Nan Schaffer, veterinarian who helped unlock the science of rhino reproduction, has died, aged 72 (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nan-schaffer-veterinarian-who-helped-unlock-the-science-of-rhino-reproduction-has-died-aged-72/
- Nan Schaffer, a veterinarian who pioneered the study of rhinoceros reproduction, devoted her career to understanding and overcoming the biological barriers that kept captive rhinos from breeding as wild populations declined.
- Working across zoos and research programs, she developed techniques to manage pregnancies, collect and preserve genetic material, and build the scientific foundation that underpins modern rhino conservation efforts.
- Beyond her scientific work, she was a prominent supporter of LGBTQ+ causes in Chicago, a philanthropist, and a civic figure recognized with induction into the Chicago LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame.
- Guided by a belief that the loss of species would diminish human understanding of the natural world, she argued that extinction was not only a biological crisis but a cultural and moral one, with consequences that extend beyond conservation itself.
AI is a double-edged sword for Indigenous stewardship, say U.N. experts (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-is-a-double-edged-sword-for-indigenous-stewardship-say-u-n-experts/
- At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 25th session, U.N. experts called attention to the opportunities and dangers of AI-centered conservation efforts.
- A study published by former chair of the permanent forum Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim highlighted that AI can positively contribute to the protection of the environment but also impact efforts, due to its high consumption of energy, water and critical minerals.
- AI can support the protection and management of Indigenous peoples’ lands and resources, such as by monitoring the environment to detect deforestation, fires, or illegal extraction.
- Experts warned that to ensure the protection of Indigenous peoples and their territories, governments must prevent all forms of land-grabbing, water exploitation and mining activities related to data centers and energy sources, and respect Indigenous rights, worldviews and aspirations.
NPFC adopts illegal fishing measures — but no Emperor Seamount protections (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/npfc-adopts-illegal-fishing-measures-but-no-emperor-seamount-protections/
- The 10th annual meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NFPC) took place April 14-17 in Osaka, Japan.
- While the NPFC members enacted new measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, leading NGOs criticized the commission for failing to act on bottom trawling in the Emperor Seamount Chain, a biodiversity-rich volcanic submarine mountain range in the Northwest Pacific.
- Some NPFC members and observers also expressed disappointment about backtracking on stock management and conservation for the Pacific saury, which is targeted by fishing fleets of several member countries.
Investigators eye organized crime links in 3-ton pangolin scale haul at Jakarta port (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/investigators-eye-organized-crime-links-in-3-ton-pangolin-scale-haul-at-jakarta-port/
- Customs officers in Jakarta planned to conduct interviews this month in connection with the seizure of more than 3 metric tons of pangolin scales, which inspectors found in a shipping container bound for Cambodia in late February.
- Mongabay Indonesia visited the address registered to the company exporting the container, but it appeared to be a shopfront, while its contact numbers registered in a government database were inactive.
- Indonesian authorities continue to make more pangolin scale seizures: This month, a Navy vessel intercepted a Vietnam-flagged cargo boat off the northwest coast of Java found to be carrying 780 kg (1,720 lbs) of scales.
AI tool tracks spread of illegal gold mining in Amazon protected areas (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-tool-tracks-spread-of-illegal-gold-mining-in-amazon-protected-areas/
- Gold mining presumed to be illegal caused 6,000 hectares (more than 14,800 acres) of deforestation in Amazonian protected areas and Indigenous territories during the last three months of 2025, according to a new quarterly report from the Amazon Mining Watch platform.
- New mining scars were identified in all nine Amazonian countries, with Brazil, Peru and Guyana suffering the highest levels of mining-linked deforestation.
- Soaring gold prices are driving this destruction, experts say, and call for more monitoring, law enforcement and coordinated action between countries to tackle the issue.
- Using an AI algorithm that’s constantly being improved, the Amazon Mining Watch platform aims to serve as an early-warning tool for authorities and civil society to identify and address new incidences of illegal gold mining, especially in border areas.
