Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For more than three decades, Willie Tucker has helped care for Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees and watched the pressures on them change, reports contributor Patricia Sia Ngevao for Mongabay. Tucker, widely known as “Pa Willie,” helped establish Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 1995. Since then, the sanctuary has rescued and cared for hundreds of chimpanzees, many confiscated from the illegal pet trade. It now houses more than 120 critically endangered western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), indicating that trafficking remains a serious problem. Tacugama’s work also shows why wildlife protection cannot be separated from local livelihoods. The sanctuary supports nearby communities through livestock, seed, and other livelihood programs intended to reduce dependence on hunting and forest resources. Families with more dependable sources of food and income may have less need to exploit wildlife habitat. Such programs can also give communities a direct stake in conservation and make restrictions on forest use more workable. Public recognition has helped as well. In 2019, Sierra Leone designated the western chimpanzee as its national animal. Tucker says the decision increased awareness of the species and encouraged greater respect for it. National symbols do not protect habitat by themselves, but they can support education, enforcement, and political attention. Tacugama’s experience offers several practical lessons for conservation organizations. Rescue centers can do more than rehabilitate individual animals. They can train local staff, document wildlife crime, assist law enforcement, educate visitors, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A massive wildfire within a national park in Indonesia has forced a total closure of one of the country’s best-known tourist destinations. Some 899 hectares (2,222 acres) of savanna and forest within Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in East Java province have been destroyed by fire as of the morning of Aug. 11, the provincial disaster management agency told Mongabay. The fire, which broke out on Aug. 3 in the park’s eastern entrance, is suspected to be human-caused, TNBTS chief Rudijanta Tjahja Nugraha told local media. TNBTS spokesperson Endrip Wahyutama confirmed the blaze originated along a path used as a shortcut by local residents that bypasses the park’s official tourist roads. “The source is … not a tourist location, and not a public road either,” Endrip said as quoted by Detik.com. The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Agency, which manages the protected area, has ordered it closed until further notice. Daryono Perwira Sakti, a disaster mitigation educator who previously oversaw the earthquake and tsunami directorate at the BMKG, Indonesia’s weather agency, posted on social media that it’s crucial the park be closed because vegetation on loose volcanic soil there is highly vulnerable to severe fires, which could trigger more disaster. “The extreme heat from this fire not only destroys vegetation cover and natural seed reserves (seed bank), but also triggers the formation of a water-repellent soil layer,” Daryono wrote. He said this water-repellent soil layer eliminates water absorption into the soil, elevating risks of massive gully erosion and landslides…This article was originally published on Mongabay

There’s no conservation motive or benefit behind the Uzbekistan government’s recent releases of more than 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards across its desert regions, according to an expert on the threatened species. The government has touted the releases over the past three months as a wildlife restoration effort, but Nigel Collar, a conservation biologist at BirdLife International, suggested the birds are meant to serve as quarry for hunting parties. “In reality both areas [where they were released] are hunting concessions for Gulf State falconers and these are birds being put out in the wild simply to provide ‘sport,’” Collar, who also co-chairs the Bustard Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay by email. “[T]here is no conservation strategy related to these releases, because they are not intended for conservation except in the sense that they can absorb some of the hunting pressure on wild populations,” he added. Neither Falcon Hunting Solutions LLC nor Uzbekistan’s National Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, both involved in the releases, had responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment by the time this story was published. The Asian houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii) is listed as vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN’s Red List. It migrates between Central and South Asia and the Middle East, and is hunted intensively across this range. Uzbekistan released nearly 900 of the birds in the Aral Sea region of Karakalpakstan in May this year, followed by some 670 birds in June, according to statements from the National…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Gabon has ended its 19-year fisheries partnership with the European Union, which allowed EU industrial vessels to target tuna in Gabonese