In celebration of World Mangrove Day on July 26, the U.S.-based Mangrove Action Project (MAP) has announced the winners of its 12th annual photography awards. “Mangroves are the underdog. They will never be as glamorous as the Amazon rainforest or coral reefs. But through photography we can change that narrative, and intrigue people by showing them their beauty, diversity and fragility,” Leo Thom, creative director with MAP told Mongabay in an email. Mangroves cover just 0.1% of the surface of the Earth but are essential ecosystems; they stabilize coastlines and provide habitat for diverse wildlife including fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, primates and, even, big cats such as tigers. Mangroves also store three to five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests. Scientists estimate that more than half of all mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse by 2050, mostly from sea-level rise and severe storms associated with climate change. Gaurav Patil/Mangrove Photography Awards (MPA)  The 2026 overall winning photograph features another threat to mangroves — ghost nets, fishing nets that are discarded or lost at sea. This photo was taken near Nandgaon village, south of Mumbai, India. At sea, such fishing gear can entangle wildlife including sea turtles, birds and whales. Less understood is how problematic ghost nets are for mangroves. “I have been watching ghost nets getting trapped in mangroves for the last several years,” photographer Gaurav Patil from India, said in a press release. Michol Sanchez/MPA A “highly commended” photo in the threats category of the contest…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Four African wild dogs were recently spotted in Kasungu National Park in Malawi, making it the first confirmation of the endangered species in the park in more than a decade. The wild dogs appear to have travelled hundreds of kilometers from a park in eastern Zambia to reach Kasungu. Matthew Becker, chief executive of the Zambian Carnivore Programme, told Mongabay his team recognized the four African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) from a database of known wild dogs collected in South Luangwa National Park and the Luangwa River valley as part of a long-term study. South Luangwa is located around 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the west of Kasungu. The four dogs had been recorded in May near a school in Mfuwe village, just outside South Luangwa, Becker said. The wild dogs may have traversed parts of the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), Becker added. The TFCA connects Malawi’s Kasungu to Zambia’s Lukusuzi National Park adjoining the Luangwa Valley, through a long narrow region of densely packed villages, farms and homesteads, “I suspect they would have used the areas that were least impacted by development and (with the) least amount of threats, but one never knows with dogs,” Becker said. He added that “it’s very promising” the wild dogs were able to move from South Luangwa all the way into Malawi. “I think hopefully this signals more dogs in the future exchanging between the countries through dispersal,” he said, adding that the journey of the four dogs to Kasungu shows that…This article was originally published on Mongabay

In the rugged, high-altitude meadows of the Eastern Himalayas in India, researchers have confirmed the presence of a tiny plant with purple-blue flowers, last documented in the country more than 150 years ago. The plant, Cyananthus hookeri, was previously recorded in India by British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who collected some specimens from the northeastern state of Sikkim in 1867. Last year, a research team located the species at an altitude of 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) in Chuna Valley in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh state, also in northeast India. This milestone, documented in a recent update in Oryx, marks the first confirmed record of the species in Arunachal Pradesh and the first record from India in 158 years, the researchers write. Sudhanshu Sekhar Dash, one of the botanists on the research team from the Botanical Survey of India, told Mongabay over email that the rediscovery of Cyananthus hookeri “is an exciting and significant botanical finding.” “What impressed us most was that such a distinctive species had remained undetected despite extensive botanical exploration in the eastern Himalaya,” Sekhar Dash said. “This highlights how remote alpine ecosystems still harbor poorly documented plant diversity.” C. hookeri is a small, short plant that grows in mat-like clumps. It has densely hairy stems, and striking purple-blue flowers with hairy throats. Sekhar Dash said the plant is a highly specialized herb that’s adapted to harsh mountain climates. “It creates robust, hairy cushions that protect it from the severe mountain conditions,” he said. Despite the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A songbird species previously thought to occur across two Indonesian islands has turned out to be two distinct species, according to a recent study. For more than 120 years, many scientists believed that Indonesia’s Babar Islands in eastern Banda Sea, and Tanimbar Islands, roughly 135 kilometers (84 miles) east of the Babar Islands, were both home to the cinnamon-tailed fantail (Rhipidura fuscorufa). But a team of researchers led by James A. Eaton of Birdtour Asia Limited and Alex J. Berryman of BirdLife International has confirmed that the songbird