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COP30: What did it deliver for the ocean? (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/cop30-what-did-it-deliver-for-the-ocean/ - As climate change talks took center stage at COP30, a growing number of countries have integrated ocean-based solutions into their national climate commitments. - A new report found that 92% of coastal and island nations’ updated climate plans now include ocean-related measures, although these strategies still represent only 12% of all proposed climate mitigation actions. - Brazil and France unveiled a Blue NDC Implementation Taskforce to boost ocean solutions, while countries like the Solomon Islands and Ghana launched new plans for protecting their marine and coastal systems. | |
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Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’ (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/11/rights-to-millions-of-hectares-of-indigenous-local-communities-lands-restored-by-barefoot-lawyers/ Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering […] | |
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Drought amplifies human-wildlife conflict, study finds (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/drought-amplifies-human-wildlife-conflict-study-finds/ A recent study from the U.S. state of California finds that the public reported more encounters with wildlife in times of drought. Researchers say they expect such drought-driven human-wildlife interactions in other areas also facing water shortages — a growing problem amid climate change. The researchers analyzed more than 31,000 wildlife-related incidents reported by members […] | |
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Global tiger trafficking crisis worsens with nine big cats seized monthly (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/global-tiger-trafficking-crisis-worsens-with-nine-big-cats-seized-monthly/ KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysa (AP) — Authorities have seized an average of nine tigers each month over the past five years, highlighting a worsening trafficking crisis. A report by TRAFFIC warns that criminal networks are evolving faster than conservation efforts can respond. The global wild tiger population has plummeted to an estimated 3,700-5,500. Despite international protection, […] | |
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Botanists decode secret life of rare plants to ensure reintroduction success (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/botanists-decode-secret-life-of-rare-plants-to-ensure-reintroduction-success/ - Working with South African daisies, Colombian magnolias and Philippine coffee trees, botanists the world over are discovering the secrets to bringing extremely rare and threatened plants back from the brink of extinction. Reintroductions are often the only way to build back thriving populations, but scientists face numerous hurdles. - A major barrier is lack of botanical knowledge about rare species, making it hard to produce sufficient viable seeds, determine triggers for germination, and identify suitable seedling habitat. If seeds aren’t available from rare plants, botanists must use cuttings to propagate plants. - Newly established plant populations often need help in the face of numerous threats. Climate change, for example, can not only create harsh new growing conditions but also fuels the spread of plant pests. Young plants frequently need to be protected from human activities like poaching, intentional burning or land-use change. - While it can take decades for reintroduced plants to grow into sustainable, self-replenishing populations, project funding is often limited to three years or less, especially in the Global South. Experts say they hope funding will increase as recognition grows that ecosystem restoration requires plant diversity, including rare species. | |
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Big finance still funds deforestation, 10 years after Paris pact (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/big-finance-still-funds-deforestation-10-years-after-paris-pact/ A new report by the Forests & Finance Coalition finds that despite years of voluntary climate commitments, banks and other financial institutions have continued to increase their investments in companies linked to deforestation. The value of investments in these companies — in industries such as beef, soy, palm oil and paper — has increased by […] | |
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Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-aims-for-alternative-route-to-fossil-fuel-road-map-after-cop30-failure/ - Brazil will collaborate with the Colombian and Dutch delegations to develop the road map outside the formal U.N. process, with the goal of bringing it back for discussion at COP31. - Experts say the Belém summit showed disappointing deals after ambitious promises, failing to address the environmental and economic needs of climate change. - The turbulent final plenary exposed deeper diplomatic rifts, with one delegate accusing Colombian counterparts of behaving “like children” amid high tensions. | |
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It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/ - California has become a wildlife trafficking hotspot in the U.S., with a notable spike in live animals smuggled across the southern border to be sold as pets, from monkeys and exotic birds to venomous snakes. - The state has three high-traffic border crossings with Mexico and millions of tons of cargo shipped through some of the nation’s busiest airports and seaports. With limited staff, resource-strapped agencies face serious challenges in policing the illegal import of protected plants and animals into California. - Poachers also target California’s native plants and reptiles, threatening local species. Meanwhile, some imported animals get loose and become invasive species that destroy ecosystems or may carry diseases, creating public health risks. - As traffickers exploit new technologies and follow market demand for different animals, enforcement officials struggle to control the influx of illegally traded species. | |
