The roughed-up roughy fish (cartoon) (November 26, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2025/11/the-roughed-up-roughy-fish-cartoon/
The orange roughy may be among the oldest living deep-sea fish in the world, with a lifespan of up to 250 years. But bottom trawling practices in Australia and New Zealand might have already decimated their slow-breeding populations beyond recovery.
COP30: What did it deliver for the ocean? (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/cop30-what-did-it-deliver-for-the-ocean/
- As climate change talks took center stage at COP30, a growing number of countries have integrated ocean-based solutions into their national climate commitments.
- A new report found that 92% of coastal and island nations’ updated climate plans now include ocean-related measures, although these strategies still represent only 12% of all proposed climate mitigation actions.
- Brazil and France unveiled a Blue NDC Implementation Taskforce to boost ocean solutions, while countries like the Solomon Islands and Ghana launched new plans for protecting their marine and coastal systems.
Rights to millions of hectares of Indigenous & local communities’ lands restored by ‘barefoot lawyers’ (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/11/rights-to-millions-of-hectares-of-indigenous-local-communities-lands-restored-by-barefoot-lawyers/
Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of The Tenure Facility, a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering […]
Drought amplifies human-wildlife conflict, study finds (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/drought-amplifies-human-wildlife-conflict-study-finds/
A recent study from the U.S. state of California finds that the public reported more encounters with wildlife in times of drought. Researchers say they expect such drought-driven human-wildlife interactions in other areas also facing water shortages — a growing problem amid climate change. The researchers analyzed more than 31,000 wildlife-related incidents reported by members […]
Global tiger trafficking crisis worsens with nine big cats seized monthly (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/global-tiger-trafficking-crisis-worsens-with-nine-big-cats-seized-monthly/
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysa (AP) — Authorities have seized an average of nine tigers each month over the past five years, highlighting a worsening trafficking crisis. A report by TRAFFIC warns that criminal networks are evolving faster than conservation efforts can respond. The global wild tiger population has plummeted to an estimated 3,700-5,500. Despite international protection, […]
Botanists decode secret life of rare plants to ensure reintroduction success (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/botanists-decode-secret-life-of-rare-plants-to-ensure-reintroduction-success/
- Working with South African daisies, Colombian magnolias and Philippine coffee trees, botanists the world over are discovering the secrets to bringing extremely rare and threatened plants back from the brink of extinction. Reintroductions are often the only way to build back thriving populations, but scientists face numerous hurdles.
- A major barrier is lack of botanical knowledge about rare species, making it hard to produce sufficient viable seeds, determine triggers for germination, and identify suitable seedling habitat. If seeds aren’t available from rare plants, botanists must use cuttings to propagate plants.
- Newly established plant populations often need help in the face of numerous threats. Climate change, for example, can not only create harsh new growing conditions but also fuels the spread of plant pests. Young plants frequently need to be protected from human activities like poaching, intentional burning or land-use change.
- While it can take decades for reintroduced plants to grow into sustainable, self-replenishing populations, project funding is often limited to three years or less, especially in the Global South. Experts say they hope funding will increase as recognition grows that ecosystem restoration requires plant diversity, including rare species.
Big finance still funds deforestation, 10 years after Paris pact (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/big-finance-still-funds-deforestation-10-years-after-paris-pact/
A new report by the Forests & Finance Coalition finds that despite years of voluntary climate commitments, banks and other financial institutions have continued to increase their investments in companies linked to deforestation. The value of investments in these companies — in industries such as beef, soy, palm oil and paper — has increased by […]
Brazil aims for alternative route to fossil fuel road map after COP30 failure (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazil-aims-for-alternative-route-to-fossil-fuel-road-map-after-cop30-failure/
- Brazil will collaborate with the Colombian and Dutch delegations to develop the road map outside the formal U.N. process, with the goal of bringing it back for discussion at COP31.
