Can we undo extinction? A growing effort to restore lost sharks (August 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/can-we-undo-extinction-a-global-effort-to-restore-lost-sharks/
- ReShark is the world’s first shark rewilding program, aiming to restore Indo-Pacific leopard sharks to reefs where they’ve disappeared, starting in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.
- The initiative repurposes surplus eggs from aquariums, transporting them across oceans and rearing them in locally managed hatcheries before releasing them into the wild.
- A growing community of Indonesian conservationists—including trained “shark nannies,” students, and villagers—is central to the project’s success and sustainability.
- With global collaboration and scientific rigor, ReShark aims to produce a model for reversing extinction—one grounded in genetics, local stewardship, and public engagement.
Eswatini’s young honey-hunters sustain a rare bond with wild birds (August 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/eswatinis-young-honey-hunters-sustain-a-rare-bond-with-wild-birds/
In Eswatini, the Southern African country formerly known as Swaziland, people still commonly hunt for honey with the help of wild birds, a new study finds. This rare form of human-wildlife cooperation, which has disappeared from much of Africa, is expected to endure in Eswatini, sustained by tradition and peer-to-peer learning, researchers say. Only in […]
In western Nepal, farmers switch to growing turmeric; elephants stay away (August 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/in-western-nepal-farmers-switch-to-growing-turmeric-elephants-stay-away/
- In western Nepal’s Bardiya district, farmers from marginalized communities are replacing traditional crops with turmeric — a plant elephants avoid — dramatically reducing human-elephant conflict.
- Backed by conservation groups and supported by scientific studies, the community-led shift to turmeric farming offers a replicable model for coexistence.
- The initiative combines traditional knowledge, scientific research and targeted support to turn a long-standing conservation challenge into an opportunity for ecological and economic resilience.
Study maps rare Borneo forests with unique habitats & urgent need for protection (August 13, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/
- A new study has mapped lowland heath forests (kerangas) in Indonesian Borneo, revealing major changes in their extent and limited formal protection.
- In Central Kalimantan’s Rungan-Kahayan landscape, researchers documented unique habitats rich in biodiversity but surrounded by competing land uses.
- They noted that these forests are often overlooked due to misconceptions about their soils, despite their ecological and cultural importance.
- The study calls for urgent action to better understand, protect and sustainably manage these rare ecosystems.
Violent guerrillas are taking Colombia’s children. Unarmed Indigenous groups are confronting them (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/violent-guerrillas-are-taking-colombias-children-unarmed-indigenous-groups-are-confronting-them/
CALDONO, Colombia (AP) — The Indigenous Guard of the Nasa people formed in Colombia in 2001 to protect Indigenous territories from armed groups and from environmental destruction such as deforestation and illegal mining. In the last few years, they have been forced to confront a growing problem with those armed groups recruiting children into operations […]
England’s rewilding movement is gaining steam, Ben Goldsmith says (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025/08/englands-rewilding-movement-is-gaining-steam-ben-goldsmith-says/
Rewilding advocate, financier and host of the popular podcast Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss nature restoration in his home country of England, where a significant cultural change is taking hold toward reviving biodiversity, such as beavers. Once seen as a nuisance there, many farmers and planners now embrace the rebound […]
Global wetlands conference results in resolutions for protection & restoration (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-wetlands-conference-results-in-resolutions-for-restoration-protection/
- In July, scientists, government officials and community leaders gathered in Zimbabwe for the 2025 international conference on wetlands to agree on global commitments for the sustainable conservation and restoration of these ecosystems.
- The conference adopted a series of resolutions and agreements, including one on the protection of migratory birds and wetland-dependent species, as well as the Fifth Strategic Plan, which aims to halt and reverse wetland loss by 2034.
- The strategic plan highlighted the importance of including youth, Indigenous peoples, women and local communities in successful wetland conservation efforts.
