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COLOMBO – During the Ice Ages, there was a decrease in global sea levels, creating a land bridge between Sri Lanka and India, only to have the then-warmer interglacial periods reverse this, isolating the Indian Ocean island. This triggered cycles of connection and separation that enabled gene flow with the mainland, followed by periods of isolation that drove speciation resulting in the rich biodiversity Sri Lanka harbors today. A recent study is offering fresh insights into how human-induced climate change may be reversing this evolutionary success story. The very species that evolved as endemics during these ancient climatic shifts are today among the most at risk. “We analyzed 233 endemic vertebrate species, including amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals” says Iresha Wijerathne of Guangxi University, lead author of the study. While Sri Lanka is home to 370 endemic vertebrates, including 101 amphibians, 154 reptiles, 34 birds and 20 mammals, only 233 had sufficient data for modeling. The researchers used species distribution modeling (SDM) techniques to project the impacts of climate change by 2100. Leaf-nosed lizards (Ceratophora tennentii) are found in the wet tropical montane cloud forests of Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range at elevations of 760–1,220 meters (2,490–4,000 feet). Image courtesy of Sanoj Wijayasekara. SDM uses environmental variables like temperature, rainfall, elevation and vegetation to predict how suitable habitats for a species may shift over time. These projections are critical for habitat-specific species with limited ranges, particularly endemics. Globally, climate change is expected to alter species distributions through rising temperatures, shifting…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Brazil’s red-tailed amazon parrot is a rare success story for reviving a species heading toward extinction, Mongabay Brasil’s Xavier Bartaburu reports. By the end of the 20th century, the population of the red-tailed amazon (Amazona brasiliensis) had dwindled to fewer than 5,000 individuals in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered biomes in the world. The birds depend on guanandi trees for their fruit and natural trunk hollows for nesting. However, along with 88% of the Atlantic Forest, many of the trees were cut down and harvested for their sturdy wood. The red-tailed amazons themselves were, and still are, targeted for the illegal wildlife trade and local consumption. In remote areas such as Rasa Island, off the southern state of Paraná, locals put glue on trees to catch the parrots for sale or to eat, local fisherman Antonio da Luz dos Santos told Bartaburu. The Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS) identified Rasa Island as an ideal location for conservation as it hosts both resting and breeding habitat for the birds. However, SPVS was initially not welcome by many residents. “I was one of those against SPVS here on the island. I said that if they came here, I’d shoot,” said Eriel “Nininho” Mendes. His trees full of fruit were being eaten by the parrots, and many people didn’t want to be barred from hunting. Nonetheless, SPVS began conservation efforts on the island, employing local people to address the limited number of guanandi by building artificial nests…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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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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Sarus cranes typically live most of their lives as a male-female duo, singing tightly coordinated duets. At a glance, the male and female, both standing 1.5-1.8 meters (5-6 feet) tall, are difficult to tell apart visually. They’re both gray-bodied with red necks and head. But researchers have found a way of distinguishing between the sexes through the notes they sing in their songs, reports Mongabay India’s Kartik Chandramouli. Being able to accurately tell between a male and a female of a species, such as the sarus crane (Antigone antigone), a species considered vulnerable to extinction, is crucial for understanding several aspects of its life: from the sex ratio of its populations and the sex-specific roles the individuals play in the wild, to how human activities influence the two sexes, all of which can ultimately help inform conservation actions. So, for more than six months, researcher Suhridham Roy spent his time in agricultural fields in the Indian states of Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, observing and recording 215 duets from 136 breeding bird pairs of sarus cranes. Roy and his colleagues analyzed the recorded duets as graphs called spectrograms. Each duet consists of an introduction, trill and the main section. The analysis, published in a recent study, showed that the male and female portions within each section — cross-referenced with careful field observations — varied significantly and had distinct acoustic signatures. Male notes tended to be longer, lower-pitched, with wider modulation. Female notes were brief, higher-pitched, and sharper. “Identifying sex is…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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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Tropical forests help regulate the global climate, host irreplaceable biodiversity and provide fresh water resources. Plus forests in general are the source of livelihoods for more than a billion people — so our very existence depends on them. However, because their value is not reflected in markets, these areas are often converted to other uses. Conserving our tropical forests requires large-scale and predictable finance. A menu of financing options to conserve tropical forests and reverse ongoing deforestation could include high-integrity carbon markets, private investment in nature-based solutions, promoting sustainable products from forests, and incorporating the value of forests in funding decisions by commercial and multilateral development banks. And the timing for that is now — the road to the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, provides a unique window to summon public, private and philanthropic actors to mobilize large-scale finance to pay for the true value of forests and ensure their vital existence. A proposal on the table — launched by Brazil during COP28 and supported by several tropical and potential investor countries, experts, civil society organizations, and Indigenous and local community organizations — can provide substantial resources to conserve standing forests at an unprecedented scale that’s independent of short-term political cycles. Oil palm planation on the left and intact tropical rainforest at the right, Sumatra, Indonesia. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler/Mongabay. The Tropical Forest Forever Facility Most forest conservation funding comes from national budgets to finance activities such as forest protection, fire prevention, promotion of bioeconomy projects and payments…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Mongabay India’s 2024 podcast miniseries “Wild Frequencies” bagged the “Best Science and Medical” category at the Publisher Podcast Awards ceremony in London on June 11. The podcast is a three-episode series that tells stories of how researchers in India use the science of bioacoustics, or animal sounds, to better understand the lives of wildlife, such as elephants, crickets, bats, dolphins, porpoises, sarus cranes and wolves. Also shortlisted for the category was an episode from Mongabay Explores, a podcast hosted by Mongabay’s Mike DiGirolamo. Wild Frequencies, reported and co-hosted by Mongabay India’s Kartik Chandramouli and Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta, with sound design and original music by Abhijit Shylanath, was additionally shortlisted in the award’s “Best Limited Series” category. BBC Sounds won this category for its “World of Secrets S1: The Abercrombie Guys.” The three-episode Wild Frequencies series, which features the work of Indian researchers using bioacoustics to study wildlife in cities, forests, grasslands, tea plantations and the ocean, recently won the “Best Produced Show” award in the science category of the India Audio Summit & Awards, which showcases radio and audio content from India. The win comes as Mongabay expands its podcast portfolio to four languages, with the recent addition of the French-language podcast, Planète Mongabay. Find the Wild Frequencies episodes here: Episode 1: “Find Them” — explains how the science of bioacoustics is useful to identify species like birds and bats and count others like dolphins, porpoises and wolves. Episode 2: “Know Them” — explores how elephant and cricket calls give…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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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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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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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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