Mongabay

Villagers in Cameroon have denounced the use of tear gas by authorities to break up their protest on March 25 against the replanting of oil palm trees by the plantation company Socapalm on disputed land in the country’s southwest. Residents of the village of…

Global demand for lithium is expected to increase by nearly 500% over the next few decades, as countries invest more in batteries and electric vehicles meant to reduce their carbon footprint. But lithium also brings its own environmental concerns, putting…

RISARALDA, Colombia — “Before, anyone who wanted to grow cacao at 1,200 or 1,500 meters [3,900 to 4,900 feet] altitude was considered crazy,” says Orlando Quintero Gonzales, an agronomist in Colombia’s Eje Cafetero, or the Coffee Axis. “Today, with…

Earlier this year, U.K. media reported an increase in humpback whale sightings in British and Irish waters. Between December 2024 and January, The Guardian reported some 17 sightings of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the Isles of Scilly in…

The wetlands of West Bengal in eastern India are one of the country’s best habitats for the fishing cat, a species vulnerable to extinction. But a significant population of these fish-eating, mid-sized wildcats lives outside protected areas, putting them at…

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives, and story summaries. Few apes have done more to unsettle human certainties than Kanzi the bonobo. He wasn’t the first nonhuman primate to use…

Yams are considered one of the world’s most important crops. A starchy, nutrient-rich root vegetable of the genus Dioscorea, the yam thrives in a tropical belt across West Africa, with outliers in the Caribbean and some Asian countries such as Japan. In…

Brazil's Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.

Rita grew up in a small village in Uttarakhand with mountains forming the backbone of her childhood. In a recent call with her sister, she laughed, repeating a little rhyme they used to recite as school-going children: January mein jarjar, February mein farfar…

Banking on the capacity of global forests to continue storing huge amounts of carbon could put the Paris Agreement climate targets out of reach and incur huge economic costs. That’s the warning expressed in a new modeling study which finds the ability of…

A village on Nepal’s border with India has found a way to reduce conflicts with wild Asian elephants in recent years: By switching their crops from rice and maize, which elephants love to eat, to tea and lemon, the farmers of Bahundangi are now seeing fewer…

Microplastics are a growing ecological and human health crisis: Scientist have found the tiny plastic particles everywhere they’ve looked for them, including human placentas and brains. In a new documentary, Plastic People, filmmakers Rick Smith and Peter…

Tokay geckos (Gekko gecko), named after their characteristic “to-kay” calls, are among the largest geckos in the world and inhabit rainforests and human-modified landscapes across South and Southeast Asia. As nature’s pest control, they are vital to the…

Intense flooding submerged usually dry areas of Queensland state in eastern Australia during the last week of March, forcing many people to evacuate and leave their livestock behind. David Crisafulli, the Queensland premier, called the floods…

In many parts of Brazil, rivers may be losing water to the ground instead of gaining from it. A recent study found that groundwater levels in several regions are lower than those of nearby rivers, pulling river water underground. This shift, potentially driven…

Traffic noise isn’t just unpleasant; in the Galápagos Islands, it can also make songbirds aggressive, a recent study has found. Once famed for their undisturbed natural ecosystems, the Galápagos Islands have seen a rise in road infrastructure and traffic…

The New Arab and The Shift co-published a set of edited versions of this investigation. As the sun hung low over the Nile, casting golden ripples across the water, we navigated Lake Nasser. The air carried whispers of wings overhead, the soft rustle of…

PANCE, Colombia — Ofelia Opocué’s life has been shaped by loss, she says. Twenty-three years ago, the FARC gave her family an ultimatum: leave their fertile land in Toribío, in Colombia’s southwestern Cauca department, within 72 hours or become part of…

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently updated its Red List of Threatened Species to include an additional 482 fungi, bringing the total to roughly 1,300 species of mushrooms, puffballs and other fungi. More than 400 of the species…

The International Seabed Authority has expressed concern following reports that the U.S. subsidiary of The Metals Company is seeking deep-sea mining permits from the U.S. instead of waiting for the global regulator’s finalization of a mining code. Mongabay…

The rapid rise of e-commerce and food delivery services has transformed consumption patterns worldwide. In an effort to reduce plastic waste, the European Union introduced policies such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, aimed at a shift from…

The volcanic island of Bioko, about 160 kilometers, or 100 miles, northwest of mainland Equatorial Guinea, is carpeted in lush green tropical rainforest. This forest is home to many endemic animals, including Bioko drill monkeys (Mandrillus leucophaeus…

Kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the ozone layer protects humanity and all life from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But in the troposphere, at ground level, this gas can wreak havoc on planetary health in myriad ways. As temperatures increase due…

In the early hours of Dec. 22, 2024, fishermen working in the Talara Sea in northern Peru hauled in their nets. But instead of the day’s catch, they found oil impregnating their gear. Hours later the disaster was confirmed: The tide had moved a huge oil…

To address the devastating effects of wildfires in Western North America, the nonprofit Conservation X Labs (CXL) and its partners have awarded $50,000 each to 12 shortlisted teams seeking to scale up novel technologies and processes to lower wildlife risk and…

Brazil is home to the world’s greatest diversity of amphibians: Of the more than 8,000 species known worldwide, some 1,200 are found in the country, mainly in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes. But their future is at risk due to longer dry periods in…

To a layperson, it’s footage of adorable polar bear cubs with their moms against the backdrop of endless Arctic snow. For researchers who study the animals, however, it’s a rare and incredibly important observation that could potentially inform…

Conservationists have launched a 20-year-long project to protect what is arguably Tanzania’s most biologically rich landscape: the Udzungwa Mountains. The strategy places notable emphasis on communities living here, with more than half of its budget…

Venom isn’t just a feature of some animals; it’s found across the living world, from plants and fungi to bacteria and viruses, says a new study. Lead author William Hayes, an ecologist at Loma Linda University, U.S., has long studied venomous rattlesnakes.…

A wildlife rescue center in Rio de Janeiro is giving animals a second chance after they’ve been torn from the Atlantic Forest by poachers, a Mongabay short documentary showed. At the Vida Livre (Free Life) Institute, the team of volunteer veterinarians and…