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Titus was just 4 years old when poachers killed his father and several other close adults in his group. Despite the violence, the young mountain gorilla developed an approach to leadership characterized by gentleness and calm behavior, building close bonds with the females in his group, who often stayed in physical contact with him. This friendship-focused style worked out for Titus. He remained the dominant male for two decades, until his death in 2009. A 21-year study of 164 wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), including Titus, found that strong friendships produce both advantages and disadvantages, which differ based on sex and environment. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed decades of behavioral and health records to examine how social bonds influence survival and reproduction in one of the world’s most endangered species, the mountain gorillas of the Virunga Mountains in East Africa. “King” Titus and his daughter Ikaze in the Virunga Mountains. Titus was characterized as a gentle and calm leader. Image courtesy of Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. There are only around 1,000 living mountain gorillas. Just over half live in the Virunga Mountains, a range of extinct volcanoes that straddle the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The remainder inhabit Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Past studies in humans and other animals have shown that strong social bonds typically improve health and help animals live longer; however, this study found that these relationships can sometimes work differently than researchers…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. Bangladesh is preparing to add to its tally of 56 protected areas by declaring a new sanctuary in its northeast — not for forests or tigers, but for a group of elephants trapped by geopolitics, reports Mongabay’s Abu Siddique. The “non-resident” herd, believed to have migrated from India’s Meghalaya state, has been stuck in the border region since 2019, when cross-border elephant corridors were blocked by Indian fencing. Since then, these elephants have roamed the cropland-dominated Bangladeshi districts of Sherpur, Mymensingh and Netrokona in search of food, fueling increasingly deadly conflicts with humans. The plan follows an on-site assessment prompted by a March investigation by Mongabay. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, an adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, said the government intends to both protect the area and reduce human-elephant clashes. “At the same time, we will continue to talk to India to find a sustainable solution,” she told Mongabay. Experts remain cautious. Zoologist Mohammed Mostafa Feeroz warned that most of the 200-square-kilometer (77-square-mile) stretch in question is already densely populated. He stressed the need to reopen the four existing transboundary elephant corridors and called for a comprehensive management plan, including the deployment of local elephant response teams and the diversification of crops to deter elephants. With only 268 resident elephants remaining and rising conflict deaths, Bangladesh’s elephants are in crisis. International cooperation, including implementation of a 2020 bilateral protocol and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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PUNTA GORDA, Belize — Rosa Mis walks on a carpet of cracking dry leaves under the scorching sun of late May. Her green T-shirt blends in with the newly grown grass, medicinal herbs and plantain trees. One year ago, this land went up in flames. “Our 3 hectares [7.4-acre] farm burned for six days and nights,” remembers Murdy Kayo Mis, Rosa’s 31-year-old son. “We did everything possible to stop it by building a fire break line with dry leaves, aware of wind directions. All the community came to help, bringing water from the nearest springs.” Rosa Mis, 62, is the alcalde, or leader, of the Laguna community, one of the most affected by the wildfires of May 2024. Laguna is part of the 41 communities inhabited by the Maya Indigenous people of southern Belize, in the Toledo district. In the region, the 2024 wildfires burned 43,987 hectares (108,695 acres), a staggering 10.2% of the region’s forest and farmland. The flames turned tropical forests and farms into ashes. Residents and firefighters say the fires were brought on by multiple factors: traditional agricultural fires that go out of control, electric line management or discarded cigarettes. The climate crisis is also exacerbating fires around the world. But for the Maya people, fire has always been a sacred element, central in ancestral Mother Earth celebration ceremonies. It has also been used in the traditional practice of slash-and-burn for millennia, where vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown to regenerate…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Flash floods triggered by pre-monsoon rains swept away dozens of tourists in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least eight people. The nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 18 over the past 24 hours, officials said. Nearly 100 rescuers in various groups rescued a total of 58 people and were searching for the missing tourists who were swept away while picnicking along the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Shah Fahad, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service. He said 16 members from the same family were among the dead or missing. Fahad said divers had so far recovered eight bodies after hours-long efforts and the search continued for the remaining 10 victims. Videos circulating on social media showed about a dozen people stranded on a slightly elevated spot in the middle of the Swat River, crying for help amid rapidly rising floodwaters. Fahad urged the public to adhere strictly to earlier government warnings about possible flash flooding in the Swat River, which runs through the scenic Swat Valley — a popular summer destination for tens of thousands of tourists who visit the region in summer and winter alike. Elsewhere, at least 10 people were killed in rain-related incidents in eastern Punjab and southern Sindh provinces over the past 24 hours, according to rescue officials. Weather forecasters say rains will continue this week. Pakistan’s annual monsoon season runs from July through September. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep sorrow and grief over…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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VILLARS, Switzerland — Six years after being shaken by allegations of human rights abuses linked to conservation enforcement, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says it has undertaken considerable reforms — reforms that, according to its leadership, are not just structural but signal a broader rethink of global conservation itself. In an interview with Mongabay, Kirsten Schuijt, director-general of WWF International, described what she called a “deep transformation” within the organization. “So, what started off as a response to a criticism in the external world has now really been internalized at the highest strategic levels of WWF,” she said, “not only because it was the right thing to do, but because conservation doesn’t work without people.” Between 2019 and 2020, WWF faced scathing scrutiny after investigations from BuzzFeed revealed disturbing accounts of violence by park rangers allegedly supported by WWF, including torture, beatings and extrajudicial killings in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Nepal. Mongabay also reported considerably about this issue. Critics said the incidents reflected deeper problems with the “fortress conservation” model — one that often excludes the very communities it claims to protect. WWF responded by commissioning an independent panel, which produced a 160-page report recommending more than 170 reforms spanning governance, accountability and social safeguards. According to Schuijt, WWF has now implemented 98% of those recommendations. Among them: the introduction of grievance mechanisms, the creation of an ombuds office (expected to launch soon) and the appointment of the organization’s first Indigenous board member, Ramy…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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This is Mongabay’s second story in a short series about the new Shimoni Fish Port. Read the first story here. SHIMONI, Kenya — On a drizzly March afternoon, more than two dozen vessels bobbed on moorings near the jetty or lay along the beach in the Kenyan village of Shimoni. There were motor-boats, dugout canoes, wooden sailboats and open dhows, all used for fishing or transporting people and goods in the shallows near the coast. Fishers traded their catch, obtained by various artisanal methods, including basket traps, handlines, longlines and even diving. Trucks reversed onto the old jetty to load the fish for transport out of Shimoni. Nearby, heavy machinery was hard at work as the government rushed to complete the new Shimoni Fish Port, reported to cost 2.6 billion Kenyan shillings ($20 million) and slated for completion in June. Huge warehouse-size buildings with blue roofs had sprung up, a new jetty was almost complete and an access road to the port was being paved. According to the project’s environmental impact assessment report, the new jetty will “allow the berthing of large fishing vessels such as purse seiners.” These vessels range in length between 45 and 85 meters (147-279 feet) and sometimes as long as 110 m (360 ft), according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. One such large vessel could be 100 times the size of a canoe. Ali Issa and Badudu Ramadhani had just finished a meeting with a few members of their Shimoni Beach Management Unit…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.   Five years on from the publication of the climate fiction book, The Ministry for the Future, author Kim Stanley Robinson finds little he would change in his sweeping speculative novel —aside from a regrettable mention of blockchain. “What I really meant was simply digital money,” he says, dismissing the term’s cryptocurrency baggage. But the core of the book remains intact: a “cognitive map,” in the author’s words, for navigating the climate crisis and economic upheaval of the 21st century. In an interview with Mongabay’s podcast host Mike DiGirolamo, Robinson reflects on the story’s enduring relevance. The book, which opens with a catastrophic heat wave in India, has gained renewed resonance as real-world temperatures rise and political volatility deepens. “We are in a science fiction novel that we’re all co-writing together,” he says. “Things are changing so fast.” A lifelong utopian, Robinson is less concerned with idealized outcomes than with the practical, often fraught process of “getting there.” His work imagines a slow evolution toward “post-capitalism,” a term he uses to describe a more equitable and sustainable political economy. Rather than advocating “degrowth” — which he considers a “spiky, negative, counterproductive name” — Robinson envisions a “growth of goodness,” particularly for the world’s poorest. His perspective, however, is far from rosy. The book confronts the likelihood of “reversals” — from political backlash to social unrest — and examines how righteous anger can devolve into…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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On July 1, 2025, the reassessment of Swedish hydropower plants will resume under the framework of its national plan – a necessary and long-delayed