Why the Amazon can’t be saved by courts alone (commentary) (March 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/why-the-amazon-cant-be-saved-by-courts-alone-commentary/
- The Amazon cannot be saved by legal recognition alone. Declaring the forest a subject of rights is historic, but without real authority for Indigenous governments, these rights risk remaining largely symbolic.
- Protecting the forest requires shared governance: national ministries, regional agencies, and local governments must coordinate decisions with Indigenous authorities who already govern vast Amazonian territories — and protect the knowledge systems that have sustained it for generations.
- The limited implementation of the ruling recognizing the Amazon as a subject of rights reflects the gap between judicial decisions and realities on the ground, as well as the political and social complexity of the Amazon across territorial, national, regional, and international scales.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Poop pills and gut microbes: Wildlife microbiome studies aid conservation (March 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/poop-pills-and-gut-microbes-wildlife-microbiome-studies-aid-conservation/
- Recent research into the human microbiome is revealing how closely connected it is to our health. Similarly, scientists are exploring how the microbiome in wildlife species can aid conservation efforts.
- Studies show that human action (including climate change and close proximity to people) is altering the microbiomes of multiple wildlife species. The implications of how these changes may be impacting wildlife survival and health remain unclear.
- Researchers are also exploring how supporting a diverse wildlife microbiome can improve animal health in captivity, aid recovery during rehabilitation, and even boost reintroduction success. Microbiome studies are underway on numerous species, ranging from Australian koalas to African meerkats and cheetahs.
- Though still an emerging field, fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) are just one possible tool that researchers and conservationists are exploring in trials to see how the restoration of a healthy diverse microbiome can support wildlife conservation.
A nature-based solution to save the Mekong Delta’s water future (commentary) (March 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/a-nature-based-solution-to-save-the-mekong-deltas-water-future-commentary/
- The Mekong Delta — a global rice and aquaculture hub — is increasingly at risk from climate change, with rising seas, salinity intrusion, pollution and groundwater depletion threatening the livelihoods of dependant communities and lives of millions of residents in the delta.
- In Vietnam, a proposed nature-based groundwater replenishment system aims to combine water treatment, aquifer recharge and wind energy to boost clean water supply, reduce salinity and stabilize the delta’s fragile ecosystems.
- Backers say the plan could deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in annual benefits through higher farm yields, improved public health and stronger climate resilience, though it will require major investment and coordinated governance to succeed.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Birutė Galdikas, primatologist who spent a lifetime studying & defending orangutans, has died at 79 (March 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/
- Birutė Galdikas established one of the longest-running field studies of any wild mammal, helping to transform scientific understanding of orangutans and their behavior.
- Her work combined research with hands-on rehabilitation, returning hundreds of orangutans to the wild while navigating debates over the role of intervention in field science.
- As Borneo’s forests declined, she expanded her efforts into conservation, founding an organization and working with local communities to protect habitat under growing economic pressure.
- As part of the “Trimates”, a group of female researchers recruited by Louis Leakey, she helped bring great apes into public view and frame orangutans as emblematic of broader environmental loss.
Palm oil clearing advances in Bornean orangutan habitat despite red flags (March 26, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/palm-oil-clearing-advances-in-bornean-orangutan-habitat-despite-red-flags/
- A palm oil firm has cleared more than 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) of forest inside a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Indonesian Borneo, threatening areas identified as orangutan habitat.
- The concession overlaps with a wildlife corridor linking two national parks, raising concerns over habitat fragmentation and increased human-orangutan conflict.
- Authorities have acknowledged the presence of the habitat inside the company’s concession, but proposed voluntary conservation measures rather than halting clearing, drawing criticism from environmental groups.
- The case highlights broader issues of weak enforcement, disputed land rights with Indigenous communities, and supply-chain loopholes that continue to allow deforestation-linked palm oil into global markets.
