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Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. June 22 marks World Rainforest Day, launched in 2017 by Rainforest Partnership to highlight the critical role of tropical forests. These ecosystems stabilize the climate, regulate rainfall, store vast amounts of carbon, and support most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Yet despite their importance, 2024 proved to be a devastating year. Fires ravaged millions of hectares, and several regions experienced record levels of primary forest loss. Here’s a snapshot of the 10 largest tropical rainforest regions: Amazon The Amazon is Earth’s largest rainforest, essential to continental rainfall patterns and global climate regulation. Renowned for its rich biodiversity and Indigenous cultures, more than half of the tropics’ primary forest lies here. It also accounts for the greatest loss — nearly 44 million hectares (109 million acres) since 2002, an area roughly the size of Iraq. Fires in 2024 hit Brazil and Bolivia especially hard. Congo Basin Home to gorillas, bonobos and the elusive okapi, the Congo rainforest spans Central Africa, with 60% located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Deforestation remained relatively low until the 2010s, but has surged in recent years. New Guinea & Northern Australia New Guinea, the world’s second-largest island, is a biodiversity stronghold with species found nowhere else — like tree kangaroos and cassowaries. Though still among the least-disturbed major forest regions, threats from oil palm expansion, mining and logging are rising. Sundaland Comprising Borneo and Sumatra, this region has…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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RICHMOND, California (AP) — The California Senate has introduced a landmark resolution to have the state examine its crude imports from the Amazon, following a visit this week by Indigenous leaders from Ecuador who urged lawmakers to help stop oil expansion in their territories. The development comes as the Ecuadorian government plans to auction off 14 new oil sites covering more than 2 million hectares of rainforest — much of it on Indigenous land — in a 2026 bidding round. The Indigenous delegation joined local Californians in Richmond for a kayaking trip on Thursday near a Chevron refinery, sharing stories about the Amazon and perspectives on climate threats. It’s not clear when the resolution will be up for a vote. Reporting by Steven Grattan and Godofredo Vasques, Associated Press  Banner image: Juan Bay, president of the Waorani people of Ecuador, foreground, looks at an oil tanker docked at the Chevron Long Wharf, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Richmond, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The fishing community of Barra do Mamanguape on Brazil’s northeastern coast used to be a hunting site for manatees. But today, the villagers have turned to ecotourism and are now protecting the manatees, Mongabay’s video team reported in May. The village estuary, where river meets the sea, has warm, calm waters, perfect habitat for manatees. During Brazil’s colonization, manatees were considered a delicacy, with the meat eaten by local fishers and the skin and oil exported to Europe. “What I heard is that its meat was similar to pork,” Marinalva Brito, a local fisher and business owner, told Mongabay. Initially scientists knew very little about manatees. By the time they’d assessed their populations, the species was considered critically endangered, prompting conservation efforts, including the founding in 2013 of the nonprofit Viva o Peixe-Boi Marinho (Long Live the Sea Manatee). The group engaged with local fishers to learn from them and raise awareness about conservation. “They knew a lot. And from that, we had lectures, there were face-to-face conversations, there were experiences of participating in fishing activities with them,” João Carlos Borges, coordinator of Viva o Peixe-Boi Marinho, told Mongabay. With this sustained community outreach, local attitudes began to change. Instead of killing stranded manatees for food, villagers were now reporting them for rescue. “My grandparents were people who ate manatees, and today we have a different experience,” ecologist Sebastião dos Santos told Mongabay. “We learned that, within the communities, the manatee is much more important alive, contributing to generate income,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Rainforests are among the most critical ecosystems on Earth. Home to roughly half of all terrestrial species, they provide oxygen and habitat, and help regulate regional rain and weather patterns. In honor of World Rainforest Day on June 22, we look at two recent Mongabay investigations that shed light on the challenges and triumphs in the world’s largest  and most biodiverse rainforest: the Amazon, home to roughly 10% of all known species on Earth. Despite its ecological importance, parts of the Amazon are hotbeds of violence, illegal deforestation, cattle grazing, mining, and drug smuggling. Mongabay’s reporters traveled to the rainforest, at personal risk, to tell those stories. Narco airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon In 2024, Mongabay Latam journalists trekked through the dense Peruvian Amazon to see firsthand a clandestine airstrip used for drug trafficking. Combining AI-analyzed satellite images, official records and on-the-ground reporting, the team uncovered 67 such clandestine airstrips. Many of them were located in or near Indigenous territories. Their six-part investigation documented deforestation linked to the airstrips and revealed a