effort. Swedish rivers are heavily impacted by dams, which have harmed ecosystems and the species dependent on freely flowing water, but traditional legal reforms are no longer sufficient. In an era where the collapse of nature threatens humanity’s future, it is time to recognize nature’s right to exist – and give it the same legal weight as human rights. Humans have appointed themselves the measure of all things, but the advantages evolution has given humans have often been devastating for other species and entire ecosystems. Humans are extremely efficient hunters and fishers, and they have devastated oceans, wetlands, rivers, plains, and forests. Human-made chemicals spread through the food chain, and the use of fossil fuels impacts the entire planet. How does this affect humans? According to the World Economic Forum, 55% of the world’s GDP relies on ecosystem services such as pollination, clean water, oxygen-rich seabeds, fish stocks, living forests, and stable climates. When these systems are damaged or destroyed, humans are also affected. Human-caused environmental disasters have previously wiped out civilizations, and it could happen again. Humanity’s dependence on nature is not ideological – it is existential. But the same evolutionary advantages also make humans capable of restoring, protecting, and giving voice to nature. Tuggen hydropower station, Sweden, 2019. Image via Vattenfall.com. Nature carries little weight Naturally flowing water is rare in Sweden today, largely…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Ocean health is moving into a danger zone, with rampant human-caused carbon dioxide emissions having already pushed ocean acidification levels beyond safe limits in large swaths of the marine environment, according to a recent study. The new findings underline the urgent need to ramp up protection of the world’s oceans, while simultaneously slashing CO2 emissions, say experts. But from a scientific perspective, worsening ocean acidification is not an overly surprising finding, considering that carbon dioxide emissions remain high, says lead author Helen Findlay, a biological oceanographer at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the U.K. Researchers have known for decades that humanity’s CO2 emissions are being absorbed by seawater, triggering chemical reactions that release hydrogen ions, in turn reducing the abundance of carbonate ions. This ocean acidification process — which has escalated in tandem with atmospheric emissions — has implications for a large number of ocean-dwelling calcifying species that rely on calcium carbonate for their shells, with harm to those species potentially reverberating throughout marine ecosystems. “We have really good data sets, and the data sets and this paper really just emphasize that we’re just watching the system crash.… [W]e need to be making real change now so that we don’t make things worse,” Findlay says. “In my assessment, [this new paper] confirms what we’ve been expecting,” agrees Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who was not involved in the current study. “[W]e are unfortunately moving beyond the safe boundary on ocean acidification.” Researchers…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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In early February, in downtown Bogotá, Colombia, Luis Alfredo Acosta recited a line in a book from memory: “I am from the rainforest because I smell like the rainforest; I smell like the mountains. And when I smell like the mountains and I smell like the trees, I can touch the forehead of a wild deer in the afternoon.” Acosta, the national coordinator of the Indigenous guard within the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), is from the department of Cauca and a member of the Nasa (or Páez) Indigenous community. For 35 years, he has been part of the Indigenous guard, and as national coordinator, he has been part of multiple processes in the Amazon, where — just as in other places far from the Colombian capital — Indigenous guards spend day after day accomplishing a silent but vital, task. They protect their territory, despite violence and the presence of armed actors. The Indigenous guards do this work even when the sociopolitical landscape in Bogotá is unfriendly toward them: 15,000 Indigenous people arrived to participate in marches on May 1, to demand that the government fulfill the promises it made, but they experienced several incidents of hate speech. “What are these Indians doing here?” a woman in El Nogal, an exclusive club in Bogotá, said in a viral video on social media. They were also accused of being “kidnappers” and “militia.” In their own territories, however, guided by their elders and following their communities’ mandates, hundreds of Indigenous men…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Oil palm is a crop whose derivatives have multiple uses, resulting in staggering global demand. Because of this, Peru’s Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI in Spanish) has developed a new regulation to boost oil palm production. On March 22, 2025, MIDAGRI published a ministerial resolution titled Policy Framework for the Sustainable Development of Oil Palm in Peru (2025–2034). This document and its annex propose, among other things, expanding the agricultural frontier and increasing oil palm production, as well as improving competitiveness in the oil palm supply chain with a focus on sustainability. The projected expansion of oil palm cultivation outlined in the regulation would occur in the Amazon, which, according to the document, offers the optimal agro-climatic conditions for oil palm development. The new regulation aims to increase oil palm production. Image by Mongabay. In Peru, oil palm production has not been free from controversy, mainly because its expansion has often come at the expense of