Despite oil spills in Nigeria’s mangrove forests, Shell continued operations, documents show (June 6, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/despite-oil-spills-in-nigerias-mangrove-forests-shell-continued-operations-documents-show/
- Documents disclosed as part of a lawsuit against UK-based oil company Shell show leadership continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk in the surrounding coastal wetland environment.
- According to locals in Bille, a town near the pipeline, oil spills between 2011 and 2013 killed thousands of hectares of mangroves and aquatic life that rely on the wetland ecosystem, impacting people who depend on fishing.
- Shell said organized criminal gangs were responsible for the spills and that shutting down the pipeline and removing illegal connections also came with security risks.
- The Niger Delta region is a globally important biodiversity hotspot, hosting four Ramsar Wetlands and the largest mangrove forest in Africa.
Canada’s watchdog post vacant as overseas mining complaints mount (June 6, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/canadas-watchdog-post-vacant-as-overseas-mining-complaints-mount/
- Canada’s independent watchdog for overseas human rights complaints against Canadian companies has been leaderless since May 2025, leaving at least 24 active cases effectively stalled.
- Communities in the Dominican Republic, Namibia, Pakistan and elsewhere say delays have left them without a meaningful avenue to seek accountability for alleged environmental and human rights harms linked to Canadian mining and energy projects.
- Critics argue the office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) was already limited by weak investigative powers, and the year-long vacancy has further undermined confidence in the mechanism.
- The leadership gap comes as Canada promotes mining investment tied to growing demand for critical minerals. The vacancy is prompting renewed calls from advocates, former officials and the United Nations for the office to be strengthened and a new ombudsperson appointed urgently.
How trade bans and local conservation helped save a dazzling blue gecko (June 6, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-trade-bans-and-local-conservation-helped-save-a-dazzling-blue-gecko/
Beauty is a curse — at least for the turquoise dwarf gecko of central Tanzania. Between December 2004 and July 2009, demand for this gecko from collectors in Europe boomed, leading to the capture and export of an estimated 40,000 of these striking reptiles from Tanzania. “I remember when I saw them for the first […]
In Peru and Brazil, extractivism threatens Indigenous people in isolation: Report (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-peru-and-brazil-extractivism-threatens-indigenous-people-in-isolation-report/
- Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) in Peru and Brazil’s Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor are under threat by oil and gas expansion, proposed highways and illegal mining, a recent report says.
- Oil and gas blocks overlap with 10% of the 16-million-hectare corridor, including nearly 1.7 million hectares of intact tropical forest, and 12% of PIACI reserves pending approval are at risk from oil and gas.
- The report identifies 13 mining concessions and 500,000 hectares of logging concessions on the Peruvian side alone.
- Indigenous leaders and civil society organizations in Peru say the government must stop handing out concessions and revoke or relocate existing ones, otherwise PIACI face exposure to disease due to forced contact, conflict and the destruction of the ecosystems they depend on to survive.
The ‘ghost dog’ of the Amazon reveals the value of intact forests (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-ghost-dog-of-the-amazon-reveals-the-value-of-intact-forests/
The short-eared dog is one of the Amazon’s least-known carnivores. In Bolivia, it’s also one of the hardest to find. The species has a fox-like snout, small rounded ears, partially webbed toes, and a long bushy tail that often drags on the forest floor. In Spanish, it’s sometimes called perro fantasma, or ghost dog, a […]
Mongabay Africa’s most-read stories so far in 2026 (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/mongabay-africas-most-read-stories-so-far-in-2026/
From human-elephant coexistence to an alternative conservation model from the Democratic Republic of Congo, from teen innovators in Kenya to Guinea’s complicated experience with mining, the stories that attracted the most readers in the first five months of 2026 reflect the richness of Mongabay’s Africa coverage on World Environment Day, June 5, 2026. They also […]
Genetic study reveals extinction risk for unique mangrove-adapted pampas cat (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/genetic-study-reveals-extinction-risk-for-unique-mangrove-adapted-pampas-cat/
- The San Pedro de Vice dry mangrove habitat on the northwest coast of Peru hosts a very small population of desert pampas cats (Leopardus garleppi). It’s part of a population unlike any other across the species’ Latin American range, which stretches from southern Colombia to northern Argentina.
