Satellite data reveal massive scale of routine oil pollution in oceans. See the map (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/satellite-data-reveal-massive-scale-of-routine-oil-pollution-in-oceans-see-the-map/
Oil slicks from ships and offshore oil platforms cover nearly 1.6 million square kilometers (618,000 square miles) of the ocean surface each year, an area slightly larger than the nation of Mongolia. The estimate comes from a recent report by Skytruth, a U.S.-based nonprofit that used satellite imagery, machine learning and vessel tracking data to […]
Future of Amazon rainforest policies at stake in Brazilian presidential election (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/future-of-amazon-rainforest-policies-at-stake-in-brazilian-presidential-election/
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s upcoming presidential election could reshape the Amazon’s future. Control of the country, which contains about 60% of the rainforest, could pass to Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Experts warn a Bolsonaro victory could reverse deforestation-control policies restored by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. During Jair […]
Vietnam’s fishers face rising costs, declining catches and a contested sea (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/vietnams-fishers-face-rising-costs-declining-catches-and-a-contested-sea/
- As Hanoi leans on fishers to hold the line in contested waters, a distant war and a demanding European compliance regime are squeezing the same boats from opposite directions.
- The fuel crisis caused by the Iran War adds to the pressure.
- Data shows a nearly-19% year-on-year drop in fishing activity during March and April 2026, the height of the fuel crisis.
Probiotics prevented coral bleaching during a Red Sea heat wave: Study (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/probiotics-prevented-coral-bleaching-during-a-red-sea-heat-wave-study/
- A new field study found that two treatments of beneficial bacteria each protected reef corals from bleaching during a heat wave in the Red Sea.
- A heat-killed version of one of the bacterial treatments also protected the corals and may provide a cheaper, more shelf-stable alternative to live probiotics.
- Future studies are needed to determine whether the treatments also help corals stay alive over longer periods of time.
- Though wider implementation of probiotics faces barriers, researchers say many approaches are needed to protect corals in the long term.
Permafrost, wetland, wildfire and freshwater emissions could amplify climate change by up to 30%, study finds (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/permafrost-wetland-wildfire-and-freshwater-emissions-could-amplify-climate-change-by-up-to-30-study-finds/
- As Earth warms, greenhouse gases released by thawing permafrost, wetlands, wildfires, and freshwaters could cause 0.2°-0.4°C (0.4°-0.7°F) of additional warming by 2100, a new study estimates.
- That would amplify human-caused warming since 2020 by 20-30%, with methane accounting for roughly half of the added warming.
- Most climate models leave these natural feedbacks out, so projections of future warming are likely too low and remaining carbon budgets too generous, the authors say.
- Cutting human emissions remains essential, but because some natural sources have no off switch, researchers are exploring ways to remove methane from the atmosphere.
How to grow $25K into community-led conservation: Interview with Tanzania’s Mwambao (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-to-grow-25k-into-community-led-conservation-interview-with-tanzanias-mwambao/
- Ali Thani and Lorna Slade shared frustration with top-down conservation and a belief that coastal communities could manage their own resources led them to come together to create the Mwambao Coastal Community Network.
- Their partnership grew from different experiences. Thani, a Tanzanian from the coast who had worked in government and with international conservation groups, brought intimate knowledge of coastal communities; Slade brought decades of experience and understanding of the international institutions financing conservation.
- Mwambao has since grown into a multimillion-dollar organization and helped communities experiment with fisheries closures, co-management and livelihood programs. But its experience has not been uniformly successful, with different degrees of acceptance from communities.
- Its growth also raises a harder question for its founders: can a community-led model remain truly community-led as the organization itself becomes larger?
Uganda and NGO to co-manage sector of national park home to tree-climbing lions (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/uganda-and-ngo-to-co-manage-sector-of-national-park-home-to-tree-climbing-lions/
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have signed a 10-year agreement to co-manage a portion of Queen Elizabeth National Park, famous for its tree-climbing lions. WCS will take over some day-to-day roles for the Ishasha Sector in the south of the park, including those covering biodiversity management, community engagement and […]
As Hong Kong heats up, calls grow for tougher rules to protect outdoor workers (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-hong-kong-heats-up-calls-grow-for-tougher-rules-to-protect-outdoor-workers/
- Hong Kong’s heat stress warning system has been widely criticized as ineffective, failing to raise alerts even when temperatures hit a record high.