deforestation and has created conflict with Indigenous communities due to cases of irregular land appropriation. Oil palm is cultivated to obtain palm oil, which is used as a raw material in beauty products, toiletries, food and biodiesel. According to MIDAGRI, the area currently cultivated with oil palm in Peru totals around 95,000 hectares (234,750 acres). Although the resolution does not specify how many hectares should be added nationwide, it does note that in the region of Ucayali, the regional oil palm development plan has identified “267,641 hectares (661,355 acres) with potential for…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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ARUNACHAL PRADESH — India. Over 60% of star anise trees have vanished from the region in just 84 years, pushing this valuable spice toward endangerment and leaving the Indigenous Monpa community struggling to sustain it. Now, conservation efforts are stepping in. The World Wide Fund for Nature-India is helping to form village committees that support Monpa farmers in harvesting, sorting, packaging, and ensuring fair trade and profit-sharing. This video was produced by the Mongabay India team; find more environmental stories from India on their YouTube channel. 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: Pem Choton, a resident of Nyukmadung, drying star anise. Image ©Surajit Sharma. Inside the human-bear conflict in northern IndiaThis article was originally published on Mongabay

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A protected wildlife refuge in Nicaragua has suffered a wave of deforestation in recent years, fueled by controversial land deals allowing settlers to clear the rainforest for farming, mining and cattle ranching. Government officials and even some Indigenous community leaders have overseen the land deals in Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge, an ostensibly protected area in southeastern Nicaragua, resulting in deforestation and the displacement of some residents, according to receipts and other financial documents. The documents were originally obtained by the environmental organization Fundación del Río and shared with Mongabay. They reveal a pattern of corruption and fraud that has led to an influx of human presence in one of the country’s most ecologically important areas. “[The wildlife refuge] is facing severe ecosystem degradation, largely due to invasions that have been induced, promoted and permitted by institutional authorities, political operators and the Ortega-Murillo regime,” a Fundación del Río report said. Río San Juan Wildlife Refuge sits on the Atlantic coast and border with Costa Rica, covering 43,000 hectares (about 106,300 acres) within the larger Río San Juan Biosphere Reserve. Its estuaries and freshwater lagoons have earned it a Ramsar site designation, an international convention protecting wetlands. Around 22% of the wildlife refuge overlaps with Indigenous Rama and Afro-descendent Kriol territory. Nine communities occupy the area on both sides of the border, making land grabs not just a conservation concern but also a human rights violation by the government, observers said. Over the last two decades, President Daniel Ortega has looked…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Dozens of Colombian waste pickers inundated Bogota’s iconic Bolivar Square with about 15 tons of recyclable goods Tuesday to protest decreasing income and tougher conditions for scavengers. They collect trash from homes, factories and office buildings and sell it to local recycling plants. The demonstration was organized by 14 waste picker associations in Bogota, a city where approximately 20,000 scavengers work long hours gathering items like plastic bottles, scrap metal and cardboard boxes. About 100 waste pickers gathered and some pretended to swim in between the mounds of trash. “We want factories to pay us a fair price for the materials we collect” said Nohra Padilla, the president of Colombia’s National Association of Waste Pickers. “Colombians and their government need to realize that without our work landfills would be saturated.” Most waste pickers in Colombia work independently, pulling heavy carts and gathering recyclable items that are not collected by local garbage trucks. The trucks, which are run by contractors or municipal governments, focus on gathering organic and nonrecyclable trash. The income of these waste pickers depends largely on how many kilos of plastic, cardboard or scrap metal they can sell every day to warehouses or local associations, which then sell the material to recycling plants. Jorge Ospina, the president of the ARAUS waste pickers association, said that over the past two months the price his association gets paid by recycling plants for every kilogram of plastic fell from about 75 U.S. cents to 50 cents. He said he can…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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To the outside world, Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park is a model of successful conservation of wildlife amid declining populations in other parts of Africa. But while elephant, giraffe and buffalo populations have grown as much as sixfold, the people inside the park live with a colonial legacy that restricts both their livelihoods and their access to sacred sites, Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo reported in April. The national park is a 1,978-square-kilometer (764-square-mile) protected area and among more than 700 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves meant to foster harmony between people and their environments. It’s home to elephants, hippos, big cats and almost 600 bird species, as well as residents of 11 “enclave” towns who are the descendants of the Indigenous Basangora and Bantu people, the region’s precolonial inhabitants, Mukpo