In a rural area of Zambia, where eating insects has long been a part of local food culture, reviving the practice could help households improve food security — though its potential would depend on how widely insect-eating is embraced by the mainstream, a new study suggests. Researchers John Nyawali and Jasper Knight, from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, surveyed 139 rural households in Zambia’s Central province to understand the types and quantities of insects eaten by people. They found that edible insects contribute to household food security and nutrition, but that the tradition of entomophagy, or the eating of insects as food, has declined in recent years, especially among younger people. The study notes that while insects have the potential to contribute to sustainable food systems, they aren’t well-integrated into mainstream economic and dietary practices, thus “limiting their potential to contribute to sustainable livelihoods, food security and wellbeing.” In some cultures, entomophagy is sometimes stigmatized as primitive or associated with poverty, the study notes. But in Zambia, the researchers found that households with higher levels of education consumed more insects compared to those with less education, suggesting that educated community leaders may be able to help communicate the economic and nutritional importance of entomophagy. In an email interview with Mongabay, co-author Knight said another great way for entomophagy to gain traction in communities is to link it more closely with existing community-based public health initiatives, such as AIDS awareness, mother and baby health care, and primary school…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), which was created to fund long-term conservation of tropical forests, recently received a $500-million pledge, over 10 years, from the Netherlands, a significant boost for forest conservation. The Netherlands announced the pledge in an Oct 26 press release and estimated that the TFFF has the potential to protect 800 to 900 million hectares (2.0 to 2.2 billion acres) of tropical forest, an area roughly 200 times the size of the Netherlands. The long-term goal is to create a $125 billion endowment fund for the TFFF. Current pledges add up to roughly $7.8 billion. The TFFF was launched by Brazil at the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference in November 2025. It’s a partnership between tropical countries that need funding to protect their forests, investors and donor countries that want to address climate change and biodiversity loss through mitigating deforestation. The collaboration includes the private sector, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, the World Bank, scientists, economists, finance experts, and civil society partners. The TFFF is modeled like a sovereign wealth fund in which governments and private investors contribute to an investment fund and those investment gains, or profits, are then distributed to tropical countries to keep their forests standing. The hope is that predictable revenue from the TFFF will incentivize permanent conservation of forests over unsustainable development including logging, mining and ranching. Forest conservation is monitored using satellite imaging and scientific monitoring protocols to provide transparency and ensure forests are being protected. However, the TFFF has…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Nearly every shallow-water coral reef ecosystem on Earth is at high risk of ecological collapse by 2075, according to the first coral reef assessment of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE).  The RLE is a scientific framework for assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse. More than 250 experts assessed shallow water coral reef ecosystems across 127 tropical and subtropical ecoregions worldwide including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Coral Triangle of Southeast Asia. The Oct. 22 report concluded that 24% of coral reefs are already critically endangered. When scientist include projected heat stress from climate change, they found 96% will be critically endangered in the next 50 years. One coral reef ecosystem, the Western Galapagos Islands, has collapsed already, the assessment found. The assessment identified heat stress from climate change as the single most consistent threat driving coral reef decline worldwide. Heat stress causes coral bleaching, a process in which corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissue. Algae provide most of the coral’s food via photosynthesis and prolonged bleaching events leave coral weakened, vulnerable to disease and lead to death. Coral reefs are crucial for marine biodiversity; they “cover less than 1% of the ocean floor,” but support approximately 25% of marine life. In an email to Mongabay Marcos Valderrábano, programme manager for the RLE at IUCN, said that if climate projections are accurate, most corals will suffer repeated severe bleaching, resulting in a less biodiverse ecosystem as corals are replaced by algae and turf.