Invasive ferrets removed from an island in a world-first (April 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/invasive-ferrets-removed-from-an-island-in-a-world-first/
Rathlin Island off the north of Northern Ireland is now free from feral ferrets that were harming its native seabirds. Conservationists say this is the first time these nonnative animals, which were domesticated from polecats some 2,000 years ago, have been completely eradicated from any island. Ferrets (Mustela furo) were introduced to Rathlin in the […]
Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early (April 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/
- The 2026 fire season in Indonesia is already showing early signs of escalation, as burned areas reached 32,637 hectares by February, 20 times higher than the same period in 2025.
- Some global forecasts suggest this year’s predicted El Niño could become one of the strongest in at least a decade, raising the risk of prolonged drought and widespread fires, although significant uncertainty remains over how intense it will ultimately be.
- Fire monitoring by the watchdog Pantau Gambut show that many hotspots are in oil palm and timber concession areas, which the group says suggests that legal permits alone do not guarantee fire-safe land management and highlights gaps in oversight and enforcement.
‘Rediscovered’ species in Papua spotlight importance of Indigenous knowledge (April 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/rediscovered-species-in-papua-spotlights-importance-of-indigenous-knowledge/
- Two species of marsupial thought by scientists to be extinct for thousands of years still live in the forests of Indonesian Papua on the island of New Guinea, according to recently published research.
- One of the animals, the ring-tailed glider, is sacred to the Tambrauw people, and it’s part of a newly proposed genus, Tous, borrowing the Tambrauw name for the glider.
- The other animal, a pygmy long-fingered possum, was discovered during a mammal-watching trip on the Bird’s Head Peninsula.
- The research involved substantial collaborations with local communities and Indigenous elders.
Coexisting with America’s growing urban coyote population is easier than you think (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/04/coexisting-with-americas-growing-urban-coyote-population-is-easier-than-you-think/
Coyotes are now present in almost every major urban-metropolitan area in the United States, yet conflicts between the canines and humans are exceptionally low. Between 1960 and 2006, only 146 documented coyote attacks on humans occurred in the U.S. and Canada. Yet there are 4.5 million dog attacks on humans annually in the U.S. alone. […]
Exploring giraffe-human conflict in Kenya (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/exploring-giraffe-human-conflict-in-kenya/
Reticulated giraffes are an endangered species across their primary range in Kenya, most commonly threatened by habitat loss and illegal hunting. Conflicts with people are also rising as giraffes sometimes eat crops like mangos and compete with local people for water. A group of researchers investigated emerging human-giraffe conflict (HGC) in northeastern Kenya found that, […]
A reforestation corridor in Madagascar offers a future for lemurs and locals (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-reforestation-corridor-in-madagascar-offers-a-future-for-lemurs-and-locals/
- A reforestation corridor project aims to reconnect 150 hectares of fragmented forest between Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Special Reserve, home to a dozen lemur species and many other animals and plants that are found nowhere else on Earth.
- Led by the Mad Dog Initiative in partnership with The Dr. Abigail Ross Foundation for Applied Conservation, Association Mitsinjo and Ecovision Village, the project represents a unique convergence of science, private investment and community action.
- The project has already planted more than 100 native tree species across 70 hectares, a portion of which were grown in soil inoculated with mycorrhiza, with seedlings showing high survival and growth rates. Even in its early stages, lemurs are using the corridor.
- To address local challenges and increase the chances of long-term restoration success, project partners are investing in ecotourism, health care and education, among other strategies.
In Brazil, unfinished water project leaves Indigenous villages without safe water (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-brazil-unfinished-water-project-leaves-indigenous-villages-without-safe-water/
- According to Brazil’s Ministry of Health data obtained by Mongabay, of the 4,134 Indigenous villages in Brazil’s North Region, only 1,934 — about 47% — have proper infrastructure to supply drinking water to the population.
- To avoid scarcity, many communities resort to improvised solutions, using buckets and pipes to fill their reservoirs with water from rivers and waterfalls. In times of drought, shallow wells are also dug on riverbanks.
