The fuel that moves people: the Ecuadorian case (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-fuel-that-moves-people-the-ecuadorian-case/
- In Ecuador, the main areas of colonization were a north-south corridor along the base of the Andes and the Sucumbíos-Orellana quadrant, the country’s major oil-producing region.
- Since the 1970s, populations in both areas have grown significantly. The Andean zone went from 160,000 inhabitants to more than 520,000 in 2017; in parallel, the population in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana increased from less than 12,000 to more than 350,000.
- Colonization also led to the invasion of lands of the indigenous Shuar, which prompted an unusual effort on their part to protect their territory. Today, the area specializes in cattle production and seeks to establish a niche market for high-quality beef for the domestic market.
Brazil’s illegal gold miners carve out new Amazon hotspots in conservation units (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/brazils-illegal-gold-miners-carve-out-new-amazon-hotspots-in-conservation-units/
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration reduced the expansion of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon, but miners keep finding new sites.
- In 15 conservation units, illegal gold miners destroyed 330 hectares (815 acres) in only two months.
- According to experts, gold miners expelled from Indigenous territories may be migrating to conservation units.
- Alliances with narco mafias and the rise in gold prices are obstacles to fighting illegal mining.
Amazon’s Boiling River gives scientists a window into the rainforest’s future (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/amazons-boiling-river-gives-scientists-a-window-into-the-rainforests-future/
- Scientists studying Peru’s Boiling River found 11% fewer tree species for every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in temperature, offering insights into how climate change might affect the Amazon Rainforest.
- The research team discovered that hotter areas not only had fewer species overall but were dominated by heat-tolerant trees that typically grow in the warmest parts of South America.
- The study site is protected by Indigenous Asháninka people as sacred land, but the forest still faces threats from nearby deforestation and fires, reflecting broader challenges across the Amazon.
- The Amazon is experiencing climate pressures, with fire-affected areas in the Brazilian Amazon increasing 18-fold in September 2024, covering a combined area nearly the size of the Netherlands.
Electrochemical removal of ocean CO2 offers potential — and concerns (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/electrochemical-removal-of-ocean-co2-offers-potential-and-concerns/
- Stripping seawater of carbon dioxide via electrochemical processes — thereby prompting oceans to draw down more greenhouse gas from the atmosphere — is a geoengineering approach under consideration for largescale CO2 removal. Several startups and existing companies are planning projects at various scales.
- Once removed from seawater, captured carbon dioxide can be stored geologically or used commercially by industry. Another electrochemical method returns alkaline seawater to the oceans, causing increased carbon dioxide absorption over time.
- In theory, these techniques could aid in carbon emission storage. But experts warn that as some companies rush to commercialize the tech and sell carbon credits, significant knowledge gaps remain, with potential ecological harm needing to be determined.
- Achieving the scale required to make a dent in climate change would require deploying huge numbers of electrochemical plants globally — a costly and environmentally risky scenario deemed unfeasible by some. One problem: the harm posed by scale-up isn’t easy to assess with modeling and small-scale projects.
South Korea slashes forest biomass energy subsidies in major policy reform (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/south-korea-slashes-forest-biomass-energy-subsidies-in-major-policy-reform/
- In a surprise move, South Korea has announced that it will end subsidies for all new biomass projects and for existing state-owned plants cofiring biomass with coal, effective January 2025, a significant and sudden policy shift.
- Additionally, government financial support for dedicated biomass plants using imported biomass will be phased down, while support for privately owned cofiring plants will be phased out over the next decade. However, subsidy levels for domestically produced biomass fuel remain unchanged.
- The biomass reform is being hailed by forest advocates as a step in the right direction, potentially setting a new, environmentally sound precedent for the region.
- Advocates are now calling on Japan, Asia’s largest forest biomass importer, to follow South Korea’s example.
Coral destruction for toilet construction: Interview with a Malagasy fisher (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/coral-destruction-for-toilet-construction-interview-with-a-malagasy-fisher/
- Toamasina, a coastal city in eastern Madagascar, is surrounded by an extensive network of coral reefs that are home to near-threatened species.
- For decades, these reefs have been under threat from an unusual activity: The use of coral in the construction of septic tanks.
- Mongabay spoke with Abraham Botovao, a boat skipper and the president of a local fishers’ association, who has been closely monitoring this trade and its impact on the local marine environment.
- “It frustrates me every time I see them when I’m out fishing, but unfortunately all I can do is watch without being able to do anything,” Botovao said.
Poachers target South Africa’s ‘miracle’ plant with near impunity (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/poachers-target-south-africas-miracle-plant-with-near-impunity/
- South Africa has faced a surge in poaching of rare succulents by criminal syndicates since 2019.
