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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee. The draft provision in the GOP’s sweeping tax cut package comes after after a similar proposal was narrowly defeated in the House. Montana Sen. Steve Daines said in response that he opposes public land sales. Lee says the sales would target isolated parcels that could be used for housing or infrastructure. Conservation groups reacted with outrage, saying it would set a precedent to fast-track the handover of cherished lands to developers. Banner image: A view of the suburbs of Las Vegas from atop the Stratosphere tower looking west down Sahara Ave., towards the Spring Mountains, Feb. 9, 2005. (AP Photo/Joe Cavaretta, File)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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At the landmark Paris climate agreement, nearly every country in the world pledged to a goal to limit warming to well below 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels by 2100, and work toward a more ambitious goal to limit warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F). The hope is that such a limit will help Earth avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. However, a recent review suggests that even the more ambitious ceiling of 1.5°C may be too warm for the planet’s polar ice sheets and trigger massive sea level rise. Researchers looked at paleoclimate data to see what the sea level was when Earth in the past was at a temperature comparable to the present. They combined that information with modeling data and more recent observations to then assess how much ice loss can be expected with 1.5°C of warming. The world is currently about 1.2°C (2.2°F) warmer than it was before humans began emitting massive amounts of warming fossil fuels, or pre-1900. Even at the current warming, “in the last few years, we’ve just seen some really dramatic changes in the Greenland ice sheet and the West Antarctica ice sheet in particular,” Chris Stokes, the study’s lead author, from Durham University, U.K., told Mongabay in a video call. He added researchers were surprised by the amount of melting they’ve observed already. The hope has been that 1.5°C of warming is below the threshold for massive glacial melting. So, “we wanted to see what the impact of 1.5 degrees…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The most deforested biome in Brazil, the Cerrado lost 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of native vegetation in 2024. Now, it is about to receive a thermoelectric plant 30 km (18 miles) from the National Congress, in Brasília, the country’s capital. The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), responsible for federal environmental licensing, and TermoNorte will present the project and the environmental studies of the Thermoelectric Plant (UTE) Brasília in a public hearing on June 17, in the Samambaia region. Carrying out this step is precisely one of the changes in the new environmental licensing of bill 2159/21 — and, so far, it is one of the barriers preventing the demolition of a peripheral rural school that serves 340 children in Samambaia. “The change in licensing means that all territories are in a situation of very high risk. There is no longer a need for consultation or to make adjustments. It used to take months, sometimes a year or two, to obtain a license for a large enterprise. Now, licensing has become extremely shortened,” explains the director of the International Arayara Institute, Juliano Araújo. He warns about the creation of the Special Environmental License (LAE), which establishes a faster process, exempting it from certain steps and prioritizing analysis within up to one year, even for projects that have the potential to cause significant environmental degradation. The plant of the company Termo Norte Energia will have chimneys 130 meters (420 feet) high, equivalent to a 42-story building. According…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Protected areas such as national parks, nature reserves and Indigenous lands are the foundation of biodiversity conservation. However, climate change is threatening their effectiveness in safeguarding wildlife, ecosystem services and livelihoods. As many countries work to meet the global target of protecting 30% of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030 — known as the 30×30 goal, a cornerstone of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — scientists are calling for the incorporation of “climate-smart” approaches into the planning of new and existing protected areas. The 30×30 Progress Tracker tool shows how the global movement to protect 30% of the world’s lands and waters by 2030 is progressing — with around 17% of global land and inland waters, and 8% of oceans currently protected. Image ©️ SkyTruth. “While we know that climate change is affecting biodiversity, for example through distribution range shifts, local extinctions, and community restructuring, designs of PAs [protected areas] don’t usually explicitly account for these effects,” says Kristine Buenafe, a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at the University of Queensland, Australia, and lead author of a recent review published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity. Buenafe’s paper indicates that conservationists risk protecting areas where species may no longer live in the future, if they don’t factor in climate change dynamics. “We’ve reached a critical time to consider