Photos: A shark meat processing village and market in Indonesia’s Lombok (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/04/photos-a-shark-meat-processing-village-and-market-in-indonesias-lombok/
Shark meat has quietly surpassed shark fins in international trade volume and value. In East Lombok it sells for as little as 29 cents a skewer. Photojournalist Garry Lolutung documented the shark trade at Lombok’s Tanjung Luar fish market and nearby Rumbuk village, an important shark meat processing center. EAST LOMBOK, Indonesia — Indonesia consistently […]
New ‘cryptic’ gecko species discovered in Vietnam’s imperiled karst forests (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/new-cryptic-gecko-species-discovered-in-vietnams-imperiled-karst-forests/
In the rugged karst forests of northern Vietnam, researchers have identified a new gecko species, Vietnam’s 12th known species of gecko. The discovery highlights how much diversity the often-overlooked landscape holds. Ziegler’s Slender Gecko (Hemiphyllodactylus ziegleri) was discovered during surveys in the Copia Nature Reserve, in Son La province. The species was named in honor […]
Indigenous knowledge helps identify new, highly threatened skink in Australia (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/indigenous-knowledge-helps-identify-new-highly-threatened-skink-in-australia/
Researchers have described a new-to-science species of skink that may be one of Australia’s most threatened reptiles. The small population of the skink, possibly fewer than 20 individuals, lives in a pocket of rocky gorge within the arid Mutawintji National Park in New South Wales state, the researchers report in a new paper. The skink […]
Nepal plans park for ‘problem’ tigers as attacks raise concerns (April 24, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nepal-plans-park-for-problem-tigers-as-attacks-raise-concerns/
- Nepal has proposed a 50-hectare tiger park near Chitwan National Park to house “problem” tigers in semi-natural enclosures and fund their upkeep through tourism.
- Rising tiger populations and increasing human-tiger encounters have led to fatalities, costly captivity, and overcrowded, often inadequate holding centers.
- Research shows only a small fraction of tigers cause conflicts, typically injured or old individuals, while most rely on wild prey.
- Critics warn the park may be ethically flawed, financially unstable, and ecologically ineffective, and have suggested alternatives like better conflict management, improved identification protocols, or even euthanasia of high-risk tigers.
Amid conflict and poaching, tech helps boost mountain gorilla numbers (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/amid-conflict-and-poaching-tech-helps-boost-mountain-gorilla-numbers/
- Mountain gorillas face serious threats as they lose habitat and are stalked by poachers, but populations have jumped by 73% since 1989, now numbering an estimated 1,063.
- A mobile tool called SMART is helping forest guards and conservationists collect data to better track and protect the apes and other wildlife.
- But budgets are tight; more staff, field equipment and data collection devices are needed, conservation experts say.
- The current security situation across the transborder region between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo is a significant concern, both for forest rangers and gorillas.
Canada offers mines and more in $730b investment bid slammed as unsustainable (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/canada-offers-mines-and-more-in-730b-investment-bid-slammed-as-unsustainable/
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has touted his country’s natural resources as the main attraction for securing more than $700 billion in new investments over the next five years — a plan that a mining watchdog has blasted as “robber baron capitalism.” Carney announced in a press release a summit scheduled for Sept. 14-15 in […]
Sweden’s secondhand clothing swaps offer a trendy way to cut environmental waste (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/swedens-secondhand-clothing-swaps-offer-a-trendy-way-to-cut-environmental-waste/
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Alva Palosaari Sundman scoured the racks of secondhand clothes in Stockholm for hours in search of the right pair of preowned jeans. The 24-year-old art student was among hundreds of people attending an annual clothing swap on Sunday at a community center in Sweden’s capital. They exchanged their own clothes to “shop” for others. […]
In Pakistan’s deadly heat, low-cost cooling tools offer a lifeline for pregnant women (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/in-pakistans-deadly-heat-low-cost-cooling-tools-offer-a-lifeline-for-pregnant-women/
Canvas canopies, hand fans, damp cloths and solar reflective paint may not sound like elaborate medical interventions. But in Pakistan’s hottest neighborhoods, they can act as a lifeline for pregnant women and newborns from low-income households. In a recent trial of affordable cooling solutions led by researchers at Pakistan’s Aga Khan University, low-tech interventions were […]
Linking habitats strengthens wildlife microbiomes, helps fight disease: Study (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/linking-habitats-strengthens-wildlife-microbiomes-helps-fight-disease-study/
- It has long been known that when terrestrial and aquatic habitats, vital at various times during a species’ life cycle, become disconnected due to human activities (a process known as habitat split), the impacted species can become more vulnerable to disease and see major population declines.
- A new study pinpoints one mechanism contributing to such losses. Researchers analyzed habitat split impacts on the skin microbiomes of frog species in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest and detected microbial changes that increased frog susceptibility to the chytrid pathogen, which is devastating amphibians globally.
