Should potentially harmful chemicals be appraised by class, not one at a time? (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/should-potentially-harmful-chemicals-be-appraised-by-class-not-one-at-a-time/
- Everyday household items very likely contain synthetic chemicals that were never tested for long-term safety. And even when one chemical is proven harmful, manufacturers often quickly replace it with a similar substitute that in time is often found to be equally dangerous, a cycle scientists call “regrettable substitution” or the “toxic treadmill.”
- In response, some scientists and health advocates are pushing for a “Six Classes” framework that evaluates entire groups of chemicals, or chemically related subgroups, together, flagging them for scrutiny before harm is documented rather than after.
- The framework targets six broad categories of chemicals that share many common traits: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), flame retardants, phthalates and bisphenols, antimicrobials, certain solvents, and certain metals.
- The chemical industry argues that grouping diverse chemicals oversimplifies the science and isn’t a workable system, but proponents say the framework is not meant to result in blanket bans but to create a more effective screening tool that better protects consumers.
Juliette Chapalain on building networks and nurturing talent to tell Africa’s environmental stories (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/juliette-chapalain-on-building-networks-and-nurturing-talent-to-tell-africas-environmental-stories/
- Juliette Chapalain is Mongabay Africa’s multimedia and fellowship editor, leading the bureau’s video, podcast and fellowship initiatives.
- She has more than a decade of experience across French and international media, including TV5 Monde, Arte and BBC News.
- Through Mongabay’s fellowship program, she mentors and trains African environmental journalists, helping build a diverse network of storytellers driving impact across the continent.
- This interview is part of Inside Mongabay, a series that spotlights the people who bring environmental and conservation stories to life across our global newsroom.
New mapping data show where oil blocks threaten Venezuela’s protected areas (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-mapping-data-show-where-oil-blocks-threaten-venezuelas-protected-areas/
- New mapping analysis by Mongabay reveals the potential threat from oil extraction to numerous ecosystems in Venezuela, including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, coral reefs and Amazon rainforest, among others.
- Venezuela has 538,883 km2 (208,064 mi2) of protected areas and 177,843 km2 (68,666 mi2) of oil blocks, some of them already in production and others in the pre-exploration or exploration phases.
- An estimated 70,785 km2 (27,330 mi2)— or around 13% — of those oil blocks overlap with protected areas.
- Extracting all 303 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves would release an estimated 33.1 gigatons of CO2 by 2100, according to Climate Interactive’s calculator for fossil fuel extraction from biomass-rich areas.
Contested Amazon dam called to review water flow as river ecosystem fails (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/contested-amazon-dam-called-to-review-water-flow-as-river-ecosystem-fails/
- A federal court and Brazil’s environmental agency ordered the Belo Monte hydropower plant to revise the Xingu River’s water-sharing plan, a decade after its debut, but a legal stay blocks enforcement of the ruling.
- The plant’s water flow has been subject to several complaints, as low water levels in the Volta Grande do Xingu have dried flooded forests and rock habitats, disrupting fish and turtle reproduction and threatening endemic species.
- “Increasing the amount of water is the only solution to restore this ecosystem,” says Josiel Juruna, coordinator of an Indigenous-led monitoring program documenting the impacts.
Investigation links DRC air pollution concerns to major copper-cobalt plant (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/investigation-links-drc-air-pollution-concerns-to-major-copper-cobalt-plant/
In 2024, the mother of a 6-month-old baby described to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) what happened to her son after one of Africa’s largest copper and cobalt processing complexes was built just a few hundred meters from their home. “One evening, he started vomiting blood. He vomited more than three times, and then he […]
Eight arrested as Europe cracks down on lucrative eel smuggling syndicates (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/eight-arrested-as-europe-cracks-down-on-lucrative-eel-smuggling-syndicates/
- Authorities in France and Spain have arrested eight suspects tied to a cross-border syndicate, accused of trafficking critically endangered European eels.
- Investigators say more than 7 million juvenile glass eels, worth nearly 600,000 euros (690,000 dollars), were smuggled over two years’ time.
- The arrests follow a year-long joint probe by investigators from the two countries into illegal fishing and laundering of eel catches.