where to best place our new PAs and make sure that they are ‘climate-smart’ (resilient to climate change),” Buenafe said in an email interview. This reasoning is echoed…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have announced their commitment to create a massive multinational Melanesian Ocean Reserve. If implemented as envisioned, the reserve would become the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve, covering an area nearly as big as the Amazon Rainforest. Speaking at the U.N. Ocean Conference underway in Nice, France, representatives of both countries said the vision for the ocean reserve is to cover at least 6 million square kilometers (2.3 million square miles) of ocean and islands. The reserve will include the combined national waters of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, and extend to the protected waters of New Caledonia’s exclusive economic zone. All of the island countries, largely inhabited by Indigenous Melanesians, are located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, within the region known as Melanesia. “The Melanesian Ocean Reserve will give the governments and peoples of Melanesia the ability to do much more to protect our ancestral waters from those who extract and exploit without concern for our planet and its living beings. We hope our Indigenous stewardship of this vast reserve will create momentum for similar initiatives all over the world,” Vanuatu’s environment minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said in a joint press release. Melanesia is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, hosting an incredible diversity of both land and marine species, including an estimated 75% of known coral species and more than 3,000 species of reef-associated fish. The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu reportedly conceived of the Melanesia…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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French Polynesia has announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area. Speaking on the first day of the United Nations Ocean Conference in France, French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson said the MPA will cover the territory’s entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ), or 4.8 million square kilometers (roughly 1.9 million square miles). “We have been managing this EEZ wisely for centuries, using the techniques that were passed on from the generations before us and our ancestors,” Brotherson told Time. The MPA will include 1.086 million km2 (nearly 420,000 mi2) of highly or fully protected ocean, an area twice the size of mainland France. Of this, some 900,000 km2 (about 350,000 mi2) will be fully protected: 220,000 square kilometers (85,000 square miles) located near the Society Islands and 680,000 km2 (263,000 mi2) near the Gambier Islands. In these areas, no extractive fishing or mining will be allowed. About 186,000 km2 (72,000 mi2) will be an artisanal fishing zone, only allowing traditional line fishing. The rest of the EEZ will be under less stringent protection but will “restrict extractive practices like deep-sea mining and bottom-trawling,” Time reported. Brotherson added that another 500,000 km2 (about 193,000 mi2) will be turned into highly protected area by World Ocean Day 2026. “This level of ambition is what the world needs to help turn the tide back in favour of a healthy and productive ocean,” Razan Al Mubarak, president of the IUCN, the global conservation authority, said in a statement. She lauded the move, saying…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Virunga is Africa’s first national park, created by Belgian royal decree in 1925. Named for the mountains that straddle the borders between modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda, the park spans 790,000 hectares (almost 2 million acres). It’s a biodiversity hotspot home to endangered and vulnerable wildlife species — lions (Panthera leo), hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius), mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), okapis (Okapia johnstoni) and more. It is also the ancestral home of Indigenous peoples who, though the course of decades, have been forcibly evicted from these lands, dating back to colonial times. In 1994, Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to the war in neighboring Rwanda and the massive influx of refugees from that country. This led to significant deforestation and poaching and the presence of armed militias. Today, rebel groups have infiltrated the area, as decades-old conflicts wage on. But dozens of Indigenous communities continue to live just inside and near the park as well. Currently, to the south, Virunga is bordered by a chiefdom called Bakumu, which includes a total of 58 villages in seven distinct groupings. One of those groupings is called Mudja, which currently has eight villages of 4,862 inhabitants who trace their origins to two villages, called Kishari and Toro, in the center of the park. According to the Mudja chief, the people lived there until they were expelled more than half a century ago. Mudja Chief…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — With the first U.N. climate talks in the Amazon set for November, Brazil is fast-tracking a series of controversial decisions that undercut its green rhetoric, revealing mounting political pressure on the federal environmental agency and widening divisions within President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s