Since the end of May, rural areas of San José del Guaviare, the capital city of the Guaviare department in the Colombian Amazon, have once again been turned into a war zone. A series of clashes between dissident cells of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), demobilized in 2016, and commanded by Alexander Díaz Mendoza, alias “Calarcá,” and Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, alias “‘Iván Mordisco,” has resulted in the deaths of at least 48 people. The warfare between the two armed groups concentrates on a strategic area for illicit economies on the Guaviare River, a tributary of the Orinoco River. The rural community of Cumare, as well as the Nukak and Jiw Indigenous people of the Barranco Colorado Reserve (an ancestral territory in San José del Guaviare), started hearing gunshots and rushed to hide. Since that frightening day, May 26, they have avoided leaving their homes. “People are on maximum alert; no one moves because they fear being caught in the middle of the confrontation,” said a resident of Charras, another rural area of San José del Guaviare, who requested anonymity for safety reasons. “We knew something like this could happen. A bomb fell in the middle of a sports field here in the Siberia rural district,” said a woman who has witnessed the clashes since their very beginning; she also requested anonymity. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez stated, “The criminal structures of alias ‘Mordisco’ and ‘Calarcá’ fought in the Barranco Colorado sector, jurisdiction of San José del Guaviare,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

South African police arrested a 28-year-old man at Cape Town International Airport on June 12, 2026. Inside his luggage, tucked between his clothing, authorities discovered 150 live venomous scorpions. Each one was individually wrapped in a clear plastic bag, like candies at a supermarket It’s not known where the alleged smuggler intended to take the scorpions or for what purpose. An intelligence-led operation targeted the suspect: Authorities acted on a tip about a man in possession of wildlife. The bust was conducted by the Kuilsriver Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit, a special police force, in collaboration with CapeNature, a government agency tasked with environmental protection in the Western Cape. Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg told local media that he was arrested on suspicion of being in “possession of a wild animal under the Nature and Environmental Ordinance Act.” An investigation into the case is ongoing. The commercial value of the seized scorpions is yet to be determined, authorities said. The rescued scorpions are being cared for by the Cape of Good Hope SPCA. In a social media statement, the animal rescue organization said they are ensuring the arachnids receive proper care, and they will try to return them “to their place of origin where possible.” The seized scorpions are being cared for at the Cape of Good Hope SPCA. Image courtesy of Cape of Good Hope SPCA/Facebook. Scorpion trade, like other wildlife, is booming The planet is home to more than 2,900 scorpion species; only 25-30 have venom, a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

TAI NATIONAL PARK, Côte d’Ivoire — Environmental scientist Christine Kouman says she has always had a passion to take care of things that are overlooked or neglected. The West African slender-snouted crocodile and its habitat in what remains of the Upper Guinean Forest qualify on both fronts. Kouman, co-founder of a conservation NGO called EBURCO that is collaborating with authorities to protect and raise the profile of Taï National Park — a key stronghold of the slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus), — has studied this species in her native Côte d’Ivoire for more than a decade. Her work, which is supported by Project Mecistops, – has produced insights into this little-known species. The project is part of the Tropical Conservation Institute at Florida International University in the U.S. Mongabay recently accompanied Kouman on a night-time boat trip  in Taï National Park, up the Hana River, a place where she has undertaken many hours of grueling fieldwork. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. The slender-snouted crocodile has adapted to its rainforest environment by basking on trees and rocks that protrude from the river. Image courtesy of Christine Kouman. Mongabay: Tell us something about the slender-snouted crocodile. Christine Kouman: I can say it’s a gentle crocodile, because it feeds mainly on fish, and I’ve never heard of the species attacking people. I’ve been working on them for more than 10 years now, and during those 10 years, I touched them, handled them, but I still have all my fingers and my…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Suriname is being presented with a familiar proposition: foreign agribusiness, whether Brazilian, Mennonite, or otherwise, will modernize agriculture, create jobs, and bring prosperity. It is an appealing narrative. It is also one that has played out throughout tropical America, from Mexico to Mato Grosso. The result has rarely been shared prosperity. Instead, it has often meant felled forest, poisoned water, long-term loss of control over land and resources, and local populations watching the wealth pass through on its way to somewhere else. Suriname should pause before replicating this model. The employment benefits are often wildly overstated. Industrial soy and cattle production are highly mechanized systems designed to minimize labor, often conducted by a skeleton crew running combines and GPS-guided sprayers. A few operators can manage thousands of hectares. The jobs that are created tend to be temporary, low-paid, and sometimes filled by external labor rather than local hires because this business model is predicated on keeping labor costs as close to zero as the machinery allows. In contrast, existing sectors—smallholder agriculture, fisheries, and forest-based livelihoods—support far more people and are deeply embedded in local economies. The environmental risks are even more significant. Large-scale monoculture depends on heavy use of agrochemicals like glyphosate and phosphorus fertilizer, applied in huge quantities. These inevitably enter river systems, including those that provide drinking water and food for a large part of Suriname’s population. Fish — the primary protein source for many communities — are directly affected. A brutal imbalance is created: beef and soy…This article was originally published on Mongabay