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Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/already-disappearing-southeast-asias-striped-rabbits-now-caught-in-global-pet-trade/ - Rare, elusive and little-known to science, two species of striped rabbits are endemic to Southeast Asia: Sumatran striped rabbits from Indonesia and endangered Annamite striped rabbits from the Vietnam-Laos border region. - Both species are threatened by habitat loss and illegal snaring, despite having protected status in their range countries. - In recent months, authorities have seized at least 10 live rabbits smuggled from Thailand on commercial flights to India, highlighting the first known instance of these rabbits being trafficked internationally for the pet trade. - Conservationists say this trend is alarming, given that the two species are on the brink of extinction. They urge range countries to add the two species to CITES Appendix III, the international wildlife trade convention, and to work with Thai authorities to establish a conservation breeding program with the seized rabbits. | |
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Chronic diseases prevalent across animals, but understudied: Study (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/chronic-diseases-prevalent-across-animals-but-understudied-study/ From obesity in cats and dogs and osteoarthritis in pigs, to cancer in whales and high blood glucose in racoons, chronic diseases are increasingly becoming a concern across the animal world, a recent study finds. Most of these ailments can be traced back to human-driven changes, the author says. Antonia Mataragka, the study’s author from […] | |
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In Indonesia’s courts, truth can be a lonely witness (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/in-indonesias-courts-truth-can-be-a-lonely-witness/ Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than two decades, professors Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture have stood where science meets power, testifying against companies accused of torching forests and draining peatlands. Their measurements of ash […] | |
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Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen (November 25, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/norways-multibillion-dollar-bet-on-forests-an-interview-with-minister-eriksen/ - Two major forest finance initiatives announced at COP30 — the Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), backed by $6.7 billion, and the newly launched Canopy Trust — signal renewed global attention on the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest. - Canopy Trust, formally launched Nov. 17, relies on blended public–private finance and has already raised $93 million, with a goal of mobilizing $1 billion by 2030 to support sustainable enterprises and early-stage, high-impact forest projects in the Congo Basin. - Norway, the largest contributor to both the TFFF and Canopy Trust, sees the new fund as complementary to existing mechanisms like CAFI — rewarding low deforestation and strengthening sustainable production. One of its key functions is to de-risk investments in local small and medium-sized enterprises, which might otherwise find it hard to attract private investors. - In an interview with Mongabay, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the ultimate test will be whether these mechanisms finally deliver what communities demand: direct access to finance, local ownership and tangible economic benefits on the ground. | |
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Conservation can emphasize human well-being to navigate its current funding crisis (commentary) (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/conservation-can-emphasize-human-well-being-to-navigate-its-current-funding-crisis-commentary/ - Cuts in funding, weakening support from governments, and disinformation are all driving a current crisis for conservation. - But these challenges need not hold conservation programs back, the authors of a new op-ed with decades of experience at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other development programs argue, and suggest three strategies that can work. - “Leaning into the human well-being outcomes of conservation can also shift the pervasive and harmful view that conserving nature is primarily an environmental undertaking rather than a cornerstone of sustainable development,” they write. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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Brazil’s forest fund faces a slow takeoff at COP30 despite initial support (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazils-forest-fund-faces-a-slow-takeoff-at-cop30-despite-initial-support/ - The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) secured $6.7 billion in sponsor capital at COP30, representing less than a quarter of the $25 billion initially required for a full-scale rollout. - Policy analysts warn that a smaller fund could likely lose the capacity to outpace deforestation drivers in tropical forests — key in the race to avoid climate disaster. - Rich nations blamed operational rifts and budget constraints to hold off funding TFFF, a struggle that reflects a worldwide crisis in climate finance; nearly one-third of the funds raised by global forest mechanisms remain undisbursed. | |
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Why are Amazonian trees getting ‘fatter’? (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-are-amazonian-trees-getting-fatter/ - A new study has found that the trunks of trees in the Amazon have become thicker in recent decades — an unexpected sign of the rainforest’s resilience in response to record-high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. - Nearly 100 scientists involved in the study have stated that old-growth forests in the Amazon are sequestering more carbon than they did 30 years ago, contradicting predictions of immediate collapse due to climate change. - But the warning still stands: Despite the trees’ capacity to adapt, scientists fear that the extreme droughts and advancing deforestation could invert the rainforest’s balance and threaten its vital role in global climate regulation. | |
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Weather disasters are surging in the Amazon. Reporting isn’t. (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/weather-disasters-are-surging-in-the-amazon-reporting-isnt/ The Amazon’s climate hazards are growing faster than governments can track. | |
