Facing sea level rise and food insecurity, 17 families from the Carteret Islands have relocated to nearby Bougainville, bringing hundreds of specimens of trees and plants, representing dozens of species, across a small stretch of ocean. They’ve planted more than 175,000 plants, breathing life into a forest on new lands donate by the Catholic Church. By Thibault Le Pivain #News #Conservation #Environment #Plants #Biodiversity
Ship strikes are a leading threat to large whales, with global shipping routes overlapping 92% of their habitats, a new study finds. But protecting whales in the most dangerous collision hotspots would require action over just 2.6% of the ocean’s surface, researchers conclude, potentially saving thousands of whales with minimal disruption to global trade. By Shanna Hanbury #News #Conservation #Environment #Oceans #Whales #ProtectedAreas
A 2020 government decree that transferred administrative control of nonprotected forests in Sri Lanka to local governments has been formally revoked by the country’s new government. The move follows its overturning by the country’s Supreme Court, where environmental activists argued it could allow the release of these forests for development projects without proper environmental assessments. By Malaka Rodrigo #News #Conservation #Environment #Forests #SriLanka
The Chinese mountain cat is a little-known felid found only on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in northwestern China. The species was first photographed in the wild in 2007, and until recently, very little has been known about its distribution and basic ecology. By Ruth Kamnitzer #News #Conservation #Environment #Wildlife #Cats
Researchers say carbon credit projects involving private companies, NGOs and logging companies have proliferated in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They’ve documented projects covering more than a quarter of the DRC’s nearly 200 million hectares of forest. Preliminary findings suggest that the DRC lacks the governmental guardrails to ensure these projects are helping to avoid deforestation and that they are not harming communities. By John Cannon #News
In Indonesian Borneo, a community of Indigenous Dayak Iban have fought for the past four decades to protect vast swaths of rainforest that are home to a diverse number of songbirds. For the Sungai Utik community members, these birds are regarded as messengers sharing omens and warning from spirits, and must therefore be protected under customary laws that restrict deforestation and the hunting and trading of the birds. By Soma Lama Hyolmo #News #Conservation
The head of the African Development Bank has made the case for valuing Africa’s natural wealth more fairly, given its importance in the global fight against climate change. Akinwumi Adesina notes that the continent’s GDP in 2018 was estimated at $2.5 trillion, yet the value of its natural capital was assessed at $6 trillion. By David Akana #News #Conservation #Environment #Africa #Biodiversity #Rainforests
A study on the genetic history of Asian elephants in India has revealed that there are actually five genetically distinct populations in the country, more than earlier estimates. These populations were also found to have diverged from each other much earlier than previously thought, reports Arathi Menon for Mongabay India. #News #Conservation #Environment #Wildlife #Elephants #Animals
The Colombian government has issued a decree that recognizes Indigenous peoples as environmental authorities in their territories. The decree gives new powers to Indigenous peoples to protect ecosystems, manage and conserve their territories and resources, plan budgets and make decisions about land use. By Aimee Gabay #News #Conservation #Environment #IndigenousPeoples
The Mongabay Data Studio bridges the divide between environmental science and action by developing impactful tools, creating insightful data journalism. Check out studio.mongabay.com to explore the studio's tools and more of Mongabay's data journalism stories like this one: Revealed: Biomass firm poised to clear Bornean rainforest for dubious ‘green’ energy #News #Conservation #Environment #DataJournalism #DataVisualization #Deforestation #Energy image