Mongabay · Page 55

The Sydney funnel-web spider, a highly venomous arachnid found crawling in and around Australia’s most populous city, was long thought to be a single species. But it’s actually three different species, a new study has found. One of these, called “Big…

KONSO, Ethiopia — Across rugged highlands, terraces crafted from stone and earth stretch over steep hillsides like giant ripples of water. They’re part of a 400-year-old agricultural system in southern Ethiopia that’s recognized as a U.N. World Heritage…

Plans for a major mining project in western Suriname have sounded alarms in nearby Indigenous communities, who say that the project will destroy local ecosystems, violate their land rights and encroach on their traditional ways of life. A bauxite mine run by…

KAL AWINYA, Uganda – In rural Uganda, 34-year-old Adong Betty from Kal Awinya village shares how shea nuts sustain her family and community. Her own childhood was marked by active participation in collecting and processing shea nuts with her mother,…

As the demand for critical minerals intensifies with the energy transition, the need for a rights-based approach to mining, focused on respect, is more relevant than ever. This approach relies on meaningful and inclusive engagement and participation of…

A women-led reforestation effort has planted millions of mangrove trees with a high survival rate across swamps in Nigeria’s oil-rich and severely degraded Niger Delta. For decades, the Ogoni people of the delta’s Ogoniland region have faced the impacts of…

A survey has found populations of elephant, gorillas and chimpanzees in and around two national parks in southeastern Cameroon has remained relatively stable since 2016. Conservation officials have welcomed this “positive” trend but warn that various…

When James Sheppard set out to deploy tiny backpacks fitted with satellite transmitters to track endangered thick-billed parrots in 2019, doubts abounded. His colleagues were concerned it wasn’t going to work. A vendor he worked with refused to sell him the…

The private sector is the largest single promoter of conventional development. Its lobbying organizations tend to be well-funded and staffed with competent individuals grounded in the analytical abilities of traditional economics and the communication skills…

South Africa-based conservation NGO African Parks has signed a long-term deal with Ethiopian authorities to manage Gambella National Park. The park is Ethiopia’s largest protected area, a 4,575-square-kilometer (1,766-square-mile) landscape on the border…

Mongabay’s new short documentary The Time of Water premiered Dec. 16 at the Barcelona Center for Contemporary Culture, in Spain. Directed by Pablo Albarenga and produced with support from the Pulitzer Center and OpenDemocracy, the 18-minute documentary…

What started out as a reported sighting of a pair of Eurasian lynx in the Scottish Highlands has turned out to be an alleged case of “guerrilla rewilding” or, at the very least, illegal release of four individuals of a species long extinct in the area,…

A recent analysis has revealed that India’s groundwater contains pollutants in excess of permissible limits. This contamination is driven by both natural geochemical processes and human activities like agricultural and industrial practices, reports…

This article was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations Network in collaboration with the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP). It is the first part of a two-part series. Environmentalist Justin Landry…

BANGKOK — Farmers and environmental advocates rallied in Bangkok Jan. 13 to demand the government and a private corporation take serious action to address the escalating spread of blackchin tilapia, a highly invasive species of fish, in Thailand’s…

The Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus chanco) and snow leopard (Panthera uncia) are apex predators in alpine ecosystems. By controlling the numbers of meso-predators and herbivores, these top predators can have cascading effects on plant and animal species at…

Brazil is set to approve a controversial expansion of 2,000 kilometers, or more than 1,200 miles, of new shipping channels in the Amazon. With a price tag in the billions of reais, the expansion is needed to ensure cheaper, more efficient transportation of…

Across the globe, no other human activity currently affects the survival of wildlife species more than where we choose to grow our food. Alongside other impacts like hunting and climate change, agricultural production is helping to drive what scientists call…

What’s new: Some bats, like birds, migrate long distances. But these long-distance bat migrations have been somewhat of a mystery to researchers, especially since only a few species embark on them. Now, in a new study, researchers have mapped the odyssey of…

KATHMANDU — In a historic move, Nepal’s highest court has struck down controversial measures to open up protected areas like national parks to infrastructure development such as hydropower plants, hotels and railway lines. The constitutional bench of the…