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Abrolhos: A South Atlantic marine treasure in need of protection (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/abrolhos-a-south-atlantic-marine-treasure-in-need-of-protection/ - Located off the coast of the Brazilian states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, the vast Abrolhos Seascape is home to some of the South Atlantic Ocean’s richest marine biodiversity. Here, more than 500 species inhabit coral reefs, mangrove forests and islands. Brazil’s largest humpback whale breeding ground also occurs within the seascape. - Yet little legislation has been created to protect this region, leaving it at risk of predatory fishing and deep-sea mining: Less than 2% of the South Atlantic’s largest coral reef, which occupies 46,000 square kilometers within the wider Abrolhos Seascape, is fully protected. - A recent study identified critical areas and vulnerable ecosystems within Abrolhos Seascape that the authors say need urgent conservation action; these include rhodolith beds — clusters of limestone rock that are crucial for climate security and marine species reproduction. | |
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Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/ - Communities along Cambodia’s O’Ta Bouk River are experiencing severe water contamination, skin ailments and the collapse of fish stocks, which they blame on an unregulated gold mine operating upstream inside Virachey National Park. - Satellite imagery analysis shows more than 2,400 mining sites across Mekong river basins — including alluvial and heap-leach gold mines — whose toxic runoff threatens rivers, floodplains, farmland, wildlife and millions of downstream residents. - Communities downstream of the gold mine told Mongabay that authorities have failed to act on the problem, despite multiple indicators suggesting the pollution of the river is linked to mining activity. - Evidence points to mining operations linked to tycoon Try Pheap, allegedly operating illegally and with political protection, leaving communities fearful for their health, livelihoods and food security as contamination spreads through the Mekong Basin. | |
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TotalEnergies faces criminal complaint in France over alleged massacre in Mozambique (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/totalenergies-faces-criminal-complaint-in-france-over-alleged-massacre-in-mozambique/ As French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume work on its multibillion-dollar offshore gas project in northern Mozambique, it faces a criminal complaint back home over its role in funding an army unit accused of torturing and executing dozens of civilians in 2021. The complaint was filed with France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor by […] | |
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Protecting pangolins IRL, not just on paper: Interview with conservationist Kumar Paudel (November 24, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/protecting-pangolins-irl-not-just-on-paper-interview-with-conservationist-kumar-paudel/ - Pangolins, the scaly anteaters that are the most trafficked wild mammals in the world, face a host of challenges throughout their range, including South Asia. - The IUCN Pangolin Specialist Group is working on a global action plan to conserve the species, with different subgroups working on regional plans. - After the plans are in place, the challenge will be to secure real-world funding to advance conservation efforts, says researcher Kumar Paudel, who leads the South Asia subgroup. | |
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Mongabay Latam wins the Global Shining Light Award for investigative journalism (November 23, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-latam-wins-the-global-shining-light-award-for-investigative-journalism/ - Mongabay Latam has won the Global Investigative Journalism Network’s Global Shining Light Award for its investigation into illegal airstrips in the Amazon rainforest. - Working with its partner Earth Genome, Mongabay Latam combined AI, drone footage, and interviews with more than 60 local sources to uncover a network of drug-trafficking airstrips in Peru. The reporting also documented links to violence and assassinations targeting Indigenous leaders and communities. - The year-long investigation sparked national and international media coverage, caught the attention of lawmakers and authorities, and equipped Indigenous leaders with evidence to advocate for greater protections. - The award was presented today at the 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. | |
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A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-killing-with-precedent-kaiowa-mans-murder-fits-a-pattern-in-brazil/ - Gunmen killed Vicente Kaiowá e Guarani on November 16th during a land-reclamation effort, in an attack his community says was carried out by organized militias rather than internal rivals. - The Kaiowá of Pyelito Kue and Mbarakay face a long pattern of violence as they try to return to their tekoha, despite their territory being officially recognized but still undemarcated. - Recent assaults—including multiple attacks in early November and clashes linked to pesticide drift—reflect a recurring cycle in which reoccupations are met with armed reprisals. - Rights advocates say Vicente’s death underscores a broader failure of the state to enforce constitutional land rights, leaving the Kaiowá exposed to continued killings on territory that legally belongs to them. | |
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Bearing witness to Indonesia’s environmental challenges: Sapariah Saturi (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/bearing-witness-to-indonesias-environmental-challenges-sapariah-saturi/ - Sapariah “Arie” Saturi grew up in West Kalimantan amid recurring forest and peatland fires, experiences that shaped her understanding of Indonesia’s environmental crises. - After beginning her journalism career in Pontianak in the late 1990s, she joined Mongabay Indonesia at its inception and helped build it into a national environmental newsroom. - As managing editor, she oversees a dispersed team of more than 50 reporters, beginning her days before dawn to edit stories, coordinate coverage, and guide investigations across the archipelago. - Her commitment is grounded in independence, empathy, and the belief that environmental journalism can help communities, influence policy, and deepen public understanding of Indonesia’s overlapping crises. | |
