New mapping by Amazon Underworld finds that criminal networks or armed groups operate in nearly three-fifths of Amazon municipalities across the six countries surveyed, which include Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Of the 1,310 municipalities examined, researchers found illicit actors in 768 of them, or 59%. Colombia had the highest proportion of affected municipalities (98%), followed by Venezuela (82%), Brazil and Ecuador (59% each), Peru (34%) and Bolivia (31%). The report also identifies increasingly interconnected criminal operations crossing international boundaries, such as Brazil’s Comando Vermelho, which is now present in almost 500 municipalities, including in Bolivia and Peru. Eight armed groups are present in 99 municipalities in the Colombian Amazon. About 78% of the country’s rural population, nearly 10 million people, “live under the influence of at least” one non-state armed group, according to Humanitarian Action. “One of our main concerns is how organized crime instrumentalizes local communities,” report author Bram Ebus, founder of Amazon Underworld and International Crisis Group consultant, told Mongabay over WhatsApp messages. “Groups extort them. They also use them, often under coercion, as human shields to protect illicit economies and obstruct state interventions. This leaves communities exposed to violent repression by state forces as well.” According to the report, gold has overtaken cocaine as the Amazon’s most lucrative criminal industry. “This shift has accelerated environmental destruction through deforestation and mercury contamination,” Ebus said. As rival groups battle for territorial control, local populations, especially Indigenous communities, bear the brunt of escalating violence. Ebus said such…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Shafeeqa, a 40-year-old resident of Cherwan village in Ganderbal district, north of Srinagar in Kashmir Valley, remembers a spring that once flowed with enough force to make diverting its water toward agricultural fields a difficult task. During her teenage years, she recalls, the water rushed so powerfully that her brother was once carried along by the current. Over the past 5-6 years, however, Shafeeqa said the spring’s flow has diminished step by step. What was once a dependable source of water has become a reminder of how much the village may be losing. “Nature has blessed us with a great source, but it is we who have destroyed it with our own hands,” she said. Shafeeqa says she believes climate change has contributed to the spring’s decline. Research in the Sindh Basin lends support to her concern, although the reasons springs lose their flow can vary from one location to another. The answer may lie some distance uphill, beyond the spring’s visible outlet and in the landscapes where rainwater and melting snow seep into the ground. Springs are an essential water source for communities in the Kashmir Himalaya, particularly in mountain settlements where rivers run through deep valleys and are difficult to access. Their water supports households, livestock and agriculture. But changes in spring flow can threaten all three. A Kashmiri Muslim man prays beside a stream on the outskirts of Srinagar, 2020. Image by AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan. A 2023 study in Environment, Development and Sustainability by researchers at the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

