Why forest conservation is also public health (April 22, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/why-forest-conservation-is-also-public-health/
- A new study from Madagascar provides the first complete mitochondrial genomes for two endemic tuft-tailed rats, offering a clearer baseline for identifying and tracking native rodent species.
- Fieldwork found these native rodents only in intact forest, while degraded areas were dominated by invasive black rats, suggesting a shift in community composition linked to habitat change.
- Understanding which rodent species are present, where they live, and how their populations change is critical not just for biodiversity, but for identifying how pathogen dynamics may shift across landscapes.
- The research illustrates how improved ecological monitoring can connect conservation and public health, supporting the view that protecting ecosystems and managing disease risk are closely linked.
How marine flyways could help save the world’s declining seabird population (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2026/04/how-marine-flyways-could-help-save-the-worlds-declining-seabird-population/
The routes taken by migratory birds, known as flyways, often cross vast expanses of ocean. Six of these marine flyways have now been formally recognized by the U.N.’s Convention on Migratory Species, at the suggestion of scientists who published their findings on these flyways in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology. Tammy Davies, […]
Appeals court keeps ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ open, rejecting need for federal environmental review (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/appeals-court-keeps-alligator-alcatraz-open-rejecting-need-for-federal-environmental-review/
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” will remain open, an appeals court decided Tuesday, upholding its earlier decision to block a judge’s order for the facility to wind down operations because it didn’t comply with federal environmental law. A majority on the three-judge panel from the Eleventh […]
New treaty to end the fossil fuel era is needed more than ever (commentary) (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/new-treaty-to-end-the-fossil-fuel-era-is-needed-more-than-ever-commentary/
- As oil prices rise along with the social and environmental tolls of both war and continuing fossil fuel use, delegates from many nations are about to gather in Colombia to frame a treaty that moves the world more quickly toward a renewable future.
- Policy breakthroughs can occur outside formal U.N. processes like this, and the Santa Marta conference beginning April 24 seeks to add momentum for a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
- “The end of fossil fuels is no longer a distant goal; it is an unfolding reality. The task now is to govern it,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Vaupés River contamination identified near rapidly expanding Amazonian town (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/vaupes-river-contamination-identified-near-rapidly-expanding-amazonian-town/
- Indigenous people who live downstream from a rapidly expanding Amazonian town on the banks of the Vaupés River told Mongabay the river is contaminated by sewage and has made people sick.
- To verify this, Mongabay obtained water quality studies from the Corporation for Sustainable Development of the Northern and Eastern Amazon, which confirmed that sewage contamination and organic load are above safe limits and may impact public health and the quality of the aquatic ecosystem.
- Traditionally, the Macaquiño community downstream considers the Vaupés River to be a living being with whom they coexist and depend on it for bathing, fishing and human consumption.
- Public authorities in Mitú said the contamination stems in part from the municipality’s poorly constructed wastewater treatment plant, which was built on a flood zone and therefore frequently collapses, dumping untreated sewage into the river.
At the U.N., Indigenous leaders tackle how to enforce global climate court rulings (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/at-the-u-n-indigenous-leaders-tackle-how-to-enforce-global-climate-court-rulings/
- In the last year, international courts issued an advisory opinion and ruling calling on state governments to be accountable for the impacts of climate change, to reduce fossil fuel emissions and to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into climate policies.
- At the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Indigenous representatives say that U.N. member states would prefer to ignore their climate obligations, leaving open the question of whether these rulings can be implemented, enforced, and used to protect Indigenous land and rights.
- In Latin America and the Caribbean, there exist strong legal frameworks that coexist with persistent failures in implementation, according the the special rapporteur on Indigenous peoples.
- The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is currently considering a case on states’ climate obligations, including how African governments should handle climate-related displacement.
Chinese court cases reveal most trafficked rhino horns come from Southern Africa (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chinese-court-cases-reveal-most-trafficked-rhino-horns-come-from-southern-africa/
- A new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency analyzed more than 250 rhino horn trafficking cases prosecuted in China between 2013 and 2025 to understand smuggling routes and trends within the country.
- Chinese courts have convicted more than 500 traffickers, who received an average of 4.5 years in prison and fines of about 92,322 yuan ($13,540). Most rhino horns smuggled into China came from South Africa and Mozambique, entering by land across the border from Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos.
- Rhino horns are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, but most court cases involved sculpted rhino horns and trinkets sold in antique and curio shops. About one-third of consumers were in big cities: Beijing, Jiangsu and Shanghai.
