Tropical forests in Australia are emitting more carbon than they capture: Study (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tropical-forests-in-australia-are-emitting-more-carbon-than-they-capture-study/
- A newly published study reveals that moist tropical forests in Australia are now a net carbon emitter, making this the first documented case of tropical forest woody biomass making the flip from sink to source.
- Researchers analyzed nearly five decades of data and found that around the year 2000, these forests stopped absorbing more carbon than they emitted and went into a reversal.
- They identified tree deaths as the core problem, showing that these doubled compared to earlier decades, with new growth unable to keep pace.
- Climate change and cyclones are to blame, as rainforest species evolved for warm, wet conditions, but are now facing temperature extremes and extended droughts that damage their tissues and stunt growth.
Photos: Tourism ambitions clash with local livelihoods on Indonesia’s Lombok Island (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/photos-tourism-ambitions-clash-with-local-livelihoods-on-indonesias-lombok-island/
- Residents of Tanjung Aan Beach on the Indonesian island of Lombok say they were evicted with little notice or compensation as the Mandalika tourism project advances, leaving many without livelihoods or alternatives.
- The government-controlled developer has defended its process, citing compensation paid in a different land zone, but locals say support didn’t reach the coastal community now being cleared.
- Perspectives diverge sharply: locals describe loss, fear and declining income, while some foreigners and investors argue the development is legal, overdue and ultimately beneficial.
- Younger Lombok residents highlight deeper systemic issues — weak regulation, rising costs and limited opportunities — saying tourism growth increasingly serves visitors, not locals.
Mongabay shark meat investigation wins national journalism award in Brazil (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mongabay-shark-meat-investigation-wins-national-journalism-award-in-brazil/
- A Mongabay investigation that revealed Brazilian state-run institutions bulk-buying shark meat for public schools, hospitals and prisons won second place in the ARI/Banrisul Journalism Award, one of Brazil’s most prestigious journalism prizes.
- In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, Mongabay revealed how authorities had issued 1,012 public tenders since 2004 for the procurement of more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat, raising environmental and public health concerns.
- In a statement, the Rio Grande do Sul Press Association (ARI) said the award “recognized the talents” in professional and university categories amid a record number of entries, up 40% from the 2024 edition.
- Following the revelations, the investigation sparked several impacts, from a call for a public hearing in Brazil’s lower house of Congress, a citation in a lawsuit to ban shark meat from federal procurements, to an industry debate questioning the harms of shark meat consumption.
Mekong sand mining risks collapse of SE Asia’s largest freshwater lake, study finds (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/mekong-sand-mining-risks-collapse-of-se-asias-largest-freshwater-lake-study-finds/
- Surging demand for sand used in construction projects poses an existential threat to Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, new research indicates.
- The seasonal expansion and contraction of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake is often referred to as the Mekong River’s “heartbeat” due to its fundamental role in sustaining ecosystems and human lives across the region.
- Sand mining in the Mekong River, particularly in Cambodia and Vietnam, has deepened the river channel, effectively halving wet season flows into Tonle Sap Lake between 1998 and 2018, the study found.
- The stark findings underscore the severity of sand mining impacts, adding urgency to calls for improved and coordinated river governance throughout the Mekong Basin.
New miniature bright-orange toadlet found in southern Brazil and named after Lula (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/new-miniature-bright-orange-toadlet-found-in-southern-brazil-and-named-after-lula/
In a small stretch of the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil lives a bright-orange species of frog that’s new to science, researchers report in a recent study. The miniature amphibian measures just over a centimeter long, less than half an inch, or the length of an average fingernail. The team has named the toadlet Brachycephalus […]
Neddy Mulimo treated ranger welfare as conservation (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/neddy-mulimo-treated-ranger-welfare-as-conservation/
- Neddy Mulimo argued that ranger welfare was not charity but strategy, insisting that effective conservation depends on whether rangers have water, shelter, training, and institutional backing to make sound decisions under pressure.
- His own path into conservation began far from the bush, shaped by education, mentorship, and early encounters with risk, including a near-fatal buffalo attack that nearly drove him out of the profession.
- Over four decades, he rose from driver and educator to anti-poaching leader and mentor, helping build specialist units while remaining focused on the people doing the work, until his death in April 2025 after a battle with cancer.
Grassroots forest protection succeeds where planting drives fail in Nepal (December 23, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/grassroots-forest-protection-succeeds-where-planting-drives-fail-in-nepal/
- Cases from Nepal suggest that degraded land can regenerate naturally when locals enforce rules such as banning open livestock grazing, restricting access, fining illegal logging and organizing patrols, without the need for costly tree-planting drives.
- Native species return within a few years after the land is protected, showing that fertile soil, existing seed banks and wildlife presence can restore forests naturally.