There have been few sightings of the endangered Persian leopard in the Caucasus region over the past 20 years: just three in Georgia and 10 in Armenia. But scientists and conservationists are alert to one Persian leopard in particular, whom they’ve named Aren and who is presumed to have journeyed 240 kilometers (150 miles) through cold, mountainous terrain with only three legs. This region of the world — made up of southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan — still contains decades-old minefields from prior conflicts, and it’s believed this is how Aren was injured. Joining the Newscast this week to discuss her story for Mongabay is journalist Kayleigh Long, who explains how this leopard subspecies, Panthera pardus tulliana, persists in the region. She also describes how NGOs like NACRES, operating on extremely thin budgets, continue to monitor the big cats and provide what protection they can. “WWF is also monitoring the leopards. They put some cameras out in the same area as NACRES. So it’s really difficult,” she says. “I mean, these guys … are doing things on an absolute skeleton crew. And that’s partly because of a lack of funding more generally. There’s been a kind of tightening of purse strings around the world.” NACRES, founded in Georgia in 1991 as the Noah’s Ark Centre for the Recovery of Endangered Species and later renamed the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation & Research, has a staff of just three people, led by a zoologist named Bejan Lortkipanidze, who accompanied Long in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Negotiations are set to begin on the world’s first international protocol to fight environmental crime, including wildlife trafficking, illegal deforestation, and illicit waste smuggling. The protocol, to be drafted over the next two years, aims to make it easier to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate these crimes. The negotiations will take place under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), a global treaty established in 2003 to combat international criminal networks, money laundering, and corruption. The resolution to begin drafting the protocol was approved Oct. 23 at the treaty’s 13th biennial gathering. “This is a landmark moment in the global fight against environmental crime,” Alice Pasqualato, global policy specialist for environmental crime at U.S.-based NGO Wildlife Conservation Society, said in a press release. The proposal was put forward by 12 countries — eight from Latin America and four from Africa — led by Brazil. It secured more than the required two-thirds majority: Of the 112 parties physically or electronically present and cast a vote, 83 voted in favor and 12 against. The latter included the U.S. and Japan. Another 27 countries abstained. The decision “sends a powerful message that governments recognize the scale, seriousness and interconnected nature of environmental crime,” Mark Jones, head of policy at U.K-based NGO Born Free, said in a press release. “We commend the States that developed, tabled and supported this resolution and look forward to engaging constructively in the negotiations ahead.” The draft protocol will be discussed at the next UNTOC gathering in two…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Each November, a suffocating blanket of particulate matter envelops Pakistan’s Punjab province, turning the sky into a hazardous grey canopy. While the public health catastrophe for more than 20 million residents rightfully dominates headlines, a silent crisis unfolds across the region’s agricultural fields, urban green spaces and remaining wetlands. We know exactly what this toxic air does to human lungs, and we even track its precise impact on agricultural assets. A 2023 baseline study closely monitored 10 livestock farms, each housing 90-275 animals across the Lahore and Kasur districts, tracking the exact micrograms of fine particulate matter, carbon dioxide and potentially toxic trace elements inside cattle sheds. Researchers even screened the air for opportunistic bacterial pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus to safeguard the health of livestock. Yet, if a wild bird or mammal landed directly outside those monitored facilities, science would suddenly turn a blind eye. In a region choked by seasonal pollution, wildlife is suffering in a massive monitoring void. Sidra Safdar, associate professor of Wildlife and Ecology at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) in Pakistan and a co-author of the 2023 livestock study, explicitly identifies the root of this discrepancy: lack of funding and political will. “One reason for a massive data gap in wildlife monitoring associated with poor air quality is the lack of suitable resources and specialized equipment,” Safdar notes, emphasizing that real-time air quality tracking demands costly annual calibration. Pakistani farmers working in their field blanketed by smog in Peshawar, November 2019. Image…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Over the past century, humanity has invented a dizzying array of novel chemicals for industrial, commercial and domestic use. These synthetic chemicals have been manufactured and released into the world with little caution for the harm they might cause to human health or to ecosystems that we depend on for life as we know it. An estimated 350,000 synthetic chemicals had been registered for production as of 2020, and for the vast majority, we know next to nothing about their health effects. Even their chemical compositions are often hidden as proprietary trade secrets. “The world today is full of manufactured chemicals,” says Philip Landrigan, public health physician and director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College in the U.S., who spoke to Mongabay via video call. But “we have really good data on the health effects for only 30 or 40 of these chemicals,” he warns. Only a handful of chemicals have been banned or restricted in U.S. markets in the last 50 years. The evidence base for some classes of chemicals is more developed than others, but what we know so far gives serious cause for concern, experts say. From thalidomide-induced birth defects to the pesticide DDT’s ecological impacts and cancers linked to polychlorinated biphenyls, the chemical industry has a long history of rushing new synthetics to market while largely asking questions about toxicity later. “I would think of it as an iceberg — there’s a little bit of ice visible above…This article was originally published on Mongabay

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The discovery of five baby orangutans abandoned on a plantation in eastern India is highlighting the country’s growing role as a destination for trafficked apes. Experts say wealthy collectors, expanding air links with Southeast Asia and loopholes in wildlife laws are to blame. India also legally imported 41 orangutans between 2021 and 2024 and experts have raised questions about their origins. At the same time, efforts to return rescued orangutans to Indonesia have stalled. Scrutiny over ownership of apes intensified after one orangutan was transferred to a private wildlife facility run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s family. By Aniruddha Ghosal and Victoria Milko, Associated Press Banner image: Six baby orangutans playing on the ground at Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation in Nyaru Menteng, Central Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Bjorn Vaugn / BOSF / GreenpeaceThis article was originally published on Mongabay

CEBU CITY, Philippines — At a coffee meeting in 2007, Philippine environmental lawyer Rose Liza Eisma-Osorio and four other law professors in Cebu City sat laughing at an idea: representing marine mammals in court. Despite their laughter, they were dead serious about their goal: Stop the oil exploration led by Japan Petroleum Exploration (JAPEX) in Tañon Strait. The protected seascape between the islands of Cebu and Negros in the central Philippines is home to 14 whale and dolphin species, as well as coral reefs and mangrove forests, according to advocacy group Oceana. In 2007, the Japanese energy company performed seismic surveys and drilled an exploration well in the strait, driving away cetaceans. It was an ambitious plan, as animals had never been named as petitioners. Eisma-Osorio and fellow lawyer Gloria “Golly” Estenzo Ramos filed the first petition representing the resident marine mammals in December 2007. Their colleagues filed a second petition on behalf of the fishing communities who had been directly affected by the exploration activities. The case, Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected Seascape Tañon Strait v. Secretary Angelo Reyes, went on for several years. In April 2015, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled to void the contract that allowed the exploration, development and exploitation of petroleum resources within the Tañon Strait. Eisma-Osorio joined Oceana Philippines as a consultant in 2015, a year after the NGO was established. At 56, she now leads the campaign and legal departments as senior director of Oceana Philippines. On Oct. 24, 2025, a major…This article was originally published on Mongabay