wrote. Katwe, one of the enclave towns, used to be a highly contested area because of its proximity to a volcanic lake and its large salt deposits. It became part of the British protectorate of Uganda after the British East Africa Company captured the town, killing thousands of Basangora. The locals were forced to give up pastoralism and settle in fishing villages as the British demarcated the savanna into game reserves. “They created the park without the consent of the people,” Katwe-based tour guide Nicholas Kakongo told Mukpo, “and they cut us off from interacting with the animals.” While the park has become a valuable asset for Uganda, which is aiming for higher tourism earnings, residents of the enclave towns have suffered under the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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COLOMBO — Sri Lanka’s largest protected area, the Wilpattu National Park, recognized as one of the best places in the country to observe leopards in the wild, has long been a favorite among wildlife lovers. Among its most iconic residents is a dominant male leopard affectionately known as Neluma, named after Nelum Vila, a lotus-filled villu, a unique wetland ecosystem, where he was first sighted as a cub. Over the years, Neluma became a familiar figure in Wilpattu’s central zone, famous for his bold demeanor and remarkable tolerance for safari vehicles. Unlike the other typically elusive leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya), he allowed extended, close-up encounters that thrilled visitors and photographers alike. Now more than 10 years old, signs of Neluma’s decline are evident. A large swelling, believed to be a hernia, hangs from his belly. Recently, he failed in an attempted buffalo calf hunt and was injured during the herd’s counterattack. In another rare moment, even a stray domestic dog managed to escape his grasp, a scenario unthinkable during Neluma’s prime. Regular visitors to the park recall how Neluma helped to put Wilpattu on the map as a prime wildlife destination. “On days when no leopards appeared, Neluma often saved our tours, casually going about his business, unfazed by our presence,” says Ranjan Nishantha, a safari jeep driver who has operated in Wilpattu since 2012. Affectionately known as Neluma, this dominant male leopard of Sri Lanka’s Wilpattu National Park is now in the twilight of his life. He has now sparked…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The Maya Golden Landscape in southern Belize is a patchwork of protected areas, agricultural lands and small communities, part of the greater Maya Forest, the second-largest tropical forest in the Americas, after the Amazon. It’s a haven for predators like jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor), and threatened species like Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) and harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja), among countless others. Yet this landscape, like so many others in the tropics, is under continuous pressure. Land managers have had to balance the needs of biodiversity with those of the communities living here. And they’ve turned to cacao, a traditional Maya crop still widely cultivated for home consumption — and the raw ingredient for chocolate — as part of the answer. Belize’s first agroforestry concession The Maya Golden Landscape spans 300,000 hectares (about 741,000 acres); nearly an eighth of this area is dedicated to Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve, a type of protected zone where limited extractive activities are permitted. The reserve was established in 1997, and initially faced the same pressure that besets much of the area: the encroachment of banana and citrus plantations, poaching, and illegal logging, especially along its southern border. Portions of the reserve were stripped of their protected status in subsequent years, but the problems persisted. In 2012, a group of farmers from the nearby community of Trio, along with the nonprofit Ya’axché Conservation Trust, proposed agroforestry as a way to reconcile the needs of communities and conservation. The farmers wanted to cultivate cacao,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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This story is published in partnership with the Ecuadorian independent media outlet GK. Sitting in a small gray motorboat, Rosa Aranda dips her fingers in the Villano River as she lists the communities she plans to visit over the coming days: Piwiri, Kamunwi and Yutzuyaku. Aranda, 45 years old with long, thick black hair, is the president of Moretecocha, a commune or Indigenous governing body formed of eight Kichwa communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Part of her work, like the visits she will undertake over the next three days on this river that flows along 100 kilometers (60 miles) in this hot, humid region, is checking that Pluspetrol is abiding by the agreements it has signed with different communities since it began operating her in 2019. An Argentinian company with headquarters in the Netherlands, Pluspetrol calls these disputed territories Block 10; for Aranda, they are her home. To get to the village of Piwiri, you have to go via Paparawa, a port at the end of a road built between 2006 and 2012 by Agip Oil, the Italian oil company that operated here from February 2000 until 2019, when its operations were bought out by Pluspetrol. From the port, you take a peque peque, a type of boat named after the rhythmic sound of its engine, and navigate the meandering Villano River for up to four hours, depending on how much it has rained recently. On a muggy and overcast morning in October 2024, Rosa Aranda arrives in Piwiri, a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Leopards — solitary, enigmatic, nocturnal predators with golden fur splashed with dark rosette spots — have