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Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley, who helped Indonesian communities restore their reefs, has died (November 16, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/gayatri-reksodihardjo-lilley-who-helped-indonesian-communities-restore-their-reefs-has-died/ Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the shallows off northern Bali, where the reefs flicker with life and the sea carries the rhythm of work and prayer, a quiet revolution took root. Women who once had few choices began tending tanks of clownfish […] | |
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Saalumarada Thimmakka, mother of trees, has died, aged 114 (November 15, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/saalumarada-thimmakka-mother-of-trees-has-died-aged-114/ Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Along a dusty road between Hulikal and Kudur in southern India, banyan trees rise like sentinels. Their thick roots grasp the earth, their canopies stretch wide, casting deep shade over the red soil. Travelers who pass beneath them […] | |
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UK court finds mining giant liable for decade-old dam disaster in Brazil (November 15, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/uk-court-finds-mining-giant-liable-for-decade-old-dam-disaster-in-brazil/ A U.K. judge has found that the Australian multinational mining company BHP is liable for a 2015 dam collapse in southeastern Brazil. The incident killed 19 people and unleashed at least 40 million cubic meters (1.4 billion cubic feet) of toxic mine tailings onto downstream towns and waterways for 675 kilometers (419 miles). In […] | |
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Mongabay Fellows share their ‘Letters to the Future’ (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/mongabay-fellows-share-their-letters-to-the-future/ Uncertainty and hope — these sentiments prevail in a series of commentaries published by the latest cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows as they conclude their program and forge new paths into environmental journalism. Uncertainty centers on the future of our planet, the journalists who cover it and the people who defend it. […] | |
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AI data center revolution sucks up world’s energy, water, materials (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ai-data-center-revolution-sucks-up-worlds-energy-water-materials/ - Data centers are springing up across tropical Latin America, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Africa. But these facilities are often unlike those of the recent past. Today’s advanced data centers are built to provide artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity by Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon. - As large AI data centers proliferate, they are competing for water, energy and materials with already stressed tropical communities. National governments frequently welcome Big Tech and AI, offering tax breaks and other incentives to build AI complexes, while often not taking community needs into consideration. - Aware that fossil fuels and renewables by themselves likely can’t handle the astronomical energy demands posed by AI mega-data centers, Internet companies are reactivating the once moribund nuclear industry, despite intractable problems with radioactive waste disposal. - Voices in the Global South say that AI computing (whose producers remain principally in the Global North) is evolving as a new form of extractive colonialism. Some Indigenous people say it is time to question limitless technological innovation with its heavy environmental and social costs. | |
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Researchers find evidence of elephant poaching in remote Bangladesh forest (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/researchers-find-evidence-of-elephant-poaching-in-remote-bangladesh-forest/ Communities living around a remote, mountainous forest in southeastern Bangladesh, close to Myanmar, have reported cross-border incidents of elephant poaching for years but there was no confirmed evidence. A new study has now documented the first known physical signs of elephant poaching in the forest. The Sangu-Matamuhuri Reserve Forest in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar’s Rakhine […] | |
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Climate leaders warn of ‘overshoot’ into warming danger zone (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/climate-leaders-warn-of-overshoot-into-warming-danger-zone/ BELEM, Brazil (AP) — After years of pushing the world to limit Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, climate leaders are starting to acknowledge that the target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement will almost surely be breached. But they’re not conceding defeat. They are hopeful that temperatures can eventually be brought back below that […] | |
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Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/massive-turtle-bust-in-mexico-reveals-wild-west-of-wildlife-trafficking/ - A sting by Mexican authorities in September uncovered more than 2,300 live, wild-caught freshwater turtles and other valuable wildlife products. Three men were arrested and charged with wildlife crimes. - Vallarta mud turtles, the world’s smallest and the most imperiled in the Western Hemisphere, were among the eight species seized by authorities. All are in high demand as pets, and were headed for the U.S. and Asia. - Smuggled under horrific conditions, nearly half of the turtles seized in this raid died; the rest are being cared for at Guadalajara Zoo. - This operation highlights rampant turtle smuggling in Mexico, home to the second-most turtle species on the planet. Conservationists urge officials to tighten law enforcement and intelligence gathering to combat trafficking that threatens the survival of the country’s wildlife. | |
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Reindeer numbers may fall by more than half by 2100 as Arctic warms: Study (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/reindeer-numbers-may-fall-by-more-than-half-by-2100-as-arctic-warms-study/ Global reindeer populations could fall by more than half by 2100 due to the impacts of climate change, including the shrinking of their habitats, according to a recent study, Mongabay’s Sonam Lama Hyolmo reports. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), known in North America as caribou, live only in frozen tundra and boreal forests near the Arctic, and […] | |
