Francis Hallé, the botanist who took a raft into the rainforest canopy (January 22, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/francis-halle-the-botanist-who-took-a-raft-into-the-rainforest-canopy/
- The richest part of a tropical rainforest is often the hardest to study: the canopy, where much of its biodiversity lives beyond reach from the ground. Francis Hallé helped change that by finding ways to observe the treetops without cutting them down.
- A French botanist, biologist, and illustrator, he became known for the “canopy raft,” a platform set onto the crowns of trees by a balloon. It turned the upper forest from a place described in theory into one examined up close.
- Hallé was an expert in tropical forest ecology and “the architecture of trees,” a way of identifying trees by how they grow and branch. He paired field science with drawing and plain speech, and he was unsparing about the forces driving deforestation.
- In his later years he pursued a long-term plan to restore a “primeval forest” in Western Europe, left to evolve with minimal human interference over centuries. It was, in his view, a test of whether societies could think beyond the political moment.
Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides (January 22, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-revokes-forest-and-mine-permits-over-role-in-deadly-sumatra-landslides/
- Indonesia has revoked the permits of 28 companies after a post–Cyclone Senyar audit found environmental violations that authorities say worsened deadly floods and landslides in Sumatra in late 2025, which killed about 1,200 people.
- The revoked permits cover about 1 million hectares of forests and include major players such as pulpwood producer PT Toba Pulp Lestari, marking a shift toward framing permit enforcement as post-disaster accountability.
- Two high-profile projects in the Batang Toru ecosystem were hit: a nearly completed hydropower plant and the Martabe gold mine, both long criticized for operating in landslide-prone terrain that’s the only habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan.
- Environmental groups have welcomed the revocations, but warn the move is incomplete, calling for transparency, ecosystem restoration, protection against permit transfers to new operators, and broader action to halt deforestation in vulnerable watersheds.
Philippines hosts new Asia-Pacific hub for sustainable agriculture, cuisine (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/philippines-hosts-new-asia-pacific-hub-for-sustainable-agriculture-cuisine/
- More than 2,000 farmers, chefs and policymakers met last November in the Philippines to explore food systems rooted in biodiversity conservation, Indigenous knowledge and local food security.
- Speakers highlighted agroecology and nature-based solutions as practical ways to strengthen food security while restoring ecosystems and supporting livelihoods.
- Climate risks from typhoons to floods underscored why diversified farming and healthy soils matter for resilience across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
- The gathering signaled a pushback against industrial agriculture, including GMOs, and a move toward regional cooperation on “good, clean and fair” food.
Critical wetland in Angola gets formal Ramsar recognition (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/critical-wetland-in-angola-gets-formal-ramsar-recognition/
In a remote part of Angola’s highlands, a critical natural reservoir or “water tower” has been recognized as a wetland of international importance. Known to locals as lisima lya mwono, or “source of life,” the area supplies water to the region’s most important rivers and supports unique native wildlife. Officially designated last October by the […]
IUCN launches group to conserve at-risk microbes vital to life on Earth (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/iucn-launches-group-to-conserve-at-risk-microbes-vital-to-life-on-earth/
- Microbial communities, though invisible to the naked eye, are vitally important to planetary health and to Earth’s ecosystems. But they are often neglected in conservation strategies.
- Like other branches of life, microbial communities are under threat due to climate change, pollution, land use change and a wide range of other human actions. Degraded microbial communities can have harmful consequences for human well-being, ecosystems health and wider planetary processes.
- A newly launched specialist group under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) aims to place microbes on the conservation agenda.
- The new IUCN group plans to develop conservation strategies aimed at identifying and protecting at-risk microbial species vital to planetary health and create a Red and Green List, similar to those that exist for threatened animals and plants.
