Hope for tigers grows as Thailand safeguards a key link in their habitat (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope-for-tigers-grows-as-thailand-safeguards-a-key-link-in-their-habitat/
- Tiger conservation in Thailand is a rare success story, bucking the trend of regional declines of the Indochinese subspecies across Southeast Asia.
- Thailand’s Western Forest Complex is at the core of the country’s success, with its tiger population growing from about 40 in 2007 to more than 140 today.
- Conservation nonprofits are working to protect a network of corridors that will help usher younger tigers into the southern part of the complex, chiefly through the Si Sawat Corridor, a designated non-hunting area.
- Scientists have recently discovered tigers reproducing in the southern WEFCOM for the first time.
Millions of Brazilians unknowingly eat toxic, endangered shark: How Mongabay broke the story (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/12/millions-of-brazilians-unknowingly-eat-toxic-endangered-shark-how-mongabay-broke-the-story/
Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a two-part investigation published this year in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center about how state governments in Brazil have been procuring shark meat — which is high in mercury and arsenic — served to potentially millions of schoolchildren and thousands of public institutions. With Mongabay’s […]
West and Central Africa tackle coastal erosion (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/west-and-central-africa-tackle-coastal-erosion/
- Coastal erosion along the coastline of West and Central Africa has been attributed to both natural causes and to human causes, including infrastructure development.
- With support from international finance agencies, governments cross the region have favored intensive engineering solutions to attempt to protect eroding shorelines.
- Environmentalists say nature-based interventions such as restoring mangrove forests that can stabilize soil and protect marine biodiversity.
Tanzanian community-led innovation wins global award for boosting conservation (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tanzanian-community-led-innovation-wins-global-award-for-boosting-conservation/
- An initiative that enables village leaders to make informed decisions that balance livestock production, wildlife conservation, and ecosystem health has been recognized globally.
- The Sustainable Rangelands Initiative (SRI) is being implemented in Northern and Central Tanzania, in Simanjiro, Babati, Longido, Same, Monduli, Ngorogoro, and Mwanga districts, which are crucial for livestock and wildlife activities.
- Through the initiative, local grazing committees and trained community grassland monitors use digital tools such as mobile phones to collect information about sources of water, vegetation cover, grass growth rates and soil health, as well as invasive species.
- The data collected is channeled to central village level technology centers and used to guide grazing plans based on evident trends. Since many villages experience network challenges, the system is designed to enable users collect data when offline and upload it once the network is available.
A Thin Green Line: The 2,000-strong ranger force of African Parks (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-thin-green-line-the-2000-strong-ranger-force-of-african-parks/
- Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda is policed by 93 armed rangers and around 100 community eco-rangers.
- Both are employed by African Parks, a South Africa-based NGO that commands 2,119 rangers in total across the 24 protected areas in 13 countries it manages — the largest standing ranger force in Africa.
- In some of these protected areas, African Parks rangers have been accused of human rights abuses or been caught in the crossfire of violent conflicts.
- This year, the group announced it would convene a panel of African legal experts to review its human rights record and design a grievance process for victims of abuse.
Navigating the complex world of reforestation efforts (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/navigating-the-complex-world-of-reforestation-efforts/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Reforestation has become a feel-good global rallying cry. From corporations touting “net zero” targets to philanthropies seeking visible impact, planting trees has become shorthand for planetary repair. Yet behind the glossy photos of saplings and smiling farmers lies […]
South Africa considers site near African penguin colony for third nuclear power plant (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/south-africa-considers-site-near-african-penguin-colony-for-third-nuclear-power-plant/
South African state electricity company Eskom is reevaluating two sites to host the country’s third nuclear power plant, having previously dismissed both for an earlier facility. The two potential sites are Thyspunt, on the Eastern Cape coast, and Bantamsklip, near Dyer Island in the Western Cape, home to a significant, but declining colony of critically […]
Indonesia’s 1st Javan rhino translocation ends in death, in conservation setback (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/indonesias-1st-javan-rhino-translocation-ends-in-death-in-conservation-setback/
- Indonesia’s first effort to translocate a Javan rhino ended in loss when Musofa died days after his move to a protected facility in Ujung Kulon National Park.