cabinet. The country’s federal environmental agency approved an emergency plan for an offshore drilling bid by state-run Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon River. It also greenlit the clearance for a rock-blasting operation along 40 kilometers of the Tocantins River to enable year-round navigation, despite criticism from local grassroots organizations. Lula has defended the actions, saying Brazil has ambitious climate goals and has a high percentage of clean energy. Banner image: A boy kicks a soccer ball near signage for the COP30 U.N. Climate Conference in Belem, Brazil, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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CONSTITUCIÓN, Mexico — At an empty outpost deep in a forest in Mexico, biologists were checking whether the windows had been broken or the furniture stolen, or if any animals had made a home inside. The outpost had been built in 2015 for a tree-planting and forest restoration project, but it was paused in 2023. The land had been degraded by decades of farming; massive flooding every few years made restoration work too difficult and expensive for Plant-for-the-Planet, the organization that had purchased it. Researchers with Plant-for-the-Planet know they’ve fallen victim to overambition before, attempting to restore complex ecosystems they didn’t fully understand, and often with a very tight budget. At this idle site, they still hoped to get some support through a government wildlife program. But until that happened, the outpost would remain empty. “For it to make sense to restore a forest, we really need to be thinking in terms of decades and centuries,” Anna Gee, the group’s forest restoration and conservation project manager, told Mongabay. “How do you create a forest that’s going to be able to sustain itself and self-perpetuate into the future and isn’t just going to get cut down again in 20 years?” Reforestation is hard. For decades, it’s been touted as a catch-all solution to climate change and biodiversity loss, with corporations buying up carbon offsets and governments launching tree-planting campaigns, despite many of the trees dying before they reach maturity. In some instances, programs prioritize the number of trees planted over how…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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JAKARTA — A stormy saga over nickel mining in one of the most biodiverse marine regions in the world appears to be far from over, even after the Indonesian government revoked the permits of most of the companies involved. In the latest development, Greenpeace has revealed that three companies hit by earlier permit infractions are currently challenging the government in court to allow them to mine on islands in the Raja Ampat archipelago. At the same time, the government itself is planning to build a nickel processing plant nearby, according to the Greenpeace report. PT Anugerah Surya Pratama (ASP) is one of four mining companies whose permits were revoked on June 10 for alleged environmental and zoning violations, among other cited reasons. It had its permit to another concession in the archipelago, located on Waigeo Island, revoked in 2022, and earlier this year filed a lawsuit against the government over that revocation. Two other miners, PT Waegeo Mineral Mining (WMM) and PT Eka Kurnia Baru (EKB), also have lawsuits pending in court over the government’s refusal to officially recognize their permits on Waigeo Island since 2023. “These concessions could be reactivated if they won in court,” Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaign team leader Arie Rompas said in Jakarta on June 12 at the launch of the report. He added that Greenpeace is therefore calling for a complete revocation of all nickel mining permits across Raja Ampat, and for the government to not issue further licenses. “That’s why we need a legally…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Three communities in Papua New Guinea are waiting for the country’s Supreme Court to decide whether their concerns about the dumping of mine waste in the sea near their homes merit cancellation of an environmental permit for mining that the government issued in 2020. U.S.-based Newmont Corporation and South Africa’s Harmony Gold Ltd., the partners in the development of the Wafi-Golpu copper and gold mine in Morobe province, want to pipe a slurry of leftover sediment, known as tailings, through a 103-kilometer (64-mile) pipeline. According to the companies’ plans, the tailings will travel from the mine through the pipeline until being discharged 200 meters (about 660 feet) under the sea at a point less than 1 km (0.6 mi) offshore in the Huon Gulf along PNG’s northern coastline. The method is known as deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP), and in December 2020, PNG’s Conservation and Environmental Protection Authority (CEPA) approved the plan laid out in the companies’ environmental impact statement (EIS). That approval triggered a series of legal battles beginning in 2021 that questioned whether Huon Gulf communities had been adequately informed of the risks of DSTP. Most recently, three leaders representing the villages of Labu Butu, Wagang and Yanga, located near the pipeline, sued CEPA’s leader and the government. Initially, the lawsuits aimed to stop the government from issuing a permit for large-scale mines called a “special mining lease” that would allow the project to move forward, citing the possibility of “catastrophic