on Babar Islands is a distinct species, which they’ve named the cheerful fantail (Rhipidura laguceria). To confirm these findings, the researchers analyzed 19 museum specimens of birds labeled cinnamon-tailed fantail, historically collected from both Tanimbar and Babar islands. They also recorded songs of the birds on both islands, then played the recorded calls back to the wild birds 132 separate times over several years. The researchers found that physical differences between the populations on the two islands are subtle: The cheerful fantail possess slightly darker upperparts and less extensive cinnamon plumage below than the cinnamon-tailed fantail. However, their songs vary considerably. The researchers said in the study that songs of the birds on Babar typically consist of “single whistles that rise in pitch towards the end.” By contrast, the Tanimbar birds combine very short and longer whistles, which gives their songs a “much more rhythmic cadence,” with pitch that typically goes up and down. The song recording experiments also revealed that birds…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Decades of unchecked deforestation for coffee production has devastated Vietnam’s Central Highland forests, according to a new investigation by the Berlin-headquartered watchdog group Coffee Watch. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee producer, supplying nearly 40% of the world’s exports of Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The investigation, which analyzed satellite data and government records, found that tropical forest cover in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, which produces 95% of the country’s coffee, plummeted from 42.8% in 1990 to just 19% by 2020. Forest loss was most rapid between 1995 and 2010, and stabilized at low levels in the 2020s, the investigation found. Much of the remaining tropical moist forest is now confined to “steeper, less accessible terrain, often at higher elevations and within formally designated protected areas,” the Coffee Watch’s report notes. Historically, government policy and international development financing incentivized the rapid expansion of coffee in the Central Highlands, according to Coffee Watch. The ecological cost has been severe, the nonprofit adds, resulting in fragmented habitats, accelerated soil erosion and a “nutrient treadmill” where farmers must use increasing amounts of fertilizer to maintain yields in exhausted soils. The Coffee Watch report notes that forest loss has affected water flow and recharge, soil stability and moisture, carbon storage and pests in the Central Highlands. It warns that 50% of Vietnam’s robusta belt could become unsuitable for coffee owing to the added impacts of climate extremes such as rising temperatures and erratic rainfall. Ly Thi Minh Hai, Vietnam country director at the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

In 2008, wildlife researchers surveying a massive, underexplored forested region in the Democratic Republic of Congo photographed a black monkey. That region eventually became Lomami National Park. And now, nearly 20 years later, the team has confirmed in a study that the black primate is a new-to-science species of colobus monkey. The monkey isn’t well known by local communities, but those who have encountered it call it likweli, said John Hart, study lead author and scientific director at the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, which spearheaded the creation of Lomami. The researchers have given the monkey the scientific name Colobus congoensis. Both male and female likweli are almost entirely black. What makes the species easy to distinguish from other colobus monkeys is a prominent patch of pinkish to orange-cream bare skin surrounding the mouth, Hart told Mongabay in a video call. When the likweli was first photographed in 2008, it was one of several monkeys the researchers couldn’t identify. “They are not in our field guides,” Terese Hart, the Lukuru foundation director, wrote in a blog post in 2008. Another of those monkeys, locally named lesula, also turned out to be new to science and was scientifically described as Cercopithecus lomamiensis in 2012. With the focus on the lesula and conservation work in the area, the likweli went on the back burner, John said. It was only 10 years later, in 2018, that local field researcher Jean Pierre Kapale photographed likweli several times during surveillance patrols and surveys. Kapale insisted the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration recently finalized a rule that narrows what qualifies as “harm” under the Endangered Species Act. Under the new definition of harm, only actions that directly harm or kill endangered species will be prohibited. Until recently, the definition of harm also included damaging the habitat endangered wildlife depend on for food and shelter. “This rule change is ludicrous. A kindergartener could explain that destroying an animal’s home will harm the animal,” Tierra Curry, endangered species co-director with the U.S.