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‘Forever chemical’ contamination could undermine sea otters’ fragile recovery in Canada (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/forever-chemical-contamination-could-undermine-sea-otters-fragile-recovery-in-canada/ - Sea otters living along the coastline of Canada’s British Columbia province are exposed — and absorb — forever chemicals, a new study shows. - Each of the 11 sea otters tested carried residues PFAS chemicals, with concentrations higher for those living near dense human populations or shipping lanes. - The Canadian government released an assessment earlier this year recommending that PFAS be classed as toxic and is moving toward adopting tighter rules for these chemicals. Environmentalists support the initiative. | |
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Lesotho communities allege greenwashing by project transferring water to South Africa (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lesotho-communities-allege-greenwashing-by-project-transferring-water-to-south-africa/ - The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), a scheme to transfer water from Lesotho’s river systems to neighboring South Africa, also aims to provide hydropower to Lesotho’s people. - However, complainants from communities impacted and displaced by the complex of dams, water channels, feeder roads, and bridges accuse the developers of promoting the LHWP as a climate mitigation project and ignoring its impacts on their livelihoods and the environment, and call it “greenwashing.” - The project is degrading the environment, polluting water streams used by residents, destroying cultivable land used to grow food crops, eating into forests, and reducing access to pastures, according to the complaint filed with the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is partly financing the LHWP. - “We are not just being denied benefits from the project, we are suffering harm from it,” the complaint says. | |
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In Thailand, a cheap bottle crate hack gives tree saplings a fighting chance (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-thailand-a-cheap-bottle-crate-hack-gives-tree-saplings-a-fighting-chance/ - A recent study in Thailand finds that raising native tree seedlings inside repurposed bottle crates improves performance compared to standard methods in community-run nurseries. - Saplings grown in bottle crates had better root formation and superior growth when planted out in a deforested site, thanks to better air circulation for the roots. - Crating the saplings also saved on labor costs, which more than offset the cost of purchasing the crates. - Adoption of the new method could improve the quality of saplings grown in community nurseries, a benefit for reforestation projects where sapling survival is key to success. | |
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Experts say wealthy nations owe Africa double its climate adaptation needs (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/experts-say-wealthy-nations-owe-africa-double-its-climate-adaptation-needs/ - The U.N.’s recent “Adaptation Gap Report” reveals a massive shortfall between the funds needed for climate adaptation and the financing available as of 2023. - Africa, among the most climate-vulnerable regions, faces worsening impacts amid limited support and a mounting debt burden, with a $51 billion annual shortfall in adaptation finance. - Some experts argue that given the role that Africa and, in particular, its forests play in stashing away carbon, it is owed double the amount that it needs in additional adaptation funds. | |
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Brazil’s governance style leads to controversial impacts (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazils-governance-style-leads-to-controversial-impacts/ - Brazil’s complex governance system creates impacts at all levels across the country, including consequences for environmental policies. - Although the Brazilian Congress is designed to be the counterweight to the executive branch, presidential power in Brazil is exceptionally strong. This translates into direct influence over budgetary control, the veto of specific items, and the power to initiate legislation by issuing temporary laws. - Added to this is the role of political parties, which, in their own way, create a balance of power. However vote-buying is perhaps the one that has most characterized the corrupt practices of those in power. | |
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It’s time to end the carbon offset era, COP30 scientists & communities say (commentary) (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-time-to-end-the-carbon-offset-era-cop30-scientists-communities-say-commentary/ - The COP30 Science Council and Indigenous delegates, activists and local communities in Belém this week argued that forests are not offsets and that the world cannot simply trade its way out of the climate crisis. - Carbon offsetting programs have been under intense scrutiny for years, and a broad coalition of COP30 attendees and advisors say that this is the moment to move forward on climate finance with greater effectiveness and equity. - “This is the Amazon COP. If it ends with a decision that ignores Indigenous rights and props up offset markets that science says cannot work, it will squander the moral clarity of this moment,” a new op-ed argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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IDB financed meat & poultry company that polluted Indigenous Ecuador lands: Report (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/idb-financed-meat-poultry-company-that-polluted-indigenous-ecuador-lands-report/ - A report from the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group says that agribusiness Pronaca contaminated for decades the Tsáchila Indigenous Territory in Ecuador. - IDB Invest financed Pronaca, a major player in meat and poultry products, without adequately evaluating the company’s environmental and social impacts, according to its own conclusions. - According to the report, for years, the company discharged residual waters from pig farms into the rivers that the Tsáchila depend on, affecting their health, culture, farming and tourism. - Inés Manzano, Ecuador’s Minister for Environment and Energy, is married to Christian Bakker, who is part of the family who founded Pronaca. | |
