Singapore sand imports threaten an already sinking Cambodian fishing community, again (November 6, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/singapore-sand-imports-threaten-an-already-sinking-cambodian-fishing-community-again/
- Sand exports from Cambodia to Singapore have resumed after a nine-year ban, with Cambodian trade statistics showing that more than 694,000 tons of sand, valued at $3.47 million, were exported from June-September 2026.
- Sand mining is occurring along the Trapeang Rung River in Cambodia, in an area described as having “astonishing” biodiversity, drawing fears of lasting damage to seagrass beds, mangrove forests and the ecosystems and fisheries they support.
- Fishers in the area, who are already struggling with dwindling fish stocks and rising fuel prices, say their access to fishing grounds has been blocked by mining operations, and fear the dredging operation will do long-term damage to fisheries.
Nigeria’s shifting rainfall wreaks havoc with a beloved edible green, the waterleaf plant (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/nigerias-shifting-rainfall-wreaks-havoc-with-a-beloved-edible-green-the-waterleaf-plant/
- In Nigeria, the waterleaf plant, one of the country’s most widely eaten vegetables, is succumbing to changing rainfall patterns and flooding.
- Farmers say their plants aren’t reaching maturity amid months of relentless rain; meanwhile, market vendors are faced with diminished supplies, while buyers balk at increased prices.
- While technology-powered farming methods and better water management can offer solutions, many of Nigeria’s smallholder farmers cannot afford the price of these improvements.
Amazon mapping shows cacao expansion without deforestation in Brazil (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/amazon-mapping-shows-cacao-expansion-without-deforestation-in-brazil/
- New mapping by Brazil’s agricultural research agency, Embrapa, found that the area on which cacao grows in Pará state rose 33% between 2022 and 2024, with 96% of mapped cacao on land cleared before 2020.
- That record leaves Amazon cacao well positioned to meet the EU’s new deforestation rules, with the sector keen to secure better prices for farmers who grow cacao without clearing forest.
- Most new plantings are full-sun monocultures, which are less sustainable than agroforestry, but sources say Brazil is unlikely to follow West African countries in clearing forest for cacao.
Money laundering complaints target JBS, Barclays over profits linked to illegal deforestation (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/money-laundering-complaints-target-jbs-barclays-over-profits-linked-to-illegal-deforestation/
A coalition of legal and environmental groups has filed money laundering complaints against JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, and 12 financial institutions, investors and advisers, including the U.K. bank Barclays. The complaints allegedly tie JBS profits to illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The Transnational Legal Coalition filed 14 complaints with prosecutors and financial […]
Mali’s ‘Moringa Queen’ wins UN recognition for restoring degraded land (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/malis-moringa-queen-wins-un-recognition-for-restoring-degraded-land/
Rokiatu Traoré, president of a social enterprise in Mali that uses agroforestry to restore degraded land and create jobs for women and youths, has been named a Changemaker at the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals Action Awards. “I work in Mali, where lands are becoming drier every year. Many farmers struggle with degraded soil, smaller […]
3M agrees to pay more than $7 billion to settle ‘forever chemical’ groundwater contamination claims (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/3m-agrees-to-pay-more-than-7-billion-to-settle-forever-chemical-groundwater-contamination-claims/
Chemical manufacturer 3M will pay up to $7.35 billion to settle lawsuits by people who say they were sickened by groundwater contamination from compounds used in firefighting foam and other consumer products. The St. Paul, Minnesota-based company announced the settlement Tuesday. It will pay the money over nine years to as many as 120,000 people […]
This entire Indigenous territory didn’t get to vote in Brazil’s elections (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/this-entire-indigenous-territory-didnt-get-to-vote-in-brazils-elections/
With no local polling station or means of getting to one from their remote community, residents of the Tumucumaque Indigenous Park in northern Brazil weren’t able to vote in October’s general elections. That’s according to Mitore Tiriyo Kaxuyana, a leader of the Tiriyó and Kaxuyana Indigenous peoples who spoke to Mongabay. On Oct. 22, just […]
How Ghana’s new license to sell sustainable timber improves institutions & cooperation (analysis) (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/how-ghanas-new-license-to-sell-sustainable-timber-improves-institutions-collaboration-analysis/
- Ghana is the first country in Africa to be awarded a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade license, which is seen as the “gold standard” in the sustainable timber trade and allows it to sell lumber to the EU.