waters in exchange for payment, arguing the agreement no longer serves the country’s economic interests. The decision follows a June 2025 Council of Ministers meeting at which the government announced it would seek to renegotiate the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA), before formally ending it on June 29, 2026. In a statement last year, the Gabonese government said the massive exploitation of fishery resources wasn’t commensurate with the returns Gabon should receive in exchange. In a speech in January, government spokesperson Charles Edgard Mombo, said the move to cancel the agreement “reflects Gabon’s firm commitment to strengthening its sovereignty over its fishery resources and promoting a renewed, balanced, sustainable, and mutually beneficial cooperation framework.” The SPFA between the EU and Gabon was established in 2007 and implemented through three protocols lasting between three and six years. The latest protocol covering 2021–2026 allowed up to 27 EU purse seiners, commercial fishing boats that use large, vertical nets; six pole-and-line tuna vessels and four exploratory crustacean trawlers to fish in Gabonese waters. An independent evaluation commissioned by the European Commission found the EU paid Gabon an average of €2.6 million ($3 million) annually between 2021 and 2024 in exchange for access to 32,000 tons of tuna. However, it also found that Gabon captured just 23% of the total economic value generated; nearly half accrued to other countries because EU vessels made…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Kazakhstan has released its first tiger into the wild more than seven decades since the last confirmed sighting of the big cat in the country. On July 31, 2026, an adult female Amur tiger called Umit, which means “hope” in Kazakh, leapt from her cage on the back of a pickup truck, as she was released into the wilderness of the 450,000-hectare (1.1 million-acre) Ile-Balkhash State Nature Reserve in southeastern Kazakhstan. According to a statement issued by the Kazakhstan government on Aug. 3, Umit is fitted with a satellite tracking collar to monitor her movements and behavior in real time. “Today we are truly witnessing a historic event,” said Kazakh Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Yerlan Nyssanbayev in the statement. “For the first time in over 70 years since tigers were wiped out in Kazakhstan, a tiger has been reintroduced to its historic range.” The area of the Ile-Balkhash Reserve where Umit was released was once inhabited by the extinct Caspian (Turian) tiger. Its last confirmed sighting in Kazakhstan was recorded in 1948. Umit is an Amur tiger, a population of the mainland Asian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) native to the Russian Far East and northeastern China. The Amur and Caspian tigers were once recognized as two distinct tiger subspecies, but the IUCN recognized both as Panthera tigris tigris in 2017. Preparations for returning tigers to Kazakhstan have taken more than a decade, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said. The reserve was established in 2018 to create the…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. The best-known wildlife recoveries in the U.S. are often associated with the West. Yet some important gains have occurred east of the Mississippi, among cities, roads, farms, and landscapes altered over several centuries. Andrew Moore’s new book, Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness, examines the decline and partial return of animals that once occupied the region in abundance. Before European settlement and large-scale land conversion, eastern habitats supported bison, elk, moose, woodland caribou, cranes, black bears, passenger pigeons, and Carolina parakeets. Many disappeared as forests were cleared, wetlands drained, and wildlife hunted. Some losses were permanent. Other species have returned through reintroductions, habitat restoration, hunting restrictions, and long-term management, reports Mongabay’s Erik Hoffner. The state of Kentucky now has roughly 10,000 elk (Cervus canadensis) across a 16-county restoration zone, the largest herd east of the Mississippi. At Nachusa Grasslands in the state of Illinois, conservationists have restored tallgrass prairie on former farmland and reintroduced bison (Bison bison). Forest regrowth across parts of New England has helped moose, bears, fishers, and otters expand their ranges. These recoveries have also brought some problems. An animal may find enough food and cover while still struggling to coexist with people. Elk damage crops, browse vegetation, and get hit by vehicles. Pumas (Puma concolor) could survive in much of the East, where forests and deer are plentiful, although proposals to restore them…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Human-induced climate change has more than doubled the likelihood of the extreme weather conditions that fueled Canada’s destructive 2026 wildfire season, finds a rapid analysis. As of early August, thousands of wildfires torched more than 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) across the country — an area already significantly in excess of Canada’s 30-year annual average of 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres). The 2026 wildfire season has