- Their emergency strategy against thirst, however, increases a series of health risks, forcing entire villages to consume ferrous, dirty, and contaminated water — all vectors for infectious diseases.
- In some areas of the North, in addition to chemical purification solutions such as Salta-Z, nanotechnology-based collective filters have helped communities cope with the water crisis — and, according to their complaints, with government neglect.
EUDR is starting to steer company actions, despite slow progress: Report (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/eudr-is-starting-to-steer-company-actions-despite-slow-progress-report/
- Although more progress is needed, a growing number of companies are adopting and implementing deforestation commitments ahead of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) taking effect in December, according to a new report analyzing public data on 500 companies exposed to deforestation in their supply chains.
- Global Canopy’s newest Forest 500 Report found that 14% of companies mentioned the EUDR in deforestation commitments and more than 25% reported new implementation actions in 2025. The number of companies with traceability mechanisms also increased.
- The report also found that 24 companies have never published deforestation commitments and that 14 backtracked on previous commitments in 2025.
- The legal uncertainty surrounding the EUDR and its implementation disincentivizes companies from adopting systems for due diligence on deforestation, experts say.
Māori knowledge shows climate change domino effects on forest food chains (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/maori-knowledge-shows-climate-change-domino-effects-on-forest-food-chains/
- An Indigenous-led team of researchers worked with Māori knowledge-holders in the Te Urewera and Whirinaki forests of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island to document forest change over the past 75 years.
- Drawing on bioindicators from traditional ecological knowledge, they found dramatic changes in native tree fruiting patterns in line with climatic shifts.
- The research showed cascading impacts from the fruiting shifts across the food chain — including for pigeons, pigs and people.
Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining (analysis) (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/deep-sea-wildernesses-are-more-important-than-the-promise-of-seafloor-mining-analysis/
- A scientist who was part of a major 2008 expedition exploring the promise of deep-sea mining writes in a new analysis that what they found offshore of Papua New Guinea ended his enthusiasm for the nascent industry.
- The biodiversity documented by their remotely operated vehicle — added to the fragility and uniqueness of the geology and ecology they documented — was clearly too special to perhaps permanently decimate for electric vehicles and renewable energy.
- “I entered this project in good faith, working with the mining company to help determine whether or not deep-sea mining at Solwara I could be conducted with minimal harm to the marine environment. I exited convinced that there is no viable path forward for hydrothermal vent mining, anywhere in the ocean.”
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Ghana declares its first marine protected area (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/ghana-declares-its-first-marine-protected-area/
Ghana has declared its first marine protected area after more than 15 years of efforts to bolster marine conservation and safeguard its depleting fish stocks. Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang announced the creation of the MPA on April 14. It marks a “historic moment,” according to Ghana’s fisheries commission, Benjamin Campion. The designated area covers […]
Afghanistan’s capital is in the grip of a water crisis (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/afghanistans-capital-is-in-the-grip-of-a-water-crisis/
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Nestled in a high-altitude valley in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountain range, Kabul is rapidly running out of water. Experts say climate change has played its part, but so has massive population growth and resource mismanagement. Many people, particularly in the poorer areas of the Afghan capital, are left struggling to cope. […]
This ghost octopus is facing a new threat (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/this-ghost-octopus-is-facing-a-new-threat/
China is one of the biggest players in the race to mine the deep sea — and a joint Mongabay-CNN investigation shows that over the past five years, eight Chinese research vessels have been busy exploring for minerals in zones designated to Chinese companies. These eight ships spent more than 800 days inside these deep-sea […]
George Schaller: The field biologist who helped redefine conservation (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/george-schaller-the-field-biologist-who-helped-redefine-conservation/
- Miriam Horn’s Homesick for a World Unknown traces the life of George B. Schaller, a field biologist whose work reshaped how animals are studied and understood.
- The book portrays a scientist defined by patience, close observation, and a disciplined effort to understand animals on their own terms, even as such an approach ran against prevailing scientific norms.