- based nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, told Mongabay in an email. The Endangered Species Act is a bedrock U.S. environmental law established more than 50 years ago. The law prohibits any person to “take” endangered species. “Take” has widely been interpreted to prohibit both directly killing or harming endangered species and damaging the habitat that is essential for their survival. That interpretation was upheld by a 1995 Supreme Court case involving spotted owls which ruled that harm also includes “significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife.” The new rule abandons that longstanding interpretation. “Actions that directly injure or kill listed wildlife will continue to be prohibited,” the U.S. Department of Interior and the Department of Commerce said in their announcement. However, “[t]he final rule will reduce unnecessary permitting, cut compliance costs, and eliminate confusion for landowners, small businesses, energy producers, farmers, ranchers and local governments,” it stated. Tawny Bridgeford, the general counsel and senior vice president of the National Mining Association, an…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Using plants instead of vulture parts for belief-based practices is helping to tackle poaching of the birds in some regions of Nigeria, say conservationists. Vulture populations have collapsed in Nigeria. The country was once home to seven vulture species; recent surveys recorded only two, the critically endangered hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) and the palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis). Habitat loss, poisoning and poaching for belief-based uses, such as the use of vulture parts in traditional medicines or to bring luck or success, are the primary drivers of their rapid decline. In recent years conservation groups, including the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), have engaged with traditional medicine practitioners to reduce demand for vulture parts. Stella Egbe, species conservation manager at NCF, told Mongabay that many practitioners are switching to plant alternatives, likely because of awareness-raising, increased law enforcement and higher prices of vulture parts in some regions. Chief Samson Ola Soyoye, vice president of the National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners, told Mongabay the use of vulture parts has a long history in medicinal practices in Nigeria. “That’s when the vultures were many but now [they are] rapidly going into extinction,” he said. “My view is to look for alternative plants instead of vultures.” More than 20 plants are now used in place of vulture parts in some places, Egbe said, adding that the conservation status of the plant alternatives also needs to be assessed. To date, the African mahogany tree (Khaya ivorensis), also known as oganwo, is the only species…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, that has killed millions of wild and domestic birds and mammals across the globe, has for the first time reached Australia’s shores. Australian authorities confirmed that two migratory seabirds, a brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) and a northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli), have both tested positive for H5N1, a strain of what’s officially known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The sick birds were discovered along the southern coast of Western Australia. They have since died. Both the brown skua and giant petrel breed in the subantarctic regions and migrate to northern, warmer waters, including those around Australia, during the harsh polar winter. Bird flu is caused by a highly contagious virus that has now infected animals on every continent. Sporadic human cases have also been recorded. Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said in a press briefing that there is no evidence of mass mortality in Australian wildlife and that bird flu hasn’t as yet affected Australia’s poultry or livestock. As of March 2026, the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu virus strain has infected more than 560 wild bird species and more than 100 species of mammals, according to the U.N. “We can’t overstate how significant this moment is for Australian wildlife,” BirdLife Australia CEO Kate Millar said in a statement. “This virus has devastated wildlife populations overseas. This could be the beginning of a long fight to protect birds and wildlife in Australia.” Avian influenza viruses are common in their natural hosts —…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, researchers and trackers are working to habituate a group of about 60 bonobos. The aim is to help the great apes accept a limited human presence, first for research, and later for carefully managed tourism. The process is slow. Trackers may leave camp around 3 a.m. to reach the previous night’s nesting site before the bonobos (Pan paniscus) wake. They then follow the group through the forest until the endangered apes build new nests in the evening. “The whole idea of habituation is that you meet the group every day in a very friendly, non-interactive way so they accept you as part of the forest,” Felix Bofeko, an assistant researcher in the program, told Mongabay’s David Akana. Habituation requires the same people, same restraint, and same routine, repeated long enough for the animals to stop treating human presence as a threat. When the work began, the bonobos fled at the sight of people. Now, Bofeko says, researchers can sometimes remain with them for two or three hours. Two visitors may be tolerated. Three or four may still be too many. The work has value even before tourism begins. Habituated animals can be observed more closely. Researchers can collect fecal and urine samples for genetic, pathogen, and diet analysis. Salonga is part of the Bonobo Diversity Project gathering standardized data across the DRC. Camera…This article was originally published on Mongabay