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As Indonesia turns COP30 into carbon market showcase, critics warn of ‘hot air’ (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-indonesia-turns-cop30-into-carbon-market-showcase-critics-warn-of-hot-air/ - Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit to aggressively market its carbon credits, launching daily “Sellers Meet Buyers” sessions and seeking international commitments 6 despite unresolved integrity issues in its carbon market. - Experts warn Indonesia’s credits risk being “hot air,” since its climate targets are rated “critically insufficient,” meaning many claimed reductions may not be real, additional or permanent — especially in forest-based projects. - Forest and land-use credits, Indonesia’s biggest selling point, are among the riskiest, with high risks of overcrediting, leakage and nonpermanence; ongoing fires and deforestation further undermine credibility. - Environmental groups say the carbon push distracts Indonesia from securing real climate finance, enabling wealthy nations to offset rather than cut emissions, while leaving Indonesia vulnerable to climate impacts and dependent on a fragile market. | |
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Sloth selfies are feeding a booming wildlife trafficking trade (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sloth-selfies-are-feeding-a-booming-wildlife-trafficking-trade/ - The apparent docility and friendliness of “smiling” sloths have made them tourist darlings, but have also put a target on their backs. - The rise in trafficking of these animals led the governments of Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama to propose stricter rules for the international trade of two sloth species; the goal is to prevent them from becoming threatened with extinction. - Cruel practices used by traders condemn most animals to death, with sloth babies separated from their mothers and subjected to unbearable levels of stress. - In the Brazilian Amazon, tourism companies encourage customers to take photos with sloths, and the government fears the smuggling of animals to neighboring countries. | |
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Newly described ‘lucifer’ bee found visiting critically endangered plant in Australia (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/newly-described-lucifer-bee-found-visiting-critically-endangered-plant-in-australia/ In 2019, researcher Kit Prendergast was surveying the insects visiting an incredibly rare plant in the Bremer Ranges of Western Australia when a bee grabbed her attention. Prendergast and her colleague dug deeper and found that the native bee, now named Megachile lucifer, is a new-to-science species, according to a recent study. The species name […] | |
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From rock music to rainforests: Akhyari Hananto’s unlikely path to impact (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/from-rock-music-to-rainforests-akhyari-hanantos-unlikely-path-to-impact/ Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Before dawn breaks over Surabaya, Indonesia’s “City of Heroes,” Akhyari Hananto is already at work. After morning prayers, he opens Google Analytics to watch the night’s reading patterns unfold — what stories drew attention, which headlines resonated, and […] | |
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Small grants are key to a successful next generation of conservationists (commentary) (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/small-grants-are-key-to-a-successful-next-generation-of-conservationists-commentary/ - Large numbers of early-career conservationists and fledgling organizations are poised to implement solutions to the biodiversity crisis, but the prevailing funding logic isn’t adapting fast enough to support them. - Small grants can make a huge difference in this moment, as they are fast, flexible and comprehensible to people on the ground doing local conservation work, especially when unhinged from onerous restrictions and reporting requirements. - “We must support the next generation of conservation leaders to ensure they have viable career paths that do not come at the expense of burnout,” a new op-ed argues. “Small grants must step forward, not as charity, but as infrastructure for resilience.” - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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‘Green’ energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines’ nickel belt (November 14, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/green-energy-transition-leaves-a-dirty-trail-in-the-philippines-nickel-belt/ - Nickel mining in the southern Philippines is damaging the environment and health and livelihoods of local communities, according to a recent report from U.S.-based NGO Climate Rights International. - The report looked at the Caraga region on the island of Mindanao, where 23 active nickel mines currently operate. - Residents interviewed for the report cited siltation of rivers, farms and coastal areas as damage caused by nickel mines, as well as dust pollution during the dry season. They also listed human rights violations against people opposed to the mines. - The vast majority of nickel mined in the region is exported to China. | |
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Cacao rush fuels conflict and deforestation in southeastern Liberia (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/cacao-rush-fuels-conflict-and-deforestation-in-southeastern-liberia/ Soaring cacao prices over the last three years are fueling deforestation and conflict in Grand Gedeh county of Liberia, in West Africa, Mongabay staff writer Ashoka Mukpo reported. Satellite imagery by Global Forest Watch indicates that forest loss in and around Grand Gedeh, which borders the neighboring nation of Côte d’Ivoire in southeastern Liberia, has […] | |