- Conserving and restoring 550 million hectares (roughly 1.3 billion acres) of wetlands is essential to meeting global biodiversity and climate targets, according to the Global Wetland Outlook, but funding for wetland conservation remains low, accounting for only 0.25% of global GDP.
Filipino communities use vast variety of endemic plants for health: Study (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/filipino-communities-use-vast-variety-of-endemic-plants-for-health-study/
- In the mountains of Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines, the Manobo-Dulangan community continues to rely on plant-based medicine for everyday health needs, passing down healing knowledge through generations.
- A new study documents 796 plant species used by 34 Philippine ethnolinguistic groups, highlighting the deep ties between traditional knowledge, health care and biodiversity.
- Environmental threats like logging and limited state support are putting this knowledge system at risk, with most Indigenous medicinal practices still under-documented and unintegrated into formal health care.
- Community members and researchers alike are calling for stronger recognition, environmental protection and responsible efforts to preserve Indigenous knowledge in a rapidly modernizing world.
Fences, tech and trust help save jaguars in Panama’s Darién (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/fences-tech-and-trust-help-save-jaguars-in-panamas-darien/
- In Panama’s Darién province, jaguar predation on cattle is one of the top reasons for people killing the locally endangered felines, and a top threat to their populations.
- To reduce jaguar killings, the nonprofit Yaguará Panamá Foundation is working on conservation measures directly with livestock farmers and Indigenous families.
- A recent study documents jaguars’ movements through once-forested landscapes for the first time, providing biologists with better information for how humans and jaguars can avoid conflict.
- Using GPS and observational data, the organization helps create land management plans, such as installing electric fences to help keep jaguars away, while improving overall environmental conditions.
Unrestricted funding is key for frontline conservation groups: Mongabay podcast (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/unrestricted-funding-is-key-for-frontline-conservation-groups-mongabay-podcast/
The U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) works to link funders with community-based conservation groups, ensuring that much-needed resources are reaching the frontlines. In a Mongabay Newscast episode in July, Jean-Gaël “JG” Collomb, CEO of WCN, advocates for giving more unrestricted funding to local groups who know the environment best, allowing them to decide how to […]
World Elephant Day: Stories of conservation progress (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/world-elephant-day-stories-of-conservation-progress/
In honor of world elephant day on August 12, we highlight recent Mongabay stories that celebrate elephant conservation efforts. Protecting elephants ‘trapped’ in Bangladesh Bangladesh has a resident population of about 270 Indian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus), considered critically endangered within the country. But it also hosts some “nonresident” herds in the northeast that migrated […]
Dang Dinh Bach: He fought for clean air. Now he breathes through bars. (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/dang-dinh-bach-he-fought-for-clean-air-now-he-breathes-through-bars/
Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. It wasn’t the first time the Vietnamese authorities had accused someone of tax evasion. But few such cases have ended in a five-year prison sentence. Fewer still have involved a man whose life was defined by public service: […]
Borneo killing linked to coal industry stays unsolved as Indonesia VP visits Dayak village (August 12, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/
- On Nov. 15, 2024, two Indigenous men were attacked before dawn at a checkpoint in Muara Kate, a roadside hamlet in East Kalimantan province, established by the local population to enforce a ban on mining vehicles using local roads. This community decision followed the death of a young pastor a month earlier in an accident with a coal truck.
- Police have questioned staff from coal miner PT Mantimin Coal Mining in connection with the case, but at the time of writing, authorities had yet to name any suspects in connection with the November murder.
- In June, Indonesia Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka visited the community where the killing took place; an aide to the vice president said a report would be made to President Prabowo Subianto.
- Killing of environmental defenders in Indonesia is rare compared with countries like Brazil and the Philippines, but political scientists say democratic conditions in Indonesia have been eroded in the past decade.
Remedy frameworks can improve sustainable forestry certifications & right past wrongs (commentary) (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/remedy-frameworks-can-improve-sustainable-forestry-certifications-right-past-wrongs-commentary/
- Indigenous and local communities continue to grapple with the long-term consequences of deforestation and other harms, often at the hands of companies that have been excluded from sustainability certification programs, a new commentary from the Forest Stewardship Council argues.