In Antarctica’s extreme cold, plants blanket small ice-free areas in bursts of green. These include two native species of flowering plants, 116 moss species, and several liverworts and lichens. Until now, however, none had been assessed for their extinction risk in Antarctica. For the first time, researchers have evaluated the conservation status of an Antarctic moss, Roaldia revoluta, and found it to be regionally endangered. For Peter Convey, study co-author and a veteran scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, this finding isn’t surprising. “As a field ecologist who has visited many parts of the Antarctic Peninsula over the last 38 years, and made many general moss collections (even though I am not a specialist bryologist) it is very clear that some of the species in the region are only encountered infrequently, or have geographically very restricted or sporadic distributions,” Convey said. “There are about 116 or so known moss species in Antarctica, and I think if this exercise was to be done more widely across these, I think we would get quite a few similar assessments.” Roaldia revoluta. Image © Sequoia Janirella Wrens via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0) Roaldia revoluta is a rusty-brown or yellowish moss found both in the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as in the colder, mountainous parts of Europe, Patagonia and New Zealand. Globally, the species is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red List. In parts of its range, however, it’s in decline: near threatened in Romania; critically endangered in the U.K.; and possibly…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Conservationists warn that vulture populations in central African countries like Chad are increasingly at risk due to belief-based use in Nigeria and Benin. Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra, a research fellow at the International Bird Conservation Partnership, told Mongabay he was out in Chad, photographing vultures, when a man offered to help him capture the birds. Vultures love donkey meat, the man said. All Chaffra had to do was buy a donkey and leave its poisoned carcass in the open. The man told Chaffra he had helped many people catch vultures this way. In West African countries like Nigeria and Benin, vultures are poached both alive and dead for beliefs that they bring luck, success or protection against witchcraft. Vulture parts, including head and feet, eggs and nests, are also used. This demand is now reaching vulture populations in Central Africa. A juvenile hooded vulture for sale at a market in Benin. Image courtesy of Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra. In a recent paper, researchers detailed how critically endangered hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) were absent around most slaughterhouses and landfill sites they visited near N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. “That doesn’t really make sense, because there’s a ton of food,” said study co-author Nico Arcilla, president of the International Bird Conservation Partnership. Nearly half the local residents interviewed by the researchers said they knew of recent poisoning incidents in the area, and more than one-third stated they were aware of poachers from countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Benin and Cameroon trapping or killing vultures. “The driver…This article was originally published on Mongabay

For more than 160 years, the Himalayan pit viper was believed to be a single species, found across the Himalayas in Pakistan, India and Nepal. Now, a new study revealed this snake is actually not one, but five distinct species, including three entirely new to science. For their analysis, the researchers conducted fieldwork to different parts of the Himalayas and collected samples of what was considered to be the Himalayan pit viper from different populations. They also examined historical specimens assigned to the Himalayan pit viper and extracted DNA from them. Their analysis of the snakes’ bodies, skeleton and DNA revealed five separate species: The Himalayan pit viper (Gloydius himalayanus) was first described in 1864. This species is now restricted to northwestern India and typically inhabits elevations between 1,000 and 3,500 meters (3,281-11,483 feet). The Chamba pit viper (G. chambensis) was originally described in 2022 from India’s Chamba District. This study extended its known range westward into the Kashmir Valley. It lives at elevations from 400-2,500 meters (1,312-8,202 feet). The Hazara pit viper (G. hazarensis) is a new-to-science species. It’s found in the Hazara region of northeastern Pakistan at elevations ranging from 1,630-2,900 meters (5,348-9,514 feet). The Hindu Kush pit viper (G. hindukushensis) is also a newly described species. It inhabits the eastern foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountains in northwestern Pakistan between 1,660 and 2,888 meters (5,446-9,475 feet). The Nepali pit viper (G. nepalensis) is new-to-science as well. This viper is distributed across western and west-central Nepal and is…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Researchers have described a new-to-science species of walking shark, which lives in the remote, shallow waters off southeastern Papua New Guinea. The newly named Dudgeon’s walking shark (Hemiscyllium dudgeonae) is a type of epaulette shark, a group of small sharks famous for their ability to use their fins to “walk” when stranded in tidal shallows. Walking sharks are nocturnal, feed on invertebrates and aren’t dangerous to humans. Christine Dudgeon of