How small actions can become planetary forces (June 4, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-small-actions-can-become-planetary-forces/
- Nature’s Echo argues that feedback loops shape everything from the formation of stars and the spread of life to climate change, ecological recovery, and human behavior.
- Crowther is strongest when applying this framework to ecology, showing how forests, food webs, restoration, and resilience depend on the balance between reinforcing and stabilizing forces.
- The book moves from explanation to application, suggesting that restoration succeeds when nature recovery creates tangible benefits that people want to sustain.
It’s time to engage Mennonite communities in reducing deforestation across Latin America (analysis) (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/its-time-to-engage-mennonite-communities-to-reduce-deforestation-in-latin-america-analysis/
- Across 50 years and multiple countries, it’s clear that Mennonite colonies are systematic agents of deforestation in Latin America, yet they are seldom engaged by policymakers or NGOs seeking to reduce forest loss.
- In part this is due to the colonies’ closed nature but also because their habit of buying in frontier regions is effectively banned by law in Brazil — a nation which dominates the Amazon policy sphere — but a new analysis posits that engagement with these groups is necessary and potentially fruitful.
- “Mennonite pioneers have transformed the South American forest frontier with remarkable, and unfortunate, efficiency. The question now is whether the legal, regulatory, and civil society frameworks of the countries where they now reside can engage them as partners in a different kind of transformation,” the author argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
France to send its last captive orcas to marine park, not sanctuary (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/france-to-send-its-last-captive-orcas-to-marine-park-not-sanctuary/
- In May, the French government announced plans to send its last captive cetaceans — two orcas and 12 dolphins — to zoos and entertainment parks in Spain, sparking an outcry from animal welfare advocates.
- France had previously considered sending the marine mammals to an under-construction sanctuary in Canada, but decided to act more quickly because of deteriorating conditions at the shuttered Marineland Antibes park, where the animals are currently housed, according to a French official.
- The dolphins will be shifted to two marine parks in Valencia and Málaga, while the orcas — a mother and son — will be transported to Loro Parque, a zoo and entertainment park in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.
- Animal welfare organizations have criticized the decision, saying they believe the orcas will be used in Loro Parque’s marine shows and bred, which would go against France’s law banning the keeping and breeding of cetaceans for entertainment.
From the wreckage of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, Pacific Islanders slowly recover (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/from-the-wreckage-of-super-typhoon-sinlaku-pacific-islanders-slowly-recover/
- More than one month after Typhoon Sinlaku, the strongest storm on Earth so far this year, people in the Western Pacific are slowly picking up the pieces of the wreckage.
- Officials are counting the number of people displaced, families are fishing to put food on the table, some schools are out, many remain without stable housing and electricity and thousands are applying for aid as recovery remains uncertain.
- In Chuuk State, the part of the Federated States of Micronesia hardest hit by the typhoon, emergency officials estimate that the storm destroyed or severely damaged more than 7,000 homes in Chuuk and Yap and displaced more than 13,000 people. The regionwide death toll has ticked up to 17, making Sinlaku the deadliest storm in the Micronesian region of the Pacific since 2002.
- A meteorologist said Sinlaku’s sudden escalation happened over ocean waters 0.6°Celsius warmer than average — temperatures made 70-100 times more likely due to climate change.
Legal protections for Brazil’s isolated Indigenous peoples: Interview with prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/legal-protections-for-brazils-isolated-indigenous-peoples-interview-with-prosecutor-daniel-luis-dalberto/
- Across Brazil, orders known as land-use restrictions serve as temporary protective measures for the territories of recently contacted Indigenous peoples and those living in voluntary isolation.
- But while the measures are meant to allow time for the formal demarcation process to be carried out, they’ve now become an end to themselves, renewed repeatedly and failing to prevent the invasion and exploitation of these lands, says Brazilian federal public prosecutor Daniel Luís Dalberto.
- Dalberto told Mongabay in an interview that the measure is meant to be precautionary and accompanied by other protective measures by government agencies, such as monitoring work and operations to combat crime.
- He also raised concerns about the frequency with which issues affecting Indigenous territories are being raised to the country’s highest court, rather than being resolved at local courts and tribunals, which closes off an important front in the fight for fundamental rights.
