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
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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
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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.
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‘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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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
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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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Many forest reserves in southern Cameroon, despite being highly degraded and fragmented, harbor significant biodiversity. A recent study using camera traps in two such forest reserves captured the first evidence of great apes — a gorilla and several chimpanzees — foraging in and navigating the mosaic of fragmented landscapes. By Spoorthy Raman
Conservation news
In Cameroon’s forgotten forests, gorillas and chimps hang on
At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss the ecological significance of Mbalmayo Forest Reserve in southern Cameroon, one of several degraded forest...
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Illegal gold miners are now operating very close to the second-tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in April. Six giant trees, including a red angelim that stands 85 meters tall, are found inside the Iratapuru River Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil’s Amapá state. Despite the area’s protected status, gold miners are illegally operating just a kilometer away, the Amapá state public ministry reported.
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Gold rush moves closer to Amazon’s second-tallest tree
Illegal gold miners are now operating very close to the second-tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Mongabay’s Fernanda Wenzel reported in Apri...
The Metals Company (TMC) has submitted its first application to commercially exploit seabed minerals in international waters, along with applications for two exploration licenses, under the U.S. regulatory authority. The contentious move follows a recent executive order from the Trump administration that directed the U.S. government to fast-track deep-sea mining in an effort to secure supplies of critical minerals for the U.S. By Elizabeth Alberts
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The Metals Company applied to the U.S. for a deep-sea mining license
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a fellow. Mere days after the Trump ...
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The world’s most vulnerable people, including refugees, migrants and the poor, increasingly face threats related to climate change. Many lack the ability to move away from impacts like heat, flooding and landslides. A new study reveals a lack of data showing the causes of this involuntary immobility. By John Cannon
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Global warming hits hardest for those who can’t escape it
In July 2024, a heat wave swept through the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. The surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 7.5 million peo...
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On Bat Appreciation Day read about how seed-dispersing bats could aid tropical reforestation. Fruit-eating bats play an important role in maintaining forest health by being seed dispersers. For decades, researchers have explored ways to harness this capacity as a reforestation tool. One method has been to use fruit-derived essential oils to attract bats to deforested sites, where their seed-loaded feces may help stimulate regrowth. By Sean Mowbray
Conservation news
Lures that attract seed-dispersing bats could aid tropical reforestation
Attracting seed-dispersing bats to degraded landscapes and aiding in tropical forest restoration efforts has long been an alluring prospect for con...
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