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Rare parrots return to Atlantic Forest fragment after decades of silence (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rare-parrots-return-to-atlantic-forest-fragment-after-decades-of-silence/ - Twenty red-browed amazons were released in January 2025 in a forest reserve in Alagoas, Brazil, where only four wild individuals remained after the species was driven to near-extinction by illegal trade and deforestation. - The ARCA project aims to restore ecological processes in the Atlantic Rainforest, which today covers just 3% of its historical range in Alagoas — the result, in part, of the loss of seed-dispersing animals. - The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Alagoas shifted from reactive to preventive environmental protection in 2017, facilitating partnerships between scientists and private land owners to create a network of private reserves covering more than 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres). - Between 2010 and 2020, Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lost an area the size of Washington, D.C., in mature trees each year, despite federal protection laws. | |
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Strategic ignorance, climate change and Amazonia (commentary) (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/strategic-ignorance-climate-change-and-amazonia-commentary/ - With the support of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, essentially all of Brazil’s government outside of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is promoting actions that push us toward tipping points, both for the Amazon Rainforest and the global climate. - Crossing any of these tipping points would result in global warming escaping from human control, with devastating consequences for Brazil that include mass mortalities. - The question of whether Brazil’s leaders understand the consequences of their actions is relevant to how they will be judged by history, but the climatic consequences follow automatically, regardless of how these actions may be judged, a new op-ed argues. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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Ecuador freezes bank accounts of Indigenous leaders, land defenders (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/ecuador-freezes-bank-accounts-of-indigenous-leaders-land-defenders/ - Dozens of bank accounts that belong to Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have been reportedly frozen for weeks, by order of the state. - Sources told Mongabay their accounts froze suddenly without warning or explanation. Some have gone over six weeks, unable to access their funds, saying it has drastically affected their mobility. - The freezes come at a time of social protests and rising tensions in the country, and ahead of a controversial referendum in November that will ask citizens if they want to re-write the country’s constitution. - The freeze on some bank accounts have been lifted with help from lawyers. However, dozens remain in place. | |
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What’s at stake for the environment in Chile’s upcoming election? (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-chiles-upcoming-election/ - Chileans will go to the polls on Nov. 16 to vote for a new president, 23 Senate seats and all 155 seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies. - The elections could be a deciding factor in how the country addresses a number of ongoing environmental issues. - Candidates range from the left-wing Jeannette Jara to conservatives José Antonio Kast, Johannes Kaiser and Evelyn Matthei. - Whoever wins will have to address the clean energy transition, ongoing land disputes with Indigenous groups, and a controversial mining sector that has clashed with local communities. | |
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Sea anemones and hermit crabs form a mutualistic relationship in Japan (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/sea-anemones-and-hermit-crabs-form-a-mutualistic-relationship-in-japan/ Japanese researchers have described a new species of sea anemone that appears to share a mutually beneficial relationship with hermit crabs. The pale pink sea anemones, now named Paracalliactis tsukisome, were found attached to the shells of hermit crabs (Oncopagurus monstrosus). The researchers described the anemone based on 36 specimens that fishing trawlers collected between […] | |
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Global Energy Outlook sees promise in Africa’s power transition — funds permitting (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/global-energy-outlook-sees-promise-in-africas-power-transition-funds-permitting/ The World Energy Outlook 2025, released Nov. 12 by the International Energy Agency (IEA), portrays an African continent where energy demand is surging, but access and investment continue to lag. According to the IEA, Africa’s population is expanding at twice the rate of the global average — and with it, energy demand is expected to […] | |
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Zanzibar’s ‘solar mamas’ are trained as technicians to help light up communities (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/zanzibars-solar-mamas-are-trained-as-technicians-to-help-light-up-communities/ ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — Around half of Zanzibar’s population of 2 million people live unconnected from the electricity grid. But one program is training local women as solar power technicians to help light up Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago. The Barefoot College International program is helping communities move on from smoky kerosene lamps. The lamps can cause […] | |
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On the frontline of the Amazon land war (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/video/2025/11/on-the-frontline-of-the-amazon-land-conflict/ TERRA NOSSA, Brazil — In 2024, Mongabay investigative reporter Fernanda Wenzel traveled to one of the most dangerous spots in the Brazilian Amazon — a region where a silent land war is destroying the forest and costing lives. Her goal: to understand why three groups are locked in conflict here — land grabbers, settlers, and […] | |