- While the desert pampas cat is normally found in arid deserts, dry forests or grasslands, this small coastal population is one of a kind in that it is uniquely adapted to a dry mangrove habitat bordered by desert.
- While camera-trap data initially suggested a healthy population in San Pedro de Vice, a recent genetic study performed on scat determined there are just nine cats in this isolated area, all of them related, with just two actively breeding — raising concerns this unique population can’t survival without conservation intervention.
- Researchers say this population’s story is a warning to conservationists that other small cat species worldwide thought to be thriving may be facing isolation and genetic bottlenecks in fragmented ecosystems, risking multiple local extinctions. But expensive genetic studies of hard-to-find scat make assessments difficult.
US set to hold latest oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/us-set-to-hold-latest-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-for-alaskas-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge/
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Trump administration’s push to expand oil and gas development in Alaska faces a new test Friday. That’s when the latest lease sale is set for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A coalition of conservation groups sent a letter to oil company leaders ahead of the sale, urging them to stay […]
Nepal farmers struggle to access relief for wildlife crop damage (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/nepal-farmers-struggle-to-access-relief-for-wildlife-crop-damage/
- Farmers in Nepal’s Madhesh province lose crops every year to wildlife, including nilgai antelopes, wild boars, deer and elephants, but complex paperwork and bureaucratic procedures make accessing compensation extremely difficult.
- The relief guidelines require 12 types of documents for a maximum payout of 10,000 rupees, or about $65, but exclude crops grown on unregistered land, and only cover 16 specified animals — leaving out deer, peacocks and parrots, which locals say cause significant damage.
- Compensation distributed is widely seen as inadequate, and even those who complete the process face long delays — with some farmers reporting the travel costs to government offices exceed the relief they receive.
- Political parties including the ruling RSP have pledged to address human-wildlife conflict but have yet to take any concrete measures, leaving farmers skeptical and without meaningful relief.
Whale strike risk rises as international shipping reroutes around South Africa (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/
- In a new study, researchers analyzed the link between increased shipping traffic in South African waters and collisions between whales and ships.
- The research covers six whale species occurring in near- and offshore waters and shows significant spatial overlap between whale habitats and shipping traffic, making action urgent.
- The South African government, the International Maritime Organization and scientists are working together to develop measures aimed at reducing whale strikes.
- Currently, rerouting vessel traffic is not possible as too much data are missing to map the spatial distribution of whales that occur farther offshore.
New golf-ball sized blue octopus species now identified in the Galapagos (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/new-golf-ball-sized-blue-octopus-species-now-identified-in-the-galapagos/
While on a deep-sea expedition in the Galapagos in 2015, scientists found a golf-ball sized, short-armed blue octopus. In a recent study, they confirmed that it’s new to science. The newly described octopus, named Microeledone galapagensis, was first sighted with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) near an underwater mountain, roughly 1,773 meters (5,800 feet) below […]
Indigenous communities in eastern Indonesia revive systems for marine protection (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/indigenous-communities-in-eastern-indonesia-revive-systems-for-marine-protection/
Across the small islands of eastern Indonesia that lie within the Wallacea region, one of the world’s richest marine biodiversity regions, coastal communities are reviving ancient customary systems to safeguard marine ecosystems from destructive fishing and habitat loss. This movement is the centerpiece of Jejak Wallacea, a recent documentary highlighting how local empowerment can succeed […]
Sea cucumber tissue survives for years in open water, study finds (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/sea-cucumber-tissue-survives-for-years-in-open-water-study-finds/
Severed tissue from a cold-water sea cucumber can survive, heal, and even move independently for years in natural seawater, researchers recently found. Some animals have the ability to regenerate tissues and body parts. Certain lizards can regrow their tails, for example. Some sea stars and sea cucumbers, including Psolus fabricii that live in the cold […]
Rights groups renew call to free jailed Cambodian environmental activists (June 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rights-groups-renew-call-to-free-jailed-cambodian-environmental-activists/
- Dozens of Cambodian and international civil society organizations have renewed calls for the release of five imprisoned activists from Mother Nature Cambodia, 700 days after they were jailed on charges widely viewed by rights groups as retaliation for their environmental activism.