- Unrelenting demand for rhino horns, along with attempts by Southern African countries to open legal trade in stockpiled horns, could make it challenging to fight trafficking, as poaching decimates rhino populations across their African and Asian ranges.
We can navigate conservation’s ‘epidemic of suffering’ by building a culture of care (commentary) (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/we-can-navigate-conservations-epidemic-of-suffering-by-building-a-culture-of-care-commentary/
- Several recent features published by Mongabay have shared the emotional strain that conservationists are under from increasing environmental degradation, job losses, moral injury, and a sense of isolation.
- Various organizations and initiatives have emerged in response to the need to build an emotionally resilient conservation community, and two conservation professionals who co-founded one of these describe what they’ve learned in a new commentary.
- “The emotional toll of conservation is real, and so is our capacity to respond to it. Regardless of your role, we invite you to join any of these movements toward a conservation culture of care,” they write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
A campaign to protect one of the planet’s only expanding kelp forests takes shape (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/a-campaign-to-protect-one-of-the-planets-only-expanding-kelp-forests-takes-shape/
- Stretching more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) along the coast of South Africa, the Great African Seaforest is home to thousands of species, many of them endemic, and is one of the few expanding kelp forests in the world.
- The Academy Award-winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher” was set in the Great African Seaforest.
- Although slivers of the kelp forest fall under marine protected areas, the ecosystem is mostly not conserved.
- Marine scientists are working to inventory the species found here in the hopes of raising its profile, both internationally and among the communities that live alongside it on the South African coast.
Fossil fuel subsidies and high costs stall energy transition across rural Indonesia (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/
- Research by the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) and Greenpeace shows the number of villages across Indonesia using solar energy among households declined by more than a quarter between 2021 and 2024.
- The authors of the Village Energy Transition Index said adoption of renewable energy in villages may reflect high installation costs and government subsidies for fossil fuels.
- Significant regional inequality exists between Java and other wealthier regions compared with the east of Indonesia, where solar potential energy is greater and where more rural communities would benefit from the technology.
- Anecdotal testimony indicates installations of basic photovoltaic systems often do not last long due to difficulties and costs associated with repairing units after a component fails, a particular challenge in coastal areas where salt corrosion is a factor.
Push for solar park in Sri Lanka’s elephant terrain raises concern (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/push-for-solar-park-in-sri-lankas-elephant-terrain-raises-concern/
- A state-approved solar energy park in Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka is being developed on the edge of a managed elephant range, or MER, with some land clearances overlapping with elephant ranges.
- Local communities are protesting the clearing of shrub forests, which are key elephant habitats, a disruption of which can result in the fragmentation of traditional elephant corridors and intensify human-elephant conflict, driving the animals toward villages and farms.
- Conservationists call for adherence to the original MER boundaries, noting that unclear procedures for land-use approval, de-listing and boundary revisions are impacting the intended conservation framework.
- While renewable energy expansion is critical for Sri Lanka’s energy security and to reach its climate goals by reducing fossil fuel dependence, the Hambantota solar push highlights growing tension between clean energy development and biodiversity protection in Sri Lanka.
Translucent microsnail discovered in Cambodia: Photo of the week (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/translucent-microsnail-discovered-in-cambodia-photo-of-the-week/
In 2024, scientists found a tiny new-to-science translucent microsnail in a cave of Banan Hill, a limestone hill that is part of the karst ecosystem of Battambang province in western Cambodia. The snail is less than 2 millimeters (0.1 inches) wide and long including its shell, about the size of a pinhead. The scientists behind […]
How do you write the life of someone who avoided the spotlight? Miriam Horn on her biography of George Schaller (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/how-do-you-write-the-life-of-someone-who-avoided-the-spotlight-miriam-horn-on-her-biography-of-george-schaller/
- Miriam Horn’s Homesick for a World Unknown presents George B. Schaller as a figure best understood through accumulation rather than revelation, tracing a life oriented outward toward animals and the field.
- Drawing on journals, letters, and archival material, the book moves between landscapes and institutions, emphasizing how Schaller worked and how knowledge was produced under field conditions rather than focusing on personal introspection or narrative drama.
- Horn situates Schaller within broader shifts in zoology and conservation, showing how his long-term observational approach both reflected and helped shape changing scientific practices and conservation thinking.