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Letters to the Future (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/11/letters-to-the-future/ In this series, Letters to the Future, the 2025 cohort of Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellows share their views on environmental journalism, conservation and the future for their generation, amid multiple planetary crises. Each commentary is a personal reflection, based on individual fellows’ experiences in their home communities and the insights gained through […] | |
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The secret to building a global newsroom? Lead with impact, says Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-secret-to-building-a-global-newsroom-lead-with-impact-says-mongabay-founder-rhett-ayers-butler/ - Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler launched Mongabay in 1999 with the idea to “to make knowledge accessible and free, and to show that credible reporting could be a form of conservation in itself.” - In this interview with Butler, he shares how he sees receiving notable awards in 2025, including being named a Forbes Sustainability Leader and receiving the Henry Shaw Medal, as reflections of team rather than individual merit. - For Butler, impact is Mongabay’s true metric of success, as it can make a difference in “how people think, decide, and act.” - Butler says the next 25 years of Mongabay will focus on strengthening impact and empowering the next generations of leaders in environmental journalism. | |
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TotalEnergies moves to restart Mozambique LNG project despite security, eco concerns (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/totalenergies-moves-to-restart-mozambique-lng-project-despite-security-eco-concerns/ Four years after suspending operations at a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique’s Afungi Peninsula following insurgent attacks in the nearby village of Palma, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its partners have decided to lift their force majeure, local media reported. The company communicated the decision to the Mozambican government on Oct. 24. […] | |
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Photos: Drones help First Nations track down cold-water havens for salmon amid warming (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/photos-with-drones-first-nations-track-down-cold-water-havens-for-salmon-amid-warming/ - Indigenous fisheries association and river guardians, representing several Mi’kmaq nations in eastern Canada, have launched a drone-based thermal-mapping campaign to locate and protect cold-water refuges vital for threatened Atlantic salmon. - Warming temperatures are pushing the Atlantic salmon beyond their ideal thermal tolerance, compounding existing pressures on the species, such as overfishing. - Warming waters and declining river flows during droughts are impacting both the fisheries and the cultural lifeblood of Mi’kmaq society. - Indigenous river guardians hope the project will pre-emptively shield cool-water habitats before key spawning and migration corridors become unviable. | |
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‘Clean energy is just one driver of mining’: Cleodie Rickard on critical minerals (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/when-critical-minerals-arent-interview-with-cleodie-rickard/ - A new Global Justice Now report has found that nearly one-fifth of minerals labeled “critical” by the U.K. aren’t actually essential for the green energy transition, but are instead needed for the aerospace and weapons industries. - Mongabay interviewed Cleodie Rickard, the policy and campaigns manager at Global Justice Now, who says the group’s findings also show the U.K. can pursue its energy transition without increasing mineral mining — if it does so in a certain way. - Rickard says states and multinational mining companies often use the green energy transition as a pretext to ramp up critical mineral projects even though many of the minerals listed as “critical” aren’t necessary for the energy transition. - In this interview, she says the need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is undeniable, but exactly what materials should be prioritized, how much of them and what specific industries they serve have not been given enough attention. | |
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Protecting Vietnam’s vast caves may have sparked a wildlife comeback (November 13, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/protecting-vietnams-vast-caves-may-have-sparked-a-wildlife-comeback/ - Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in Vietnam is billed as a successful example of sustainable tourism, with efforts to conserve the area’s unique caves and wildlife. - The park’s management has implemented measures to limit tourism’s impact, such as restricting visitor numbers and offering guided tours, which has helped curb illegal hunting and logging. - Local communities have benefited from tourism, with many former hunters and loggers now working as guides and porters, and wildlife populations are showing signs of recovery. - The success of conservation efforts in the park has led to plans to expand protection to the Laotian side of the border, creating a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site. | |
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At her memorial, a call to carry Jane Goodall’s hope forward (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/at-her-memorial-a-call-to-carry-jane-goodalls-hope-forward/ - Jane Goodall’s memorial at Washington National Cathedral brought together scientists, diplomats, activists, and children for a service rooted in gratitude rather than grief, reflecting a life that reshaped how the world understands the natural world. - Speakers described her quiet authority and her belief that conservation depended on relationships, resilience, and collective purpose, with Anna Rathman urging the audience to continue the work Jane had begun. - Francis Collins and Leonardo DiCaprio offered personal reflections on her blend of scientific rigor, moral clarity, humor, and hope, recalling how she moved through the world with curiosity and purpose, insisting that every individual could make a meaningful difference. - Her grandson Merlin van Lawick spoke of the wonder she carried through her life and promised to continue her mission, underscoring a service that closed not with finality but with an invitation to carry her light forward and to show, through action, that hope endures. | |