escalated with astonishing speed, with approximately 94% of the total burned area accumulating in a brief five-week window between late June and late July. In its analysis of Canada’s wildfires, the team at World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of scientists who examine the influence of climate change on extreme weather events, focused on a metric called daily severity rating (DSR). It integrates temperature, wind, humidity and dryness to measure how difficult a fire is to suppress once ignited. By combining observational data with climate models, the researchers found that the kind of fires that burned in July 2026 can now be expected in today’s climate influenced by greenhouse gas emissions every two to six years in the Northwest Territories and every six to 15 years in Ontario. In a pre-industrial, cooler climate, such fires would occur every 50 years or so.   “Our research is yet another piece of evidence for this shift being due to climate change,” Theodore Keeping, research associate in extreme weather and climate change at Imperial College London, said in a press release. “The geographic spread…This article was originally published on Mongabay

As biodiversity on Earth faces rapid decline, scientists are advocating for a new conservation approach: Save habitat for primates and protect countless other species along with them. For long, conservation efforts and funding have prioritized umbrella species such as tigers and giant pandas on the basis that protecting the vast areas they depend on can help protect other wildlife that live in the same ecosystems. A 2025 study found that monkeys, apes and other charismatic primates are potential “umbrella species” as well. They, too, often require large tracts of healthy habitat to survive. And by safeguarding the vast territories these animals need, countless other wildlife that share their ecosystem would also be protected, researchers say. The researchers analyzed the habitats of 16 primate species across China’s biodiverse Yunnan province. They also examined the ranges of 601 species of threatened and endemic mammals, amphibians, birds and reptiles, as well as 4,010 species of seed plants found in Yunnan. Their analysis showed that if just 30% of Yunnan were designated a primate conservation priority area, 86% of the animals and 72% of the seed plants would have about a third of their habitats protected. Protecting that area would also protect for more than half of the provinces’ annual carbon storage, the study found. Conservation groups elsewhere, too, have advocated for protecting the habitats of charismatic primate species as a way to extend protection to several other species. For example, the nonprofit Rainforest Trust has sought to protect habitats of the critically endangered…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Over the past two decades, Belize lost around 20% of its forest cover — more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres). Much of it is the result of agricultural expansion by Mennonites, the conservative Christian denomination that arrived in the country more than six decades ago. To understand the corporate machinery that’s allowed the Mennonites to expand so quickly, often outbidding private landowners and environmental groups trying to protect the rainforest, a Mongabay investigation conducted extensive interviews and reviewed dozens of land records. The investigation found a unique system of strategic land titling and pooled financial resources, with communities consolidating numerous properties under a single corporation or church entity. “[Mennonite communities] pride themselves on being more autonomous,” Elma Kay, chair of the board of directors of the nonprofit Maya Forest Corridor Trust, told Mongabay during the investigation. “They’re very efficient at managing their finances, harnessing those to acquire more land as a community, as a collective.” Many Mennonite communities live without modern technology, rejecting electricity and other conveniences. At the same time, some have adopted heavy machinery for agriculture, helping them become one of the leading national producers of crops and poultry. In the process, they’ve consolidated hundreds of thousands of hectares of land under single corporations and church entities. Individual Mennonites and their families are issued certificates to occupy the land by community leadership, rather than a traditional title. With the certificate, the land can be transferred within the community without being legally bought or sold, leaving development largely off…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. A harpy eagle needs large trees for nesting and enough surrounding forest for its young to learn to fly. The Amazon also depends on the eagle. By controlling populations of monkeys, sloths, and other animals, the predator helps limit damage to the forest canopy. Its decline can therefore indicate broader changes in the ecosystem. Governments often assess biodiversity by counting species. These figures are useful, although they don’t show whether an ecosystem is still functioning. A recent paper in Frontiers in Science argues that conservation policy should also track ecological processes, including predation, migration, pollination, and the movement of water and