the widest range of any big cat. They’re found in a variety of habitats — rainforests, rocky mountains, grasslands and deserts — in both warm and cold climates. Worldwide, there are eight subspecies of leopards categorized based on their range and appearance. Historical records show they once extended across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but today, their range has shrunk dramatically. Leopards (Panthera pardus) are now found in parts of Central Asia, South Asia and Africa, and in small regions of East and Southeast Asia. India, with nearly 14,000 wild leopards, is the country with the highest leopard population. Despite being listed on Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement, which prohibits their commercial international trade, leopards are the second-most traded wildcats after lions, whose commercial trade is regulated. Yet, there’s little attention given to the threats these big cats face, especially with a persistent demand for their body parts leading to their poaching. “There’s a lot more attention and reporting from governments on tigers compared to leopards,” Debbie Banks, campaign leader for tigers and wildlife crime at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a U.K.-based NGO that investigates environmental crime, told Mongabay. “They are the most prevalent species in trade as it relates to seizures,” she said, adding that for every tiger killed, EIA’s data show three to five leopards are killed. Leopard body parts, especially skins, claws, teeth and bones, are in…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. Between 2015 and 2024, global authorities seized 370 metric tons of pangolin scales and 193 metric tons of elephant ivory. The latest report from the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trafficking networks, and that the lull has, surprisingly, endured. Seizures plummeted in 2020 and remain far below pre-pandemic highs, with pangolin seizures down 84% from their 2019 peak and ivory seizures down 94%, reports Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman. “The report was motivated by a need to present up-to-date findings,” said Olivia Swaak-Goldman, WJC’s executive director. Supply chains fractured as crime bosses were grounded by travel bans. Intelligence-led enforcement intensified, and countries like Nigeria and China began prosecuting kingpins. Still, fewer seizures do not necessarily mean less trafficking. Some experts believe traffickers are relying on hidden stockpiles or shifting tactics to avoid detection. “It is possible that trafficking is down because the populations have crashed,” said Susan Lieberman of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Pangolins, consumed across West and Central Africa and prized in East Asia for their scales, remain the most trafficked mammals. All eight species are threatened with extinction. Ivory, once the commodity of choice, has lost its luster as prices collapsed after China shuttered its domestic market. Nigeria remains a central export hub, though Angola and Mozambique are rising nodes in the network. Enforcement is improving — Mozambique convicted two major traffickers this year — but critics warn…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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Nigeria recently proposed a ban on importing solar panels to boost local manufacturing, but some climate and renewable energy experts worry this move may impede the country’s transition to cleaner energy sources. In announcing the proposed ban on March 26, Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology Uche Nnaji said the country has sufficient capacity to meet local solar energy demands through private firms as well as the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, a Nigerian agency that’s been developing solar technologies. However, Ogunlade Olamide Martins, an associate director at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation for Africa, a Pan-African NGO, told Mongabay in a voice message that Nigeria’s solar panel production capacity currently remains limited. Martins said that Nigeria’s largest existing solar panel assembly factory, located in Lagos, has a 100-megawatt (MW) capacity, producing fewer than 72,000 panels annually. This is inadequate for the more than 83 million Nigerians lacking energy access, he added. “We can’t put pressure on local facilities that do not have the capacity.” By the end of 2024, Nigeria’s total installed solar energy capacity was about 385.7 MWp; the country aims to achieve 500 MW capacity by 2025. Solar panel manufacturing factories with higher capacity are under construction. Felicia Dairo, project manager at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, told Mongabay in a written statement that the immediate consequence of the proposed ban will be scarcity in solar panels. “And we all know what happens when supply drops: Prices shoot up. The average household or…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new study finds that regional plastic bag bans in the U.S. significantly reduce coastal plastic bag litter compared with areas without such policies. Single-use plastic bags are one of the most ubiquitous forms of plastic litter. They are rarely recycled and degrade quickly into microplastics that are often ingested by wildlife, leading to injury, stress and death. To tackle the problem, many municipalities have turned to regulation. As of 2023, roughly one in three U.S. residents lived in an area with some type of plastic bag policy: Ten states  enacted laws to ban plastic bags or charge a fee to discourage their use, another two states enacted such policies in 2024. More than 90% of policies are at the local town level. Meanwhile, more than 100 countries have some type of ban or fee on thin plastic bags. Despite the widespread adoption of plastic bag policies, there