- Researchers and community leaders say Nepal should prioritize long-term, community-led forest protection and natural regeneration, which are more effective, sustainable and lower-cost than coordinated tree planting.
Will Australia’s main environment law continue marginalizing Indigenous authority, despite overhaul? (commentary) (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/will-australias-main-environment-law-continue-marginalizing-indigenous-authority-despite-overhaul-commentary/
- Australia’s main environmental law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), was recently updated.
- The EPBC overhaul is a major shift in environmental standards, which also appoints a new independent environment watchdog and other changes, but one of the most urgent failures of the old policy remains unresolved: the marginalization of Indigenous input and authority.
- The real test in the updated EPBC lies in how it’s implemented, a new op-ed argues: “If governments continue treating First Nations as consultees rather than partners, the new laws will inherit the same weaknesses that allowed deforestation, cultural loss and biodiversity decline under the old regime.”
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Taboo against harming strangler fig spirits protects forests in Indonesian Borneo (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/taboo-against-harming-strangler-fig-spirits-protects-forests-in-indonesian-borneo/
- The Iban community in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, says it believes large strangler fig trees are inhabited by dangerous spirits, leading community members to protect these trees from harm wherever they occur.
- When clearing land for farming, the community protects the fig tree as well as islands of vegetation around the tree, which together account for 1-2% of their farmland dedicated to protecting the strangler figs.
- Research published in Biotropica found that strangler figs are equally or more abundant in the community’s farmland compared with old-growth, with 25 species identified across the landscape.
- These protected fig trees and surrounding vegetation serve as crucial refuges and stepping stones for wildlife, demonstrating how traditional spiritual beliefs can have measurable biodiversity benefits that could be replicated elsewhere.
Carbon and charisma: How climate network CC35 tricked its way to the limelight (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/carbon-and-charisma-how-climate-network-cc35-tricked-its-way-to-the-limelight/
- The executive secretary of CC35, a climate network of capital cities in the Americas, used annual climate summits and other events to advance private interests in carbon credit businesses, a Mongabay investigation has found.
- His plan included persuading a provincial government in Argentina to sign a multimillion-dollar carbon contract with an associate facing fraud allegations in a parallel carbon business. According to a recent Mongabay investigation, the associate had pressured Indigenous communities in Brazil and Bolivia to sign abusive carbon deals, conceding rights for an area larger than Ireland.
- The head of CC35, Argentinian Sebastián Navarro, also failed to fulfill CC35’s commitment to cover all costs associated with Ecuador’s pavilion at COP28, after making false claims to the government and creating debts for the country.
Daniel Ole Sambu, who helped lions and people coexist, died at age 51 (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/daniel-ole-sambu-who-helped-lions-and-people-coexist-died-at-age-51/
In the rangelands beneath Kilimanjaro, coexistence between people and wildlife has never been a simple matter. Livestock wander into the paths of lions. Farmers lose cattle they can scarcely afford to lose. Retaliation follows, and with it the slow unraveling of ecosystems that depend on predators to stay whole. Local conservation groups have long understood […]
BRICS+ offers Indigenous & local communities ways to advance environmental and social goals (analysis) (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/brics-offers-indigenous-local-communities-ways-to-advance-environmental-and-social-goals-analysis/
- As the world grapples with climate change, biodiversity loss and resource scarcity, Indigenous and local communities remain at the forefront of conservation, yet are often sidelined in terms of global environmental governance.
- However, as the geopolitical landscape shifts, new opportunities are emerging for these communities to assert their influence: one alternative is the BRICS+ alliance, a coalition of 10 nations that has increasingly positioned itself as a counterbalance to Western-dominated global governance structures.
- BRICS+ “offers unique opportunities for reimagining Indigenous inclusion through their emphasis on multipolarity, South-South cooperation, and alternative development paradigms that could, if strategically leveraged, provide space for Indigenous voices to shape governance from within,” and therefore bring environmental and social goals forward, a new analysis argues.
- This article is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Can anyone save the Sumatran rhino? (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/specials/2025/12/can-anyone-save-the-sumatran-rhino/
Long considered elusive and endangered, the Sumatran rhino is now estimated to have fewer than 50 individuals left in Indonesia’s fragmented forests. In 1984, conservationists captured 40 animals for a global captive-breeding program to stall an extinction that seemed imminent. Decades later, the effort stands as a case study on hope, loss and scientific persistence. […]
Project sees long-term success restoring forests in the high Andes: Study (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/project-sees-long-term-success-restoring-forests-in-the-high-andes-study/
- The Polylepis forests of Peru are some of the highest high-altitude forests in the world, playing an essential role in the water cycle.
- Over the past few decades, various restoration projects have worked to restore Polylepis forests across their former range.