the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia and her colleagues were surveying the waters in and around Papua New Guinea’s Milne bay after midnight when she captured a meter-long fish by hand. Dudgeon told Mongabay by email that she initially thought she’d caught a Michael’s or Milne Bay walking shark (Hemiscyllium michaeli), also known as a leopard epaulette shark, “which was the one that we were looking for.” Back on the boat and under light, Jess Blakeway, a PhD student at the university and the study’s lead author, noticed the shark’s color pattern was different from any of the walking sharks she had worked with before, according to a press release. Although all walking sharks in the genus Hemiscyllium are similar in size and shape, species can be uniquely identified by their markings, Dudgeon told Mongabay. Dudgeon added the Milne Bay walking shark has very distinctive leopard spots while the species she collected had white stripes and small brown spots all over it “and didn’t look like any of the other species at all.” Over the next two days,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The government of French Polynesia announced it is expanding the extent of ocean where extractive industries like seabed mining and industrial fishing will not be allowed. With this move, 30% of French Polynesia’s waters will now be fully protected. Last year on June 8, French Polynesia, a French overseas territory, established the Tainui Atea marine protected area. It spans nearly 5 million square kilometers (2 million square miles) of its exclusive economic zone, the area of ocean that French Polynesia has exclusive rights to conserve and manage. Some 900,000 km2 of this (about 350,000 mi2), located near the Society Islands and the Gambier Islands, are fully protected waters where no extractive fishing or mining is allowed. On June 7, 2026, French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson announced that French Polynesia would expand its fully protected waters by another 520,000 km2 (200,000 mi2) near the Austral, Marquesas and Western Society islands. This brings about 1.4 million km2 (540,500 mi2) or 30% of French Polynesia’s waters under full protection from extractive industries. “French Polynesia has maintained a moratorium on seabed mining in its waters since 2022, reaffirmed by the Presidency in 2025, and banning it was part of the 2025 protection commitments,” Donatien Tanret, principal officer of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, which helped develop the conservation plan, told Mongabay by email. The protected area has artisanal fishing zones where local people are allowed to continue fishing and sustain their local communities, but industrial fishing in prohibited, Tanret said. In 2025, artisanal fishing…This article was originally published on Mongabay

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration recently repealed the 2024 Public Lands Rule, which established that conservation should have equal priority with industry when it comes to accessing leases for U.S. public land. That shift in priorities will apply to 245 million acres (99 million hectares) of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). That’s roughly 10% of U.S. land that the agency leases for a multitude of private uses including grazing, mining, energy development and, until recently, conservation. In the federal register the Department of the Interior (DOI) said, “[b]y rescinding the 2024 Rule, the BLM eliminates mechanisms — such as restoration and mitigation leasing — that threatened to restrict productive use of the public lands.” An example of the decision’s impact can be found in the state of Montana. Roughly 950 American bison (Bison bison) have grazed on 63,000 acres (25,495 hectares) of federal land there since 2022. However, the DOI, which oversees BLM, revoked that grazing permit on May 8, just days before repealing the Public Lands Rule. Interior secretary Doug Burgman said that according to federal grazing laws, public land leases can only be given to animals, “intended for use primarily for their meat, milk, or other animal products.” He added that “considerable evidence” suggests the bison are intended for “for some other purpose, such as conservation.” Before western settlement, upwards of 100 million bison roamed the plains, serving as “ecosystem engineers shape[ing] healthy and diverse ecological communities,” the DOI acknowledged in its 2020 Bison Conservation…This article was originally published on Mongabay

In India’s northeast, local communities are leading the charge for the protection of the marbled cat, one of Asia’s most poorly studied small wild cat species, reports contributor Barasha Das for Mongabay India. The marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. However, not much is known about its population and movement patterns because it isn’t a species many researchers specifically set out to study. It is “often studied as part of broader wild cat groups rather than through species-specific research,” Jimmy Borah, deputy director of the legal and advocacy division at conservation NGO Aaranyak, told Mongabay India. Most of what is known about the cat is from camera trap records, Borah added. One such camera trap study in Southeast Asia found that only a small proportion of the marbled cat’s range in the region lies within protected areas.   