- The activists were among 10 Mother Nature Cambodia members sentenced in 2024 to between six and eight years in prison for offenses including plotting against the government and insulting the king; a planned appeals hearing has now been postponed indefinitely.
- Supporters say the activists are being held in harsh conditions in prisons scattered across Cambodia, while repeated bail requests have been denied and families face significant financial and emotional burdens to visit them.
- The case has become a symbol of broader pressure on environmental defenders and civil society in Cambodia, with campaigners urging the government to free the activists ahead of the Francophonie Summit in Phnom Penh later this year.
Local indigenous people get more land in a DRC community forest (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/local-indigenous-people-get-more-land-in-a-drc-community-forest/
Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo granted 31 community forest land titles to farmers in May, bringing a total of more than a million hectares of forest in Tshopo under the legal stewardship of local Indigenous peoples. Bantu and Indigenous Mbuti communities have lived in the province for generations, but without official […]
Pilot project in San Francisco Bay aims to help ships avoid gray whales (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/pilot-project-in-san-francisco-bay-aims-to-help-ships-avoid-gray-whales/
Starting in 2018, gray whales began regularly stopping in California’s San Francisco Bay, where they are vulnerable to ship strikes in one of the busiest ports in the United States. In response, researchers have deployed a monitoring network of thermal cameras and AI software to alert ships when whales are present in the bay to […]
Canadian government endorses a plan to move whales from shuttered Marineland park to US and Spain (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/canadian-government-endorses-a-plan-to-move-whales-from-shuttered-marineland-park-to-us-and-spain/
TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s government endorsed a plan Wednesday to move the last remaining captive whales from a shuttered theme park in Ontario to aquariums in the United States and Spain — a plan that could save them from mass euthanasia if the deal goes through. There are 30 belugas and four dolphins left in the Marineland park […]
Offshore wind power cables can affect sensory system of sharks and rays: studies (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/offshore-wind-power-cables-can-affect-sensory-system-of-sharks-and-rays-studies/
- A series of studies found that electromagnetic fields from offshore-wind farm cables can trigger various effects in bottom-dwelling sharks and rays depending on species and life stage.
- Experiments on small-spotted catsharks and thornback rays showed behavioral and developmental responses.
- The researchers concluded that electromagnetic fields may increase predation risk during early development by altering natural behaviors linked to predator avoidance.
- eDNA surveys detected multiple shark and ray species inside offshore wind farms, suggesting they may serve as potential refuge areas, though major knowledge gaps remain.
Bangladesh struggles to enforce ‘polluter pays’ principle amid legal delays (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/bangladesh-struggles-to-enforce-polluter-pays-principle-amid-legal-delays/
- The “polluter pays” principle, though not new in Bangladesh, remains only on paper, as polluters continue to evade accountability.
- Regulatory authorities could only realize 47.52% of the total compensation imposed in the past 16 years.
- Loopholes in laws, weak assessment of pollution, insufficient legal staffing, and prolonged case disposal are to be blamed, experts say.
In Malawi, one woman’s farm shows what’s possible with land and support (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/in-malawi-one-womans-farm-shows-whats-possible-with-land-and-support/
- In 2006, Diana Sitima bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Malawi’s commercial capital and set about establishing an agroecological farm.
- She grows a variety of fruits and vegetables and keeps a range of livestock on her 3.5 hectares (nearly 9 acres), each element chosen as part of a system complementing the rest.
- Twenty years on, the sought-after produce from her farm in Chiradzulu district illustrates both the success that these agricultural techniques can bring and some of challenges that make her example hard for others to follow.
- As she mentors other farmers in her district, she notes the absence of financial and technical support needed to secure land and build up the knowledge and experience needed to prosper.