- Although the system has since been revamped, critics say the government’s heat stress guidelines to protect workers are flawed.
- Unlike mainland China and other countries, Hong Kong doesn’t require employers to stop high-risk work or let workers rest when heat warnings are issued.
- Workers’ rights advocates also urge authorities to codify heatstroke as an occupational disease.
Wildlife traffickers are now targeting Indonesia’s critically endangered maleo birds (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/wildlife-traffickers-are-now-targeting-indonesias-critically-endangered-maleo-birds/
- Sulawesi’s critically endangered maleo birds are increasingly targeted by wildlife traffickers, according to a new study that documented seizures of smuggled birds Some were carried by families with children, young couples or single mothers to try to avoid detection.
- Researchers found that 25 live juvenile maleos were seized by enforcement agents in 2024 in India or en route there. Conservationists say they may have been smuggled from hatcheries built to conserve the critically endangered species. None were repatriated alive to Indonesia.
- Maleos are a protected species in Indonesia, and all international commercial trade is banned under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty.
- Researchers urge authorities in India, Indonesia and Thailand to increase surveillance and enforcement in airports and build a mechanism to return seized birds to Indonesia, where they could potentially be released back into the wild.
As fires spread, Indonesia’s rubber growers draw on traditional ways to fight back (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-fires-spread-indonesias-rubber-growers-draw-on-traditional-ways-to-fight-back/
- Data from remote sensing platforms indicates Indonesia is likely experiencing its worst wildfires crisis in years as a strong El Niño deepens the country’s main dry season over Sumatra and Borneo islands.
- In South Sumatra province, rubber tree growers in the Tempirai customary zone say they use fire only after the end of the dry season, after they have planted food crops, and that fires began to afflict this area of South Sumatra province after the oil palm industry began operating in the peatland.
- That may reflect the relative resilience of oil palm trees to wildfires compared with rubber trees, which are much more vulnerable to incineration.
- “If a fire breaks out here, we’re finished — so right now, fire is our enemy,” one latex tree grower told Mongabay Indonesia.
Women shoulder the burden of expanding wildfires in rural India (October 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/women-shoulder-the-burden-of-expanding-wildfires-in-rural-india/
In the Indian Western Himalayas, women are the primary first responders to escalating forest fires. They risk their physical safety to protect homes and livelihoods despite receiving little formal support or equipment and no pay, reports contributor Swati Thapa for Mongabay. Uttarakhand is the most fire-prone state in India’s Western Himalayas. High-elevation warming exceeds global […]
Mangroves keep waves at bay. A new study helps scientists predict how (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/mangroves-keep-waves-at-bay-a-new-study-helps-scientists-predict-how/
- Mangrove forests can help protect tropical coastal areas from rising sea levels and storm surges.
- New research presents a model by which to predict how much mangroves can reduce — or attenuate — large waves associated with severe storms such as typhoons.
- The researchers also created an online tool that can be used by practitioners to estimate the attenuation impact of mangroves anywhere around the world.
- The authors say their work can be used for ecological restoration and coastal engineering, and to help “vulnerable coastal communities deploy adaptive defenses before disaster strikes.”
India’s isolated island tribes need autonomy to survive rising threats, says scholar (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/indias-isolated-island-tribes-need-autonomy-to-survive-rising-threats-says-scholar/
Isolated and contacted Indigenous tribes in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands face threats from illegal fishing, mega-development projects and misinformed government welfare policies that undermine their self-sufficiency, says Manish Chandi, a former research scholar who has spent decades working with tribal communities in the region. Chandi worked with the communities while he was with the […]
A first in Brazil: Black-faced lion tamarins vaccinated (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-first-in-brazil-black-faced-lion-tamarins-vaccinated/
- In restinga shrub areas of the Atlantic Forest on the coast of Paraná state, researchers have carried out the first yellow fever vaccinations of black-faced lion tamarins.
