Indonesian women cash in on mangrove restoration: Interview with community leader Wisye Sahambangung (October 17, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesian-women-cash-in-on-mangrove-restoration-interview-with-community-leader-wisye-sahambangung/
- Wisye Sahambangung, a fisher and mangrove conservationist from Sarawet, a village in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province, has gone from receiving government assistance for low-income families to leading a women’s group restoring mangroves and creating livelihood opportunities.
- In 2022, she helped establish Rhizopora, which now collects mangrove propagules, supplies seedlings, monitors coastal areas, and supports restoration projects.
- Through mangroves-related businesses and a savings-and-loans scheme, Rhizopora members have found new sources of income.
This orca destroyed a sunfish and no one is sure why (October 17, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/this-orca-destroyed-a-sunfish-and-no-one-is-sure-why/
Scientists, on two separate occasions, have observed orcas ramming into heavy sunfish with such force that the boney fish literally explodes. But why? Scientists, at least currently, have no idea. They could be doing it to portion of food to feed the pod. Or they might just be doing it because they’re bored. Scientists plan […]
Amazon deforestation falls 42% to a record low (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/amazon-deforestation-falls-42-to-a-record-low/
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to the lowest level on record. Data released today by Brazil’s national space research institute, INPE, shows that forest clearing in Earth’s largest rainforest over the 12 months ended July 31, 2026, amounted to 3,335 square kilometers (1,288 square miles), an area smaller than the Spanish island of […]
The uplifting story of one of Zimbabwe’s pioneering women rangers (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-uplifting-story-of-one-of-zimbabwes-pioneering-women-rangers/
- Growing up in a ‘poor’ family in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley, Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto struggled to pursue her education. After leaving a marriage she describes as violent, she returned to her parents’ home with her daughter, uncertain about what would come next.
- In 2017, she became one of the first 16 women recruited by Akashinga, an all-female anti-poaching initiative. She went on to command rangers, earn a university degree and become a biodiversity officer responsible for analyzing wildlife data.
- As governments prepare to assess progress toward global biodiversity goals at COP17 in Armenia, Hoto’s journey offers a glimpse into the opportunities conservation can create for rural African women — and the challenges they still face in a profession long dominated by men.
Fundraising to protect oceans, forests and other key nature sites falling short ahead of UN summit (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/fundraising-to-protect-oceans-forests-and-other-key-nature-sites-falling-short-ahead-of-un-summit/
Promises by nations to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to finance nature and increase protections for oceans around the globe are falling short ahead of a key U.N. biodiversity conference. The warnings from the head of the conference and environmental groups comes as the countries gather Monday in Yerevan, Armenia for the United Nations […]
Legal gaps allow rampant pet trade, poaching reptiles and amphibians towards extinction (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/legal-gaps-allow-rampant-pet-trade-poaching-reptiles-and-amphibians-towards-extinction/
- Recent seizures of trafficked reptiles and amphibians provide insight into a booming trade in these animals, which are now coveted as pets worldwide.
- Patchy legislation and loopholes in wildlife trade enable traffickers to pull reptiles and amphibians from their natural habitats and sell them abroad with impunity, conservationists warn.
- They call for stronger national laws, making it illegal to sell wildlife protected in their native habitats, as well as creating a ‘positive list’ that identifies species that may be sold and kept as pets.
- Conservationists also note the need for international measures to stop exploitation of reptiles and amphibians that are already harmed by habitat loss, invasive species, diseases and changing climate.
Plastic industry bookkeeping plans hide chemical recycling harms, critics say (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/plastic-industry-bookkeeping-plans-hide-chemical-recycling-harms-critics-say/
- As scientists and dozens of nations call for major reductions in plastic production, the plastics industry continues to push pyrolysis — dubbed chemical or advanced recycling — as a primary solution to the global plastic waste crisis.
- Critics say pyrolysis is not a viable solution, but rather an attempt by the industry to rebrand incineration as an environmentally sound recycling process. Pyrolysis uses high temperatures and pressure to convert waste into molecular building blocks which can then be used to make small amounts of recycled plastic.
- Pyrolysis facilities, analysts say, emit a toxic cocktail of harmful pollutants, while also using large amounts of energy and storing considerable amounts of hazardous chemicals onsite, putting local communities at risk. The facilities also create very little, if any, recycled plastic.
- But the industry hopes to use what little new plastic pyrolysis facilities do make to count toward recycling credits that can then be applied to new plastic products containing minimal recycled content. NGOs want transparency and strong industry regulation to protect health and the environment.
As US states reduce recently restored wolf populations, here’s what we risk losing (commentary) (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-us-states-cull-recently-restored-wolf-populations-heres-what-we-stand-to-lose-commentary/
- After decades of effort to restore gray wolves to portions of their former range, some U.S. states are once again pursuing aggressive policies to radically reduce their numbers.