nutrients, reports Mongabay’s John Cannon. The authors propose using the Three Global Conditions Framework, developed in 2019, to decide what different landscapes require. It divides the planet according to the degree of human influence. Large, relatively intact areas need protection from new development. Landscapes where farming and settlements coexist with nature require management that maintains ecological functions. Heavily altered areas need restoration. The approach could help countries meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for the loss of nature to be halted and reversed by 2030. Progress varies widely among countries. The agreement is not legally binding, and national governments determine how its targets are applied. The paper uses the term “nature positive” to describe an outcome in which ecosystems are healthier at the end of the decade than they were…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A mountainous reserve near Manila, the Philippine capital, is a critical ecological refuge, harboring high levels of plant diversity despite its proximity to the highly urbanized city, according to a recent study. The findings come from surveys done 10 years earlier, however, and mounting pressures on the area’s forests since then may have had an impact, the authors say. As the last remaining natural lowland forest in Cavite province, on the southern shores of Manila Bay, Mounts Palay-palay-Mataas-na-Gulod Protected Landscape serves as a vital stronghold for Philippine biodiversity, researchers say. In July 2016, they surveyed plants within the landscape, known as MPPMGPL. At the time, they documented 294 species of plants across the landscape’s varied habitats, from grasslands and secondary forests to old-growth stands. They found that 42 species, or 16%, are found only in the Philippines, while 31 species are classified as threatened on national or international red lists. “The most remarkable finding is that this landscape … harbors an incredibly high concentration of biodiversity despite being so close to highly urbanized zones,” study lead author Enrico Replan, an assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM) at the University of the Philippines Diliman, told Mongabay by email. The study also identified 43 species that likely represent new records for Cavite province, “filling major geographic knowledge gaps,” Replan said. Among the most significant findings was the dominance of guijo (Shorea guiso), a critically endangered tree species, in the forest’s interior core. This highlights the role of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

On the morning of June 27, a 7.6-meter (25-foot) blue whale calf washed ashore on a busy beach in Mumbai, India’s financial capital and the capital of Maharashtra state. Whale strandings are rare along the Maharashtra coast, so Mongabay spoke with experts to find out what happened next. “Each stranding incident is a totally unexpected event,” N. Vasudevan, former head of Maharashtra government’s Mangrove Cell, an administrative unit that manages coastal ecosystems, told Mongabay. “You can prepare for years, but then it may not happen for years. And one fine morning, it is there on the beach.” According to the Mangrove Foundation, a registered society established by the Maharashtra government, only six of the 109 recorded stranding incidents in 2020-21 involved whales. Under national guidelines, the first step in any stranding involving a protected species, such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), is alerting the local stranding network, whose coordinator notifies the forest department, according to Shaunak Modi, director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation, which is also part of the Mumbai Stranding Response Network. Modi said that on June 27, a lifeguard notified him about the whale calf around 9 a.m. By the time he reached the site in the Bandra coastline 30 minutes later, the young cetacean had suffered severe injuries from crashing against exposed rocks. Ultimately, police and fire department authorities at the site confirmed it had died. Fishers and local people told Modi they had first spotted the stranded whale around 6 a.m. First responders, primarily local…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Photos of a striking, iridescent wasp posted on social media by wasp enthusiasts in Japan have led to an unexpected discovery: The images are the first record of the species in Japan. The footage also helped scientists describe a male of the species for the first time. The images and a video of the wasps were posted by two citizen scientists on Twitter (now X) in 2018 and 2021. The video showed a female wasp depositing her eggs onto a hard egg case of a praying mantis. Taisuke Kawano, a wasp expert at the Kyushu University Museum, Japan, noticed the footage and contacted the wasp enthusiasts who then sent him a few specimens of the wasp. The citizen scientists are also co-authors of a study, published in June, that details the scientists’ findings. Kawano and his colleagues identified the wasp as Eupelmus curvator. It’s a parasitoid wasp that lays its eggs in the egg cases of mantises. The larvae of the wasps feed on the mantis eggs as they develop. The researchers said the photos posted on