- Experts say the Belém summit showed disappointing deals after ambitious promises, failing to address the environmental and economic needs of climate change.
- The turbulent final plenary exposed deeper diplomatic rifts, with one delegate accusing Colombian counterparts of behaving “like children” amid high tensions.
It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/
- California has become a wildlife trafficking hotspot in the U.S., with a notable spike in live animals smuggled across the southern border to be sold as pets, from monkeys and exotic birds to venomous snakes.
- The state has three high-traffic border crossings with Mexico and millions of tons of cargo shipped through some of the nation’s busiest airports and seaports. With limited staff, resource-strapped agencies face serious challenges in policing the illegal import of protected plants and animals into California.
- Poachers also target California’s native plants and reptiles, threatening local species. Meanwhile, some imported animals get loose and become invasive species that destroy ecosystems or may carry diseases, creating public health risks.
- As traffickers exploit new technologies and follow market demand for different animals, enforcement officials struggle to control the influx of illegally traded species.
Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/already-disappearing-southeast-asias-striped-rabbits-now-caught-in-global-pet-trade/
- Rare, elusive and little-known to science, two species of striped rabbits are endemic to Southeast Asia: Sumatran striped rabbits from Indonesia and endangered Annamite striped rabbits from the Vietnam-Laos border region.
- Both species are threatened by habitat loss and illegal snaring, despite having protected status in their range countries.
- In recent months, authorities have seized at least 10 live rabbits smuggled from Thailand on commercial flights to India, highlighting the first known instance of these rabbits being trafficked internationally for the pet trade.
- Conservationists say this trend is alarming, given that the two species are on the brink of extinction. They urge range countries to add the two species to CITES Appendix III, the international wildlife trade convention, and to work with Thai authorities to establish a conservation breeding program with the seized rabbits.
Chronic diseases prevalent across animals, but understudied: Study (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/chronic-diseases-prevalent-across-animals-but-understudied-study/
From obesity in cats and dogs and osteoarthritis in pigs, to cancer in whales and high blood glucose in racoons, chronic diseases are increasingly becoming a concern across the animal world, a recent study finds. Most of these ailments can be traced back to human-driven changes, the author says. Antonia Mataragka, the study’s author from […]
In Indonesia’s courts, truth can be a lonely witness (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/in-indonesias-courts-truth-can-be-a-lonely-witness/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than two decades, professors Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture have stood where science meets power, testifying against companies accused of torching forests and draining peatlands. Their measurements of ash […]
Norway’s multibillion-dollar bet on forests: An interview with Minister Eriksen (November 25, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/norways-multibillion-dollar-bet-on-forests-an-interview-with-minister-eriksen/
- Two major forest finance initiatives announced at COP30 — the Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), backed by $6.7 billion, and the newly launched Canopy Trust — signal renewed global attention on the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest.
- Canopy Trust, formally launched Nov. 17, relies on blended public–private finance and has already raised $93 million, with a goal of mobilizing $1 billion by 2030 to support sustainable enterprises and early-stage, high-impact forest projects in the Congo Basin.
- Norway, the largest contributor to both the TFFF and Canopy Trust, sees the new fund as complementary to existing mechanisms like CAFI — rewarding low deforestation and strengthening sustainable production. One of its key functions is to de-risk investments in local small and medium-sized enterprises, which might otherwise find it hard to attract private investors.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the ultimate test will be whether these mechanisms finally deliver what communities demand: direct access to finance, local ownership and tangible economic benefits on the ground.
Conservation can emphasize human well-being to navigate its current funding crisis (commentary) (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/conservation-can-emphasize-human-well-being-to-navigate-its-current-funding-crisis-commentary/
- Cuts in funding, weakening support from governments, and disinformation are all driving a current crisis for conservation.
- But these challenges need not hold conservation programs back, the authors of a new op-ed with decades of experience at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other development programs argue, and suggest three strategies that can work.