Can deforestation predict Ebola outbreaks? Q&A with CDC’s Carson Telford (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/can-deforestation-predict-ebola-outbreaks-qa-with-cdcs-carson-telford/
- In 2024, a group of researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) used machine learning to analyze 24 Ebola outbreaks between 2001 and 2022 to isolate which geographic and other variables they shared in common.
- They found that forest loss and fragmentation are among the most important predictive factors for where Ebola outbreaks occur.
- Carson Telford, who led the research, told Mongabay modeling like this can strengthen communication and readiness for outbreaks like the one taking place in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The European wildcat is back. In some places. (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/the-european-wildcat-is-back-in-some-places/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. The European wildcat is not one conservation story, but several. In the Czech Republic’s Lusatian Mountains, the signs are encouraging. Conservationists have found a male and female wildcat, which they named Jonáš and Tonka, the first recorded in […]
Chimpanzees vs. a mega railway (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/chimpanzees-vs-a-mega-railway/
A massive railway project, The Simandou corridor, in Guinea is cutting through one of West Africa’s most important ecosystems. The Simandou corridor is fragmenting forests that are home to the largest population of endangered western chimpanzees, putting their survival at risk. But why is this massive railway project being built? Deep within Guinea’s forests lie […]
Solar power brings energy to rural Indonesia, but inequality remains (June 3, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/solar-power-brings-energy-to-rural-indonesia-but-inequality-remains/
In the remote, over-the-water village of Muara Enggelam in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, the introduction of reliable solar energy has become a catalyst for female entrepreneurship and economic stability. Historically cut off from basic services and reliant on expensive, noisy diesel generators that ran only from dusk to dawn, the village underwent a transformation starting in […]
Descendants of people pushed out for DRC national park lead forest conservation efforts (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/descendants-of-people-pushed-out-for-drc-national-park-lead-forest-conservation-efforts/
- Gangala Yafali Mangusa Jr. is a descendant of one of the families that had to leave the forests of what is today in and around Maiko National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Now, he heads the management committee of the Bamasobha Local Community Forest Concession (CFCL) and works with communities to protect biodiversity through local conservation efforts.
- According to experts, the sustainability of conservation efforts depends largely on the ability to balance biodiversity protection with improving the living conditions of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
- According to satellite imagery from Global Forest Watch, forest loss in the Bamasobha CFCL was reduced from 940 hectares in 2024 to 120 hectares in 2025.
From pledges to road maps, nations organize around fossil fuel phaseout (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/06/from-pledges-to-road-maps-nations-organize-around-fossil-fuel-phaseout/
A group of 57 nations mostly from the Global South, describing themselves as “coalition of the willing” intent on making the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels, or TAFF, convened in the Colombian city of Santa Marta, from April 24-29, 2026, for the inaugural TAFF summit. Also referred to as the “Santa Marta Coalition,” this group of […]
New book offers tips to translate climate science into political gains (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/new-book-offers-tips-to-translate-climate-science-into-political-gains/
- The scientific evidence linking human activities to climate change is now well established.
- Even in the United States, where the Trump administration has pulled out of the Paris Agreement twice and often dismisses the science of climate change, federal scientific agencies such as NASA continue to maintain that the evidence is clear: human activities are driving climate change.
- Yet translating climate science into meaningful policy action and political gains has proven frustratingly slow for many climate advocates and campaigners. At the same time, misinformation and disinformation have further complicated public understanding of the issue.
- In his book, “Radically Reframing Climate Change: A Guide to Saving Ourselves,” Will Hackman contends that many climate communicators are approaching the issue the wrong way. Rather than speaking the language of the audiences they hope to reach, he says, they often rely on language that resonates only with those who already agree with them.
Fisheries and climate research would be hit hard in Trump’s proposed budget (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/fisheries-and-climate-research-would-be-hit-hard-in-trumps-proposed-budget/
- In April, the Trump administration released its proposed fiscal year 2027 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
- The proposed budget would slash around $1 billion from the agency, terminate or reduce dozens of programs, and eliminate more than 1,000 positions, with particularly deep cuts aimed at NOAA Fisheries and climate research.
- While the budget proposes many cuts to NOAA’s operations, it also recommends increased financial support for deep-sea mining development, vessel development, and the seafood industry.
