imagery suggests it was caused by what appears to be a blocked waterway where sand mining activities took place between 2022 and 2026.
- Increasingly, environmentalists are raising the alarm about the environmental impacts of heavy minerals prospecting and mining in vast sections along Mozambique’s coast.
A Sumatran villager lost ground to the sea. So he planted mangroves (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/a-sumatran-villager-lost-ground-to-the-sea-so-he-planted-mangroves/
In a coastal village on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an oil palm and pineapple grower named Harisyah is fighting rapid coastal erosion. The region’s northern coastline, which sits on carbon-rich tropical peat soils, is losing ground to the sea at a rate of more than 6 meters (20 feet) annually. Researchers attribute the retreat […]
China’s Tianmu Mountain reserve tackles modern conservation amid religious tradition (August 27, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/chinas-tianmu-mountain-reserve-tackles-modern-conservation-amid-religious-tradition/
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 […]
Brazil relaxes Belo Monte water rule amid El Niño-fueled Amazon drought risk (August 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/brazil-relaxes-belo-monte-water-rule-amid-el-nino-fueled-amazon-drought-risk/
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 […]
Pastoralists in a Changing World (August 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2026/08/pastoralists-in-a-changing-world/
Pastoralism is one of humanity’s oldest ways of life. Moving livestock across vast landscapes in rhythm with seasonal change and environmental conditions, pastoralist cultures rely on freedom of movement and shared arrangements over how to graze rangelands. Today, pastoralists are navigating profound environmental changes to the lands that have sustained their communities for generations. This […]
Kenya’s clothing waste raises concerns about potential public health risks (August 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/kenyas-clothing-waste-raises-concerns-about-potential-public-health-risks/
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 […]
As hay fever sufferers grow in Japan, the country is looking to plant no-pollen trees (August 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-hay-fever-sufferers-grow-in-japan-the-country-is-looking-to-plant-no-pollen-trees/
- More than 40% of the population in Japan suffers from hay fever, or kafunsho, an annual affliction.
- The majority of Japan’s hay fever sufferers are allergic to the pollen of two trees — sugi and hinoki. Both trees were widely planted in the years following World War II as a much-needed source of timber.
- In 2023, the Japanese government announced a solution: Fell 750,000 hectares of sugi and hinoki trees in a bid to cut the problem off at the root.
- After decades of work, researchers have developed more than 30 strains of low-pollen and no-pollen sugi trees, which will replace some of the trees cut down.
Nigeria can build the new coastal highway and also protect natural areas (commentary) (August 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nigeria-can-build-the-new-coastal-highway-and-also-protect-natural-areas-commentary/
- To improve living conditions in Nigeria, new roads like the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway are needed.
- But these can and must be built in such a way that protects mangroves, swamps, and remnant forests, using knowledge and tools like environmental and social impact assessments.
- “The question is not whether Nigeria should develop. It is whether development will be intelligent enough to avoid destroying the natural infrastructure that already protects coastal communities,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.