- Officials said a necropsy found long-standing health problems linked to severe parasitic infection, though questions remain about the sudden decline linked to the relocation.
- Conservationists say the setback should not stop efforts to save the species, which faces serious risks from low numbers and limited genetic diversity.
‘Internet of Animals,’ a unified wildlife tracker, set to resume after hiatus (December 16, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/internet-of-animals-a-unified-wildlife-tracker-set-to-resume-after-hiatus/
- A global project that tracks wildlife via satellites has resumed operations after a hiatus of three years.
- Project ICARUS, which aims to create the “internet of animals,” capitalizes on advances in wireless tracking technology to monitor individual animals.
- The trackers record data that will help scientists track the movements, migrations and behaviors of animals in different parts of the world.
- The system also enables scientists and conservationists to understand how animals are interacting with one another and with their respective ecosystems.
Seafloor survey in Cambodia finds simple anti-trawling blocks help seagrass recover (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/seafloor-survey-in-cambodia-finds-simple-anti-trawling-blocks-help-seagrass-recover/
- A recent study provides the first large-scale map of Cambodia’s coastal habitats and reports early seagrass recovery near anti-trawling structures in the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area.
- Surveys across 62,146 hectares (153,566 acres) show a 39% loss of seagrass cover in Kampot province over the past decade.
- The study doesn’t examine potential impacts from the planned $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal, which is set to meet the sea about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) away from the Kep Marine Fisheries Management Area.
From Kalimantan’s haze to Jakarta’s grit: A journalist’s journey (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/from-kalimantans-haze-to-jakartas-grit-a-journalists-journey/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Indonesia’s environmental challenges can feel overwhelming when taken as a whole. A country said to contain more than 17,000 islands, it holds the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and a resource economy that has reshaped much of that landscape. […]
Noisy traffic is making Galápagos’ yellow warblers angry (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/noisy-traffic-is-making-galapagos-yellow-warblers-angry/
A recent study found that birds that live closer to roads display more aggression than birds of the same species that live farther away from noisy vehicles, Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reported. Researchers looked at the behavioral differences of male Galápagos yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia aureola) on two islands of the Galápagos, an Ecuadorian archipelago in […]
South Sudanese community fights to save land from relentless flooding worsened by climate change (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/south-sudanese-community-fights-to-save-land-from-relentless-flooding-worsened-by-climate-change/
AKUAK, South Sudan (AP) — Flooding worsened by climate change is forcing a community in South Sudan to work constantly to keep water from encroaching on their land. The Akuak community of about 2,000 people has been layering plants and mud to build islands for generations in this swampy area along the Nile River, according […]
A deal signals a new chapter for Chagossians, and one of the world’s largest marine no-fishing zones (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-deal-signals-a-new-chapter-for-chagossians-and-one-of-the-worlds-largest-marine-no-fishing-zones/
- An agreement signed this year transfers sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago from the U.K. to Mauritius. This vast expanse in the middle of the Indian Ocean is home to exceptional marine biodiversity whose protection might soon fall to Chagossians and Mauritius.
- The U.K. expelled around 2,000 Chagossians in the late 1960s and early 1970s to make way for a U.S. military base.
- The U.K. also unilaterally established a marine protected area there in 2010, in part to keep Chagossians from returning to the islands. The MPA, the largest no-fishing zone in the world, along with the zealously guarded military base, have allowed the marine space to flourish with limited human imprints.
- Under the deal, which now awaits ratification by the U.K. parliament, Chagossians can return to the archipelago, except the largest island of Diego Garcia, which will continue to host the military base and remain under U.K.-U.S. control for at least the next 99 years.
Collapses of Amazon riverbanks threaten communities and shipping routes (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/collapses-of-amazon-riverbanks-threaten-communities-and-shipping-routes/
- Extreme droughts, human interventions and growing boat traffic are contributing to riverbank collapses that endanger riverside communities in the Brazilian Amazon.
- Four public river ports in Amazonas state have been damaged by riverbank collapses in the past decade, prompting concerns about the safety of Amazon port infrastructure.
- Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry is investigating alleged failures to prevent collapses at regional ports that connect riverside communities and provide access to essential services.
Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/green-labeler-pefc-under-fire-for-certifying-indonesian-firm-clearing-orangutan-habitat/
- Sustainable forestry certifier PEFC is under fire for its endorsement of Indonesian plantation firm IFP despite it being a major recent deforester, with tens of thousands of hectares cleared in orangutan habitat and ongoing forest loss documented into 2024.
- Earthsight and other NGOs say the certification exploits loopholes, including PEFC’s “partial certification” model that lets companies exclude recently cleared areas while still selling certified timber.
- Deforestation-linked timber may have entered global supply chains, with mills processing IFP-linked wood exporting large volumes to the EU ahead of the bloc’s new deforestation regulation.
- Critics say PEFC’s weak safeguards and Indonesia’s IFCC certification system enable greenwashing, and call for IFP’s certification to be revoked and rules tightened to bar any company or corporate group involved in post-2010 forest clearing.
New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-technologies-offer-hope-in-fight-to-save-the-worlds-imperiled-rosewoods/
- Rosewood accounts for nearly a third of the value of illegal wildlife trade seizures worldwide, and illegal harvesting of the trees has continued in spite of efforts to regulate its trade and harvest.
- Researchers say that new and existing technologies such as AI-equipped drones could help detect the illegal logging of rosewood trees inside inaccessible and remote forests, allowing forest officials to intervene in real time.
- AI could also help predict the risk of future rosewood logging activities, helping forest officials focus their monitoring efforts.
- In addition, the nonprofit TRAFFIC is currently testing AI-based image recognition tools for species identification, while other scientists are working on techniques that identify rosewood species based on DNA samples.
Artisanal fishers in Liberia question benefits of new tracking devices from government (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/artisanal-fishers-in-liberia-question-benefits-of-new-tracking-devices-from-government/
- The Liberian government earlier this year distributed 400 automatic identification system (AIS) transponders to small-scale fishers in the counties of Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Montserrado.
- The devices transmit a vessel’s position and speed via radio signals, and Liberian authorities say they hope it will help in speeding up responses to vessels that are in distress.
- However, many small-scale fishers appear reluctant to adopt the new device, with some saying they would prefer GPS-equipped devices that let them track their own location.
- The Liberia Artisanal Fishermen Association (LAFA), an advocacy group, blames the low adoption rate on the inadequate involvement of fishers during the design and rollout of the project.
Cyclone Ditwah takes heavy toll on Sri Lanka’s biodiversity-rich Central Highlands (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/cyclone-ditwah-takes-heavy-toll-on-sri-lankas-biodiversity-rich-central-highlands/
- Sri Lanka’s ecologically significant Central Highlands suffered severe but still largely undocumented ecological damage following the recent Cyclone Ditwah, which devasted unique yet highly vulnerable ecosystems harboring the country’s richest biodiversity and highest endemism.
- Early reports indicate major landslides in the UNESCO-listed Knuckles Mountain Range that led to canopy trees uprooted, forest layers buried and streams clogged with sediment, with inaccessibility delaying a comprehensive assessment.
- Illegal construction and poorly planned development in ecologically sensitive zones have intensified disaster’s impacts on the Indian Ocean island.
- Conservationists urge Sri Lanka to adopt a science-led post-disaster biodiversity assessment mechanism and climate-resilient land use planning, warning that invasive species, unstable slopes and damaged ecosystems pose long-term ecological and economic risks to this highly significant region.
Malaysian companies dominate PNG forest-clearance permits: report (December 15, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/malaysian-companies-dominate-png-forest-clearance-permits-report/
- A recent report examining land-conversion permits issued by the Papua New Guinea government found that 65 of 67 such licenses are controlled by Malaysian-linked companies.
- The stated purpose of these permits — Forest Clearing Authorities (FCAs) — is for creation of sustainable jobs via agribusiness and other development projects, but critics contend the licenses have been used to facilitate large-scale logging and timber exports.
- After repeated allegations of misuse of the permits, PNG’s government imposed a moratorium on new FCAs in 2023, but exports continue from existing projects.
- The 65 licenses examined by the report cover 1.68 million hectares (4.1 million acres) of rainforests, about 88% of which are categorized as ‘undisturbed forest.’