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West Africa’s oceans get $68 million lifeline amid fisheries decline (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/west-africas-oceans-get-68-million-lifeline-amid-fisheries-decline/ A coalition of international organizations has launched the West Africa Sustainable Ocean Programme to tackle the region’s deepening fisheries decline. Led by the IUCN (the global wildlife conservation authority), Expertise France and the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), the WASOP initiative aims to curb illegal fishing, restore marine ecosystems, and […] | |
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‘Africa can become a green leader’: Interview with Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/africa-can-become-a-green-leader-interview-with-mohamed-adow-of-power-shift-africa/ - Although Africa contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it suffers the worst consequences of climate change and still receives only around 2% of global renewable energy investments. - Mohamed Adow from the think tank Power Shift Africa tells Mongabay that delegates at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, must deliver a “just transition framework” that prioritizes African needs, expands access to clean energy, and strengthens green industrialization across the continent. - Adow says he envisions an Africa that harnesses its transition minerals and renewable potential for its own prosperity — leading the global energy transition instead of powering other countries’ economies. - In 2025, African countries experienced escalating climate disasters, including deadly floods and severe droughts, while facing cuts in U.S. aid funding. | |
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Donors renew $1.8 billion pledge for Indigenous land rights (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/donors-renew-1-8-billion-pledge-for-indigenous-land-rights/ The governments of four countries, along with several philanthropies and donors, have renewed a $1.8 billion pledge over the next five years to help recognize, manage and protect Indigenous and other traditional community land. The Forest and Land Tenure Pledge, first made in Glasgow at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, provided $1.86 billion in […] | |
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Governments commit to recognizing 160 million hectares of Indigenous land (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/governments-commit-to-recognizing-160-million-hectares-of-indigenous-land/ The governments of nine tropical countries recently made a joint pledge to recognize 160 million hectares, or 395 million acres, of Indigenous and other traditional lands by 2030, according to a Nov. 7 announcement at the World Leaders Summit, an event hosted ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Intergovernmental Land Tenure […] | |
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Taiwan evacuates 8,300 and shuts schools before tropical storm brushes island (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/taiwan-evacuates-8300-and-shuts-schools-before-tropical-storm-brushes-island/ TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan evacuated more than 8,300 people from coastal and mountainous areas and closed schools before a tropical storm brushes the southern part of the island later Wednesday. Fung-wong had super typhoon strength when it battered the Philippines on Sunday, causing flooding, landslides, power outages and at least 27 deaths. Still holding tropical storm […] | |
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Peru Indigenous patrols see success & struggles in combating illegal miners (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/peru-indigenous-patrols-see-success-struggles-in-combating-illegal-miners/ - In 2024, the Wampís Indigenous nation formed the territorial monitoring group Charip to combat the expansion of illegal gold mining, loggers and other invaders in their territory in the Peruvian Amazon. - Charip combines traditional knowledge with monitoring technology but lacks the financial resources to expand its control posts and cover more ground. - Members of the group are unpaid, which has led to a decline in the number of available guards. | |
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Soy giants quietly prepare for EU deforestation law; impacts still uncertain (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/soy-giants-quietly-prepare-for-eu-deforestation-law-impacts-still-uncertain/ - With the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) nearing implementation, Mongabay reached out to five of the world’s largest traders to find out how ready the soy sector is. Responses ranged from “no comment” to no reply. - Despite the silence, experts from trade associations and NGOs say that big soy traders are already operationally prepared to meet EUDR requirements. - Certification bodies and verification networks, such as ProTerra and VISEC, appear to be playing a key role in helping the soy sector get ready for the EUDR. - Although experts express optimism about the regulation’s potential positive impacts, they underscore its limitations, particularly the exclusion of non-forest ecosystems, and call for continued vigilance in its implementation and corporate commitments. | |
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Iguanas on Mexico’s Clarion Island likely native, not introduced by people: Study (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/iguanas-on-mexicos-clarion-island-likely-native-not-introduced-by-people-study/ Researchers have long speculated that humans introduced spiny-tailed iguanas to Mexico’s remote Clarion Island about 50 years ago. However, a recent study suggests the Clarion iguanas are likely native to the island, arriving long before human colonization of the Americas. Clarion Island is the westernmost and oldest of a small group of islands in Mexico’s […] | |
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In the Amazon, political systems fail to prioritize the environment (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/in-the-amazon-political-systems-fail-to-prioritize-the-environment/ - Few presidential candidates embrace the environment as a primary election issue, while parties with openly green agendas often fail to get seats in national legislative bodies. - Increasingly fragmented electorates have made it difficult to elect a president from the first voting round; elected leaders might frequently not enjoy political majority in their respective parliaments. - While coalitions provide a potential solution to this fragmentation, they can struggle with corruption and instability. | |