climate of violence: at least 15 Indigenous leaders have been killed in the region. In two communities, reporters learned that schoolchildren had overdosed on cocaine brought to the community, and residents lived in fear of armed traffickers. “We know where the airstrips are; they’re not very far from where we live, but we don’t go there for safety reasons,” a source, who asked not be named for fear of their safety, told Mongabay. “They’re armed, and everything is…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Vietnam’s first marine protected area, Nha Trang Bay, has lost nearly 200 hectares (494 acres) of coral reef since its creation in 2002, a new study shows. The alarming decline raises fresh questions about how effective conservation efforts have been in protecting one of the country’s most iconic coastal ecosystems. Published in April in the journal Water, the study by Joint Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Center used remote sensing and machine learning to track coral changes across Nha Trang Bay’s 160-square-kilometer (62-square-mile) MPA. From 2002-24, about 191 hectares (472 acres) of coral reefs vanished, especially around Tre, Mun, Một, Tằm and Miễu islands. Despite having protected status since 2002, the bay’s reefs continue to shrink. Key drivers include land use change, warming seas and crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) outbreaks, according to the study. “Among these, land-use change—particularly from long-term landfill activities—emerged as the dominant driver of coral loss,” the authors wrote. The Nha Trang Bay Marine Protected Area and its functional zones are influenced by the Cai and Tac rivers. Image courtesy of Nguyen Trinh Duc Hieu/ Joint Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Center. Hoàng Công Tín is an expert in mapping marine habitats to enable conservation and sustainable use and dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at Vietnam’s Huế University. “Nha Trang Bay’s experience highlights a critical lesson: early designation of MPAs is not sufficient without adaptive, science-based management and active local engagement,” Hoàng, who was not involved in the study, told Mongabay by email.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A first look at Argentina’s Somuncurá Plateau reveals features somewhat predictable for a Patagonian steppe: shrubs, grass, plains, and rocky outcrops. Only the occasional volcanic peak breaks the monotony of the landscape spanning an area larger than Switzerland across the provinces of Rio Negro and Chubut. But in this apparent monotony, life abounds as the plateau’s conditions make it one of Patagonia’s key biodiversity areas and home to several endemic species.  Among those, one critically endangered species has caught the attention of researchers and, more recently, of the wider conservation world. Measuring less than 5 centimeters (2 inches) in length, the El Rincon stream frog (Pleurodema somuncurense) relies on the warm headwaters of the Valcheta stream, fed by the Somuncurá’s hot springs. Here, the microendemic amphibian, whose habitat measures no more than 10 square kilometers (3.7 square miles), finds refuge from the plateau’s large temperature variations.  The species was described by scientists in the late 1960s, but went on to be largely ignored by science until the early 2000s, when it became increasingly exposed to habitat loss, invasive species and cattle ranching. That earned it the status of critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, making it one of the world’s most threatened amphibians. Argentina’s Somuncurá Plateau provides an unexpected haven for microendemic species. Image courtesy of Federico Kacoliris. Federico Kacoliris has long studied the El Rincon stream frog. Aside from adding knowledge about the species and its habitats, Kacoliris, who leads the Somuncurá Foundation, has mobilized a conservation movement…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Ghana has announced plans to expand the area in which small-scale fishers can operate, in response to persistent violations by industrial trawlers encroaching into this zone. The country’s inshore exclusion zone, or IEZ, will now extend 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from shore, up from 6 nmi (11 km) currently. Emelia Arthur, Ghana’s newly appointed fisheries minister, made the announcement at the U.N. Ocean Conference in Nice, France, last week. Small-scale or artisanal fishing is a significant part of Ghana’s economy, employing more than 200,000 people and operating some 12,000 canoes, and the IEZ is legally reserved for small-scale fisheries. However, industrial trawlers have increasingly violated this zone, often using destructive methods such as bottom trawling. These activities have severely depleted fish stocks and damaged artisanal fishing gear. The decision to expand the IEZ aims to safeguard the livelihoods of artisanal fishing communities, said Arthur, who also announced more rigorous enforcement against encroaching vessels and those practicing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The new rule will need parliamentary approval, but Arthur said legal reforms are underway. “We are then going to enforce that regulation so severely that semi-industrial vessels and industrial vessels are not going to be permitted to operate in this zone,” she said.  “We have a big issue with IUU,” Isaac Okyere, a researcher from the University of Cape Coast, told Mongabay by phone. “There are instances where the vessels have two different gears: one is licensed and one is not licensed — with that they catch…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa was under a declared state of national disaster on Thursday as the death toll from floods caused by severe rains in the Eastern Cape region rose to 92. The Eastern Cape government honoured the victims of last week’s floods with a provincial Day of Mourning and a memorial service at King Sabatha Dalindyebo Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in Mthatha, one of the few schools whose infrastructure remained intact. Speaking at the public memorial service, Zolile Williams, a member of the executive council, said the people of the coastal province have not been the same since the disaster hit, and many are now faced with the challenging task of rebuilding. “Since June 9, this province has been hit hard by unprecedented, catastrophic and unimaginable disasters, where in the whole of the province, about 92 people have perished,” said Williams. “Since that day, the Eastern Cape has not been the same. It is the first time we have experienced so many dead bodies, some of whom have not yet been found.” An extreme weather front brought heavy rain, strong winds and snow to parts of the province caused flooding in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces last week, leaving dozens dead and roads, houses, schools and other infrastructure damaged. At least two school children who were washed away in a bus are among the unverified number of missing persons according to local media reports, while thousands have since been displaced. Authorities have appealed for residents to report missing people…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When Ridzki Sigit first joined Mongabay in 2012, the environmental journalism platform had yet to establish itself in the language of his native Indonesia. The concept was unconventional: a remote, international team with no physical office, focused solely on environmental coverage — a niche area in the Indonesian media landscape at the time. Yet Ridzki saw opportunity rather than uncertainty. Today, as Mongabay Indonesia’s program director, he leads one of the country’s most influential environmental news outlets, recognized widely beyond Indonesia’s borders. Mongabay Indonesia was launched to improve transparency and accountability in Indonesia’s troubled forest sector. I envisioned journalism driven by local voices, communicating in Indonesian to achieve policy changes and empower communities. Within months, it became essential reading even for policymakers. Ridzki’s path to journalism was unconventional. Initially trained in forestry and management, he began his career researching natural resources and creating documentary films with Perkumpulan Kaoem Telapak, a prominent Indonesian environmental NGO. His experience at Kaoem Telapak and its production arm, Gekko Studio, shaped his storytelling abilities and deepened his commitment to environmental issues, qualities he brought to Mongabay. Under Ridzki’s leadership, Mongabay Indonesia has flourished. With a core team and more than 70 contributors nationwide, it has produced more than 25,000 articles, videos, and podcasts. Its investigative reporting has achieved tangible impacts, exposing corrupt land deals involving major agribusinesses in Papua and raising international awareness about threats to species such…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Sri Lanka’s lesser-known Kumana National Park, on the country’s southeastern coast, has emerged as a leopard stronghold, according to a recent study, contributor Malaka Rodrigo reports for Mongabay. Using camera traps and statistical models, researchers from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and the Department of Wildlife Conservation estimated there’s a leopard density of around 41 of the big cats per 100 square kilometers, or about 106 leopards per 100 square miles, in the park’s eastern region. Previous studies have found that the better-known Yala National Park in Sri Lanka’s south, popular for its leopard sightings, has about 54 leopards per 100 km2 (140 per 100 mi2); Wilpattu National Park in the northwest has about 18 per 100 km2 (46 per 100mi2); and Horton Plains National Park has an estimated 12 leopards per 100 km2 (31 per 100 mi2). Kumana today spans 357 km2 (138 mi2). It was first declared a sanctuary in 1938 for its birdlife, including large colonies of waterbirds. It was designated a national park in 1960, and Sri Lanka’s fifth Ramsar wetland site in 2010. Park warden Dileep Samaranayaka told Mongabay that Kumana has recently gained popularity among visitors for its leopard sightings. With concerns about potential overtourism at Yala, Kumana is emerging as an alternative destination for leopard enthusiasts. A citizen science initiative called Kumana Leopards, which relies on visitor observations of leopards in the park, has documented 80 individual leopards there since 2019. Led by Shanaka Kalubowila and his team, the initiative offers a field…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A commission appointed by the late Pope Francis has released a new report highlighting the urgent need to address global debt, which has hindered sustainable development and climate action. The report was authored by the Jubilee Commission, which includes a group of 30 experts including Nobel laureate and U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz, and Martín Guzmán, a former economy minister of Argentina. The commission found that 54 developing countries spend 10% or more of their tax revenues just to pay their debt interests. Since 2014, the average interest burden for developing countries has almost doubled. “Interest payments on public debt are therefore crowding out critical investments in health, education, infrastructure, and