- Horn presents Schaller’s career across continents as both scientific and practical, showing how his research informed the creation of protected areas while gradually incorporating local knowledge and participation.
- Rather than probing for psychological insight, the biography mirrors its subject’s outward focus, offering a restrained account that raises broader questions about attention, conservation, and what it means to share a world with other species.
In northern Kenya, a shifting Lake Turkana reshapes traditional livelihoods (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/in-northern-kenya-a-shifting-lake-turkana-reshapes-traditional-livelihoods/
- According to Kenya’s environment ministry, water levels in Lake Turkana have risen by several meters in the past decade, expanding its total surface area by around 10%.
- The rise, mainly caused by increased rainfall far upstream, has affected communities and infrastructure on the lake’s shores, as well as disrupted fishing in its changing waters.
- Extended drought in surrounding areas has drawn thousands of new fishers to Lake Turkana, sometimes sparking conflict.
- The people who have lived here the longest are negotiating their survival in what a researcher calls “a system with many variables, both natural and human.”
Landmark win for Thai villagers, but gold mine appeal delays justice (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/landmark-win-for-thai-villagers-but-gold-mine-appeal-delays-justice/
In a landmark verdict, the Bangkok Civil Court last month held the operator of a gold mine liable for environmental and health damages, ordering it to compensate nearly 400 villagers. But the company is appealing against the ruling, which will likely delay payouts and prolong a decade-long legal fight, reports contributor Kannikar Petchkaew for Mongabay. […]
Conservation efforts help an endangered dipterocarp spread roots in Bangladesh (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/conservation-efforts-help-an-endangered-dipterocarp-spread-roots-in-bangladesh/
- Conservation of the endangered boilam tree (Anisoptera scaphula) — Bangladesh’s tallest tree species — has reached a milestone after a 34-year-old man planted saplings across all the districts of the country.
- A Bangladeshi forestry professor’s dedicated work offers fresh hope for science-based conservation of the rare species.
- With no established conservation approach in Southeast Asia, where the species is also endangered, the Bangladeshi model could serve as a replicable solution.
Two-month-old bear cubs rescued from Facebook sale in Laos (April 14, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/two-month-old-bear-cubs-rescued-from-facebook-sale-in-laos/
Two Asiatic black bear cubs posted for sale on Facebook have been rescued in Laos as part of an illegal wildlife trade sting. Free the Bears, an international conservation nonprofit, coordinated the operation with local authorities in Oudomxay province after discovering the Facebook post while monitoring online platforms for wildlife traders. The advertisement featured two […]
Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo? (April 13, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/can-nature-outcompete-war-in-eastern-congo/
- In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, pressure on Virunga National Park reflects deeper economic and governance dynamics, where conservation competes with immediate livelihood needs tied to charcoal production and agriculture.
- Emmanuel de Merode frames environmental decline as a consequence of how people earn a living, arguing that protecting biodiversity requires addressing energy access, jobs, and local economic systems.
- Virunga has developed an integrated model built around renewable energy, small business development, financial access, and localized security, aimed at shifting incentives away from conflict-linked and extractive activities.
- The proposed Green Corridor extends this approach across a national scale, testing whether a viable economic system can be built that depends on maintaining forests rather than clearing them, despite ongoing conflict and political constraints.
30-year Himalayan project shows power of community-led forest restoration (April 13, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/30-year-himalayan-project-shows-power-of-community-led-forest-restoration/
- A 30-year forest restoration project in India’s Western Himalayas transformed degraded land into a biodiverse ecosystem through the participation of local communities.
- According to a recently published study, the project resulted in the establishment of 88 tree species that are now naturally multiplying, and employed simple bioengineering techniques to retain soil moisture, resulting in long-term natural regeneration and ecological stability.
- The restored site, named Surya-Kunj, or Sun-Grove, now supports rich biodiversity, including more than 160 bird species as well as medicinal plants.
- Strong community participation and educational value has helped turn the project into a scalable model for mountain ecosystem recovery, researchers say.