- The case highlights the scale of an illicit trade that persists despite bans and trade protections for the species.
Indonesia court orders release of withheld impact studies on new capital (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-court-orders-release-of-withheld-impact-studies-on-new-capital/
- Indonesia mining industry watchdog Jatam has won a case at the country’s Supreme Court requiring the government to disclose environmental impact assessments pertaining to two utility water projects at the country’s new capital city site.
- In 2019, then-president Joko Widodo announced he would move the capital of the world’s fourth-most-populous country from Jakarta to Nusantara, a new site surrounded by forests and Indigenous communities on the east coast of Borneo.
- At issue are the Sepaku Semoi Dam and Sepaku River intake, two infrastructure projects at Nusantara that have impacted local Indigenous populations, Jatam said.
- The NGO called the ruling a victory for transparency, but criticized efforts to withhold documents and pointed to a 2008 law as well as Indonesia’s Constitution requiring public access to information.
An ‘ethereal’ new-to-science poison dart frog from the Amazon: Photo of the week (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/an-ethereal-new-to-science-poison-dart-frog-from-the-amazon-photo-of-the-week/
Scientists in Brazil described a new-to-science species of poison dart frog last year. It was first found among the leaves of wild banana plants on a research expedition to the Juruá River Basin in the western Amazon in 2023. The frog, around the length of a paperclip (14–17 millimeters, or 0.5-0.7 inches), is reddish-brown and blue […]
How foreign investor lawsuits stymie environmental protection (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/how-foreign-investor-lawsuits-stymie-environmental-protection/
- New data reveal that lawsuits filed by corporations against Latin American and Caribbean countries are increasing, undermining government efforts to implement policies that could benefit the energy transition, human rights and the environment.
- Between 2014 and 2024, 212 lawsuits were registered, a 133% increase from previous decades.
- Across 419 known cases filed by mid-October 2025, countries in the region are facing a total of $36.6 billion in lawsuits from corporations, with 23% of claims coming from the mining, oil and gas sector, making it the second-most sued region globally by foreign investors.
World Frog Day: New species described amid threats to amphibian survival (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/world-frog-day-new-species-described-amid-threats-to-amphibian-survival/
March 20 is World Frog Day. Frogs and toads have inhabited Earth for hundreds of millions of years, but 40% of amphibians species are now at risk of extinction, according to the latest conservation assessments. Every year, roughly 150 new amphibian species are described. But many are immediately listed as threatened or endangered due to […]
Facebook shuts Indonesia groups after Mongabay and Bellingcat report illegal wildlife trade (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/
- Facebook parent company Meta has closed nine groups on the social network after reporters from Mongabay and Bellingcat found evidence of illegal wildlife trade being conducted openly on the platform in Indonesia.
- In one Facebook group, reporters last year found an advertisement for a rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), a protected species.
- “Bad actors constantly evolve their tactics to avoid enforcement, which is why we partner with groups like the World Wildlife Fund and invest in tools and technology to detect and remove violating content,” Meta said in a statement.
Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesia-plan-to-rezone-elephant-reserve-for-carbon-trading-and-tourism-sparks-backlash/
- Indonesia plans to rezone large parts of Way Kambas National Park in Sumatra for carbon trading and luxury tourism to raise conservation funds.
- Critics warn the move could fragment core habitat and harm critically endangered species like Sumatran elephants, tigers and rhinos.
- Experts say carbon projects and reforestation could reduce elephant food sources and worsen human-wildlife conflict.
- Concerns are mounting over transparency, governance and whether revenues will truly support conservation and local communities.
Hat Yai’s floods are a warning for cities built against nature (analysis) (March 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/hat-yais-floods-are-a-warning-for-cities-built-against-nature-analysis/
- Hat Yai’s economy is still struggling to recover from the devastating November 2025 floods, raising fears that repeated disasters could drive businesses and investment away from the southern Thai tourism hub.
- Flood risk is rising due to urban expansion, altered drainage, upstream land-use change and increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change.
- Decades of costly engineering fixes have failed to keep pace, and without major land-use reforms and nature-based solutions, the city risks locking itself into a cycle of worsening floods.