- Their exclusion is where accountability often ends, since companies removed from certification schemes are rarely required to take meaningful steps to repair the social or environmental damage they caused.
- “Remedy is not about erasing the past, it’s about facing it, and ensuring those affected are meaningfully involved in the path forward,” the FSC’s chief system integrity officer writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
With nocturnal surveys and awareness building, Sri Lanka steps up to protect its owls (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/with-nocturnal-surveys-and-awareness-building-sri-lanka-steps-up-to-protect-its-owls/
- In Sri Lanka, volunteers and researchers survey owls at night along set routes to mark the International Owl Day that falls on Aug. 4. But what takes more effort is the public educational events to challenge deep-rooted superstitions about owls.
- From the common Indian scops owl (Otus bakkamoena) and brown hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata) to the elusive barn owl (Tyto alba), several owl species persist in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital city despite habitat loss and disturbance.
- In Sri Lankan culture, owls are generally viewed as a bad omen, leading to persecution and eviction from nesting sites, even though species like barn owls provide valuable rodent control, hence being particularly useful in urban settings.
- Practices such as placing hollow coconut trunks in agricultural fields to attract barn owls for natural pest control offer nature-based solutions that could be reintroduced to modern agriculture and beat the stigma around the species.
Torrential rains in southern Japan cause flooding & mudslides, several people missing (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/torrential-rains-in-southern-japan-cause-flooding-mudslides-several-people-missing/
TOKYO (AP) — Downpours on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu caused flooding and mudslides on Monday, injuring a number of people and disrupting travel during a Buddhist holiday week. Evacuation advisories were issued and several people were reported missing. A low-pressure system has been stuck over the region since last week, dumping torrential rain over the […]
The man fighting to keep vultures and planes safe from each other in Nepal’s Pokhara (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/the-man-fighting-to-keep-vultures-and-planes-safe-from-each-other-in-nepals-pokhara/
The new international airport in Nepal’s tourism capital of Pokhara lies close to prime vulture sites, raising risks for the already severely threatened birds. But 40-year-old Hemanta Dhakal keeps vigil, monitoring the interaction of vultures with aircraft from his rooftop daily, and working with airport staff to better manage their presence, reports Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj […]
The case for hope in environmental journalism (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/08/the-case-for-hope-in-environmental-journalism/
I often return to this image, which I took in 2022 in Jambi, Indonesia. At first glance, it seems to capture something hopeful: a full-circle rainbow arcing over a lush green landscape. But look closer, and you’ll see what lies beneath the beauty: a vast oil palm plantation, carved out of what was once native […]
Participants in the negotiations on plastic pollution are determined to finalize a treaty (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/participants-in-the-negotiations-on-plastic-pollution-are-determined-to-finalize-a-treaty/
- Despite some progress, negotiations on a binding global treaty to deal with plastic pollution has yet to be finalized.
- The reliance on consensus is slowing down negotiations, as disagreements remain between states in favor of reducing the production of virgin plastic and those prioritizing waste management.
- Countries from the Global South and NGOs such as GRID-Arendal are advocating for the adoption of an ambitious, legally binding treaty that accounts for the full life cycle of plastics.
Wolves’ continued spread in California brings joy, controversy & conflicts (August 11, 2025)
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/wolves-continued-spread-in-california-brings-joy-controversy-conflicts/
- After nearly a century’s absence, gray wolves continue to recolonize California, bringing changes and challenges to the state and its inhabitants.
- Ongoing research and monitoring programs are helping scientists understand growing wolf populations and their impact on prey species, other predators and alterations to the landscape.
- Gray wolves in California are protected under both federal and state laws. But balancing conservation, livestock predation and public safety concerns is complicated.
- The state has formulated a management plan for wolves: a compensation program for ranchers who lose livestock to wolves and efforts to mitigate conflicts.