Mongabay

Nearly three months after the spill first impacted Brazil’s coast, debate goes on over its source; now investigators using satellite data think they have found it; others aren’t so sure.

Tropical forests Youth activists came together in the Amazon to strategize on how to combat climate change (The Guardian). The loss of rainforests means that we’re also losing a source of important medicines (Undark, The Hour). Brazil’s environment…

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Nearly a year and a half ago, a barge hit by high waves spilled an estimated 7,000 tonnes coal on a beach in Sumatra popular with surfers. This weekend, as the beach hosts a surfing contest, it still hasn’t been fully cleaned up.…

ROCHESTER, New York and RANOMAFANA NATIONAL PARK, Madagascar — Tom Snyder wants to change the way people see trees. Specifically, he wants to help donors to Seneca Park Zoo in New York, where he works, “see” the trees that their donations help plant,…

RANOMAFANA and ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — While many U.S. travelers dream of the fabled forests of Madagascar, for Malagasy conservationist Mahandry Hugues Andrianarisoa, 28, it was the verdant landscape of upstate New York that took his breath away. “That…

British actor Idris Elba has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards in addition to being named one of the “Sexiest Men Alive.” Now he’s been awarded an accolade that even he probably never dared aspire to: a parasitic…

Nutrient limitations in the Amazon’s million-year-old soils may mean climate models are overestimating the size of the future carbon sink by 46-52 percent.

Illegal poaching and trade of the world’s most trafficked mammal — the pangolin — has been confirmed in South Sudan. Wildlife officials intercepted seven cases of this animal or its parts being transported for sale, researchers reported recently in the…

There may be a glimmer of hope for the critically endangered gharial, a unique crocodile known for its long, narrow snout that ends in a bulbous growth resembling a cooking pot called a ghara. The fish-eating crocodile was once widespread across the rivers of…

Appalachia is home to some of the most biodiverse temperate forests in the world, and it has a deep history of harvesting species like American ginseng for personal use and for sale. Now, agroforestry is set to expand the range and abundance of these…

“Palm oil is here to stay,” reads the 2018 report “Oil Palm and Biodiversity,” which was produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and represents one of the most recent and comprehensive efforts to understand the growing…

New research finds that nearly one-third — 31.7 percent — of tropical Africa’s vascular plant species might be at risk of going extinct. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is the go-to resource…

The Bolsonaro government is pressing ahead with plans to fast track a powerline through the Waimiri-Atroari Reserve without indigenous consultation.

The Bolsonaro administration is downplaying new data showing a major surge in Amazon deforestation, but a close look at the numbers shows that the statistics are even worse than they appear at first glance.

New research finds that large filter feeders in the waters of Indonesia could be ingesting dozens to hundreds of microplastic particles every hour. Due to their filter feeding strategy, manta rays and whale sharks must swallow hundreds to thousands of cubic…

Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia continues to be illegally cleared, according to a new report by the Cambodian Youth Network (CYN). Located in the central plains of Cambodia, Prey Lang forest straddles the four provinces of Kratie, Stung Treng, Kampong…

JAKARTA — Darwan Ali, an Indonesian politician at the center of a palm oil licensing scandal and charged in a separate corruption case, died on Nov. 18 before he could stand trial. Darwan, 64, died at a hospital in Jakarta after a long history of heart…

What do a helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), a narwhal (Monodon monoceros), and a tiger (Panthera tigris) have in common? Find your way to the right message board and you’ll see all their bones strung on the same bracelet. Along with rhino (Rhinocerotidae…

The government of Madagascar is looking into the actions of its top environmental regulator in the case of a buffer zone breach at a mineral sands mining operation in the southeast of the country. Five years ago, the QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) ilmenite mine…

COLOMBO — In late October, swarms of dragonflies began darkening the skies along Sri Lanka’s western coast, sparking speculation about a possible “dragonfly movement.” Among the most charismatic of insects, dragonflies and damselflies, from the same…