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New directory helps donors navigate the complex world of global reforestation (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/new-directory-helps-donors-navigate-the-complex-world-of-global-reforestation/ - The Global Reforestation Organization Directory provides standardized information on more than 125 major tree-planting organizations, making it easier for donors to compare groups and find the ones that match their priorities. - Researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz evaluated groups across four categories: permanence, ecological, social and financial, each backed by scientific literature on best practices. - Much of the evaluation relies on the organization’s self-reporting through surveys or website statements and, while researchers acknowledge this limitation, they say it still provides a valuable framework and a starting point for donors. - The directory doesn’t rank organizations but rather shows what organizations publicly share about following scientific best practices, avoiding common mistakes and monitoring their results. | |
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‘Our zeal is unwavering’: 3 environmental defenders share trials, tribulations, hopes (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/our-zeal-is-unwavering-3-environmental-defenders-share-trials-tribulations-hopes/ - Environmental defenders face various challenges depending on their context, whether in Colombia, Uganda or the Philippines. - Since 2012, more than 2,100 defenders have fallen victim to violence, according to Global Witness. This includes activists in these three countries. - Mongabay spoke with three defenders from these nations at the 2024 Climate Change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. They were there to raise their voices on issues around just transition to energy, equity, inclusion and that the global climate policies work for them. - Despite serious threats to their lives, these defenders remain steadfast in their commitment to their cause. They are determined to continue their work, believing their mission is worth the risks they face. | |
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What Central Park’s Squirrel Census says about conservation tech: Interview with Okala’s Robin Whytock (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/what-central-parks-squirrel-census-says-about-conservation-tech-interview-with-okalas-robin-whytock/ - At the end of New York Climate Week this year, ecologist Robin Whytock spent a few hours in Central Park counting squirrels. - His mission was to prove how scalable tech solutions could help make biodiversity monitoring easier and more efficient. - Whytock, who runs AI-powered nature monitoring platform Okala, said that while data-gathering tools have become easily accessible, analyzing massive amounts of biodiversity data still remains a challenge. | |
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Gibbon trafficking pushes rehabilitation centers to the max in North Sumatra (November 12, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/gibbon-trafficking-pushes-rehabilitation-centers-to-the-max-in-north-sumatra/ - Famed for their free-flow swinging through the forest canopy, gibbons are being relentlessly shot, stolen and incarcerated to supply an escalating illegal pet trade that targets babies in particular. - Experts point to misleading social media content and a surge in private zoo collections as fueling the trade. Hundreds of the small apes have been confiscated by authorities across South and Southeast Asia in the past decade, with India and the UAE emerging as primary destinations. - Gibbon rehabilitation centers, mostly operated by NGOs struggling for funding, are buckling under the numbers of animals in need of rescue and care. - The trade imposes overwhelming suffering on the trafficked animals and immense wastage among the complex social groups gibbons live in, driving already threatened species ever closer to extinction. | |
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Cautious win for Indigenous groups in Malaysia as palm oil firm pauses forest clearing (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/cautious-win-for-indigenous-groups-in-malaysia-as-palm-oil-firm-pauses-forest-clearing/ - Indigenous Penan and Kenyah residents in Malaysian Borneo have filed a lawsuit and a complaint with Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil certifier, accusing palm oil company Urun Plantations of clearing natural forest within its concession along the Belaga River in violation of its lease and sustainability certification. - Urun Plantations agreed in late October to pause development activities after a palm oil mill suspended buying palm fruit from the plantation. - Satellite imagery and NGO field evidence indicate ongoing deforestation since 2023, while the company says it is only replanting previously developed land and denies breaching certification rules. - The company maintains the project has local support, with the dispute underscoring growing tensions in Malaysia’s Sarawak state over palm oil expansion into remaining forests and Indigenous territories. | |
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Turning outdoor exploration into environmental discovery: Gregg Treinish and the rise of Adventure Scientists (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/turning-outdoor-exploration-into-environmental-discovery-gregg-treinish-and-the-rise-of-adventure-scientists/ - Gregg Treinish, founder of Adventure Scientists, has built a global network of trained volunteers who collect high-quality environmental data for researchers, agencies, and conservationists. His organization bridges the worlds of outdoor adventure and scientific rigor. - From microplastics and illegal timber to biodiversity mapping, Adventure Scientists’ projects have filled crucial data gaps and influenced policy, research, and corporate practices around the world. - In California, Treinish’s team is partnering with the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI) to help catalog the state’s immense diversity through thousands of insect and soil eDNA samples collected by volunteers. - Treinish spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in October 2025 about scaling trust-based citizen science, the value of human observation in nature, and why adventure remains a powerful gateway to environmental action. | |