- Two Emmy Award-winning filmmakers who’ve lived among wolves argue in a new commentary that these actions are misguided.
- “Coexistence begins with the understanding that wolves have a rightful place in the wild. It asks us to prevent conflict where we can, adapt where we must, and resist the idea that killing should be the first response when wolves and people share the same space,” they write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
‘Enclosed river:’ Women shellfish gatherers fight for access to mangroves in Brazil (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/enclosed-river-women-shellfish-gatherers-fight-for-access-to-mangroves-in-brazil/
- Women shellfish gatherers along the coast of Brazil’s Sergipe state are losing access to mangroves and watching mollusk and crustacean populations dwindle as urban projects and real estate development advance over the areas where they live and work.
- The Movement of Women Shellfish Gatherers of Sergipe grew out of an environmental education program funded by state-run oil company Petrobras to fulfill an environmental licensing requirement. Today, its leaders are demanding their rights, professional recognition and greater autonomy from the program.
- The decline of shellfish gathering also hits these women’s bodies and their culture. They say they spend long hours in the mud only to harvest less, while traditional practices such as singing to capture mangrove crabs known as aratu are no longer being passed down in some families.
Saving big cats: Storytelling duo Steve Winter & Sharon Guynup publish new book (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/saving-big-cats-storytelling-duo-steve-winter-sharon-guynup-publish-new-book/
- Wildlife photographer Steve Winter and environmental journalist Sharon Guynup have worked together for decades, and they offer a vital message in Big Cats their new book: Wildlife storytelling can deliver real, measurable environmental change, helping people and big cats find ways to coexist and benefit from each other.
- In this Q&A with the creative duo they discuss how technology, from camera traps to GPS collars, helped make intimate big cat photography in the wild possible, and how it revolutionized the ways big cats are studied, documented and conserved.
- Even with all their groundbreaking work covering big cats, “Conservation has no end point,” they say. Successes born of stunning images and moving prose can help power conservation, but there are always new challenges, making protecting wildlife a constantly evolving process.
- Despite global conservation efforts, all big cat species are still considered vulnerable to extinction. That is why Winter and Guynup have teamed up to create a book documenting their work together and its impacts. Big Cats, published by National Geographic, was released Oct. 6 and is available at book stores and online.
Celebrity shark trapped in South Korean canal stirs concerns over warming seas (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/celebrity-shark-trapped-in-south-korean-canal-stirs-concerns-over-warming-seas/
- A female dusky shark trapped in a waterfront park in the South Korean city of Busan has become an instant celebrity, attracting nearly 1.4 million spectators since she was first sighted in mid-September.
- Some say that the shark’s appearance may be a troubling sign of climate change effects on marine life and ecosystems in South Korea.
- In its latest report, South Korea’s meteorological service said that over the past decade, sea surface temperatures around the Korean Peninsula have risen 0.7°C (33.2°F), more than twice the global average.
- The country’s authorities have recorded a spike in shark sightings and shark bycatch in recent years.
Vulture conservation project to target illegal killing and poisoning in Chad (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/vulture-conservation-project-to-target-illegal-killing-and-poisoning-in-chad/
Conservationists are launching a project to protect dwindling vulture populations in Chad amid a Central Africa-wide decline. Run by the nonprofit Sahara Conservation, the project is part of a larger EU-funded LIFE EV Safe Return program that focuses on protecting the endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). Egyptian vultures migrate from their breeding sites in the […]
Climate change could send more toxic mining waste into coastal waters, study warns (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/climate-change-could-send-more-toxic-mining-waste-into-coastal-waters-study-warns/
- Worst-case climate change modeling shows that rising temperatures and changing weather patterns could heighten mining contamination risks for marine environments, with some regions exposed to compounding hazards.
- Metal mines and their waste storage facilities pose a pollution risk to nearly 293,000 kilometers (182,000 miles) of coastline, according to a new analysis.
- The analysis finds long-term release of toxic waste from inactive mines is a larger global challenge than the failure of dams holding mining waste, or tailings, with remediation posing key financial and political challenges.
Seagrass meadows may offer coastal communities a more nutritious catch than reefs (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/seagrass-meadows-may-offer-coastal-communities-a-more-nutritious-catch-than-reefs/
- When considering fish as a nutrition source for humans, fish communities living in seagrass meadows may provide a richer mix of nutrients that those found in coral reefs, a study suggests.
- Pollution and climate change threaten seagrass meadows, highlighting the need to integrate public health and food security into conservation policies.
- More than 3.5 million people living in poverty in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, where the study was carried out, depend on seagrass fisheries that can benefit from this new lens of marine conservation.