For 20 years, researchers snorkeled through rivers across the southern U.S., feeling along muddy bottoms for mussels. Many of the shells they pulled up looked like familiar species, but their DNA told a different story. Scientists from Shedd Aquarium, Arkansas State University, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have described five new species of freshwater mussels from rivers in the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, in a study published in Zootaxa. Several are rare and confined to single river basins, the authors write. “Our discovery and descriptions of these new freshwater mussel species demonstrate how much we still have to learn about the biodiversity in our rivers,” Nathan Johnson, a study co-author and research biologist at the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, said in a press release. Mussels are hard to identify from their shells. For example, mussels in headwater streams tend to grow flatter shells, while the same species downstream grow rounder ones. Males and females differ as well. So the researchers turned to genetics. In many cases, they clipped a bit of tissue or took a swab, then returned the mussel alive to the river, according to the study. The team sequenced three genes and compared more than 440 shell outlines. Each major river basin turned out to hold its own genetic lineage. Researchers named the new species for where they live. The Mobile hickorynut (Obovaria sipseyensis) is named for Alabama’s Sipsey River, from a Choctaw word meaning “swamp.” It now survives only…This article was originally published on Mongabay

SINGAPORE — As Singapore comes off its longest streak of unhealthy air since the 2015 Southeast Asian haze crisis, authorities have served notices to 20 firms linked to Indonesia’s fires, but have stopped short of taking further legal action. Half of the notices were sent to concession holders in Sumatra and Kalimantan where the fires originated, while the other half went to Singapore-based entities with ties to them. Of the 10 Indonesian plantation companies identified, three of them — PT Bumi Andalas Permai, PT Bumi Mekar Hijau and PT SBA Wood Industries — have had separate investigations open against them by Singaporean authorities since 2015, with no public outcome. All three are tied to the Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) conglomerate, as is PT Buana Megatama Jaya, which was also issued a notice to extinguish fires in its concession. The other six companies issued the notices requiring them to act against fires are PT Paramitra Mulia Langgeng, PT Sumatera Alam Anugerah, PT Hutan Lestari Raya, PT Bangkanesia, PT Mananjung Hayak and PT Baratama Putra Perkasa. A spokesperson from Singapore’s National Environmental Agency told Mongabay by email it could not disclose further details into existing investigations. The agency did not respond to questions as to whether it would escalate against repeat offenders. Based on the government’s current investigations, Singapore-headquartered APP, Singapore-listed First Resources and Bumitama Agri, and privately held First Borneo Plantations, whose ownership is tied to Singapore, already appear to be linked to the haze-causing fires in Indonesia, Singapore’s senior…This article was originally published on Mongabay

In Chile’s Patagonia National Park, Mongabay meets a women-led team preparing to release to the wild 13 Darwin’s rheas, a bird that nearly went extinct in the region just 20 years ago. Mongabay follows the preparations for the reintroduction and witnesses how the women’s efforts are helping to protect the birds and rebuild a self-sustaining population of this flagship Patagonian species.This article was originally published on Mongabay

Roy Sesana, a 97-year-old Indigenous rights campaigner who opposed the Botswana government over the removal of San communities from their traditional lands in Central Kalahari, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Botswana. The university awarded Sesana an honorary Doctor of Letters on Oct. 23, recognizing his decades of advocacy for Indigenous rights, cultural identity and dignity. In an official statement, the university said the honor recognized “a lifetime of service that goes beyond individual achievement.” The recognition comes nearly 20 years after Botswana’s High Court ruled in favor of Sesana and other San people who challenged their removal from traditional lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Communities were moved in the 1990s and early 2000s. The government justified the action saying it was necessary for conservation and because providing public services was difficult. Nearly two decades later, one of the lawyers who represented San communities is now Botswana’s president. Since taking office in November 2024, Duma Boko has prioritized Indigenous land rights, established an interministerial committee to address longstanding grievances and advanced plans to restore community rights across the 52,000-square-kilometer (20,000-square-mile) reserve. He attended the recent ceremony and paid tribute to Sesana’s struggle. Sesana helped establish First People of the Kalahari in 1991 and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2005 for his work defending his people’s right to live on their traditional land. According to Botswana’s government news agency, Sesana dedicated his honorary doctorate to the Basarwa and the people of Botswana. After the ceremony,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

As the EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR) approaches enforcement after multiple delays, Mongabay’s Solutions Desk is examining how industries are working to comply, and where the shortfalls are. From soy traders in Brazil to cocoa companies in Ghana and palm oil farmers in Southeast Asia, this Special Issue examines how businesses are adapting to new traceability rules, which tools they are using, and where gaps remain. The series identifies persistent challenges in data accuracy, supply chain complexity, and equity for smallholder farmers, offering a grounded look at how companies are preparing to put the regulation into practice.This article was originally published on Mongabay