have been limited data on their effectiveness, until now. To fill this gap, study authors Anna Papp, an incoming postdoc at MIT, U.S.,  and Kimberly Oremus, an associate professor at the University of Delaware’s School of Marine Science and Policy, turned to crowd-sourced beach cleanup data collected between 2016 and 2023 by the nonprofit advocacy group Ocean Conservancy. Through its app called Clean Swell, which records trash picked up by volunteers, the NGO has collected long-term, standardized data from more than 226,000 locations globally. “The volunteers, when they gather their litter, they count and categorize the items and enter that into the app,” Oremus…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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I have spent much of my life studying predatory fishes in East Africa’s coastal waters, but never have I been more concerned about their future. The disappearance of the western Indian Ocean’s largest reef fishes is not just an ecological tragedy, it is a crisis that threatens entire coral reefs in this region. These species — sharks, large groupers, and the humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) and humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) — are vital to maintaining the balance of coral reef ecosystems. Without them, we risk cascading consequences that harm food security, coastal livelihoods and biodiversity. My latest research, spanning 27 coral reef sites across seven countries and done in collaboration with scientists from the U.K. and France, paints a stark picture. The population study, which used visual surveys via scuba, recorded many “zero sightings” instances — where once-abundant predatory sharks, tunas, barracudas, giant groupers (Epinephelus lanceolatus) and other large-bodied groupers, as well as the humphead parrotfish and humphead wrasse, were missing. Overfishing and insufficient protected area management have driven many of these species toward local extinction. Even in marine reserves where protection is legislated, enforcement is often too weak or the size of the reserves is too small. Some of these large-bodied fishes, which include the largest fish in the world, are now globally endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum). Image by Rickard Zerpe via CC BY 2.0. Growing up along the coast of Kenya, I developed a fascination with marine life that…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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The gold business has become more and more attractive for criminal organizations, as shown by a report published in late May by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Behind this trend is the rise in gold prices and the metal’s suitability for money laundering, thanks to its high value, ease of transport and the facility of selling it quickly in many parts of the world. Gold prices have been on the rise since the 2008 financial crisis. An ounce, sold for around $700 at the time, reached $1,900 in 2020 as investors turned to more reliable assets. In 2025, Donald Trump’s trade war, the Russia invasion in Ukraine and the war in Palestine have led to new price records, reaching $3,500 — a 500% spike since 2008. Another explanation is “the perceived lower risk in the gold mining sector compared to other illegal activities like drug trafficking,” Claudia Carpanese, from the UNODC’s Research and Trend Analysis Branch, told Mongabay in a video call. The report examined the world’s leading gold suppliers in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. It concluded that “organized crime groups have embedded themselves in gold supply chains to such an extent that they now pose a serious global threat.” The document also stated that organizations with roots in drug trafficking in Latin America “have used established smuggling routes and infrastructure to expand into illegal gold mining,” using gold revenues to reinvest into other criminal operations. Specifically in the Amazon,where gold…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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While much has been written about bitcoin, many people still find it a hard topic to comprehend, even as promoters like U.S. President Donald Trump rave about it being a revolutionary digital currency that will rapidly replace hard currency. However, unlike money, there’s currently no bank or government to back up, insure and regulate bitcoin, or protect small holders. It’s an unregulated tool for speculators, not savers, according to critics. Bitcoin today dominates the world of cryptocurrencies: digital “money” based on cryptography, a form of complex mathematics using secret codes that require decryption to achieve worth. Ultimately, bitcoin’s value comes down to something akin to fantasy or faith, it merely being a series of ones and zeros anonymously laced across the internet and “mined” by those few with the financial clout and tech capacity to do so. As such, bitcoin flourishes in a speculative crypto marketplace, posing high risk of boom or bust. But, unlike Holland’s wildly speculative 17th century tulipmania market bubble, (which upon collapse at least left investors with a garden full of pretty flowers), a bitcoin bust leaves the holder with naught but ones and zeros. Bitcoin does, however, possess an enduring real-world footprint: The greater the perceived value bitcoin achieves, the more environmentally destructive its mining becomes, as it demands ever escalating amounts of energy (with accompanying carbon emissions) to crack the increasingly complex crypto code. Donald Trump originally spoke out against cryptocurrencies, but during his 2024 presidential campaign he wholeheartedly embraced bitcoin, and he continues…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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