Mongabay

As the planet warms, animals living in tropical mountains may find it increasingly difficult to shift to new areas, according to a new study. Tropical mountains are particularly at risk when the impacts of climate change combine with changes in land use and human pressures, Chiara Dragonetti, co-author of the study published in June, told Mongabay in a video call. Many mountain-dwelling species are endemic to those areas and can only tolerate climatic conditions within narrow limits, researchers

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is renowned for its coral, but far less so for its expansive seagrass meadows. “People don’t dive on them, don’t snorkel on them, and don’t go rock pooling on them,” said Emma Jackson, director of the Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC) at Central Queensland University. She’s a self-confessed seagrass nerd. One reason, she said, is because “they have this wealth of different ecosystem services.” Though they’re known as the “ugly cous

New data released by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) finds that, worldwide, South America has the most abuse allegations associated with large-scale mining for transition minerals over the past 15 years. Such minerals are essential for the shift away from fossil fuels and are critical for other industries, such as tech and defense. Many of the allegations were associated with environmental harm including water pollution and deforestation. Roughly 36% of such abuse allegat

As the first rays of the sun streak through the misty morning early in June, James Singano spits into his right hand for a good grip of the hoe handle. With one swing, he brings down a shrub. Malawi’s farming season is five months away, but Singano has started clearing the land where he inter-crops maize, a staple food here, with pigeon peas. He is one of the more than 4 million smallholder farmers that depend on subsistence farming and contribute significantly to national food security by produ

A faded towel draped over his shoulders, 53-year-old Khokon Jaladas sat quietly in the yard of his home. Just beyond his house, a few fishing boats moored in Kaptai Lake, the largest manmade reservoir in Bangladesh. He watched them quietly. Until a few years ago, he would have been out on the water too, spending long hours casting nets and trying to catch enough fish to feed his family. But now, fishing alone is no longer enough for him. To make ends meet, he works as a laborer in the boat build

Philip Kitur walks through a neat row of maize stalks, with budding leaves painting a picture of a bountiful harvest. The 71-year-old has a 41-acre parcel at Kipkeikei village in Trans-Nzoia County. However, hidden behind Kitur’s smile is the fear of losing a significant yield if he does not access fertilizer. “The crop is due for top dressing, but I have not accessed urea, without which I may lose up to 30% of my harvest,” he told Mongabay. Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Agricultur

Iranian security forces in Tehran arrested wildlife conservationists Houman Jowkar and Sepideh Kashani, alongside Sepideh’s sister, Sima Kashani, on July 1, 2026, according to reports from multiple Iranian news sources. Jowkar and Sepideh, who are married, are experts on the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and were previously arrested in 2018 on espionage charges related to their alleged use of camera traps. The cheetah subspecies, found only in Iran, is believ

LUSAKA, Zambia — The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, has prompted warnings that disruptions to the supply of fuel and fertilizer shipped through the Strait of Hormuz could cause food insecurity in some African countries. While experts say it will take time for the effects of the conflict to be felt in Zambia, they also point to vulnerabilities in the country’s food system and suggest greater resilience to possible stresses. Zambia’s food security is generally u

Researchers in Nigeria have cultivated a wild mushroom species using sawdust, an agricultural waste product. This could help develop farming of local mushrooms in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, they report in a recent study. Lentinus squarrosulus is a wild mushroom that typically grows on decaying logs in wild habitats across tropical forests, including in eastern Nigeria. This mushroom is both edible and has medicinal value, and is at risk of becoming scarce in the wild because of habitat d

Palmyra Atoll in the North Pacific is one of the most remote island systems on Earth. A native rainforest tree on the island performs a critical ecological service by providing nesting sites for thousands of seabirds, whose guano fuels the surrounding coral reefs. But a new study revealed that this entire cycle depends on an invisible partner: Symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi. Researchers mapped the fungal diversity across the atoll and discovered the native pisonia (Pisonia grandis) trees have a 100

The rainforests of the Congo Basin are the planet’s largest forested carbon sink: as these 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) of trees in Central Africa breathe in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they turn it into leaves and bark and branches, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. Yet a recently published study quantifying this carbon storage presents a surprising suggestion: that the most effective way to trap even more carbon in Congo Basin rainforests ma

Indonesia’s recent ratification of the ILO Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (C188) is a historic milestone for the country’s fisheries sector. The ratification is expected to strengthen the protection of fishers; improve working and living conditions at sea; and enhance the competitiveness of Indonesian seafood products in international markets, where buyers increasingly require compliance with labor, human rights and sustainability standards. One of the key lessons from Indonesia’s

Two Dutch timber importers are at the center of a new investigation that shows they may have purchased suspect wood sourced to one of the largest logging companies in Brazil, which had temporarily lost its permits and been banned from clearing. Brazilian logging company Samise Indústria Comércio e Exportação was clearing the forest to make roads and lumber yards months before receiving operating permits, according to an investigation by Earthsight, a U.K.-based nonprofit that exposes environment

The U.K government has announced that it will advance long-delayed regulations on commodities linked to deforestation. On June 23, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued a press release promising to “take forward new rules” that will force companies in Great Britain to carry out due diligence on the products they sell. “Under the proposals UK businesses who trade in commodities sourced from rainforests such as soy, palm oil, cocoa and rubber will need to check that

London Climate Action Week (LCAW) kicked off in June amid an unprecedented European heat wave and with a special statement by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warning, “We have just lived through the eleven hottest years ever recorded … with higher temperatures to come. London isn’t just calling — it’s cooking,” he said. “We cannot double down on a system based on fossil fuels that is driving both the climate crisis and the energy crisis … These twin crises have once again

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Sightings of humpback whales off Rio de Janeiro’s coast are surging as they recover from decimation due to commercial whaling, prompting an acceleration in the demand for whale-watching excursions to spot the huge marine creatures during their annual migration. The species’ population has jumped from around 2,000 to around 35,000 in approximately 40 years, close to their population before whaling, said Enrico Marcovaldi, co-founder of the Humpback Whale Project. That

In 2022, an illegal road cutting the length of a full marathon through two strictly protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon threatened to do what conservationists feared most: Split the Xingu Socioenvironmental Corridor, a mosaic of Indigenous territories and conservation units covering some 26 million hectares (64 million acres), in half. Four years later, satellite images reveal the 42.8-kilometer (26.6-mile) road is gone, swallowed by regrowing forest — something rarely seen in the region. It

It’s been difficult to monitor West African leopards in Benin’s Pendjari National Park: It’s a large wilderness area, situated within a hotspot of armed conflict. The park is among the last strongholds for this geographically distinct leopard population — but a recent study shared hopeful news. Leopard density in the park increased over a six-year period, according to a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. The park has been managed by the nonprofit African Parks since

The tanpura is synonymous with Indian classical music. The sitar-like musical instrument has a long, wooden neck with four strings attached to a bulbous base that acts as the sound chamber. This base is traditionally made from the fruit of a vining gourd, but excessive heat, unseasonal rains, pests and diseases are an increasing threat to gourd crops in India. That’s put the future of both gourd farmers and the instrument at risk, according to a video produced by Mongabay India. To make a tanpur

Illegally sourced timber from Cambodia and Laos continues to enter Vietnam’s supply chains despite recent efforts to tighten legality controls, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Falsified paperwork, manipulated harvesting quotes, and intermixing of timber from multiple sources are just some of the ways well-established criminal networks perpetuate the illicit trade, EIA teams uncovered during a four-year investigation. “We repeatedly