climate resilience,” the report says. “The most afflicted continent is Africa, but other parts of the world … are also affected by the crisis [such as] in Latin America and in Asia,” Guzmán said at a press briefing. Instead of moving toward sustainable development, the report says, the debt situation has become a barrier and is exacerbating inequality and discontent. Before his death in April, Pope Francis declared 2025 as a Jubilee Year, or a year of hope and forgiveness. In a message, he called on wealthy countries to forgive the debts of poorer ones, not just as a form of generosity but as a “matter of justice.” He warned of an “ecological debt” that exists, “particularly between the global North and South,” due to “imbalances” and “the disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over long periods of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In November 2023, Mongabay reported on an expedition in which researchers partnered with Indigenous communities and government agencies in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains to capture camera-trap images of what was previously thought to be a “lost” species: Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, the world’s rarest egg-laying mammal. Those findings have now been confirmed in a new study. Listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi) is one of five species that are monotremes, the only group of living mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The echidna was first described as a new species in 1998 using a specimen collected in 1961 on the Cyclops Mountains, along Indonesia’s border with Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea, where the Yongsu Sapari and Yongsu Dosoyo communities live. The echidna was named in honor of famed naturalist David Attenborough; the communities call it payangko. Since 1961, the echidna remained scientifically undocumented for 62 years, until researchers in 2007 found indirect traces of it in the Cyclops Mountains. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities in the region reported seeing the elusive species through the decades. Relying on this Indigenous knowledge, a team of researchers deployed camera traps in the Cyclops from 2022-2023: the team received the Indigenous groups’ blessing to enter sacred areas and guidance on where to place camera traps and find the species. “We would not have succeeded without their support and input,” Malcolm Kobak, study co-author from local NGO YAPPENDA, told Mongabay by email.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The ocean has long been treated as the world’s forgotten frontier — out of sight, out of mind, and dangerously overused. Yet efforts to reverse decades of neglect are gaining momentum. Late April saw the launch of Revive Our Ocean, a new initiative helping coastal communities create marine protected areas (MPAs) to restore marine life and local economies. Led by Dynamic Planet with support from National Geographic’s Pristine Seas initiative, the effort comes at a pivotal moment. In 2023, countries agreed a historic treaty to safeguard ocean biodiversity. But of the 100-plus nations that signed, only 21 have ratified it, with major backers like the U.S. notably absent. With a 2030 deadline looming to protect 30% of the oceans, Revive Our Ocean’s founders argue that waiting for governments will not be enough. “We’ve seen that marine protection works,” says Kristin Rechberger, founder of Dynamic Planet and a Mongabay board member, in an interview in April. “But progress has been far too slow. To meet 30×30, we would need over 190,000 new protected areas. That’s why we’re focusing on communities — those who know their waters best.” Rechberger’s optimism is based on experience. Over the past decade, Dynamic Planet and Pristine Seas have helped establish 29 of the world’s largest marine reserves, covering nearly 7 million square kilometers (2.7 million square miles), mostly offshore. Now the focus is shifting closer to shore, where coastal populations depend on healthy seas for their livelihoods. Revive Our Ocean aims to equip communities with the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Residents of Mafia Island in Tanzania don’t really eat sea cucumber; they call it jongoo bahari, or “ocean millipede” in Swahili. But sea cucumbers are a prized delicacy in East Asia, where demand has fueled a black market for the spiny sea creatures, Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo reported in May. A kilogram of dried sea cucumbers can fetch hundreds of dollars, which is why in many coastal areas, including in Tanzania, poaching has forced them to the brink of extinction, Mukpo wrote. Mafia Island is a tourism destination for diving and snorkeling, well-known for whale shark tours.  However, it also suffers from overfishing, which is driving fishers farther out to sea to catch enough fish. The island’s sea cucumber population collapsed in the 1990s following the arrival of Chinese traders in the 1970s and a booming trade in echinoderms, the group that includes sea cucumbers, starfish and sea urchins. The decline in the sea cucumber population prompted the government to ban exports from the Tanzanian mainland in 2003. But trade continued from Mafia, which falls under the semiautonomous government of the nearby island of Zanzibar, so middlemen bought illegally harvested sea cucumbers there, Mukpo reported. In the late 2010s, amid increasing demand and prices, the Tanzanian government decided to regulate trade by encouraging offshore sea cucumber farming operations. Waziri Mpogo was the first to open such an underwater sea cucumber “ranch” near Mafia Island. He said farming sea