Located at the edge of the western Pacific Ocean, New Guinea is a vast island where the biota of Asia and Australasia meet, making it a melting pot of unique plants and animals that occur nowhere else on the planet. Development pressure is ramping up across the island, however, opening up landscapes to new roads, industrial logging and agricultural conglomerates pushing biofuel agendas. By Carolyn Cowan
Conservation news
In New Guinea, megadiverse lowland forests are most at risk of deforestation
The island of New Guinea is famed for its eye-popping diversity of plants, animals and human cultures. Estimated to host one-tenth of Earth’s spe...
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A Hindu religious sect tried to enter Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia by lying to authorities and Indigenous leaders. The self-proclaimed nation, the United States of Kailasa, operates from different parts of the world and offered high sums of money to Indigenous leaders in exchange for lands to exploit or conserve for carbon credit projects, say legal experts. By Iván Paredes Tamayo
Conservation news
Bolivia expels members of fake nation Kailasa over Indigenous land lease scandal
The United States of Kailasa maintains that it is a real nation. With this title, over the last three years, they have traveled to different countr...
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Five of the six nonhuman primate species found in the Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands have traditionally been hunted; traditional beliefs forbid killing the sixth, Kloss’s gibbon, or bilou. With widespread deforestation and the erosion of traditional practices that governed hunting behavior, all of the islands’ primates are now endangered or critically endangered. By Ana Norman Bermúdez
Conservation news
Indigenous conservationists lead the fight to save Mentawai’s endangered primates
SOUTH SIBERUT, Indonesia — As night falls over the Siberut jungle, a fire crackles inside the Tateburuk clan’s wooden home, or uma. The walls a...
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South Africa’s native reptiles and amphibians, including threatened species, are being illegally captured and exported for the global pet trade. A recent study found that eight of the 10 most-exported reptiles from South Africa are native species, most of which are not protected by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention. By Ryan Truscott
Conservation news
Traffickers slither through loopholes with wild-caught African snakes and lizards
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is a hub for the international pet trade, with thousands of animals exported each year. Many of these are exotic bird...
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In October 2023, Mongabay traveled to Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park as part of a reporting series on protected areas in East Africa. While there, we heard allegations that Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers have carried out extrajudicial killings of suspected bushmeat poachers inside the park.
Conservation news
‘Killed while poaching’: When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence
KITABU, Uganda — It’s mid-afternoon in Kitabu, a small town nestled in the hills of western Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. Neatl...
 How do history, human rights, and biodiversity intersect in conservation in East Africa? Mongabay’s new series, Beyond the Safari, dives deep:
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Beyond the Safari Archives
Series: Beyond the Safari
In recent decades a growing number of lawsuits have been launched to hold fossil fuel companies financially liable for the climate harm caused by the greenhouse gas emissions their products produce. But those efforts often come up against challenging legal arguments made by the companies saying that their actions and emissions cannot be scientifically linked to specific climate change-driven extreme weather events. By Justin Catanoso
Conservation news
Science lays out framework to assess climate liability of fossil fuel majors
As billion-dollar climate disasters pile up, and world leaders fail to act against global warming, lawsuits on behalf of impacted states, cities an...
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