- In 2022, researchers revisited a restoration project in Aquia, Peru, to understand what factors contributed to its success. The study concludes that stakeholder participation and formal conservation agreements helped the project succeed.
- Over the past four years, initiatives by ECOAN and Accion Andina have built on previous success.
Century-old corals reveal the Pacific Northwest is acidifying faster than expected (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/century-old-corals-reveal-the-pacific-northwest-is-acidifying-faster-than-expected/
- When compared with historical samples, corals show that the Salish Sea and California Current System are acidifying faster than anticipated because of greenhouse gas emissions. Models indicate that at this rate, carbon dioxide levels in the oceans will continue rising faster than concentrations in the atmosphere.
- Increasingly acidic seas pose growing risks to sensitive marine life, from clams and oysters to any organism with a spine, as well as economically important fisheries and the communities that depend on them.
- British marine ecologist Stephen Widdicombe calls the threat existential. Our continued failure to cut emissions can only lead to “a world where uncontrolled climate change including ocean acidification leaves us with an ocean that is less productive, less diverse and less able to provide humans with the wealth of services that we currently all benefit from,” he said.
Sámi reindeer herders protest EU-backed graphite mine, fearing lost grazing ground (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sami-reindeer-herders-protest-eu-backed-graphite-mine-fearing-lost-grazing-ground/
- Sweden has approved the EU-backed Nunasvaara South graphite mine by Australia-based battery anode and graphite company Talga Group on land Sámi reindeer herders use for winter grazing.
- The mining company told Mongabay it has designed the mine area to limit the impact on nature and it plans to shut down operations for six months of the year to allow reindeer to graze on their winter grounds.
- But Sámi residents, who depend on herding, told Mongabay they fear their reindeer will be displaced because their winter grazing grounds will be destroyed, and they criticize the company’s environmental safeguards.
- They also said the mine’s inclusion as a strategic project under the EU Critical Raw Minerals Act has allowed it to be fast-tracked without essential environmental safeguards and that the company has made little attempt to meaningfully communicate with affected communities.
The Amazon in 2026: A challenging year ahead, now off the center stage (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-amazon-in-2026-a-challenging-year-ahead-now-off-the-center-stage/
- As Belém’s COP30 ended in compromise, political forces moved swiftly to accelerate destruction far from the global spotlight.
- New infrastructure projects, critical minerals, fires and novel threats to the Amazon remain looming for 2026 after a year in the spotlight preparing for COP30.
- In 2025, the rainforest saw illegal miners finding new smuggling routes and an increasing backlog of families waiting for settlement in Brazil.
- As carbon credit schemes and violence against environmental defenders continue to loom, products made from Amazon raw materials renew hope for the value of a standing forest.
Ethiopian youth groups restore Rift valley lake & livelihoods (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/ethiopian-youth-groups-restore-rift-valley-lake-livelihoods/
- Youth groups are restoring the ecosystem in and around Ethiopia’s Abijata-Shalla National Park, once covered with acacia woodlands but stripped bare in recent years as water has been lost to irrigation and a soda-ash factory.
- Spanning 887 square kilometers, the park is a vital refuge for biodiversity, hosting migratory birds and a range of species, making it one of the region’s most important wildlife strongholds.
- Wetlands International staff have trained local youth and community members in sustainable land management, teaching them how to identify and correct unsustainable practices such as overgrazing, deforestation and farming on steep slopes.
- The work relies heavily on consultations with local communities, ensuring solutions align with community needs.
Mongabay contributor Glòria Pallarès wins top anti-corruption reporting award (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/mongabay-contributor-gloria-pallares-wins-top-anti-corruption-reporting-award/
Journalist Glòria Pallarès won the Anti-Corruption Excellence (ACE) Award for her investigation into corrupt forest finance schemes published in collaboration with Mongabay. The award ceremony was held in Doha, Qatar, on Dec. 16. The investigation, published in January 2024, exposed a scheme in which companies registered in Peru, Bolivia and Panama were using false claims […]
The first amphibian to halt a hydroelectric dam now takes on the climate crisis (December 22, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-first-amphibian-to-halt-a-hydroelectric-dam-now-takes-on-the-climate-crisis/
- Known in Brazil as the admirable little red-bellied toad, the rare Melanophryniscus admirabilis is endemic to a stretch of the Forqueta River in Rio Grande do Sul state. It made history in 2014 when it halted the construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have destroyed its only habitat.
- After the 2024 floods, researchers returned to the area to assess the impacts of the state’s biggest climate catastrophe on its environment.
- With just over a thousand individuals in the wild, the species is listed as “critically endangered”; in addition to climate change, the little toad suffers from the advance of monocultures and the threat of wildlife trafficking.