- The scientists stress that their findings could likely apply elsewhere and to many species (such as birds, fish and mammals), which need varied habitats during their life cycles in order to maintain a diverse microbiome that enhances disease defenses.
- The researchers say their findings underline the need for conservation projects that protect and connect key habitats, such as forests and streams that are utilized at various life cycle stages, in order to better protect a multitude of species, not only at the macro scale, but also species at the micro scale.
Wetland destruction for mining, oil palm tied to crocodile attacks in Indonesia (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/wetland-destruction-for-mining-oil-palm-tied-to-crocodile-attacks-in-indonesia/
- Bangka-Belitung, an island province located to the north of Sumatra Island, accounted for more than a quarter of the world’s tin production five years ago.
- Satellite analysis shows that this globally significant mining industry has come at extensive environmental cost: Bangka-Belitung lost 36% of its old-growth forest between 2002 and 2024, besides the deforestation incurred in the 20th century.
- In 2024, Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office announced the country’s largest ever criminal corruption case, after investigators uncovered collusion with the state-owned tin miner, PT Timah, and illegal mining operators on Bangka.
- Meanwhile, local wildlife charities say deforestation of the coastal wetland on the west of Bangka Island, which was inhabited by humans at least as far back as the 7th century, may be to blame for the rise in human-wildlife conflicts afflicting local populations.
Open dumping & failed reforms bury Sri Lankan cities in waste problem (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/open-dumping-failed-reforms-bury-sri-lankan-cities-in-waste-problem/
- In a landmark decision, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court recently determined that long-term waste dumping at a site in Meethotamulla violated residents’ fundamental rights and faulted the authorities for allowing the dump to expand beyond permitted limits.
- After years of unregulated dumping and ignored warnings, in 2017, the same garbage mound collapsed, killing 32 people, including children, destroyed more than 140 homes and displaced hundreds.
- The country generates around 8,000-10,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste daily, with Colombo contributing about 500 metric tons, while more than 260 open dumpsites, including 20 large ones, continue to operate countrywide.
- Systems are gradually shifting toward composting, waste-to-energy incineration and engineered sanitary landfill disposal, but weak segregation, limited capacity and continued reliance on open dumping persist.
Singapore to halt sourcing and breeding dolphins (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/singapore-to-halt-sourcing-and-breeding-dolphins/
Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa will stop sourcing wild dolphins for its aquarium and is suspending its captive-breeding program, according to insiders, reports Mongabay contributor Robin Hicks. Anbarasi Boopal, former co-chief executive of Singapore animal welfare charity Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), said this was a positive step. However, she called for transparency about […]
Little-known company targets South African biodiversity hotspot for mining (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/little-known-company-targets-south-african-biodiversity-hotspot-for-mining/
- South Africa’s remote, semiarid Northern Cape province risks environmental damage by an inexperienced mining company that wants to prospect for the minerals critical for the renewable energy sector.
- Environmentalists have drawn attention to the “exceptionally poor” impact assessment studies, suggesting a lack of planning and consideration that heightens the risk of impacts on the environment and local communities.
- The potential impacts include groundwater contamination in a water-scarce region and the risk of radioactive dust polluting the soil and water sources.
- The company that’s applied to prospect seven tracts of land in the province only registered as a business in 2023 and has no public track record as a mining company.
Citizen science helps reconnect Singapore treetops for elusive leaf-eating langurs (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/citizen-science-helps-reconnect-singapore-treetops-for-elusive-leaf-eating-langurs/
- Singapore’s fragmented forests are home to a small population of Raffles’ banded langurs, one of the world’s most threatened primates.
- Citizen scientists are helping conservationists protect the arboreal species across the island’s densely urbanized landscape.
- By collecting long-term and consistent data in known strongholds, volunteers have identified langur food plants and movement corridors, boosting efforts to enrich and reconnect their habitats.
- The citizen science program has also built public awareness of the elusive species, one of only three primates left in Singapore, an outcome experts hope will rouse wider support for biodiversity protection amid intense development pressure.
After 110-kilo ivory bust, familiar questions over Kenya’s follow-through (April 23, 2026)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/04/after-110-kilo-ivory-bust-familiar-questions-over-kenyas-follow-through/
In late January, Kenyan authorities arrested two men in possession of more than a hundred kilos of ivory in the town of Namanga, on the border with Tanzania. According to Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), police and wildlife officers were on a covert operation at a hotel when they caught three men — identified […]