cucumbers can help increase their population and provide income for locals. Unlike other…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The United Nations Ocean Conference, held June 9-13 in Nice, France, saw some progress on better protecting the hundreds of thousands of species that live in marine waters and the communities that depend on the sea for work or sustenance. New countries committed to the high seas treaty, a moratorium on deep-sea mining and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, while a huge group of nations pushed for a strong global plastics treaty. The conference, which followed previous installments in New York in 2017 and Lisbon in 2022, was a place for members of public and private institutions to exchange ideas and for countries to make pledges. “I urge all countries to come forward with bold pledges,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in opening remarks on June 9. “We live in an age of turmoil, but the resolve I see here gives me hope.” In addition to progress on various treaties, several countries moved to create marine protected areas (MPAs) and reserves, or strengthen existing ones, including the announcement of the world’s largest MPA in French Polynesia. Meanwhile, a wide range of groups announced additional marine conservation initiatives. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres gives opening remarks at the U.N. Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, on June 9. Image courtesy of the U.N. International agreements During the conference, 19 countries newly ratified the agreement on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), also called the high seas treaty. (International waters are often called the high seas.) BBNJ will…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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New York City is the most densely populated city in the U.S., but along Broadway, a thoroughfare on the northern half of Manhattan’s west side, a series of small parks, known as malls, are providing a green corridor of trees, shrubs and flowers for birds and insects. The Broadway Malls are a series of small parks each measuring roughly 73 by 6 meters (240 by 20 feet). They serve as a median in the middle of the road and together comprise more than 4 hectares (10 acres) of green space, running 8 kilometers (5 miles) long. The malls were established in the 1850s, around the same time as Central Park. “The idea was to imitate the boulevards of Europe, namely France, create that grandiosity of a very wide avenue with a pedestrian path in the middle,” Ian Olson, director of horticulture with the nonprofit Broadway Mall Association (BMA), told Mongabay in a video call. By the 1960s, the malls were neglected “tubs of dirt,” Olson said. In the ’80s, the BMA began to revitalize the spaces, largely with nonnative plants like English ivy. “Things that look nice on a median but don’t have a lot of ecological value,” Olson said. Now, Olson and his team are removing the nonnative species and replacing them with native plants including golden rod, columbine, aster and sedge. They’ve so far given the native plant facelift to six of the 83 malls and they’re seeing results. Jay Holmes, a naturalist with the American Museum of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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COLOMBO — Sri Lanka is once again facing a significant marine environmental crisis, as tiny plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, have begun washing ashore along the island’s northern coastline. This time, the pollution is linked to the sinking of the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3 off of Kerala, India. The unfolding incident has triggered fears of a repeat of the X-Press Pearl disaster in 2021, the worst maritime disaster to have occurred in Sri Lanka, significantly impacting marine ecosystems and coastal communities. According to the Indian Coast Guard, the MSC ELSA 3, carrying 640 containers including hazardous cargo, sank on May 25, roughly 38 nautical miles off the Kerala coast. The cause was reportedly a failure of its ballast system. Indian authorities confirmed the vessel was loaded with an estimated 85 metric tons of diesel and 367 metric tons of furnace oil, in addition to at least 13 containers of dangerous substances such as calcium carbide. All 24 crew members were safely rescued by Indian Coast Guard and Navy teams. While Indian authorities were able to initially contain an oil spill, the environmental fallout soon escalated. Plastic nurdles released from sunken containers began appearing on beaches in southern India, and by June 11, ocean currents driven by strong gusts of southwest monsoon winds carried them toward Sri Lanka’s northern shores, raising serious concerns among marine biologists and local communities. Plastic nurdles washed ashore on Sri Lanka’s northern coast. Image courtesy of the Marine Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA). Fresh…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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“It’s really very, very, very dilapidated. … It’s really filthy, it’s not a safe platform. We had to block off some parts of the platform because the floor was covered in oil, and cables were lying around everywhere. It was dreadful.” These statements were collected by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a US- based nonprofit organization specialized in exposing environmental crimes. In May 2025, they published a report on the French oil company Perenco, revisiting an incident in Gabon that went almost unnoticed by the general public. On March 20, 2024, six people