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Why don’t forest protectors get paid? asks Suriname’s president (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/why-dont-forest-protectors-get-paid-asks-surinames-president/ Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. At the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP30, in Brazil, Suriname is taking a large step into the spotlight, reports Mongabay’s Max Radwin. With about 93% forest cover and a status as one of only three nations to boast […] | |
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A forest worth more standing: Virgilio Viana on what it will take to protect the Amazon (November 21, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-forest-worth-more-standing-virgilio-viana-on-what-it-will-take-to-protect-the-amazon/ The first time Virgilio Viana saw the Amazon up close, he was a 16-year-old with a backpack, two school friends and very little sense of what he was walking into. They arrived by land, drifting along dirt roads that had more potholes than surface, then continued by riverboat as the forest thickened around them. Something […] | |
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Congo Basin nations roll out community payments for forest care (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/congo-basin-nations-roll-out-community-payments-for-forest-care/ Congo Basin countries have announced the launch of a payments for environmental services, or PES, initiative at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, intended to encourage practices favorable to forest protection and restoration. The financial mechanism, announced Nov. 18 and supported by the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), transfers direct payments via a mobile […] | |
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Inside California’s race to document its insects: A conversation with Chris Grinter (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/inside-californias-race-to-document-its-insects-a-conversation-with-chris-grinter/ - Christopher C. Grinter, Senior Collection Manager of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences, discussed his work documenting California’s insect diversity through the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI). - He described how DNA barcoding and voucher specimens together form a lasting record of life, helping scientists track species and environmental change across the state. - Grinter reflected on both the urgency of discovery amid biodiversity loss and the promise of new technologies and collaborations that make large-scale insect research possible. - He spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025. | |
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For sharks on the brink of extinction, CITES Appendix II isn’t protective enough (commentary) (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/for-sharks-on-the-brink-of-extinction-cites-appendix-ii-isnt-protective-enough-commentary/ - Listing shark species under CITES Appendix II, which allows for well-monitored sustainable trade, has helped to save some sharks from extinction. But some species are so threatened that they need to be listed on Appendix I, which bans all trade. - New research has revealed that many fins belonging to sharks protected by Appendix II are still being sold in large numbers in Hong Kong, one of the biggest markets, supporting the need for action on Appendix I listings for some species at the CITES COP20 meeting that commences next week in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. - “Governments meeting at COP20 in Uzbekistan should follow the science, support these proposals, and help save these sharks and rays from the brink of extinction. It’s the only way to give these species a fighting chance at survival,” a new op-ed argues. - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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Study finds important Nassau grouper spawning site in Belize near collapse (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/ - The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), a large-bodied top predator, was once the most abundant and commercially important fish in the Caribbean. - Each winter, the groupers gather en masse at special places to breed, but many of these so-called fish spawning aggregation sites have been dwindling or succumbing entirely to overfishing. - A new study looked at an important spawning site at Northeast Point on Glover’s Reef Atoll in Belize and found that the number of Nassau groupers attending the annual gathering declined by 85% over the past two decades and is now “on a trajectory towards local extirpation.” - It attributes the decline to the government’s limited capacity to enforce regulations aimed at protecting the groupers from fishing at the remote site. | |
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Fighting for food sovereignty at COP30: Interview with GRAIN’s Ange-David Baïmey (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/fighting-for-food-sovereignty-at-cop30-interview-with-grains-ange-david-baimey/ - The NGO GRAIN defines climate justice as ensuring frontline African communities can control their land, seeds and food systems rather than being pushed toward export-oriented, corporate agriculture. - Ange-David Baïmey, the group’s program coordinator for Africa, tells Mongabay that climate change is worsening farmers’ access to land, water and resilient seeds, while multinational seed and input companies deepen dependency and erode traditional seed systems. - He says formal U.N. climate negotiations are ineffective, with GRAIN instead using the COP30 conference to engage with civil society at the People’s COP to advance food sovereignty and agroecology. - For Baïmey, a COP30 “victory” would mean rejecting carbon markets, which he argues facilitate land grabbing and undermine food security across Africa. | |
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Wolf hauls up crab trap to eat bait, hinting at possible tool use (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/wolf-hauls-up-crab-trap-to-eat-bait-hinting-at-possible-tool-use/ Researchers in Canada have documented a wild gray wolf hauling a crab trap out of the water to eat the bait inside, according to a recent study. Researchers suggest it may be the first recorded example of possible tool use by a wolf (Canis lupus). The finding emerged from a program maintained by Indigenous Haíɫzaqv […] | |