- To achieve this milestone, representatives of Ghana’s government, industry and civil society needed to establish new ways of working together.
- “A stakeholder process that began with significant differences produced what became known informally as ‘Team Ghana’ at international forest meetings. For me, this remains one of the most important outcomes of the process,” a new analysis explains.
- This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Indonesian company seeks CITES approval to breed and sell rare Asian golden cats (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/indonesian-company-seeks-cites-approval-to-breed-and-sell-rare-asian-golden-cats/
- Protected Asian golden cats may soon be commercially bred in Indonesia and exported internationally if there’s no opposition raised by other countries before Nov. 10, according to regulations under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty.
- If permitted, PT Alam Nusantara Jayatama, a breeding facility run by Indonesian businessman Danny Gunalen, would be the first in the world to produce these threatened cats in captivity for commercial sale, which includes selling them as pets.
- Only a handful of zoos in the world keep or breed the skittish Asian golden cats, which live secretive lives in the wild and, according to zookeepers, are hard to breed in captivity, as they can become aggressive and don’t make for great display animals.
- Conservationists have questioned the need for commercially breeding Asian golden cats for the pet trade and raised concerns that such a facility could be used to launder wild-caught individuals. Neither PT Alam Nusantara Jayatama nor Danny Gunalen responded to Mongabay’s questions about the concerns raised, or how the operation helps conservation.
AI tiger-warning system rooted in local knowledge stalls for lack of support (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/ai-tiger-warning-system-rooted-in-local-knowledge-stalls-for-lack-of-support/
In the land of tigers, prey animals like deer and monkeys are often the first to sound the alarm when they sense the predator’s presence. Forest communities in Nepal, where the success of tiger conservation has come at the cost of rising human-tiger conflict, have long known to listen for these natural alerts. This local […]
Selective hunting may be making Madagascar’s largest bats smaller, study says (November 5, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/selective-hunting-may-be-making-madagascars-largest-bats-smaller-study-says/
Madagascar’s largest fruit bat is getting smaller, and hunting may be partly to blame, a recent study suggests. The Malagasy flying fox (Pteropus rufus) feeds mainly on fruit and nectar, making it an important pollinator and seed disperser. But the species is also hunted for meat, both for subsistence and commercial sale. Hunting is legal […]
Revealing Amazon land grabs targeting an uncontacted community (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/revealing-amazon-land-grabs-targeting-an-uncontacted-community/
Around 500 people recently invaded Indigenous land in the Brazilian Amazon, home to an uncontacted Indigenous group. But this was no spontaneous land grab. Behind the occupation was a carefully coordinated political campaign. The territory is home to the isolated Indigenous group known as the Igarapé Ipiaçava. Yet this year, a campaign by politicians and […]
Water rationing in Recife, Brazil, falls along racial lines (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/water-rationing-in-recife-brazil-falls-along-racial-lines/
- A map produced by Mongabay cross-references Recife’s water supply schedules with census data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), revealing racial, gender and class disparities in access to water.
- In peripheral communities home to large Black populations, piped water may be available for as little as 91 hours a month, leaving residents with dry taps for up to 15 consecutive days.
- These same neighborhoods face a dual water crisis, suffering chronic shortages while remaining the most vulnerable to floods and landslides.
- A partial privatization of water services promises to address the shortfall, but critics warn the concession could deepen existing inequalities.
Mapping the ‘lines of life’ of South Sudan’s vast antelope migration (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/mapping-the-lines-of-life-of-south-sudans-vast-antelope-migration/
- South Sudan is home to the world’s biggest migration of mammals — some 6 million antelopes that move across a vast area of seasonal swamps, woodlands, and grassland.