Compost, racoons and sea turtle predation in Costa Rica (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/compost-racoons-and-sea-turtle-predation-in-costa-rica/
Composting keeps organic waste out of landfills, where it can produce methane, a very potent greenhouse gas. But a new study from Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province finds that when not disposed of properly, organic waste can also trigger a cascade of events resulting in fewer sea turtles. “Normally in Costa Rica we are very used […]
Behind the scenes of the Amazon’s gold rush: Director Richard Ladkani on the making of ‘Yanuni’ (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/behind-the-scenes-of-the-amazons-gold-rush-director-richard-ladkani-on-the-making-of-yanuni/
- A new documentary film, “Yanuni,” highlights the journey of Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous chief from the Brazilian Amazon, as she moves between two worlds: Brazil’s capital, Brasília, and a remote village in the Xipaia Indigenous Territory.
- The film focuses on her ongoing battle to protect the Amazon, alongside her husband, Hugo Loss, the head of Special Operations at Brazil’s environmental protection agency (Ibama), who leads dangerous operations to crack down on illegal mining deep in the Amazon.
- In an interview with Mongabay, director Richard Ladkani shares behind-the-scenes insights into the filming process, important conversations and actions that helped shape the narrative and more details about some of the critical moments and events it covers.
‘Staggering’ trade for belief-based use drives hooded vultures to near-extinction in Benin (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/staggering-trade-for-belief-based-use-drives-hooded-vultures-to-near-extinction-in-benin/
- Hundreds of critically endangered hooded vultures and their parts are being illegally sold in markets in Benin, according to recent research. The birds are coveted for their supposed supernatural properties by many practitioners of the traditional Vodùn faith.
- During a four-month study, researchers counted 522 birds for sale. Vendors sold them as dried carcasses, heads or live birds in nine markets across southern Benin. and claimed to have sourced them from at least 10 West African countries.
- Although hunting and selling hooded vultures in Benin is illegal and cross-border trade is regulated under an international treaty, demand is driving widespread commerce.
- Hooded vultures are one of the most threatened raptors, with their numbers declining by 50-96% in recent years. The trade, along with accidental poisoning and habitat loss, could wipe them out, and experts call for greater awareness and better law enforcement in Benin to combat illegal trade.
Five more community-led African groups join global landscape restoration network (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/five-more-community-led-african-groups-join-global-landscape-restoration-network/
- The Global Landscapes Forum recently announced the addition of 12 new “chapter” members to its GLFx network.
- The GLFx network connects independent, community-oriented groups worldwide to strengthen their work protecting and restoring healthy forests and other landscapes.
- Five of the new members are in Africa, including the School Food Forest Initiative in Uganda, which works with children to plant trees and grow food on school grounds.
325 Long-neglected migratory freshwater fish species need protection now: Report (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/325-long-neglected-migratory-freshwater-fish-species-need-protection-now-report/
- As national representatives gather at the UN COP15 Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) meeting this week in Brazil, a new global report has been released profiling a dangerously neglected category of migratory animal: the world’s freshwater fish.
- Migratory freshwater fish populations have fallen by 81% since 1970, says the report, with 325 species worldwide urgently needing coordinated international conservation action. However, only 23 migratory freshwater fish species are currently listed under CMS.
- More than half of the 325 at-risk freshwater migratory fish species documented by the report are in Asia, with the Mekong River of major concern. While international conservation cooperation is urgently needed, China and other Mekong basin nations are non-parties to CMS, as are the U.S. and Russia.
- What is needed now, conservationists say, are transnational migratory freshwater fish species conservation action plans that cover entire river systems, with those plans managed cooperatively by multiple nations within each river basin.
Plenty of biodiversity data, but too few conservation answers (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/plenty-of-biodiversity-data-but-too-few-conservation-answers/
- New technologies—from environmental DNA to AI-powered sensors—are generating vast amounts of biodiversity data, creating unprecedented opportunities to monitor nature at scale.
- Yet more data does not necessarily improve understanding: conservation still struggles to distinguish real impacts from broader environmental trends, especially without credible counterfactuals.
- A growing shift toward impact evaluation and “precision” approaches aims to identify what works, where, and under what conditions, drawing on methods from economics and public health.
- The next challenge is not collecting more information, but turning diverse sources of evidence—including Indigenous knowledge—into decisions that improve conservation outcomes.
In Laos, ancestral spirits are helping save one of the world’s rarest crocodiles (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/in-laos-ancestral-spirits-are-helping-save-one-of-the-worlds-rarest-crocodiles/
- A decade-long conservation program built around local culture is restoring a globally significant population of a critically endangered crocodile species to the Xe Champhone wetlands of central Laos.