- “We’re not saying that coral reefs are less important. But our findings highlight how different habitats contribute to food security in complementary ways,” said lead author Benjamin Jones.
‘Perpetuating stupidity’: Indonesia comes under fire for response to burning and haze (October 16, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/perpetuating-stupidity-indonesia-comes-under-fire-for-response-to-burning-and-haze/
- Indonesia faces criticism for its handling of forest and land fires that have sent hazardous haze into Malaysia and Singapore, with officials refusing to apologize and dismissing the crisis as largely a natural phenomenon.
- President Prabowo Subianto cited 639 hectares (1,579 acres) under active firefighting as evidence of progress, but experts warned the figure was misleading because it represented areas being tackled by firefighters, not the total area still burning.
- Environmentalists blame inadequate preparedness and decades of forest-clearing permits and peatland drainage, while Malaysia and Singapore have offered firefighting assistance that Indonesia has yet to formally accept.
- The haze is causing widespread health and environmental damage, with more than 283,000 acute respiratory illness cases recorded across seven affected Indonesian provinces, and dozens of orangutans rescued from fires in Borneo.
Heavy rain shuts down Istanbul, causing flooding and 3 deaths (October 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/heavy-rain-shuts-down-istanbul-causing-flooding-and-3-deaths/
ISTANBUL (AP) — A heavy downpour has shut down Istanbul, flooded homes and roads and killed at least three people, officials said Thursday, as rescuers evacuated hundreds of stranded people. The downpour Wednesday night flooded homes and businesses and inundated roads and underpasses, stranding vehicles and causing traffic chaos in Turkey’s largest city. In some […]
How Indian communities earn a living from more than forest timber (October 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/how-indian-communities-earn-a-living-from-more-than-forest-timber/
- Erratic rainfall and changing weather patterns are disrupting the availability of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) affecting communities that depend on these products in India.
- Women account for 60-80% of India’s NTFP collection and primary processing workforce but receive a disproportionately small share of the market revenues.
- A recent review examines the challenges facing communities that depend on NTFPs even as an e-commerce initiative intends to solve the value chain problem by connecting producers directly with buyers, helping reduce middlemen and improving market access.
New tool reveals siege on Indigenous lands in Bolivia’s Amazon (October 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/new-tool-reveals-siege-on-indigenous-lands-in-bolivias-amazon/
- Nine out of every 10 hectares (22 of every 25 acres) of forest lost in Amazonian Indigenous territories in Bolivia were cleared illegally, new data analysis suggests.
- Between 2003 and 2023, more than 186,500 hectares (460,900 acres) of forest disappeared — an area nearly three times the size of Madrid — with illegal clearing accounting for more than 90% of that total.
- Land invasions to expand the agricultural frontier pose a constant threat to Amazonian Indigenous peoples in Bolivia: of 30 territories surveyed, 28 reported occupations by outsiders, as most of these conflicts remain unresolved.
- The yearlong investigation led to the launch of VISTA, a platform presented by the Pulitzer Center, Mongabay and Bolivian organizations RAI Bolivia and Asuntos Centrales, that tracks and analyzes key data on deforestation, fires, land clearing, soy expansion and settlements across the 48 Indigenous territories of the Bolivian Amazon.
Nations at southern bluefin tuna meeting stop short of adopting new seabird protections (October 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/nations-at-southern-bluefin-tuna-meeting-stop-short-of-adopting-new-seabird-protections/
- The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), a multilateral body that manages the stock of southern bluefin tuna, held its annual meeting Oct. 5-8 in Brussels.
- Seabird protections drew debate, and a modicum of conservation progress was made: The parties agreed on 13 priority seabird species and designated high-risk areas for them.
- However, the designations don’t carry any new mandatory protections: Due to the reluctance of some members, the commission stopped short of adopting proposed conservation measures for the high-risk areas, most notably tighter seabird bycatch mitigation requirements.
Belize looks to the deep sea to complete its 30% ocean protection pledge (October 15, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/belize-looks-to-the-deep-sea-to-complete-its-30-ocean-protection-pledge/
- In 2021, Belize made a series of time-bound marine conservation commitments as part of a landmark debt-for-nature deal known as the Belize Blue Bond.
- To complete milestone 6 of the deal, out of eight milestones in total, Belize is finalizing a national marine spatial plan that proposes three new marine protected areas in its deep offshore waters.
- Officials say the zones were chosen after a gap analysis showed Belize’s nearshore coral reef and seagrass habitats are already well represented in its protected-area network, while deepwater features are not.
- Many local fishers welcome the new protected areas, which sit well beyond the waters where they work. However, experts say they are unlikely to yield the conservation benefits Belize urgently needs to revive its declining commercial fish stocks.