Similarly, conservationists with the Eastern Himalayas Marbled Cat Project (EHMCP) used camera traps to confirm the presence of the marbled cat in parts of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya, finding that most habitats of the wild cat extend beyond protected areas. “It became clear that if conservation efforts are to be effective, we need to focus on sensitizing communities living around these forests because they interact more frequently with these species but are less aware of them,” Giridhar Malla, founder of the EHMCP, told Mongabay India.  The EHMCP conducted awareness programs in villages near the cat’s habitat and engaged local youth and hunters…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Following a grueling 14-day trek, a team of mountaineers and conservationists has photographed the elusive blue-fronted lorikeet in the highlands of eastern Indonesia’s Buru Island. This is only the second photographed record of the parrot in more than 100 years, according to bird conservation groups. The blue-fronted lorikeet (Charmosynopsis toxopei) is a small species found only in the island of Buru. The bird, which has a lime-green plumage, an orange beak and a pointed tail, was first identified from seven museum specimens collected in the 1920s. The avian species went undetected despite surveys conducted in the lowland and mid-elevation forests they’re described from, until it was photographed in 2014 by Craig Robson during a birding tour, according to the Search for Lost Birds project, a global partnership between the NGOs American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Re:wild and BirdLife International. In April 2026, Indonesian mountaineering group Kanal Buru, which included researchers from ABC, Birdtour Asia and Yayasan Planet Indonesia, led an expedition in Buru. They scaled the limestone terrain of Mount Kapalatmada in the west of the island to reach a 2,700-meter (8,900-foot) summit cloud forest and successfully photographed the parrot. The team also captured its high-pitched calls for the first time. “We noticed two small birds fly into a nearby tree so I picked up my binoculars to see what one of them was,” John C. Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Birds at ABC and part of the expedition, said in a statement by the ABC. “I short-circuited with…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Rivers are known to naturally meander, change courses, braid and branch. But as rising temperatures melt glaciers and thaw frozen ground, the courses of Himalayan rivers are shifting and changing shape much more rapidly than before, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The rising instability of the rivers could pose a risk to water security and critical infrastructure, researchers say. The Himalayas, often referred to as the “Water Tower of Asia”, provide vital water resources for nearly 2 billion people downstream. But according to the study, in the upper high Himalayan region, where several important river basins originate, temperatures have risen nearly twice as fast as the global average in the past four decades. The researchers studied three upper high Himalayan river drainage basins: Yarlung Tsangpo, Indus and Ganges. The sources of these rivers occur at elevations of nearly 5,000 meters (16,404 feet), where there is extensive glacier, ice cover and permafrost. Meltwater from these glaciers and permafrost, which is sensitive to climate warming, forms the rivers’ primary water supply. To find out how climate change is shifting and reshaping these upper high Himalayan river basins, the researchers analyzed 40 years of satellite imagery. In particular, they measured 1,079 river bends, covering roughly 1,582 kilometers (983 miles), from 1980 to 2020. Since valleys can confine and influence river movements, the researchers chose unconfined bends or meanders that flowed freely through the landscape for their analysis. Their analysis found that the rivers’ courses were shifting sideways faster…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For the Karajarri people of Kimberley in northwestern Australia, the coastline, reefs, wetlands, beaches and desert-edge country form one estate, held through law, memory, work and obligation. That relationship now has new recognition, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. In March, the Karajarri dedicated Karajarri Jurarr Ngurra, Australia’s first Sea Country Indigenous Protected Area. It covers 237,489 hectares (nearly 587,000 acres) of marine and coastal ecosystems, including part of Malumpurr, the Karajarri name for Eighty Mile Beach. The area is rich in life. Flatback turtles (Natator depressus) nest along the shore of Malumpurr. Migratory birds use the wetlands. Sawfish swim through nearby waters. These species are often recorded through science, surveys and management plans. The Karajarri know them through long presence, close observation and responsibility passed across generations. The new protected area builds on three decades of legal and political work. The Karajarri first secured recognition of their land claims. They then established a land-based Indigenous Protected Area and developed a ranger program. Sea Country protection is the next step. It gives formal weight to an existing relationship. Jesse Ala’i, formerly the Land and Sea Country manager for the Karajarri Traditional Lands Association, put it simply: “In order to have healthy Country, you need healthy people.” The reverse is also true. “Healthy people need healthy Country,” he added. Australia’s Indigenous Protected Areas now account for more than half of the country’s progress toward protecting 30%…This article was originally published on Mongabay