and irreplaceable damage to the marine environment and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In May, both Iceland and Greenland experienced record-breaking heat. A new rapid analysis has found that the heat wave in both regions was made worse and more likely in today’s warmer climate. The analysis was conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers that evaluates the role of climate change in extreme weather events. On May 15, Egilsstaðir Airport in Iceland recorded a temperature of 26.6°C (79.9°F), breaking previous May records in the country. Across Iceland, May temperatures were 13°C (23.4°F) hotter than the month’s 1991-2020 average. Meanwhile, the Ittoqqortoormiit station in eastern Greenland reported a temperature of 14.3°C (57.7°F) on May 19, which is 13°C (23.4°F) above the month’s average daily maximum temperature. “This heat wave was particularly exceptional in that it lasted a long time and it occurred early in the season,” Sarah Kew, report co-author and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, said during an online briefing. The scientists combined observed weather data over the past decades with climate models and found that “the 7-day May heat experienced in Iceland is about 3°C [5.4°F] hotter due to human induced climate change,” the authors write. In Greenland, the hottest day this May was about 3.9°C (7°F) warmer than in a preindustrial climate. Between May 15 and May 21, data also showed that the melting of Greenland’s Ice Sheet increased by 17 times the average. Greenland already loses around 43 billion metric tons of ice annually. “Both countries reflect the broader Arctic trend for…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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NICE, France — At the 2025 U.N. Ocean Conference (UNOC), taking place in Nice, France, between June 9 and 13, world leaders renewed their call for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining, an emerging industry that many experts say could seriously and irreversibly damage marine ecosystems. At the opening plenary, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced deep-sea mining as “madness.” He described the prospective industry as a “predatory” activity that threatens to destroy the seabed and potentially release stored carbon. France was among the first countries to take a stand against deep-sea mining, calling for a ban in 2022. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres echoed Macron’s concerns, warning that the deep sea “cannot become the Wild West.” He also voiced strong support for the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-affiliated body tasked with both regulating deep-sea mining in international waters and with protecting the seabed. Since 2022, 33 countries have called for a precautionary pause, moratorium, or ban on deep-sea mining. That number has since risen to 37 with the addition of Slovenia, Latvia, Cyprus and the Marshall Islands. “We cannot afford to miss the ocean’s capacity to absorb our carbon,” President Hilde Heine of the Marshall Islands told reporters in a press briefing on June 10. “A ban is the safest choice for nature [and] marine life.” French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the High-Level inaugural dinner of the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC). Image © Philémon Henry/MEAE. At UNOC, several countries that have already endorsed a moratorium or precautionary pause also…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Locust outbreaks, which cause considerable crop losses, affect a quarter of the world’s population today. In a recent paper, scientists predict the situation will worsen with climate change, and they suggest a way forward by integrating local communities’ knowledge. Locusts are species of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae, which, under certain environmental conditions, can go from being solitary to members of massive, moving swarms. These swarms can travel large distances, destroying crops along the way. For instance, the paper’s authors describe desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) as among “the most destructive migratory pests in the world,” with a single swarm of tens of millions moving across 1,200 square kilometers (463 square miles). The 2020 desert locust outbreak in eastern Africa threatened more than 20 million people with the risk of acute food insecurity. Climate change is expected to make locust outbreaks worse, the authors write, citing studies that show how tropical cyclones, extreme rainfall and its resulting warm and moist soil have triggered several recent desert locust outbreaks. “Yet, it remains underprioritized in [the] climate space,” they say. Early detection is key in responding to locust outbreaks and reducing losses. However, regions like eastern Africa face challenges in early detection due to remoteness, inaccessibility and conflict, the authors add. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has a 24/7 surveillance system on locust invasions and breeding locations that uses satellite imagery, locust, weather and ecological data from affected areas. But the authors write that verifying data through ground measurements and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) — A wildfire in Oregon prompted officials to issue evacuation orders for hundreds of homes and to close nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) of an interstate in the Columbia River Gorge on Wednesday. Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the state’s Emergency Conflagration Act for the Rowena Fire, allowing the state fire marshal agency to mobilize resources, it said in a statement. The agency said it was mobilizing an incident management team and six structural task forces, with three responding Wednesday night and the other three arriving early Thursday. “This early season conflagration should come as a reminder to Oregonians to be ready for wildfire,” State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said. The Oregon Department of Transportation said Interstate 84 was closed between Hood River and The Dalles. Hood River, a popular tourist destination about 55 miles (90 kilometers) east of Portland, is home to some 8,000 people, and more than 15,000 people live in The Dalles farther east. Residents of more than 700 homes were ordered to evacuate in an area stretching northwest of The Dalles along I-84 and farther inland, according to the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office. Residents of more than 1,300 homes were told to prepare to leave, including in part of the town’s northern end. A middle school in The Dalles was set up as a temporary shelter, while the county fairgrounds opened as a shelter for livestock and horses, the sheriff’s office said. Photos shared by the transportation department showed flames burning alongside and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The citizens of the Pan Amazon have a common complaint: the politicians and bureaucrats who manage the affairs of state neither understand their needs nor care about their aspirations. This grievance, by no means unique to the Pan Amazon, is driving a political dynamic in emerging economies that is known as decentralization, which is a structured process to transfer political power from central governments to subnational jurisdictions. The goal is to increase citizen participation in decisions that directly impact their lives; in the process, it is also meant to make the provision of public services, which is the government’s primary function, more efficient. All the Pan Amazon countries have three levels of government: national, regional and local. The relationship among jurisdictions is based on the concept of subsidiarity, in which the higher entity cedes powers and responsibilities to lower entities. Decentralization is especially important in the Pan Amazon, because the region has vast natural resources and its social evolution is manifestly chaotic. In the past, the region’s natural resources have been plundered to benefit colonial powers, corporate interests or the politically connected, usually to the detriment of the region’s Indigenous and traditional communities. A more democratic process might have avoided some of the injustices that have characterized Amazonian history. The current dynamic is complex, however, because most inhabitants are descended from recent immigrants who depend on conventional economic production systems. Among them are many dedicated environmental advocates and defenders of the rights of traditional and Indigenous people. But wealthy elites…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Tanzania will establish two new marine protected areas off the eastern coast of Pemba Island in the semiautonomous region of Zanzibar, the fisheries minister for Zanzibar announced at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, on June 10. Zanzibar’s minister for blue economy and fisheries, Shaaban Ali Othman, said at the conference that the new MPAs showcased Tanzania’s commitment to “champion a community-driven and science-based approach to marine conservation and governance, to strengthen the protection of [both] vulnerable species and a critical ecosystem, and to enhance the resilience of coastal communities in Pemba.” Thousands of delegates and heads of state from more than 50 countries are gathered at the U.N meeting from June 9-13 to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing  oceans, from climate change to biodiversity loss, and working toward consensus on solutions. Expanding protected areas is a traditional strategy to govern the seas sustainably. The push for more MPAs gained momentum under the Kunming-Montreal agreement signed in 2022, which called for protecting 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans by 2030, known as the 30×30 goal. The two new MPAs, the North-East Pemba Conservation Area and the South-East Pemba Conservation Area, will together cover more than 1,300 square kilometers (502 square miles). They will shelter coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass habitats. “Pemba East has been identified as a climate refuge and a biodiversity hotspot by WCS [Wildlife Conservation Society] scientists; however, past projects have focused on other areas. As a result, communities in Pemba East have…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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This story is the first article of a two-part Mongabay mini-series exploring possible climate futures. Read Part One. Humanity stands at a critical juncture in the climate emergency: As countries worldwide prepare to submit their climate commitments for the next decade, scientists report mounting evidence that we are very close to breaching the 1.5° Celsius limit set by the Paris Agreement 10 years ago. Beyond 1.5°C (2.7° Fahrenheit), we increasingly risk crossing climate tipping points, with dire consequences. This story asks top climatologists and Earth system scientists what climate futures may await us if we fail to decarbonize quickly enough, what the consequences might be for humanity and how climate action could alter the dangerous trajectory we’re on. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 422 parts per million in 2024 — 52% above preindustrial levels. Global greenhouse gas emissions are yet to peak, and our remaining carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C is expected to be used up by 2030. Image courtesy of the Global Carbon Budget. Last chance to change course For global average temperatures to stabilize at 1.5°C above preindustrial levels and avoid climate catastrophe, humanity must make substantial greenhouse gas emissions cuts of roughly 43% before 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the most recent U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. However, progress on climate action has stagnated as the world grapples with war, political instability, significant backsliding by the U.S. on climate action and escalating extreme weather events.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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KATHMANDU– Snow leopards (Panther uncia) in Nepal have home ranges that are significantly larger than previously documented and frequently cross international borders, according to the country’s first GPS telemetry study, highlighting the need for cross-country collaborations in conserving one of the world’s most elusive species. Data from four snow leopards fitted with GPS collars in northeastern Nepal’s Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, which tracked the animals ranging from 20 to 659 days, showed that their home range sizes were 6 to 97 times larger than the previous estimates. Three out of four snow leopards were also found to have crossed international borders five to seven times, spending about 10% to 34% of their time in neighboring India and China, with 28%–50% of their home ranges overlapping India. The Kanchanjunga Conservation Area is bordered by Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim to its east and the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve in Tibet to the north — both transboundary protected areas — and researchers have long assumed the big cat’s transboundary movement considering similar habitats. The new study led by the Nepali government with support from WWF Nepal and the National Trust for Nature Conservation, validates the claims. “We now have solid proof,” said Samundra Subba, lead author of the study and large carnivores researcher at WWF Nepal. “National borders are human constructs — snow leopards don’t recognize them. As long as there are no physical and artificial barriers like fences, and the habitat conditions are similar with relative proportion of prey availability, these big…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new study using citizen science data via eBird — an app used by birdwatchers to record sightings — has found that declines in bird populations in North America are the steepest where the respective species have historically been most abundant.This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Crystal Davis, Global Program Director at the World Resources Institute, highlights positive strides in rainforest conservation worldwide. From successful protection efforts in Brazil and Colombia to the critical role of Indigenous communities in safeguarding rainforests, we explore how technology, like Global Forest Watch, and strong political leadership are helping to combat deforestation. While acknowledging the challenges rainforests still face, our rainforests expert emphasizes the importance of global collaboration and continued action to protect these vital ecosystems for future generations. Against All Odds is a series where leading experts illuminate the latest trends and developments affecting our planet. Each episode features an expert who, through specific and local examples, offers a comprehensive global perspective on pressing environmental topics. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Crystal Davis, Global Program Director at the World Resources Institute. Image ©Carmen Hilbert. Fungi are our climate allies | Against All OddsThis article was originally published on Mongabay

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Rescue teams began a third day searching for missing people Thursday after floods devastated parts of South Africa’s rural Eastern Cape province and left at least 49 dead. Authorities said they expected the death toll to rise. The missing included four high school students who were swept away when their bus was caught up in the floods near a river on Tuesday. Six students on the bus were confirmed dead, while three were rescued after clinging onto trees and calling out for help, according to the provincial government. The floods hit the province early Tuesday after an extreme cold front brought heavy rain, strong winds and snow to parts of eastern and southern South Africa. Forecasters had warned about the damaging weather last week. Eastern Cape provincial government officials said they believed people were still missing but did not give an exact number. They were working with families to find out who was still unaccounted for, they said. On Wednesday, rescue teams brought bodies out of the water in blue body bags, while witnesses said many people had taken refuge on the top of buildings or in trees. The floods centered on the town of Mthatha and its