social media are the first known record of Eupelmus curvator in Japan. The species was previously known only from China. The researchers were also able to scientifically describe the E. curvator male for the first time. Only the female of the species was previously described. The wasp was, for the first time, recorded targeting the eggs of the narrow-winged mantis (Tenodera angustipennis). In one mantis egg case, the scientists found 77 wasps and…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. Roads through Brazil’s forests divide primate habitat and sometimes force animals that normally remain in the canopy onto the ground. Researchers in the Amazon are testing rope bridges that allow them to cross above traffic. Eight bridges were installed in 2024 in Alta Floresta, in northern Mato Grosso state, reports contributor Suzana Camargo for Mongabay. Camera traps recorded 15,000 crossings by arboreal animals over the next 15 months. No roadkill was reported at the monitored sites. Six primate species used the structures, among them black-faced black spider monkeys (Ateles chamek), Schneider’s marmosets (Mico schneideri), and the critically endangered Alta Floresta titi monkey (Plecturocebus grovesi). The bridges contain several layers of rope for species with different forms of movement. Some walk across them, while others swing by their arms or use their prehensile tails. Cameras record successful crossings as well as animals that approach and retreat. The footage suggests that some species need time to become accustomed to the structures. Tufted capuchins took seven months to use one of the bridges. The work follows a project started in 2021 along the BR-174 highway, which passes through the Waimiri-Atroari Indigenous Territory. Members of the Waimiri-Atroari community helped select sites for 32 bridges. Cameras have recorded about 1,250 primate crossings there over the past five years, giving researchers information on which designs work best. Roads can also separate wildlife populations and reduce gene flow. This is…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The Andean leaf-eared mouse thrives at extreme elevations where most other mammals wouldn’t survive. At these altitudes, oxygen levels are low; temperatures are permanently below freezing; and humans can’t survive for long without oxygen masks and insulated clothing. Yet, the mighty mouse is right at home, and scientists have now figured out the biological adaptations that allow it to live there, according to a new study. The small, brown Andean leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis vaccarum) occupies a wide range of altitudes. Some populations live on the summits of volcanoes in the central Andes Mountains at elevations above 6,700 meters (22,000 feet); others live at sea level along the desert coast of northern Chile. To find out how the rodent lives in conditions uninhabitable to other vertebrates, the researchers collected 167 leaf-eared mice, from sea level to their highest elevation homes in the Andes. This allowed them to test the physiology of lowland Andean leaf-eared with their highland relatives. In the laboratory, the researchers exposed the mice to simulated conditions of elevations up to 7,000 m (22,966 ft). They found that the highland Andean leaf-eared mice from the volcano summits were able to use oxygen more efficiently in their skeletal muscle and generate more body heat than lowland individuals. The researchers also sequenced the genomes of the leaf-eared mice and found that the rodents have genetic adaptations for metabolizing toxins in plants. “The discovery that the mice have evolved the ability to metabolize dietary toxins was unexpected,” study co-author Jay Storz, an…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Human-induced climate change drastically fueled the weather behind recent devastating wildfires in France and Spain, according to a new rapid analysis by researchers studying the role of climate change on today’s extreme weather. In its report, the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers, noted that severe blazes scorched 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) in Spain and more than 115,000 hectares (284,000 acres) in France, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee. The researchers found that “tinderbox conditions” that favor fires, including extreme heat waves and unusually low rainfall, are at least twice as likely in southwestern France and at least 20 times more likely in central Spain in today’s climate than during the preindustrial climate. (Average temperatures back then, before the advent of large-scale greenhouse gas emissions, were 1.4° Celsius (2.52° Fahrenheit) cooler.) These figures are considered conservative estimates, the researchers said. In today’s climatic conditions, the report said, fires of the intensity seen in July are expected every 20 years in southwestern France and every six years in central Spain. The analysis found that a critical driver of the wildfires was above-average winter rainfall that spurred lush vegetation growth, followed by an exceptionally dry spring and summer that turned that biomass into highly flammable fuel. “Relentless heat — fuelled by human-caused climate change — has created the conditions for sparks to take