- Experts say delayed release of already-approved funding is disrupting research, threatening long-term scientific data sets and hampering fisheries management, species protection and weather and climate monitoring. However, the Office of Management and Budget, which is responsible for dispersing NOAA’s funding, denies there have been delays.
Uncertainty about weakening Atlantic currents isn’t a reason to wait but to act (commentary) (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/uncertainty-about-weakening-atlantic-currents-isnt-a-reason-to-wait-but-to-act-commentary/
- The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the system of ocean currents that mediates weather on both sides of the Atlantic, and research suggests it’s shifting due to climate change in ways that threaten marine ecosystems, wildlife, agriculture and more.
- Though no one can yet prove how it’s changing and how soon, the latest research on the AMOC should be understood as a warning sign that the potential outcomes could be even more severe than projected, a new op-ed argues.
- “Discussions about AMOC weakening should not be confined to maps of temperature and rainfall. They should also be about biodiversity, fisheries, and the resilience of ocean ecosystems already under strain,” the author writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Survivors sue Indonesian government over response to catastrophic Sumatra floods (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/
- Survivors of the deadly late-2025 Sumatra floods and landslides have sued the Indonesian government, arguing the disaster was not solely a natural event but an “ecological disaster” worsened by decades of deforestation, watershed degradation, weak environmental enforcement, and inadequate disaster preparedness.
- The plaintiffs say authorities failed to act on repeated warnings from Indonesia’s meteorological agency before Cyclone Senyar struck, and criticize the government for not declaring a national emergency, which they argue hindered disaster response and recovery efforts.
- Environmental groups and researchers point to extensive forest loss and the expansion of plantations, mining and other concessions across Sumatra’s watersheds as factors that increased flooding and landslide risks during extreme rainfall events.
- Through the lawsuit, victims are seeking environmental audits, restoration of forests and watersheds, stronger disaster-mitigation measures, and a court ruling that could establish government accountability for environmental governance failures linked to large-scale disasters.
National platform launches in Australia to turn wildlife imagery into action (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/national-platform-launches-in-australia-to-turn-wildlife-imagery-into-action/
Wildlife monitoring in Australia could get a boost from a new platform that uses AI and computer vision to speed up the processing of millions of camera trap images being collected across the country. The national initiative named the Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs) is a way to collect, store and share camera trap data […]
Amazon oil drilling plan excludes unique hybrid manatees too big for rescue (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/amazon-oil-drilling-plan-excludes-unique-hybrid-manatees-too-big-for-rescue/
- Brazil’s environmental agency approved oil drilling off the mouth of the Amazon River, even though oil company Petrobras considers it “unfeasible” to rescue large animals like manatees in the event of an oil spill.
- Potential oil spills threaten a unique hybrid manatee population perfectly suited to live in the Amazon River mouth area.
- A simulation testing Petrobras’s wildlife rescue plan showed lack of basic supplies and boat accidents.
- The project is part of a massive new oil frontier in the Equatorial Margin estimated to hold 10 billion barrels of oil.
World Peatland Day honors a crucial ecosystem in the fight against climate change (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/world-peatland-day-honors-a-crucial-ecosystem-in-the-fight-against-climate-change/
Peatlands are boggy wet ecosystems found from boreal forests in the Russian Arctic to the tropics of central Africa. Typically, when vegetation decomposes it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, when that same organic matter falls in a bog and is covered with water, carbon gets trapped and becomes sequestered there, sometimes for millennia. […]
Australia has the money to protect nature. It just isn’t spending it, expert says (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/australia-has-the-money-to-protect-nature-it-just-isnt-spending-it-expert-says/
“I think the international community really does need to put more pressure on Australia to do better,” says Euan Ritchie, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin University in Australia, in a recent episode of Mongabay’s Newscast. From animals like kangaroos, koalas and platypuses, to plants like waratah, kangaroo paw and climbing heath, […]
Conservationists wary of Nepal’s plan to relocate blackbucks (June 2, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/06/conservationists-wary-of-nepals-plan-to-relocate-blackbucks/
Nepal is preparing to relocate 18 blackbucks from the country’s west to its south central region, near the popular Chitwan National Park. Officials say the translocation will help establish a population of the antelope in a new habitat and safeguard the species against localized disasters or disease, but conservationists question the choice of habitat and […]