- Part of this region has recently been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including two national parks — Boma and Badingilo — that are at the center of this landscape.
- But the antelope spend at least 70% of their time outside their boundaries, making the work of wildlife protection a challenging one.
Scientists call on Ecuador to stop the rising trafficking of Galápagos iguanas (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/scientists-call-on-ecuador-to-stop-the-rising-trafficking-of-galapagos-iguanas/
- In a recent letter, scientists call on Ecuador to stop the trafficking of marine iguanas, endemic to the Galápagos Islands, amid a surge in seizures.
- The archipelago is home to four species of endemic iguanas, and all are in demand as exotic pets, despite it being illegal to take them from the wild under Ecuadorian laws or sell them internationally under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty.
- The authors say that international wildlife traffickers recruit domestic artisanal fishers whose livelihoods are impacted by drug cartels, dwindling fish, and poverty.
- Conservationists say Ecuador must audit its systems designed to stop wildlife trafficking in the Galápagos and countries must close CITES loopholes that let traffickers legally trade offspring of smuggled wildlife.
Artificial mangrove roots offer temporary shield for Thailand’s eroding coastline (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/artificial-mangrove-roots-offer-temporary-shield-for-thailands-eroding-coastline/
Coastal communities near Bangkok in Thailand are testing artificial mangrove roots to combat severe shoreline erosion, reports Mongabay’s Carolyn Cowan. The shorelines of Phra Samut Chedi district, located in the Chao Phraya River Delta where Bangkok’s main waterway empties into the Gulf of Thailand, is especially vulnerable to erosion. Each year, strong surges claim 20 […]
Microplastics pollute nearly two-thirds of corals in Malaysia’s marine protected area, study finds (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/microplastics-pollute-nearly-two-thirds-of-corals-in-malaysias-marine-protected-area-study-finds/
- A study by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) found microplastics in 64% of coral fragment samples taken from sites at Pulau Redang Marine Park.
- The primary plastic identified was polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polymer commonly used in single-use drinking bottles.
- Corals tangled in plastic debris or fibers had nearly three times as many microplastics in their skeletons as those that were not.
- Sites closer to tourist hotspots recorded the highest levels of contaminants, while quieter sites reserved for turtle nesting had lower levels.
How a ‘living breakwater’ in Hawai‘i aims to create coral habitat and protect coastline (November 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/11/how-a-living-breakwater-in-hawaii-aims-to-create-coral-habitat-and-protect-coastline/
- A new project off the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu tests an unusual method of shielding coastal communities and infrastructure from destructive waves: an artificial reef intended to act as a set of speed bumps.
- By January 2027, 60 huge concrete structures will be sunk off Kalaeloa Harbor, an industrial port on West O‘ahu, to protect the coastline from storm surge and erosion.
- The project also aims to provide shelter for corals and eventually create habitat for reef-dwelling fish and other marine life.
- This “living breakwater” was designed to facilitate ongoing community participation, and could be replicated at other locations in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Photograph helps identify a West African bird not seen in 13 years (November 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/11/photograph-helps-identify-a-west-african-bird-not-seen-in-13-years/
Researchers recently spotted the brightly colored Ghana cuckooshrike in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park. The “lost” bird hadn’t been seen in 13 years, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. Stephanie Bartlett, a field research fellow with the International Bird Conservation Partnership (IBCP), took a photo of the cuckooshrike while Paulo Ditzel, also an IBCP research fellow, called […]
Human-wildlife coexistence with wolves in Europe requires a holistic approach (November 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/11/human-wildlife-coexistence-with-wolves-in-europe-requires-a-holistic-approach/
For a time during the 19th and 20th centuries, gray wolves were practically extinct across Western and Central Europe. Now, thanks to strict protection measures in countries across the region, their populations have risen over the past couple of decades — including a reported surge of 58% between 2012 and 2022. On the one hand, […]