- In an April 2026 exchange with Rhett Ayers Butler, Horn discussed the challenges of writing about a subject who resisted interpretation, as well as the practical and structural decisions involved in shaping the biography.
Five ‘lost’ bird species rediscovered in 2025 (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/five-lost-bird-species-rediscovered-in-2025/
In 2025, birders and scientists found five “lost” bird species that had gone undocumented for a decade or more. As Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reports, these findings have helped reduce the total number on the global “Lost Birds List” from 163 in 2022 to 120 today. To be classified as “lost,” a species must not have […]
Luis Yanza, campaigner who battled big oil in the Amazon rainforest (April 21, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/luis-yanza-campaigner-who-battled-big-oil-in-the-amazon-rainforest/
- Oil development in Ecuador’s Amazon left widespread contamination, prompting a decades-long legal case testing whether affected communities could hold a multinational company to account.
- Luis Yanza organized plaintiffs across remote regions, sustaining a coalition of more than 80 villages while legal proceedings moved between Texaco (later Chevron) and courts in the United States and Ecuador.
- Working with Pablo Fajardo, he helped build claims around environmental damage and public health, contributing to a 2012 Ecuadorian judgment ordering billions in damages, though enforcement remains unresolved.
- Awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2008, Yanza spent his life sustaining a campaign that brought global attention to the case, even as the underlying dispute over responsibility and cleanup continued.
Climate displacement in Africa: Court opinion could define states’ obligations (April 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/climate-displacement-in-africa-court-opinion-could-define-states-obligations/
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is expected to soon issue an advisory opinion on states’ obligations toward internally displaced persons affected by climate change. “Internally displaced people exist on every inhabited continent,” Erica Bower, a researcher on climate displacement with Human Rights Watch, said in a phone interview with Mongabay. “The advisory […]
Goldman Prize winner Alannah Hurley fights Pebble Mine “from a place of love” (April 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/goldman-prize-winner-alannah-hurley-fights-pebble-mine-from-a-place-of-love/
- Alannah Acaq Hurley, executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for organizing opposition to what would have been the largest open-pit mine in North America, called Pebble Mine.
- Proposed in 2001, Pebble Mine was vetoed in 2023 by the Environmental Protection Agency for posing a major threat to the abundant salmon fishery of Bristol Bay, in southeast Alaska. That veto received additional support this year in court by the Department of Justice.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Hurley discussed the long path she and the United Tribes of Bristol Bay’s coalition have walked to defeat Pebble, as well as the hurdles that remain ahead as the fight moves to court, and as UTBB pursues more comprehensive protections for the Bristol Bay watershed.
Bringing the world’s rewilders together: Interview with Alister Scott (April 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/bringing-the-worlds-rewilders-together-interview-with-alister-scott/
- Rewilding — the process of letting nature take over — is gaining momentum across the globe with several grassroots organizations working on efforts to restore landscapes.
- Global Rewilding Alliance (GRA), an umbrella organization with nearly 300 partner organizations across six continents, aims to bring these efforts together and help rewilders collaborate and learn from each other.
- In an interview with Mongabay, executive director Alister Scott shares what rewilding looks like in practice, challenges it faces and how his organization is helping rewilders take the movement forward.
War, climate change, and AI on the agenda at this year’s U.N. Indigenous forum (April 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/war-climate-change-and-ai-on-the-agenda-at-this-years-u-n-indigenous-forum/
- From April 20 to May 1, 2026, Indigenous delegates from around the world will gather at the United Nation Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City to discuss the latest issues Indigenous peoples are facing and provide expert advice and recommendations in the U.N. system.
- This year’s forum is focused on the topic of survival in the midst of war, with its official theme “Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ health, including in the context of conflict.”
- Experts emphasize that Indigenous peoples already face health inequities from colonialism and climate change, and these harms are compounded by armed conflicts, unsustainable extraction for the AI boom and biodiversity conservation policies that risk ecological degradation and further displacement of Indigenous peoples from their lands.
- Indigenous delegates planning to attend the forum shared their thoughts and plans for the forum.
Chernobyl’s radioactive landscape is a testament to nature’s resilience and survival spirit (April 20, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/chernobyls-radioactive-landscape-is-a-testament-to-natures-resilience-and-survival-spirit/
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) — Wildlife is thriving again four decades after the nuclear disaster at Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant in what became the exclusion zone created by the forced mass evacuations of the population. Wolves, bears and lynx have rebounded in the radioactive landscape, along with a rare breed of horses native to Mongolia. Scientists […]