- A recent spike in prices paid for a different kind of plant, a drylands-adapted lily, the miracle clivia (Clivia mirabilis), has drawn the attention of plant-trafficking syndicates to the lone reserve where it grows.
- Large numbers of clivias have been seized by law enforcement, raising fears that this rare plant is quickly being wiped out from the limited range where it’s known to occur.
- Reserve staff and law enforcement agencies are underfunded and spread too thinly across the vast landscapes of South Africa’s Northern Cape province targeted by plant poachers.
As lithium mining bleeds Atacama salt flat dry, Indigenous communities hit back (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/as-lithium-mining-bleeds-atacama-salt-flat-dry-indigenous-communities-hit-back/
- The Council of Atacameño Peoples filed a complaint in October 2024 against lithium mining companies operating in Chile’s Atacama salt flat, accusing them of causing the land to sink around their extraction wells.
- The complaint was based on findings from a study published in July that revealed portions of the salt flat are subsiding by up to 2 centimeters, or nearly an inch, per year.
- Scientists warn that one of the main consequences could be the loss of the aquifer’s storage capacity.
- They also point out that since the salt flat lies on a tectonic fault, the subsidence could spread further, including to two protected areas in the region that are home to flamingos and other rare wildlife.
Indonesia’s Indigenous communities sidelined from conservation (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indonesias-indigenous-communities-sidelined-from-conservation/
- Research shows that globally, Indigenous peoples are the most effective stewards of their forests and the massive stores of carbon and biodiversity within.
- Yet in Indonesia, which harbors the majority of Earth’s species, Indigenous communities are increasingly sidelined from nature conservation efforts.
- Activists say it is urgent for the Indonesian government to pass a long-awaited bill on Indigenous rights to ensure that Indigenous peoples can contribute to biodiversity conservation without fear of being criminalized or evicted.
- This is especially important, activists say, in light of a new conservation law in Indonesia, which is criticized for not protecting Indigenous land rights; the law also outlines a new form of “preservation area,” where Indigenous activities could be heavily restricted.
Balochistan’s Gwadar city sits at the crossroads of climate and conflict (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/balochistans-gwadar-city-sits-at-the-crossroads-of-climate-and-conflict/
- A new study examines the links between conflict and climate in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, where extreme weather can be a threat multiplier.
- The port city of Gwadar serves as an example, as local residents have long had grievances against the state, which were exacerbated by recent flooding that killed several people and displaced hundreds.
- Experts highlight the absence of data-driven policies, citing a gap in research that has hindered solutions; they call for investment in data and the inclusion of local people in decision-making and infrastructure planning.
From Bhutan to Nigeria & Kenya, women endure climate change differently than men (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/from-bhutan-to-nigeria-kenya-women-endure-climate-change-differently-than-men/
- Research shows that globally, women and girls suffer greater effects of climate change and environmental disasters than men; at the same time, women environmental journalists often face greater obstacles on the job, and women’s voices are often missing from stories about climate change.
- Three recent Mongabay fellows, all women, report on specific examples from their home countries (Bhutan, Nigeria, Kenya) in which women disproportionately experience the effects of climate change and extreme weather.
- In all three examples, women exhibit a perseverance that ensures their own and their families’ survival — and sometimes aids their own independence and resourcefulness.
For ecological restoration, evidence-based standards deliver better outcomes (commentary) (December 20, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/for-ecological-restoration-evidence-based-standards-deliver-better-outcomes-commentary/
- The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has triggered a global movement to rally individual action, financial investment, and political backing to prevent, halt and reverse the loss of nature.
- Evidence-based standards can help meet restoration targets and improve general compliance with laws and regulations while delivering social, environmental and economic net gain for people and nature.
- “As we near the halfway point of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration [the] global application of effective restoration through the use of standards provides a path forward that can help slow climate change and recover ecosystem processes and biodiversity for the future of life on Earth,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Unlike: Brazil Facebook groups give poachers safe space to flex their kills (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/unlike-brazil-facebook-groups-give-poachers-safe-space-to-flex-their-kills/
- A new study shows how openly poachers in Brazil are sharing content of dead wildlife, including threatened and protected species, on Facebook.
- It found 2,000 records of poaching on Brazilian Facebook groups between 2018 and 2020, amounting to 4,658 animals from 157 species from all over the country.
- Data suggest there were trophy hunts, meant only to show off hunting hauls rather than being done for subsistence or a consequence of human-wildlife conflict.
- The study highlights the impunity for environmental crimes and the easy dissemination of content related to illegal practices on social media networks in Brazil.