died on the Becuna oil platform off the coast of Gabon, in an explosion that occurred during a reconditioning operation. An explosion that, according to statements from witnesses on site at the time, could have been prevented. Only a few days earlier, another team had flagged safety issues on the platform, following oil leaks reported two weeks prior. “The necessary safety measures were not in place. When an accident happens on an oil site, this means that certain basic safety protocols haven’t been followed. And that was the case at Becuna,” states one of the sources cited in the report, who preferred to stay anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the company. The pollution of Oba field operated by Perenco in Gabon. Image courtesy of Bernard Christian Rekoula / EIA. Georges Mpaga, president of a network of civil society organizations in Gabon, the Réseau des organisations libres de la société civile pour la bonne gouvernance du…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Clownfish are known for their remarkable ability to change sex to survive. Turns out, one species, clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula), popularized in the Pixar hit movie Finding Nemo, have yet another surprising survival trick up their fins: they can also shrink themselves to weather heat waves and dodge social squabbles. When things get hot and tense on the reef, these little fish size down to stay alive and keep the peace, a new study finds. Published this May in Science Advances, the study reveals a fascinating finding: these clownfish can actually get shorter — not just skinnier — to survive extreme heat. And this shrinking strategy boosts their odds of making it through a heat wave by up to 78%. Melissa Versteeg, the study’s lead author and a doctoral researcher at Newcastle University in the U.K., said the shrinking in length was the most surprising finding. “That wasn’t anything we’d witnessed before,” she told Mongabay by email. She said she was also struck by how shrinking helped the fish survive heat stress. And then they “also bounce back when they can.” To dive into this curious survival strategy, the research team, working with the Mahonia Na Dari Conservation and Research Centre in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, observed 67 breeding pairs of wild clown anemonefish from February to August 2023. This study period overlapped with the world’s fourth global coral bleaching event, during which local water temperatures surged as much as 4° Celsius (7.2° Fahrenheit) above the long-term average. The…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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MAE HONG SON, Thailand — The shores of Myanmar became visible from Sob Moei village in northeastern Thailand as the morning mist rises over the Salween River, the flowing water the only border between Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province and Myanmar’s Kayin state. Flowing nearly 3,300 kilometers (about 2,000 miles) from Tibet, south through China and Myanmar, before joining the Andaman Sea, the Salween River is Asia’s longest free-flowing river. Home to more than 200 species of fish, a quarter of which are estimated to be found nowhere else in the world, and irrigating vast tracts of farmland, the Salween is a vital resource that provides food security, livelihoods, as well as drinking and bathing water to largely Indigenous communities across three countries. Devoid of the hydropower dams that have choked the Mekong River and its tributaries, the Salween unites farmers and fishers in Thailand and Myanmar more than it divides them. But planned dams on the Myanmar stretch of the river mean its free-flowing nature is far from guaranteed. “We get our food from the river, so if the Salween River is dammed or developed, it will definitely impact our families,” said Naw K’nyaw Paw, secretary-general of the Karen Women’s Organization, speaking at a protest against dams at Sob Moei on March 14. Hundreds of Karen protesters light candles to bless the Salween River and protect it from hydropower dam construction. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. At least 20 dams have been proposed or planned along the Salween,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently proposed listing seven species of pangolins, the most trafficked mammals on the planet, under the Endangered Species Act. If finalized, an ESA listing would prohibit the import and sale of pangolins and their parts in the U.S., except for scientific or conservation purposes. It would also open up potential funding for antitrafficking and habitat-conservation efforts, which these mammals desperately need. “Pangolins are on the razor’s edge of extinction, and we need to completely shut down any U.S. market for their scales,” Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in a press release. “There’s no good reason for anybody to ingest any part of a pangolin.” The seven pangolin species proposed to be listed as endangered include all four Asian pangolin species: the critically endangered Chinese (Manis pentadactyla), Sunda (Manis javanica) and Philippine pangolins (Manis culionensis), and the endangered Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata); as well as three African species: the endangered white-bellied (Phataginus tricuspis) and giant pangolins (Smutsia gigantea), and the black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla), considered vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The fourth African species, Temminck’s pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), also called the ground pangolin, is already listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The USFWS proposal to list the remaining seven species under the ESA comes in response to a 2015 petition and a 2020 legal agreement between the federal agency and various conservation NGOs and animal welfare organizations to determine if a listing…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Oil-soaked pelicans struggling to fly came to symbolize the catastrophic impacts of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the inhabitants of the Gulf of Mexico. Fifteen years later, brown pelicans in the region have seen some recovery, but other wildlife species haven’t been as fortunate, Mongabay’s Liz Kimbrough reported in April. Researchers estimate that some 1 million birds, across 93 species, were killed due to the disaster, when an oil rig operated by BP Exploration & Production exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast, becoming the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Of the dead birds, there were an estimated 27,000 brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis). Oil from the spill had destroyed much of the bird’s critical nesting habitat, but the species, which was among the hardest hit, benefited from the rebuilding of islands for nesting, paid for with settlement money from BP. Around $18.7 million was spent on a project expanding Queen Bess Island off Louisiana to create 15 hectares (37 acres) of habitat for pelicans and other birds. The results are impressive, Kimbrough writes: wildlife officials recorded 30,000 birds on the island in 2023, including 6,000 brown pelican nests. “So I think populations, if you can give them healthy habitat, they can recover with time,” Alisha Renfro from the National Wildlife Federation told Kimbrough. Sea turtles, meanwhile, saw huge declines due to the oil spill, with an estimated death toll of 4,900-7,600 large juvenile and adult sea turtles and 56,000-166,000 small juvenile sea turtles. Between 27,000…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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BRASILANDIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil has auctioned off several land and offshore potential oil sites near the Amazon River, aiming to expand production in untapped regions despite protests from environmental and Indigenous groups. The protesters outside the venue on Tuesday warned of potential risks that oil drilling poses to sensitive ecosystems and Indigenous communities in the Amazon. A luxury Rio de Janeiro hotel hosted the auction conducted by the National Oil Agency. Most of the 172 oil blocks for sale are in areas with no current production, such as 47 offshore locations close to the mouth of the Amazon River and two sites inland. At least 19 offshore blocks were awarded to Chevron, ExxonMobil, Petrobras and CNPC. Reporting by Fabiano Maisonnave/ Associated Press Banner image: Indigenous demonstrators in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, June 17, 2025,  hold a sign that reads in Portuguese “Love, CO2 is in the air” to protest the auction of dozens of oil blocks, including blocks near the mouth of the Amazon River (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)  This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In a world full of bad news, there’s been good news in whale conservation. Many of the great whales are coming back. In fact, some populations have been recovering faster than anyone imagined they could, returning from near-obliteration by commercial whaling. Most of the humpback whales in the Southern Ocean and the Eastern Pacific gray whales have recovered to within the best estimates of their pre-whaling abundance. Even some of the drastically depleted southern right whale populations have shown consistent recovery. We know this because these whales can be found close enough inshore that we have been able to estimate their abundance over recent decades with reasonable accuracy. Many other whale populations aren’t as easy to study, so unsurprisingly we know less about how they’re doing. This is why a recent scientific paper reporting an estimated 50,000 fin whales in one part of the Southern Ocean was a happy surprise. The paper was based on surveys over a fairly small area, albeit a place where fin whales used to be common before whaling. This was a collaborative effort, led by Norwegian government scientists, and including government scientists from the U.K. and Australia. Rather than just coming up with the number of whales, the paper also included estimates of how much krill these whales were consuming. The authors then compared these estimates with the amount caught by the krill fishery, and suggested that whales eat about 20 times as much krill as taken by the fishery. Estimating the amount of krill,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say he has the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect historical and archaeological sites. That includes two monuments in California created by former President Joe Biden at the request of Native American tribes. A Justice Department legal opinion released Tuesday disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous president can’t be revoked. The finding comes as the Interior Department under Trump has been weighing changes to monuments across the nation as part of the administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production. Reporting by Matthew Brown, Associated Press Banner image: A sign is set up ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to the Chuckwalla National Monument, Jan. 7, 2025, to the Coachella Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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