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Gold mining exposes Indigenous women in Nicaragua to high mercury levels (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/gold-mining-exposes-indigenous-women-in-nicaragua-to-high-mercury-levels/ Indigenous women of childbearing age from Nicaragua’s Waspam municipality have been exposed to toxic levels of mercury, according to a new report by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN). The researchers took hair samples from 50 women between 18 and 44 years old. The women live in the Indigenous communities of Li Auhbra and Li […] | |
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The land deal threatening a vital piece of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-land-deal-threatening-a-vital-piece-of-bolivias-chiquitano-dry-forest/ - A 30,019-hectare (74,178-acre) forest in Santa Cruz, Bolivia is on the verge of being sold to Bom Futuro, a Brazilian agriculture company with plans to clear the land, documents reviewed by Mongabay suggest. - The forest is being sold by a local affiliate of Dutch wood flooring producer INPA, which has helped sustainably manage the area since the mid-2000s. - Conservationists say the plot is an important part of Bolivia’s Chiquitano dry forest, which acts as a transition between the Amazon Rainforest and the Gran Chaco and Cerrado savannas. | |
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EU touts climate leadership while undermining antideforestation rules, critics say (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/eu-touts-climate-leadership-while-undermining-antideforestation-rules-critics-say/ - European governments are pushing to delay and weaken the EU Deforestation Regulation, backing a one-year postponement to 2026 and major reductions in due-diligence requirements. - The political shift is driven largely by Germany and supported by France, despite earlier European Commission rollbacks and opposition from only a few member states. - Civil society groups warn that further delays would gut the law, punish early-compliant companies, and undermine the EU’s regulatory credibility. - At COP30, the EU’s silence on deforestation has fueled accusations of hypocrisy as advocates say weakening the EUDR would have severe consequences for tropical forests. | |
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Makassar women press for water as taps and wells run dry in sweltering Indonesian city (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/makassar-women-press-for-water-as-taps-and-wells-run-dry-in-sweltering-indonesian-city/ - Located on the coast of Sulawesi Island’s largest city, Makassar, Tallo ward endures high water stress and contamination of local sources with heavy metals and other pollutants. - Water stress is a well-documented driver of gender-based violence around the world, with extensive correlation established by numerous research studies, and causation in many circumstances. - In Makassar, women are commonly responsible for ensuring local households are supplied with water, which typically involves hauling more than two dozen plastic containers of water across town. - In response to these challenges, a grassroots women-led organization has entered direct talks with local political leaders and the municipal water company in a bid to improve access to water for consumption and sanitation. | |
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Soot: The super-pollutant choking a burning Earth, in photos (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/soot-burning-earth-photos/ Burning fossil fuels and forests releases the well-known greenhouse gases that drive anthropogenic climate change. That burning also produces soot, a fine black particle that harms health and accelerates warming. A new photo series highlights the often overlooked consequence of burning. Award-winning photojournalist Victor Moriyama, in partnership with the Clean Air Fund and Climate Visuals, […] | |
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With COP30, Indigenous Brazilians strive for new resources to protect nature (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/with-cop30-indigenous-brazilians-strive-for-new-resources-to-protect-nature/ - Less than 1% of global climate funding reaches Indigenous peoples and traditional groups, despite their leading roles in environmental conservation, particularly in the Amazon, according to reports. - In addition to a lack of access to conventional financing options, many traditional initiatives remain isolated by bureaucratic hurdles and struggle to adapt typical funding requirements to their communal dynamics. - In response to these challenges, several Indigenous and traditional-led funds are seeking solutions. Across Brazil, organizations are working to align financial procedures with the reality of local communities, aiming to ensure the autonomy of their representatives. - As Brazil hosts the COP30 climate summit, leaders of these Indigenous funds see the event as a window of opportunity to draw the world’s attention and seek new routes for proper investment. | |
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Next year’s UN climate talks set for Turkey, as Australia backs out of bid in compromise (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/next-years-un-climate-talks-set-for-turkey-as-australia-backs-out-of-bid-in-compromise/ BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Turkey will host next year’s annual United Nations climate talks, as Australia late Wednesday bowed out of the race to host the conference after a protracted standoff. As Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke at the U.N. conference, this year being hosted by Brazil, Australia’s Climate and Energy Minister […] | |
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Game of tiny thrones: Parasitic ants grab power by turning workers against their queen (November 20, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/game-of-tiny-thrones-parasitic-ants-grab-power-by-turning-workers-against-their-queen/ Queens of some ant species have evolved an unusually hostile mode for colony takeover: they infiltrate colonies of other ant species and manipulate the worker ants into killing their own queen — their mother — then accepting the intruding queen as their new leader, according to a recent study. In the world of ants, where […] | |