‘Killed while poaching’: When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/killed-while-poaching-when-wildlife-enforcement-blurs-into-violence/
- In October 2023, Mongabay traveled to Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park as part of a reporting series on protected areas in East Africa.
- While there, we heard allegations that Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers have carried out extrajudicial killings of suspected bushmeat poachers inside the park.
- Two weeks before our visit, a man was shot to death inside the park; his relatives and local officials alleged he was killed by wildlife rangers while attempting to surrender.
- The allegations follow other recent human rights scandals related to aggressive conservation enforcement practices in the nearby Congo Basin.
Most large banks failing to consider Indigenous rights (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/most-large-banks-failing-to-consider-indigenous-rights/
- A new report by finance watchdog BankTrack evaluated the policies and practices of 50 major banks and found that most are failing to fully implement adequate safeguards in line with U.N. human rights principles.
- The 2024 report included three new criteria centered around the rights of human rights defenders and Indigenous peoples and the right to a healthy environment; the majority of banks did not explicitly acknowledge environmental rights are human rights and all failed in due diligence around Indigenous peoples’ free, prior and informed consent.
- The report found that small progress has been made in the last two years as banks improve policies and processes for managing human rights.
- The authors say stronger human rights due diligence laws could be a game changer in driving corporate respect for human rights.
New frog species show how geology shapes Amazon’s biodiversity (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/new-frog-species-show-how-geology-shapes-amazons-biodiversity/
- DNA testing of two new-to-science frog species has shown they share a common ancestor — a species that lived 55 million years ago in the mountains of what is today Brazil’s Amazonas state.
- The multidisciplinary study drew together biologists and geologists to map how geological changes in the mountain range shaped not just its geography but also the diversity of species in the region.
- The two endemic species were collected on two separate peaks — Neblina and Imeri — and their discovery has led to further understanding of the origins and evolution of biodiversity in the Amazon.
- Another expedition to the Tulu-Tuloi Range, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Imeri, is scheduled for 2025.
Even for ‘progressive’ Danone, complying with EUDR is a challenge (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/even-for-progressive-danone-complying-with-eudr-is-a-challenge/
- The EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) requires companies importing cocoa, cattle, rubber, soy, wood, palm oil and coffee into the EU to demonstrate their products weren’t grown on land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020.
- French dairy giant Danone works with soy, cocoa and palm oil — products subject to the EUDR, which goes into effect at the end of 2025.
- In general, Danone’s sustainability policies have been better than most, outsider observers said. But it still has a lot of work to do to ensure 100% of its supply chain is free of deforestation and land conversion.
A port is destroying corals to expand. Can an NGO rescue enough to matter? (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/a-port-is-destroying-corals-to-expand-can-an-ngo-rescue-enough-to-matter/
- The ongoing expansion of the port of Toamasina in eastern Madagascar is set to destroy 25 hectares (62 acres) of coral reefs.
- Tany Ifandovana, a Malagasy NGO, removed a small portion of these corals before construction began, and transplanted them to a coral island several kilometers away, as a way to ecologically compensate for the losses, at least in part.
- The NGO faces major challenges, including a lack of resources, little support from the port, and locals destroying corals around the island transplant site.
- “As an environmentalist, it hurt my heart to know that these corals were just going to be filled in,” Tany Ifandovana’s vice president told Mongabay. “Something had to be done.”
Nepal created a forest fund to do everything; five years on it’s done nothing (December 19, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/nepal-created-a-forest-fund-to-do-everything-five-years-on-its-done-nothing/
- Nepal’s Forest Development Fund, established in 2019, was designed to support forest conservation, research and other environmental initiatives, but it has not spent any of the allocated funds in five years.
- The fund is meant to be financed through various sources, including lease fees from developers, compensatory afforestation payments, a percentage of profits from forest land use and revenue from carbon trading.
- Forest user communities, which have successfully increased forest cover in Nepal, continue to face financial difficulties, with illegal logging and wildfires exacerbating the situation, while the FDF remains frozen.
Can the Cali Fund provide a rights-based remedy for biopiracy? (commentary) (December 18, 2024)
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/can-the-cali-fund-provide-a-rights-based-remedy-for-biopiracy-commentary/
- One ongoing element of wealth extraction from the Global South that remains largely unaddressed – biopiracy – requires a human rights-based response, a new op-ed argues.
- Defined as the unauthorized use of genetic resources and traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities and developing nations for profit without their consent, a remedy to biopiracy was recently agreed to at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia.
- Can the Cali Fund – which obliges corporations that profit from biodiversity to contribute to its conservation – be a step in the right direction, the authors ask?
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.