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A mushroom is analogous to a flower on a plant — it’s the reproductive organ of a fungus, which protects and distributes fungal spores. Mushrooms are critical part of our ecosystems. For humans and other animals, mushrooms are also food. And they may be part of the solution for food security and solving the plastic crisis. On Oct. 15, World Mushroom Day, we highlight three such stories that Mongabay has covered. Mushrooms can help inspire eco-friendly solutions to problems Mushrooms are helping us create low-cost, sustainable housing materials and additional income for farmers, according to Gabriela D’Elia, director of the Fungal Diversity Survey. In a Mongabay video titled “Fungi are our climate allies” published last year, D’Elia cited examples of projects that are using mushrooms to address food security and waste management. For example, a company called Evocative uses a mushroom called artist’s conk (Ganoderma applanatum) to create materials that can possibly replace leather, plastic, and other packaging materials, D’Elia said. “Fungi are showing us new ways to live in allyship with the planet,” D’Elia added. Golden oyster mushrooms are crowding out native fungi in North America Golden oyster mushrooms, known for their bright yellow caps and earthy flavors, are prized edible mushrooms. They’re native to Asia, but have gained popularity throughout North America, where they’re spreading across forests and displacing native fungal species, a 2025 study found. Aishwarya Veerabahu, lead author and a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S., told Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta that the study was prompted by…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The Klamath River in the U.S. was heavily dammed over the 20th century, blocking spawning Chinook salmon. As a result, the population of salmon that spawned in the river, which runs through Southern Oregon and Northern California, declined by roughly 90%. However, a recent study found that removing the dams resulted in a quick return of the fish to the river. In 2024, four dams were removed from the Klamath, allowing Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) to recolonize habitat that had been unavailable to them for roughly a century. Shortly after the dams were removed, 7,742 Chinook salmon migrated up the Klamath River past the former dams. In 2025, that number jumped to more than 13,000. The fish expanded into 345 kilometers (214 miles) of formerly blocked river, recolonizing 88% of their known historical habitat, the study found. First author of the study Damon Goodman told Mongabay in an email that they expected the Chinook to return to the river but didn’t know how long it would take. “What surprised us was the speed and scale of their response – it felt like we were running to keep up with the fish! These fish navigated challenging rapids, engineered fishways, and a large lake to reach habitats that had been inaccessible for more than a century.” Goodman and colleagues employed a specialized underwater sonar camera that uses sound waves instead of light to produce moving images of fish swimming through the river. “Think of it as an underwater video camera that can…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Happy World Octopus Day!  Every Oct 8, the world celebrates one of the more unusual creatures of the sea. Octopuses are well-known for their eight legs and ability to squirt ink when frightened. They’ve also been known to use tools, a sign of intelligence, and can shape-shift to mimic the colors and texture of their surroundings, an effective way to disappear from both predators and prey. Mongabay has reported on several octopus discoveries this year, including: Ancient octopus were apex predators Modern colossal squid are believed to be the largest invertebrates in the sea, but Mongabay’s Shanna Hanbury recently reported on an even larger ancient octopus species whose fossils were described by Japanese researchers in April 2026. The Japanese team found a fossilized jawbone from the now-extinct Nanaimoteuthis haggarti. Based on its jaw size, researchers suggest the octopus may have reached 6.6 to 18.6 meters (22 to 61 feet) in length. On the higher end, that’s around two-thirds the size of an adult blue whale, the largest animal to ever exist. “It suggests that it may have been among the largest invertebrates ever known,” study co-author Yasuhiro Iba, a paleontologist at Hokkaido University in Japan, told Mongabay by email. They were likely gigantic predators that roamed the late Cretaceous seas between 100 million to 72 million years ago. A rare look at baby octopuses From long dead octopus to newly born, Hanbury also reported on baby Argentine octopuses and a rare photo of them. Patagonian octopus eggs in Puerto Lobos Protected…This article was originally published on Mongabay

In Africa, high-quality seeds can produce improved crops with enhanced nutrition, pest-resistance, and drought tolerance. However, such seeds for maize, vegetables, and cereal crops can be indistinguishable from counterfeit, or “fake” seeds. That’s creating a massive potential for fraud in seed quality that can potentially deprive farmers of access to climate-resilient seeds while putting their harvests and incomes at risk. A group of researchers analyzed the efforts of 50 African countries to combat counterfeit seeds. They found a wide range of penalties for selling them across different governments, and concluded that a significant gap exists between government policy commitments and implementation, largely due to limited capacity. Study lead author Ed Mabaya, a professor of global development at Cornell University in the U.S., told Mongabay, “For most smallholder farmers in Africa, planting happens once a season, often timed to the first rains. A farmer who buys counterfeit seed usually finds out only after planting, when the seed fails to germinate or the crop grows poorly. By then it is usually too late to replant, so the loss is not a slightly smaller harvest but potentially the whole season’s food and income.” That can lead to food insecurity for the individual farmer and local markets more broadly. Counterfeiters can dye or repackage grain and sell it as branded, certified seed, Mabaya said. “The problem arises because certified seed looks exactly like ordinary grain but sells for a much higher price, in some cases several times more for hybrid maize. That price gap…This article was originally published on Mongabay