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Mongabay launches dedicated Oceans Desk to expand global reporting on marine ecosystems (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/ - Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation. - The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across Mongabay’s newsroom, marks a strategic shift to deepen our coverage of marine ecosystems. - Mongabay’s ocean reporting has already led to real-world impacts, including exposing corruption in Chilean marine protected area management and informing international sanctions on a Chinese fishing company related to illegal shark finning and abusive labor practices. - The Oceans Desk marks a milestone in Mongabay’s growth over more than two decades and strengthens the organization’s ability to inform, inspire and sustain effective action on marine conservation worldwide. | |
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How a ‘green gold rush’ in the Amazon led to dubious carbon deals on Indigenous lands (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/how-a-green-gold-rush-in-the-amazon-led-to-dubious-carbon-deals-on-indigenous-lands/ - A Mongabay investigation has found that companies without the financial or technical expertise signed deals with Indigenous communities in Brazil and Bolivia, covering millions of hectares of forest, for carbon and biodiversity credits. - Many of the communities involved say they were rushed into signing, never had the chance to give consent, and didn’t understand what they were signing up to or even who with. - Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency has warned of legal insecurity and lack of standards in carbon credit initiatives, and an inquiry is underway — even as the businessmen involved target more than 1.7 million hectares in the tri-border area between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. - Two and a half years since the deals were made, Brazil’s Public Ministry has called for them to be annulled, following Mongabay’s repeated requests to the ministry for updates. | |
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Embrace ‘blue’ foods as a climate strategy at COP30, fisheries ministers say (commentary) (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/embrace-blue-foods-as-a-climate-strategy-at-cop30-fisheries-ministers-say-commentary/ - The “blue” or aquatic foods sector is often overlooked as a climate strategy, despite its potential to help meet demand for protein with a smaller environmental footprint, fisheries ministers from Brazil and Portugal argue in a new op-ed at Mongabay. - Many blue foods generate minimal carbon emissions and use modest amounts of feed, land and freshwater, and their increased consumption could cut annual global CO₂ emissions by a gigaton or more. - “Brazil and Portugal stand ready to champion global efforts to harness and safeguard blue foods for climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, generating multiple benefits across sustainable development goals. We call on more countries to implement measures across the blue food sector that strengthen food security and climate strategies at COP30 and beyond,” the authors write. - This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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Radioactive rhinos (cartoon) (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/11/radioactive-rhinos-cartoon/ South Africa’s rhinos now have an unlikely superpower: radioactivity! Scientists working on the Rhisotope Project inject the horns of live rhinos with a radioactive isotope. This is harmless to the rhinos, but makes smuggled horns easy to detect during customs inspections with the hope of deterring rhinoceros poaching. | |
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Sierra Leone communities sign carbon agreement based on carbon justice principles (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/sierra-leone-communities-sign-carbon-agreement-based-on-carbon-justice-principles/ - Hundreds of communities in Sierra Leone’s Bonthe district have signed a benefit-sharing carbon agreement with the Africa Conservation Initiative targeting the protection of mangroves in the Sherbro River Estuary. - The agreement is based on “carbon justice principles” aimed at making carbon projects fairer for communities, such as a 40-50% gross revenue share; free, prior and informed consent, including transparency of financial information and buyers; and community-led stewardship of the mangroves. - If implemented correctly, the agreement could address “deep-rooted issues of fairness,” experts say. | |
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Coal-dependent South Africa struggles to make just energy transition real (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/ - Communities in South Africa’s coal-mining towns say there’s little sign of a clean energy transition on the ground, where they complain of persistent pollution and violence toward activists. - A metalworkers’ union leader who sits on South Africa’s climate commission says the transition is racing forward, outpacing new jobs promised to mine workers. - A mine operator says coal is a critical element in producing renewable energy infrastructure. | |
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The price of gold: In Venezuela, mining threatens Indigenous Pemón (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/the-price-of-gold-in-venezuela-mining-threatens-indigenous-pemon/ - Across southern Venezuela, Indigenous communities have been drawn into mining for gold as their traditional way of life has been disturbed and they lack other economic opportunities. - Armed groups and a push for extractives have turned the Imataca Forest Reserve in the state of Bolivar into a mining hotspot, sources tell Mongabay, boosting deforestation and river pollution and destroying the livelihoods of Indigenous Pemón families. - In Canaima National Park, the collapse of tourism and the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed communities into mining. Many operations in the park are run by Pemón, who own rafts, employ local workers and partner with external financiers providing machinery and fuel in exchange for a share of the gold. - In theory, Venezuela legally guarantees land rights for Indigenous people and requires consultation on extractive projects, but communities denounce a lack of consultation, with both legal and illegal mining encroaching on their territories. | |