- Of the world’s 27 crocodilian species, the Siamese crocodile is among just four classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 thought to survive on Earth.
- This month, 56 crocodiles were released back to the Xe Champhone wetlands and the program has released 294 individuals since it began in 2013.
- The locals’ spiritual connection to crocodiles, upheld for generations in a landscape stripped of most large wildlife, may be the single most important reason this species still exists here.
New farming method replaces traditional jhum in crowding Bangladesh hills (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/new-farming-method-replaces-traditional-jhum-in-crowding-bangladesh-hills/
- Jhum, or shifting agriculture, has long been a common practice among the farmers in in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh.
- However, due to growing demand for arable lands and reducing yields, farmers have started to give up the traditional jhum for profitable cash crops in recent years.
- Among the changes adopted, cultivating vegetables using the machan method — using bamboo trellises to grow vines — is growing in popularity as the method ensures enough profit as well as a reduction in soil erosion.
Asian wild dog spotted in Vietnam for the first time in 20 years (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/asian-wild-dog-spotted-in-vietnam-for-the-first-time-in-20-years/
Recent research has confirmed the first sighting of a dhole in more than two decades, a reddish-brown wild dog native to Asia. Before the sighting, the predator was believed to be extinct in Vietnam. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), historically one of the most widespread large carnivores in Asia, was seen on camera-trap footage. The single […]
Seabird nests built with plastic waste off the coast of Germany: Photo of the week (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/seabird-nests-built-with-plastic-waste-off-the-coast-of-germany-photo-of-the-week/
The northern gannet, a seabird that lives across the northern Atlantic Ocean, typically builds its nests from seaweed and other aquatic plants. But more recently, its nests have started to include plastic material fished from the ocean. Martin Brogger, a researcher at Argentina’s Institute of Marine Organisms Biology (IBIOMAR), photographed several gannet nests containing plastic […]
Canada invests $1m into mining exploration on Indigenous land (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/canada-invests-1m-into-mining-exploration-on-indigenous-land/
A First Nation in Canada’s subarctic Northwest Territories has received C$1.5 million ($1.1 million) in federal funding to explore for elements on its traditional lands. The Tłı̨chǫ own a 39,000-square-kilometer (15,000-square-mile) stretch of boreal forest and tundra. On March 3, they announced a three-year prospecting project with the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. Exploration will […]
As Sri Lankans choke on bad air, authorities cite transboundary pollution (March 25, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/as-sri-lankans-choke-on-bad-air-authorities-cite-transboundary-pollution/
- With an increase in air pollution levels in several areas, Sri Lankan authorities trace transboundary air pollution as a key reason for the island’s poor air quality.
- A systematic rise in low air quality has occurred since the 1990s, experts say.
- A seasonal trend has been observed during agricultural burning in India with emissions from the coal power plant in Norochcholai, in the island’s northwest, adding to the poor air quality.
- Health authorities warn against cardiovascular diseases of people exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter for prolonged periods of time.
‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdown (March 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/03/we-will-not-know-what-we-lost-conservation-fallout-a-year-after-usaid-shutdown/
When then-U.S. president John F . Kennedy created the United States Agency for International Development in 1961, it was meant primarily to administer health and food aid around the world. In the decades since, USAID expanded to become one of the world’s largest financial contributors to conservation, providing nearly $400 million annually before the end […]
Another legal challenge for TotalEnergies in South Africa (March 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/another-legal-challenge-for-totalenergies-in-south-africa/
In August 2025, a South African court canceled an environmental authorization granted to French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and its joint venture partner Shell to drill offshore exploration wells. Now TotalEnergies is facing fresh legal challenges in South Africa for another proposed project. March 23 and 24, the Western Cape High Court is hearing […]
Kenya marks World Meteorological Day amid dozens of flood fatalities (March 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/03/kenya-marks-world-meteorological-day-amid-dozens-of-flood-fatalities/
March 23 was world Meteorological Day, which celebrates the science of helping humanity understand and predict the weather. However, in eastern Kenya, the day came as families were mourning the deaths of lives lost to ongoing heavy rains. Two people died after a rain-soaked wall collapsed on them, a little girl was swept away while […]