- The initiative took place in July 2026 and aims to protect the species, known locally as the “caissara lion tamarin,” from disease outbreaks that could further reduce its small wild population.
- The primate is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, with a population estimated at fewer than 400 individuals in the wild and none in captivity, increasing the risk of sudden extinction.
Wind turbine taller than the Eiffel Tower aims to boost German electricity production (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/wind-turbine-taller-than-the-eiffel-tower-aims-to-boost-german-electricity-production/
SCHIPKAU, Germany (AP) — A wind turbine described by its developer as the world’s tallest now rises 365 meters (1,197 feet) above the sparsely populated landscape of eastern Germany, surpassing the height of the Eiffel Tower. The colossal turbine has been built at an existing wind farm in Lusatia, southeast of Berlin. Once a major […]
US-Argentina initiative aims to boost critical mineral, oil and gas exports (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/us-argentina-initiative-aims-to-boost-critical-mineral-oil-and-gas-exports/
A new initiative between the U.S. and Argentina is meant to bolster investment opportunities and strengthen supply chains for critical minerals that could be used in the clean energy transition, such as copper and lithium. The Andes-Atlantic Corridor, announced Sept. 23, will make it easier to funnel U.S. investment into Argentina’s mining sector and to […]
Renewable energy companies fuel Brazilian data center boom, investigation finds (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/renewable-energy-companies-fuel-brazilian-data-center-boom-investigation-finds/
Renewable energy companies are driving most of Brazil’s plans for new data centers, according to a recent joint analysis by The Intercept Brasil and Mongabay. As of December 2025 there were 68 requests to connect data centers to Brazil’s national power grid with 65% registered by renewable energy companies, including wind and solar power plants, […]
Gabon, home to the medicinal plant behind ibogaine, wants a fairer share of its global boom (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/gabon-home-to-the-medicinal-plant-behind-ibogaine-wants-a-fairer-share-of-its-global-boom/
- Gabon passed a decree this year requiring benefit sharing for commercial uses of the medicinal plant iboga, its derivatives, and associated traditional knowledge, but the mechanisms for distributing those benefits are still being built.
- A community association in Ogooué-Ivindo province earned the equivalent of about $50,000 from three legal iboga shipments since 2023, yet its promised share of value created further downstream has still not arrived.
- The decree is unusually broad, attempting to cover ibogaine, analogs, and compounds made through synthetic or alternative sources, although how Gabon could enforce those claims abroad remains unresolved.
- In September, Gabon moved to halt exports of iboga and all derivatives while it develops a new national framework, freezing even the legal community-based trade the country had previously encouraged.
Dolphins keep their social and hunting lives in separate waters, study finds (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/dolphins-keep-their-social-and-hunting-lives-in-separate-waters-study-finds/
- Scientists have found that dolphins have separate areas in the ocean where they hunt and socialize.
- Dolphins along Florida’s Atlantic coast were found to communicate using whistling sounds in the nearshore locations where they socialize, and rapid clicking sounds in areas with an abundance of prey fish.
- The data also hinted at the possibility that fish quieten down when they sense a dolphin approaching, indicating that prey might also be listening in to predators.
- The findings could help better inform policies geared toward protecting dolphin habitats, the scientists say.
A year ago today, Jane Goodall died at 91. Her message is more important than ever (October 1, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/a-year-ago-today-jane-goodall-died-at-91-her-message-is-more-important-than-ever/
- On October 1, 2025, Jane Goodall died at the age of 91.
- Goodall, who began her career in 1960 with little formal training, transformed science’s understanding of chimpanzees and in the process reshaped the boundary between humans and animals.
- She built on that science with activism: founding the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977. In 1991 she established Roots & Shoots, which grew into a vast youth movement spanning more than 100 countries.
- The following is an abridged version of a piece Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler published following her passing.