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Amazon Indigenous groups fight soy waterway as Brazil fast-tracks dredging (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/amazon-indigenous-groups-fight-soy-waterway-as-brazil-fast-tracks-dredging/ - Brazil is pushing the Tapajós River waterway as one of the main Amazon shipping corridors and preparing it for privatization, which will enable regular dredging and maintenance to improve its capacity. - Traditional communities and environmental groups warn that dredging and heavy vessel traffic threaten fish stocks, turtle nesting areas and other wildlife. - The Tapajós waterway is a central component of the new Amazonian logistics plans to move commodities such as soy and beef, including the contested Ferrogrão railway. | |
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Mongabay founder Rhett Butler wins Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Prize (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/mongabay-founder-rhett-butler-wins-tallberg-snf-eliasson-prize/ Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler has been announced a winner of this year’s Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. The annual prize is awarded to “outstanding leaders whose work is courageous, innovative, impactful, rooted in universal values, and global in perspective,” the organizers said in a press release. The prize was established by the Sweden-based […] | |
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‘The perfect ingredients’: WRI Africa deputy director shares vision for the continent’s energy transition (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-perfect-ingredients-wri-africa-deputy-director-shares-vision-for-the-continents-energy-transition/ - Rebekah Shirley, the deputy director for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI), says that increasing energy access for Africans, 600 million of whom lack basic access to electricity, requires thinking about entire economies. - In a conversation with Mongabay, Shirley notes that technological advances, especially for renewable energy, are no longer the hurdle they once were. - Instead, bringing energy access to households, community services and industry will result from investment in manufacturing, commerce and industry that will support the expansion of universal household energy access, Shirley says. - Mongabay spoke with Shirley in the lead-up to the 2025 U.N. climate conference, COP30, in Belém, Brazil. | |
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Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’ (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/ - A new study looking at the impacts of plastic ingestion by seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals found that relatively small amounts of consumed plastic can be deadly. - The research analyzed the necropsy results for more than 10,000 animals and quantified the amount of plastic that could prove deadly as well as the types of plastic with the biggest impact, which included synthetic rubber, soft plastics (such as plastic bags and wrappers) and discarded plastic fishing gear. - Overall, one in five of the deceased animals had consumed plastic (affecting 50% of all studied sea turtles, 35% of seabirds and 12% of marine mammals); nearly half of the species studied were considered threatened or near threatened on the IUCN Red List. - The researchers didn’t consider other health impacts of plastic, such as chemical exposure and entanglement, which led the lead author to conclude the study likely underestimates the “existential threat that plastic pollution poses to ocean wildlife.” | |
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With military backing and oligarch allies, Indonesia pushes controversial food estate (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/with-military-backing-and-oligarch-allies-indonesia-pushes-controversial-food-estate/ - The Indonesian government is fast-tracking a massive food estate and biofuel push in South Papua, anchored by new plantations, an $8 billion bioethanol supply chain, and major infrastructure projects including a new highway and expanded airport plans. - The initiative revives decades of state-driven “food estate” ambitions that have repeatedly failed — from Suharto’s peat-wrecking Mega Rice Project to Joko Widodo’s abandoned cassava fields — yet now comes with stronger political will, military backing, and efforts to attract private and international partners, including Brazil. - Funding and execution remain shaky, with the appointed operator, PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, still unfunded amid competing fiscal pressures as the government pursues costly programs like nationwide free school meals. - Large-scale land clearing is already underway amid reports of militarized suppression of local resistance, while oligarch allies such as the Jhonlin Group are playing prominent roles, underscoring both the urgency and controversy surrounding Prabowo’s self-sufficiency drive. | |
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Mongabay journalist Malavika Vyawahare honored with SEAL Award (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/mongabay-journalist-malavika-vyawahare-honored-with-seal-award/ Mongabay contributing editor Malavika Vyawahare has been awarded a 2025 SEAL environmental journalism award, which recognizes reporters covering the complexities of the environment and climate. “This award is a huge encouragement for me, as a journalist and as an exhausted toddler mom,” Vyawahare said. “It is also a recognition of the kind of work Mongabay […] | |
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Colombia slams international trade rules that punish states for climate action (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/colombia-slams-international-trade-rules-that-punish-states-for-climate-action/ Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres has called for reform of international arbitration tribunals, saying they’re “one of the greatest obstacles” to the energy transition and favor corporate interests over sovereignty. The investor–state dispute settlement system (ISDS), also called a “corporate court,” is an international trade mechanism that allows foreign investors, usually corporations, to sue […] | |