surrounding district, which is around 430 kilometers (267 miles) south of the east coast city of Durban. Officials said at least 58 schools and 20 hospitals were damaged, while hundreds of families were left homeless after their houses were submerged under water or washed away by…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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For the first time in its history, Bangladesh is attempting to protect five species from extinction by increasing their numbers and strengthening their population in the wild. The floral species are bulborox (Bulbophyllum roxburghii), the small-bulb orchid Bulbophyllum oblongum, dwarf date palm (Phoenix acaulis), chaulmoogra (Hydnocarpus kurzii) and bash pata (Podocarpus neriifolius). All of them are identified as critically endangered in the country’s first-ever Plant Red List of Bangladesh published in November 2024. In the Red List, 1,000 species were assessed from five plant groups. Of these, 271 species were categorized as least concern, 256 species as data deficient, while 395 species were collectively termed threatened, including five critically endangered species, 128 endangered and 262 vulnerable. A total of 70 species were assessed as near threatened and seven species were assessed as regionally extinct. One species was found to be extinct in the wild. According to the Red List, bulborox and the small-bulb orchids currently exist in only a particular area of the Sundarbans, while the dwarf date palm is currently present in only the sal (Shorea robusta) forest in the northern district of Dinajpur. A minimal number of chaulmoogra trees are currently located in the forests of Bandarban, Rangamati, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Moulvibazar and Habiganj districts. Though the bash pata plant can currently be found in different locations of Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Moulvibazar and Habiganj districts, as well as in the National Botanical Garden, there are only 111 of them in the country. According to a note, the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A golden eagle has been spotted in northern England for the first time since 2015, indicating the birds may soon be expanding their range south from Scotland into England, where they’re currently considered locally extinct. Conservationists and scientists working in a remote area of rural Northumberland, an English county that borders Scotland, reported seeing the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) multiple times since April 2025. The exact location has not been publicly disclosed to avoid disrupting eagles and other wildlife. “I saw to my right, about 30 meters [100 feet] away, the golden eagle sitting on the end of the crag,” Ian Glendinning, a conservationist working with red squirrels in the region, told Mongabay by email. “I immediately stopped, and it just spread its wings and lifted off into the wind and soared off behind the rocks. There was no doubt at all that it was a Golden Eagle.” The bird has been identified as an eagle named Talla by the charity Restoring Upland Nature (RUN), which works on recovering eagle populations in the U.K. RUN has translocated more than 28 eagles from northern to southern Scotland in hopes of expanding their population and range. Catherine Barlow, RUN’s chief executive, told Mongabay that along with Talla, another seven birds have been tracked using satellite tags venturing into northern England. But she added it’s too early to say if the eagles will settle in England permanently. “Young eagles explore far and wide in the first few years of life, looking for new…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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This story is the first article of a two-part Mongabay mini-series exploring possible climate futures. Part Two will be published soon. The last two years brought record-shattering temperatures globally and a whirlwind of destructive weather, from catastrophic flooding in Europe and drought in Southern Africa to devastating wildfires in California. 2024 saw more than 600 major extreme weather events planetwide — 152 of which were unprecedented — resulting in the displacement of 824,500 people, according to the World Meteorological Association. Based on mounting evidence, some scientists now fear we’ve entered a new era of the climate emergency, characterized by accelerated warming and amplified disasters. Concurrently, recent destabilizing geopolitical events appear to be steering humanity away from decarbonization, delaying progress on urgently needed climate action. What does this mean for coming decades: Are we on course to avoid the most disastrous futures that climate models have warned of? And if not, how bad could things get? Mongabay asked some of the world’s leading scientists to weigh in. Drought in Bangladesh. Image by Md Harun Or Rashid / IAPB/VISION 2020 via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). A new phase of climate change? The unprecedented warming starting in 2023, then intensifying through 2024, surprised and alarmed many climate scientists. While the underlying warming trend was due to greenhouse gas emissions, several other factors likely contributed to the record temperature surge. This includes a strong El Niño event in 2023-24, an increase in solar radiation as the 11-year solar cycle peaked and a reduction in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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