Overuse is pushing the world toward ‘water bankruptcy’ (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/overuse-is-pushing-the-world-toward-water-bankruptcy/
The world is depleting its freshwater far faster than nature can replace it, pushing many regions into “water bankruptcy,” according to a new report from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The report compares Earth’s hydrological system to a household’s finances. Rivers, rainfall and snow represent annual income, while glaciers, […]
Earth Rover Program seeks to track the world’s soil health (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/earth-rover-program-seeks-to-track-the-worlds-soil-health/
- Leveraging tools from seismology — the study of earthquakes and the inside of our planet — the Earth Rover Program aims to provide critical data on the health of soil.
- Humans, and terrestrial life in general, depend on the soil for nourishment.
- Yet, in many parts of the world, soils are degraded, worn out and eroding away.
- The recently founded program involves the development of inexpensive technology that farmers and scientists alike can use to better understand soil health and what can be done to improve it.
Growing native plants to heal land at Indigenous owned nursery in British Columbia (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/growing-native-plants-to-heal-land-at-indigenous-owned-nursery-in-british-columbia/
- The Ktunaxa First Nation owned Nupqu Native Plant Nursery in south-eastern British Columbia propagates over 60 native plant species, with a focus on locally-collected seed.
- The nursery grows 700,000 seedlings on site, and through five partner nurseries, supplies 2.5 million seedlings a year for restoration, mostly within Ktunaxa territory in Canada.
- Over the past five years of operation, the nursery has built up a wealth of knowledge on how to propagate many tricky species.
- Nupqu is now working with partners to build up an Indigenous-led native plant nursery industry in British Columbia.
Is South Asia becoming inhospitable for migratory birds? (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/is-south-asia-becoming-inhospitable-for-migratory-birds/
- Migratory birds are losing critical stopover habitats across South Asia along major global flyways due to human-driven causes.
- Draining wetlands and overfishing eliminate aquatic vegetation, invertebrates and fish that form the dietary base for migratory birds.
- Researchers emphasize that protecting migratory birds requires coordinated action beyond national borders.
‘Holy river’ carries industrial waste & sewage from Nepal to India (January 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/holy-river-carries-industrial-waste-sewage-from-nepal-to-india/
- The Sirsiya River, once central to daily life, agriculture and religious rituals in southern Nepal, is now heavily polluted with industrial waste and sewage, turning it into a public health hazard.
- Factories in Nepal’s industrial corridor discharge untreated effluents as weak enforcement, ineffective regulation and unimplemented wastewater plans allow pollution to persist.
- Pollution flows into Raxaul, India, contaminating water and harming crops, while residents on other side of the border say Indian efforts to treat local sewage can’t offset the influx from Nepal.
2025 was third-warmest year on record, research shows (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/2025-was-third-warmest-year-on-record-research-shows/
2025 was the third-warmest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The warmest year on record is still 2024, with 2023 coming in second. The global average surface temperature for 2025 was estimated to be 1.44° Celsius (2.59° Fahrenheit) higher than preindustrial levels. The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years […]
Drag artist Pattie Gonia on why nature advocacy needs joy to succeed (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/01/drag-artist-pattie-gonia-on-why-nature-advocacy-needs-joy-to-succeed/
Professional drag artist and environmental activist Pattie Gonia has more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram and has raised $1.2 million for environmental nonprofits by hiking 100 miles, or 160 kilometers, in full drag into San Francisco. She has gained international recognition for using drag artistry to advocate for the environment, in acknowledgment and celebration […]
Predators of the Great Wildebeest Migration: Then and now (cartoon) (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/01/predators-of-the-great-wildebeest-migration-then-and-now-cartoon/
While ecotourism has contributed both to wildlife conservation and community welfare in Kenya, over-tourism and the corporatization of ecotourism are now proving to be literal impediments in the ecological webs of the Kenyan wilderness. A Maasai leader recently took legal action against luxury chain Ritz-Carlton, claiming that its new lodge in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Reserve […]
How US intervention could deepen Venezuela’s environmental crisis (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/how-us-intervention-could-deepen-venezuelas-environmental-crisis/
- Following the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. has expressed interest in the country’s oil and minerals. But the current landscape means that a rushed investment could be disastrous for the environment, critics warn.
- Venezuela has an estimated 300 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest in the world. But decaying infrastructure and corruption make investment almost impossible, with a high risk of spills inside sensitive ecosystems.