hold and become massive, dangerous wildfires,” report co-author Clair Barnes, a research associate at Imperial College London, said in a press release. The analysis also…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 the Central African Republic, a country often seen mainly through the lens of instability, a different story is unfolding in its southwest. In March, Mongabay Africa program director David Akana and I spent time in and around Dzanga-Sangha National Park, speaking with researchers, conservationists, community members, and park officials. What we heard was not quite reflected in the usual narrative. Bayanga, the town at the park’s edge, has seen a modest rise in visitors. Dzanga Bai, where forest elephants gather in high densities within the park, and a population of habituated lowland gorillas, remain the main draws. According to local officials, around 800 tourists visited in 2025, a small figure by global standards, but meaningful locally. “There is growth,” said Gervais Pamongui, a deputy director of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas. He attributed this to both the site itself and a degree of stability that has held in the region. Others made similar points, though often with caveats. A tour guide, Léonce Madomi, described the country’s reputation for insecurity as “both true and false,” noting that Bayanga has largely avoided the disruptions seen elsewhere. Lodges report steadier business. Guides and trackers have more consistent work. Some residents point to income that supports school fees or medical care. Yet the gains are uneven and limited in scale. Tourism employs a narrow slice of the population, and basic constraints remain, from poor roads to food…This article was originally published on Mongabay

July 31 is World Ranger Day, which celebrates the work rangers do for the natural world and commemorates those killed or injured in the line of duty. Among them was Anton Mzimba, head ranger at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa, where he had served for 25 years. On July 26, 2022, Mzimba was shot dead outside his home by two men, allegedly in connection with his rhino protection work. Four years later, the case remains open, with no arrests made. “If a ranger of Anton’s standing and integrity can be killed for doing work that serves the greater good, and there are still no consequences for the people who perpetrated this crime, what confidence does that inspire in the men and women holding the line on the front lines of conservation?” John Jurko II, lead director of a documentary about Mzimba titled Rhino Man, told Mongabay by email. In 2024, Jurko II launched a “Justice for Anton Mzimba” campaign to help speed up the investigation. Mzimba’s killing is being investigated by the Hawks, a specialized unit within the South African Police Service. Hawks typically investigate organized crime and police murders, but took over Mzimba’s case because of its links to rhino poaching and an ongoing investigation, according to Nico J. Gerber, the police general who heads the Hawks in Mpumalanga province, where Mzimba was killed. Gerber told Mongabay by email the case “has progressed well” and the case file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which decides whether…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Indonesian authorities are wrongfully prosecuting environmental defenders and Indigenous leaders who protest deforestation, pollution and land grabs, says a new report by international nonprofit Human Rights Watch (HRW). In its 70-page report, HRW uses 15 publicly recorded cases from 2015 to 2025 as examples to suggest how police use complaints from companies and politicians to criminalize activists and community leaders demanding customary land rights. According to the report, while most cases were initiated before he took office in 2024, President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has escalated crackdowns on free expression. The government has increasingly deployed the military to expand state-owned mining operations, oil palm plantations, infrastructure projects and “food and energy estates”, which includes food and biofuel crop production particularly in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Moluccas and Papua, the report says. “Successive Indonesian governments have sought to silence activists and Indigenous leaders protesting forced displacement, loss of customary land, and deforestation by prosecuting them for baseless crimes,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW, said in a press release. “The Prabowo government, while cracking down on corporate corruption, has ignored local community grievances and instead deployed the military and other heavy-handed measures to pursue its economic objectives”. Based on 69 interviews with Indigenous people, villagers, environmentalists and lawyers, the report says police and prosecutors use vague provisions in the Criminal Code to charge activists with defamation, treason, threatening violence and even “spreading communism” to silence protests over environmental harm. The report says authorities frequently use legislation such as the Plantation Law, the Mineral…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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