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Indigenous Dayak resist new southern Borneo national park amid global protection deficit (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indigenous-dayak-resist-new-southern-borneo-national-park-amid-global-protection-deficit/ - Indigenous peoples and student protesters staged several demonstrations in Indonesian Borneo in August in a bid to pressure local authorities to cancel plans for a 119,779-hectare (295,980-acre) national park in the Meratus mountain range. - Meratus Mountains National Park would be the first national park in South Kalimantan province, and the 58th in Indonesia. - The draft plans will absorb almost two dozen villages impacting several thousand families, many of whom fear displacement given the lack of formal state recognition of Indigenous communities. - Local civil society organizations say the public protests reflect a lack of consultation with affected communities, a pattern established by many governments as countries rush to protect 30% of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030. | |
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How Indonesian communities rescued the Bali starling from the brink of extinction (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/how-indonesian-communities-rescued-the-bali-starling-from-the-brink-of-extinction/ One of the world’s rarest birds has rebounded from near extinction after Indigenous communities on the Indonesian island of Bali committed to protect it under traditional laws, Mongabay contributor Heather Physioc reported. The Bali starling (Leucopsar rothschildi) is a songbird with striking white plumage and a cobalt-blue face. In 2001, just six birds were known […] | |
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As Zambia eyes green minerals, Kabwe’s poisoned past looms large (November 19, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-zambia-eyes-green-minerals-kabwes-poisoned-past-looms-large/ - Zambia is seeking to capitalize on the green energy boom through copper and other critical minerals, but campaigners warn that without real accountability and community participation, the next mining wave could create new “sacrifice zones,” repeating a painful history. - The town of Kabwe remains severely polluted after decades of lead and copper mining, with more than 95% of children showing dangerous blood lead levels. - The “Zambia’s Sacrifice Zone” campaign, launched by young activists, journalists and NGOs, uses storytelling and radio to demand accountability, raise awareness and amplify community voices in the fight for environmental justice and cleanup. - Authorities have rolled out remediation projects with World Bank support, testing tens of thousands of residents and improving water and infrastructure, but activists say compensation is lacking and enforcement of environmental laws remains weak. | |
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Offshore fossil fuel exploration jeopardizes Brazil’s climate leadership, study says (November 18, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/offshore-fossil-fuel-exploration-jeopardizes-brazils-climate-leadership-study-says/ - Ahead of the COP30 U.N. climate summit in Brazil, a report by environment-monitoring organization SkyTruth mapped the environmental impact of the advance of offshore exploration for fossil fuels in Brazil, criticizing the country’s unfulfilled energy transition promises. - The study detected 179 probable oil slicks in Brazilian waters since 2017, as the oil and gas sectors boomed. Analyses showed that traffic from fossil-industry vessels grew by 81% between 2012 and 2023, while methane burning skyrocketed — releasing into the atmosphere the equivalent emissions of 6.9 million cars annually. - According to the investigation, Brazil still embraces environmentally controversial initiatives, such as oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River. This agenda brings risks to rich marine ecosystems and Indigenous and traditional communities, moving the country further away from its climate and conservation goals. | |
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Brazil releases draft text and letter to accelerate COP30 climate negotiations (November 18, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/brazil-releases-draft-text-and-letter-to-accelerate-cop30-climate-negotiations/ BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Brazil is ramping up efforts at the U.N. climate conference with a direct letter to nations and a draft text released Tuesday. The letter, sent late Monday, comes during the final week of the first climate summit in the Amazon rainforest. COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago released a proposal with […] | |
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Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom (November 18, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/11/pioneering-primatologist-in-madagascar-shares-decades-of-conservation-wisdom/ Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the Centre ValBio research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay […] | |
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Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons (November 18, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/ - Peregrine falcons, the world’s fastest and most widespread raptors, recovered spectacularly after pesticides that nearly drove them to extinction were banned and captive-bred birds were rewilded, making the effort a remarkable conservation success story. - Although the species is no longer endangered, international commercial trade in this bird, coveted by falconers, is banned for wild-caught specimens and highly regulated for captive-bred ones. Canada and the U.S. propose loosening those restrictions, a proposal that will be voted on at the upcoming meeting of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. - Some raptor scientists have concerns. The Canada-U.S. downlisting proposal includes population estimates of just a few subspecies; many others are understudied. Some populations have declined in recent years and illegal trade continues. - Until there are safeguards against unsustainable trade and accurate assessments for all subspecies, conservationists say lowering protections could undo the efforts that have brought this bird back from the brink. | |
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