- This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
From endangered to invasive: Rare ocelot spotted on Mexico’s Cozumel Island (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/from-endangered-to-invasive-rare-ocelot-spotted-on-mexicos-cozumel-island/
In 2016, when biologists in Mexico reviewed their photo traps from Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, they were surprised to see an ocelot, a wildcat considered endangered in the country. But curiosity soon turned to alarm: ocelots are effective predators of endemic species on the island, which have no experience or natural defense […]
Brazil protects huge coastal area with endangered dolphins and megafauna fossils (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/brazil-protects-huge-coastal-area-with-endangered-dolphins-and-megafauna-fossils/
Brazil’s federal government created a huge conservation area on March 6 to protect a critical biodiversity hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean. The newly created Albardão marine park and coastal environmental protected area are home to at least 25 endangered species and Pleistocene epoch megafauna fossils. The new national park is off the coast of Brazil’s […]
Rwanda advances nuclear ambitions after positive IAEA assessment (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/rwanda-advances-nuclear-ambitions-after-positive-iaea-assessment/
In early March, while attending the Nuclear Energy Summit, Rwandan President Paul Kagame reaffirmed his ambition to develop civilian nuclear reactors in Rwanda. “Nuclear energy is not too complex or risky for developing countries,” he said during the meeting. “It will diversify our energy mix while providing the stability required for industrial growth and long-term […]
Paul Ehrlich, ‘Population Bomb’ ecologist, dies at 93 (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/paul-ehrlich-population-bomb-ecologist-dies-at-93/
- Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford ecologist whose research on butterflies and population dynamics helped shape modern ecology, became one of the most prominent scientific voices in the early environmental movement. He died March 13 at age 93.
- His 1968 book, The Population Bomb, argued that rapid human population growth threatened to outstrip the planet’s capacity to provide food and resources, influencing public debate while also drawing sustained criticism.
- Ehrlich’s forecasts of widespread famine proved too stark as agricultural productivity rose, and a widely publicized wager with economist Julian Simon over commodity prices ended in Ehrlich’s loss.
- Despite the controversies, his scientific work on extinction risk, habitat fragmentation and biodiversity decline helped frame how ecologists think about the pressures human societies place on the living world.
A bonobo named Kanzi could play pretend, challenging ideas about animal imaginations (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-bonobo-named-kanzi-could-play-pretend-challenging-ideas-about-animal-imaginations/
- Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo, identified and tracked pretend objects across tea party-like experiments, marking the first controlled demonstration of imagination in a nonhuman animal
- In three experiments, Kanzi repeatedly pointed to the correct location of imaginary juice and grapes, and chose real juice over pretend juice, showing that he understood the difference between real and imaginary objects.
- This study suggests that the cognitive capacity for imagination may date back 6 to 9 million years to the common ancestor of humans and great apes, though some researchers question whether simpler explanations could account for Kanzi’s responses.
- Kanzi died in March 2025 at age 44, but researchers hope to explore whether other apes, including those without extensive human language training, share this capacity.
Nepal’s rural women at increasing risk of human-wildlife conflict (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/nepals-rural-women-at-increasing-risk-of-human-wildlife-conflict/
- Women in forest-edge communities around Bardiya National Park are increasingly exposed to human-wildlife conflict, as daily subsistence work brings them into forests where encounters with tigers and other wildlife occur.
- Labor migration has shifted agricultural and household responsibilities onto women, pushing many to collect fodder, firewood and other forest resources in high-risk areas.
- Most fatal wildlife encounters occur during routine livelihood activities, such as cutting grass or grazing livestock in forests and buffer zones where people and wildlife share space.
- Nepal’s widely celebrated tiger conservation success is unfolding alongside growing risks for rural communities, particularly women who depend on forests for daily survival; meanwhile, women remain largely absent from the institutions that shape conservation policy.
Dams, drains and other artificial habitats could buy time for threatened mussels: Study (March 18, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/dams-drains-and-other-artificial-habitats-could-buy-time-for-threatened-mussels-study/
Described as the “liver of rivers” for their water filtering capabilities, freshwater mussels are facing an extinction crisis. These slow-growing, long-lived bivalves are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. Now researchers in Australia have found that artificial water bodies could provide a lifeline for some species. Freshwater mussels live in […]