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Chilean pulp giant Arauco’s history of pollution trails it to Brazil biodiversity site (November 11, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/chilean-pulp-giant-araucos-history-of-pollution-trails-it-to-brazil-biodiversity-site/ - Chile-based Arauco has begun building a pulp and paper mill in a Brazilian region that’s been prioritized for conservation. - The project overlaps with the Três Lagoas biodiversity conservation area, where it could potentially contaminate rivers, dry up groundwater, increase wildlife roadkill, and transform this region of Cerrado savanna into a “green desert” of eucalyptus monocultures. - While Arauco has promised to implement monitoring and mitigation measures for the environmental impacts of its new project, its track record in Chile is rife with cases of pollution and environmental violations. | |
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Air pollution levels surge in India’s capital, sparking rare protests (November 10, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/air-pollution-levels-surge-in-indias-capital-sparking-rare-protests/ NEW DELHI (AP) — A thick layer of smog enveloped India’s capital Monday, filling the air with an acrid smell as pollution levels surged and worsening a public health crisis that has prompted its residents to take the streets to protest and demand government action. By Monday morning, New Delhi’s air quality index stood at 344, a […] | |
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Brazil hosts COP30 with high ambitions — and scaling environmental ambiguities (November 10, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-hosts-cop30-with-high-ambitions-and-scaling-environmental-ambiguities/ - Three environmental moves in Brazil are drawing criticism as the country hosts COP30: a green light for exploratory oil drilling on the Amazon coast, an end to the Soy Moratorium and a push for looser environmental licensing. - Experts fear the plans could risk a lack of global accountability, watering down COP30’s outcome to vague promises and softer language. - Following COPs held by petrostates, the summit in Belém comes with recent decisions from Norway, Australia and China to support new fossil fuel projects, illustrating a global trend that jeopardizes bolder deals at COP30. | |
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To fix the climate, simply empower Indigenous people (commentary) (November 10, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/to-fix-the-climate-simply-empower-indigenous-people-commentary/ - While nations search for complex climate solutions at this year’s COP30 climate meeting in Belém, a simple yet powerful answer is just waiting in the wings: empowering the world’s most powerful protectors of forests and nature – Indigenous people – and we must let them point the way, a new op-ed argues. - Ending fossil fuel use and transforming global food systems are essential but expensive and take time, but nations like Indonesia can score an immediate climate win by enacting its long debated Indigenous Peoples Bill, for example. - “Humanity seeks an answer, but the answer has always been here,” the Sira Declaration states. “The answer is us.” - This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay. | |
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‘Not good’: Ocean losing its greenness, threatening food webs (November 10, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/not-good-ocean-losing-its-greenness-threatening-food-webs/ - The ocean is losing its greenness, a new study has found: Global chlorophyll concentration, a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, declined over the past two decades, especially in coastal areas. - Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web, supporting fisheries and broader ecosystems, so their decline could have far-reaching implications, experts say. - The phytoplankton decline could hurt coastal communities that live off the sea, and affect the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink, the authors say. | |
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What does the just energy transition mean for Africa? (November 10, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/what-does-the-just-energy-transition-mean-for-africa/ - Around 600 million Africans lack even basic access to electricity. - The challenges this deficit poses have led to a call for a “just” energy transition that brings access to energy from renewable sources without imposing undue costs on individuals, communities and countries. - The rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are largely the result of fossil fuel burning in industrialized countries, and yet countries in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South are often on the frontlines of the impacts of climate change, including unbearable heat, droughts and flooding. - The debate about how to facilitate a “just” transition includes questions around the continued use of fossil fuels, nations’ sovereignty, and mobilizing funding to finance the necessary changes. | |
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African summit seeks clean energy future to combat climate change impacts (November 10, 2025) https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/african-summit-seeks-clean-energy-future-to-combat-climate-change-impacts/ - Nonstate actors have adopted the “Cotonou Declaration” at the Climate Chance Africa 2025 summit. - The summit featured renewable energy commitments as well as a road map for integrating adaptation as a crucial step in addressing climate change. - Benin is leading the way on climate resilience by anticipating and addressing the challenges posed by climate change. | |
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