- “Leaning into the human well-being outcomes of conservation can also shift the pervasive and harmful view that conserving nature is primarily an environmental undertaking rather than a cornerstone of sustainable development,” they write.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Brazil’s forest fund faces a slow takeoff at COP30 despite initial support (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/brazils-forest-fund-faces-a-slow-takeoff-at-cop30-despite-initial-support/
- The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) secured $6.7 billion in sponsor capital at COP30, representing less than a quarter of the $25 billion initially required for a full-scale rollout.
- Policy analysts warn that a smaller fund could likely lose the capacity to outpace deforestation drivers in tropical forests — key in the race to avoid climate disaster.
- Rich nations blamed operational rifts and budget constraints to hold off funding TFFF, a struggle that reflects a worldwide crisis in climate finance; nearly one-third of the funds raised by global forest mechanisms remain undisbursed.
Why are Amazonian trees getting ‘fatter’? (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/why-are-amazonian-trees-getting-fatter/
- A new study has found that the trunks of trees in the Amazon have become thicker in recent decades — an unexpected sign of the rainforest’s resilience in response to record-high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
- Nearly 100 scientists involved in the study have stated that old-growth forests in the Amazon are sequestering more carbon than they did 30 years ago, contradicting predictions of immediate collapse due to climate change.
- But the warning still stands: Despite the trees’ capacity to adapt, scientists fear that the extreme droughts and advancing deforestation could invert the rainforest’s balance and threaten its vital role in global climate regulation.
Weather disasters are surging in the Amazon. Reporting isn’t. (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/weather-disasters-are-surging-in-the-amazon-reporting-isnt/
The Amazon’s climate hazards are growing faster than governments can track.
Abrolhos: A South Atlantic marine treasure in need of protection (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/abrolhos-a-south-atlantic-marine-treasure-in-need-of-protection/
- Located off the coast of the Brazilian states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, the vast Abrolhos Seascape is home to some of the South Atlantic Ocean’s richest marine biodiversity. Here, more than 500 species inhabit coral reefs, mangrove forests and islands. Brazil’s largest humpback whale breeding ground also occurs within the seascape.
- Yet little legislation has been created to protect this region, leaving it at risk of predatory fishing and deep-sea mining: Less than 2% of the South Atlantic’s largest coral reef, which occupies 46,000 square kilometers within the wider Abrolhos Seascape, is fully protected.
- A recent study identified critical areas and vulnerable ecosystems within Abrolhos Seascape that the authors say need urgent conservation action; these include rhodolith beds — clusters of limestone rock that are crucial for climate security and marine species reproduction.
Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/toxic-runoff-from-politically-linked-gold-mine-poisons-cambodian-rivers-communities/
- Communities along Cambodia’s O’Ta Bouk River are experiencing severe water contamination, skin ailments and the collapse of fish stocks, which they blame on an unregulated gold mine operating upstream inside Virachey National Park.
- Satellite imagery analysis shows more than 2,400 mining sites across Mekong river basins — including alluvial and heap-leach gold mines — whose toxic runoff threatens rivers, floodplains, farmland, wildlife and millions of downstream residents.
- Communities downstream of the gold mine told Mongabay that authorities have failed to act on the problem, despite multiple indicators suggesting the pollution of the river is linked to mining activity.
- Evidence points to mining operations linked to tycoon Try Pheap, allegedly operating illegally and with political protection, leaving communities fearful for their health, livelihoods and food security as contamination spreads through the Mekong Basin.
TotalEnergies faces criminal complaint in France over alleged massacre in Mozambique (November 24, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/11/totalenergies-faces-criminal-complaint-in-france-over-alleged-massacre-in-mozambique/
As French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume work on its multibillion-dollar offshore gas project in northern Mozambique, it faces a criminal complaint back home over its role in funding an army unit accused of torturing and executing dozens of civilians in 2021. The complaint was filed with France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor by […]