- The country also has massive mineral deposits, many of them in the rainforest and on Indigenous territory. The mines are largely controlled by criminal groups, making U.S. involvement there extremely complicated, critics said.
Too many African plants fall into the IUCN’s ‘not evaluated’ trap (commentary) (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/too-many-african-plants-fall-into-the-iucns-not-evaluated-trap-commentary/
- Of the approximately 350,000 vascular plant species in the world, only about 18% have been assessed by the IUCN Red List, and the situation is starker still if one looks at just tropical African species.
- Further, IUCN’s “not evaluated” category simply means a species has not yet been assessed against Red List criteria, and in practice, African conservationists often meet a more confusing reality: Many species are not on the global Red List at all but are still informally talked about as if they are NE.
- “Here’s a constructive way forward via “Red List + Reality” decision rules…A stronger system could combine global assessments with local intelligence,” a new commentary suggests.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Brazil bets reducing poverty can protect the Amazon (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/brazil-bets-reducing-poverty-can-protect-the-amazon/
In the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, in Brazil’s western Amazon, daily life still depends on the forest. Families tap rubber, collect Brazil nuts, and manage small plots without clearing large areas. The reserve is named after Chico Mendes, the rubber tapper and labor leader murdered in 1988 for defending that way of life. More than […]
For two of the world’s most at-risk primates, threats abound and the future looks grim (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/for-two-of-the-worlds-most-at-risk-primates-threats-abound-and-the-future-looks-grim/
- Preuss’s red colobus is found in two populations in West Africa — roughly 3,000 individuals in the Korup–Cross River forest block and none confirmed in the Yabassi Key Biodiversity Area for more than a decade — and faces intense pressure from hunting and habitat loss.
- The Bangka slow loris, restricted to Bangka Island in Indonesia has not been systematically studied for decades and has suffered extensive habitat loss from mining and forest conversion.
- Proper field studies and conservation approaches used for other slow loris species could provide a road map for assessing and protecting the Bangka slow loris.
- For Preuss’s red colobus, a regional action plan is advancing in Nigeria, where monitoring and community outreach are underway, but implementation in Cameroon has been hampered by ongoing civil unrest around Korup National Park.
The knowledge to save coffee already exists, now it’s in one e-library (January 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/01/the-knowledge-to-save-coffee-already-exists-now-its-in-one-e-library/
Roughly half the world’s arabica coffee-growing regions will become unsuitable for cultivation of the crop by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. The consequences of a shrinking coffee harvest extend far beyond a daily caffeine fix, but experts say solutions do exist. One promising approach is agroforestry. The nonprofit Coffee Watch has now […]
From south to north, Sri Lanka’s cricket dreams undermine fragile ecosystems (January 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/from-south-to-north-sri-lankas-cricket-dreams-undermine-fragile-ecosystems/
- Sri Lanka plans to construct an international cricket stadium and a sports complex on the northern island of Mandaitivu spanning more than 56 hectares to popularize the sport in the country’s Northern province.
- Mandaitivu overlaps with mangroves and coastal wetlands in the ecologically sensitive Jaffna lagoon, and environmental groups warn that a construction on the low-lying island could reduce flood retention and increase climate vulnerability.
- Mandaitivu’s mangroves support fisheries and coastal livelihoods causing concern about potential decline in aquatic creatures, especially prawns and crabs, impacting the traditional fisherfolk.
- Conservationists say the project echoes past ill-informed infrastructure decisions, such as the Hambantota stadium built within an elephant habitat, reflecting weak environmental governance and repeated ecological trade-offs.
Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods & landslides (January 19, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-sues-6-companies-over-alleged-links-to-deadly-floods-landslides/
- Indonesia’s environment ministry is seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages from six companies it has linked to deadly floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November.
- Following the disasters, the ministry launched an investigation into dozens of companies in the region; the findings determined six companies were responsible for alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra.
- The areas affected include Batang Toru, an ecologically fragile ecosystem home to the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape.