Michellejean Pinuhan, an Indigenous Higaonon, completed her bachelors degree in agriculture entrepreneurship in 2022. Then, instead of working in the city after graduation, she chose to return to her roots in the Mount Sumagaya region, in the southern Philippines. The 23-year-old is part of a cohort of Indigenous youths known as basbasonon (second-liners): volunteers keeping alive an ancient forest monitoring practice known as panlaoy that helps protect ecosystems on the slopes of this biodiversity-rich mountain in Misamis Oriental province. Elders prepare the basbasonon to be the next cultural bearers and forest vanguards, and expose them to panlaoy and other cultural traditions. Panlaoy requires immersion in the forest, where participants observe, document and assess the condition of the ecosystem and any threats to it. Its preceded by a pagbala (foretelling) ritual that involves predicting the  permissibility of panlaoy through a bottle containing oil infused with medicinal herbs. Indigenous Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs) are territories of life conserved by Indigenous peoples due to their customary laws and governance systems. The Higaunon Indigenous community conserved area in Misamis Oriental, Philippines, is known by its local term Pina daw Bahaw-bahaw. Photo by Archie Tulin / NTFP-EP Philippines. Pinuhans father, Mantundaan Perfecto, is a datu (traditional leader), responsible for performing pagbala to seek their guardian spirits consent for the annual conduct of panlaoy. Pinuhan says she can vividly recall the ceremony her father conducted ahead of her first panlaoy in 2021: The 67-year-old datu tied a string around the bottles tip, suspendedThis article was originally published on Mongabay

At a conference on herpetology the branch of zoology studying reptiles and amphibians at the end of the 1980s, researchers from numerous countries began to tell of disappearing and shrinking frog and toad populations. It was found not to be an isolated situation: the same phenomenon was happening in many forests and mountains across the American continent. After a number of analyses, the scientists found that thousands of amphibians were becoming victim to a lethal fungus originating in Asia called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, which causes a disease called chytridiomycosis. Asian amphibians are resistant to the fungus, but not those on the other continents. Among the many amphibian species decimated in recent decades by Bd are those in the genus Atelopus, commonly known as harlequin frogs. The Atelopus spumarius harlequin frog lives in the Amazon Rainforest, with populations in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and the Guianas. Photo courtesty of Jaime Culebras/ASI. Found in a region stretching from Costa Rica to Bolivia and from Ecuador to French Guiana, including the Brazilian Amazon, these frogs measure a mere 2-3 centimeters (0.8-1.2 inches) in length. Their colors, however, can only be described as showy. They are covered in some of the most vibrant found in nature hot pink, orange, neon yellow and purple earning themselves the moniker jewels of the neotropics. The fungus has been horrible, devastating to the Atelopus. Of the 99 species we know, four are extinct in nature and [as many as] 40 may also beThis article was originally published on Mongabay

On his ninth birthday, Robertus Darren Radyan gave a present to each person who came to his party. Each guest got to take home a light-red flower pot that had a written appeal: Take care of me. Save the Earth and Go Green! Born in Jakarta in 2001, Darren discusses his schoolboy go green awareness in Menjalin Ikhtiar Merawat Bumi: Memoirs by Climate Reality Leaders, a collection of essays by Indonesian climate advocates who demand a safe future unharmed by a threatening climate crisis. Published last year, the book commemorates the 13th anniversary of the Indonesian branch of The Climate Reality Project, a global nonprofit founded in 2006 by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Amanda Katili Niode, founding director of The Climate Reality Project Indonesia, who co-edited the book, earned a PhD in 1988 from the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan and was special adviser to Rachmat Witoelar, who served as Indonesias environment minister from 2004-2009. Those who have written essays for the book are climate reality leaders, meaning they participated in one of the three-day workshops organized by The Climate Reality Project on finding solutions to the climate crisis. More than 45,000 climate reality leaders are spread across 190 countries and territories. Indonesia has more than 1,000. Many, if not half, of the books contributors are under 40, with a smattering of Generation Z climate advocates. Their direct-experience narratives are climate-strong, self-initiated, compelling and can instill people to do something in turn.This article was originally published on Mongabay

Haiti is facing a profound political and economic crisis.  Functional governance that serves the interests of Haitis people is largely nonexistent.  One of the necessities to overcome this crisis is transitioning from the extractive environmental and economic model that has long plagued the country to one that is regenerative and good for Haitians and their environment. In July of 2021 President Jovenel Mose was assassinated, and the current Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, is unelected. In fact, Haiti now has no elected government officials at local or national levels since the terms of 10 Senators expired on January 10, 2023. Armed gangs control over half of the neighborhoods and streets in Port-au-Prince, and have significant influence outside of the capital as well. They are inter-connected with many police and politicians.  Haitis electoral council is not currently able to organize elections, and the conditions for safe voting would not exist if they did.  Haiti is already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and the poverty and food crisis is growing. In 2022, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) ranked Haiti in the 10 worst hunger crises in the world, with 4.3 million (over 37% of the population) in need of immediate food assistance. International attention to Haiti typically rises when internal events and turmoil threaten to spill over and affect other nations whether in the form of the dangerous example of a successful slave revolt that established the independent nation in 1804; the flow of boat people and refugees to the US andThis article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA Marine observers in Indonesia have warned of a potential rise in illegal and unreported fishing in the wake of a new policy for how the government collects revenue from big fishing boats. This non-tax revenue includes fees for certification, resource exploitation, port services, quality inspections, and training, among others. The Indonesian fisheries ministry in 2021 issued a decree that allows operators of fishing vessels larger than 60 gross tonnage to pay all non-tax revenue in a lump sum after they land their catch at port. Previously, they were required to pay before going out to sea, when applying for business and fishing licenses. The ministry says the main reason for the change is to boost state income from the marine capture fisheries sector, while also tackling illegal practices of marking down boat sizes and overfishing. The endgame is actually for Indonesia to have fisheries management system thats well regulated, reported, and obeyed by all stakeholders, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, the fisheries minister, said at a press conference in Jakarta on Feb. 28. Small-scale Indonesian fishers are expected to benefit from the new business fee scheme, but some observers warn of the potential for unreported fishing practices. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Sakti said that while the new fee scheme wasnt necessarily designed to crack down on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, it would target increasing state income that could then be allocated to improve fisheries infrastructure and help boost small-scale and traditionalThis article was originally published on Mongabay

The Peruvian diving petrel is a tiny, thrush-sized seabird that spends more time in the water than in the air. True to its name, it plunges into the chilly waters off the western coast of South America, to depths of up to 82 meters (270 feet) in search of fish, squid and krill, storing its catch in an expandable throat pouch. But this ocean-dwelling species is now at risk due to climate change and other human-driven pressures. One threat to the Peruvian diving petrel (Pelecanoides garnotii), or yuncos, as theyre locally known, is habitat destruction and predation by invasive species. On Chiles Chaaral Island, for instance, which used to be a prime nesting site for the species, rabbits and foxes have largely driven out the species. People introduced rabbits to Chaaral Island in the early 20th century to give stranded fishermen a food source, but the rabbits quickly took over the birds burrows and decimated the islands vegetation. Then foxes were introduced to control the rabbits, but they seemed more interested in preying upon the diving petrels. In 2013, researchers and wildlife managers at Island Conservation and the Chilean National Forestry Corporation (CONAF by its Spanish acronym) began restoring the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve, a nature reserve that encompasses three Chilean islands Chaaral, Damas and Choros by working to remove invasive species. In 2017, the Chaaral was declared rabbit- and fox-free. Then, in 2019, a team from Island Conservation, CONAF, Catholic University of the North, and Project Puffin beganThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Ahead of the presidential election in Brazil last October, deforestation in the Amazon reached its highest level in 15 years. Was this an anomaly, or part of a pattern? Are elections and deforestation somehow linked? To answer these questions, a group of researchers examined deforestation and election data from 55 countries in the tropics between 2001 and 2018. They found that, overall, more deforestation occurred in years with competitive elections than in non-competitive election years. A competitive election is defined as one in which at least two candidates are running, and the votes actually count toward electing the winner (as opposed to elections with a single candidate or where the process is a sham). During these competitive years, candidates may use whatever tools they have at their disposal to win votes, including leveraging natural resources. These results are in line with previous studies on election cycle competitiveness, suggesting that competitive elections can be potential drivers of deforestation, they wrote in a recently published paper in the journal Biological Conservation. The president of Brazil, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, met with Joe Biden, the president of the United States, on Feb. 10 to discuss Brazils environmental agenda.  Image Ricardo Stuckert/Agncia Brasil. We think this is because politicians use land and resources to win over voters, said Joeri Morpurgo, first author of the study and Ph.D. candidate at Leiden University in the Netherlands. For example, candidates may donate forest land to be mined or logged, or relax regulations, all in hopesThis article was originally published on Mongabay

One of Europes biggest banks is facing two ambitious new lawsuits that claim it finances some of the worst contributors to environmental destruction and climate change. French bank BNP Paribas is being sued by a group of environmental and human rights advocacy groups that allege it provides financial services to oil and gas companies as well as meat producers that clear the Amazon to make space for cattle pastures a direct violation of a French due diligence law. The lawsuits, filed in French court, are some of the first to go after big banks for their role in the climate crisis, potentially opening up a new legal avenue for activists trying to combat climate change. The financial sector has an enormous collective responsibility to meet or not meet the Paris Agreement, Justine Ripoll, campaign manager for Notre Affaire Tous, said in a statement. This climate litigation against a commercial bank is undoubtedly the first in a long series all over the world. BNP Paribas officials speaking at a climate financing event. (Photo courtesy of BNP Paribas) The first lawsuit, filed this month by Oxfam, Friends of the Earth and climate justice NGO Notre Affaire Tous, accused BNP Paribas of giving loans to oil and gas companies like BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, among others. The other lawsuit, filed a week later by Comisso Pastoral da Terra and Notre Affaire Tous, said the bank funds companies like Marfrig, a meat producer that continues to purchase cattleThis article was originally published on Mongabay

READER ADVISORY: This story contains images of dead animals that some viewers may find disturbing. Wherever people live in close proximity to animals, conflicts will inevitably occur. And whenever environmental conditions change, populations expand or resources become restricted, a natural balance that evolved over millennia may be disturbed, and conflicts will often escalate. This happens as humans encroach on animal habitat, where wildlife populations recover from past declines, or, increasingly, where the impact of a changing climate escalates the frequency, duration and intensity of extreme weather events. When wildlife biologist Briana Abrahms of the University of Washington in the U.S. did the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in Botswanas Okavango Delta, she heard accounts of how its wild carnivores were more frequently attacking livestock and the occasional person during times of drought. Later, when she moved to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study whales, a massive heat wave caused a shift in whale feeding behavior that quintupled the number of whales that got entangled in fishing nets. Two totally different things, she recalls, but what was similar in both situations is that the underlying driver was an acute climate event, a prolonged drought or a marine heat wave, that changed the relationship between people and animals. That made me wonder how widespread this might be. The result is a new paper authored by Abrahms and a team of researchers in the journal Nature Climate Change that provides an overview of 49 studies that suggest a linkThis article was originally published on Mongabay

LAGOS Across Atorin-Ijesha in southwestern Nigeria, the clatter of stones fills the air as excavators aggressively dig into the soil. Gold miners work from dawn till dusk excavating the earth. There are fortunes to be made here in the Yoruba heartland but at a terrible cost to communities in gold-producing areas, and the lands they call home. Alluvial deposits of gold have been mined in this part of the country since 1980. Until recently, the industry was dominated by artisanal miners, mostly Hausa migrants from the northern part of the country. Host communities say the Hausa have expertise in finding gold, and the miners activity coexisted with the small plantations of cocoa and oil palm tended by other migrants from various parts of Yorubaland who had leased land from native residents, turning over a part of their harvest to the lands owners. Babatunde Ajayi is the traditional chief of Aye Aluko, a village about 10 kilometers from the ancient town of Ife. Until recently, this village and many others like it exported cocoa and palm oil from small stands cultivated by farmers who also grew food crops. Ajayi himself is a successful farmer, wealthy enough to be locally famous for granting generous loans to friends and kinsmen. But on July 15, 2021, gold miners encroached on a portion of my land on the order of the Ooni of Ife, the paramount traditional ruler of Yoruba land. All the cocoa and oil palm trees were brought down because ofThis article was originally published on Mongabay

CACHOEIRAS DE MACACU, Brazil Gesturing across the still, green water reflecting the backdrop of forest-clad mountains, Nicholas Locke told of the time when this flourishing wetland was once a barren pasture after being drained, cleared, and used for cattle grazing. Over the last five centuries, much of Brazils Atlantic Forest has suffered a similar fate. But since 2006, this wetland has been transformed thanks to Lockes relentless restoration efforts to rewild one of Brazils most important biomes. Now, caimans can be seen peering through clusters of reeds while great egrets nest in waterside canopies. The birds came back, Locke told Mongabay while walking in the area. The wetland is part of 12,000 hectares (29,652 acres) of primary and restored Atlantic Forest in the state of Rio de Janeiro, protected by Lockes nonprofit Guapiau Ecological Reserve (Regua). Once largely fragmented and bare, the area now supports 487 types of birds and hundreds of tree species after 750,000 trees were replanted in the last two decades. Once a pasture drained of water and cleared of vegetation, conservation efforts restored the areas former wetland and saw hundreds of species of birds return to the region. Image Sarah Brown. The Atlantic Forest originally stretched 1.2 million square kilometers (463,000 square miles) down the northeast coast of Brazil to the south before sprawling into the north of Argentina and southeast of Paraguay an area the size of Peru. Since the European arrival in the 1500s, at least 90% was cleared for BrazilsThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Michele Menegon and a team of local and international scientists have just described six new species of thumb-sized chameleon in Tanzanias Eastern Arc Mountains. The forest-capped mountains form an inland archipelago, stretching 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika to the Taita Hills in southeastern Kenya. Much like the 13 islands of that other famous archipelago, the Galapagos, the Eastern Arcs 13 isolated mountain blocks harbor startling biodiversity. The latest discovery brings to 26 the total number of Rhampholeon, or pygmy chameleons, described to date. More than half of them live in the Eastern Arc Mountains, whose mountain blocks resemble biological islands that have become the sites of species radiation for the tiny reptiles, just as the Galapagos Islands did for Charles Darwins finches. But these forests are threatened by farmers and herders who clear them to grow crops and raise livestock. Most of the six newly described chameleons are already at risk of extinction due to habitat loss, according to researchers. Menegon, an ecologist, conservationist and researcher, began working in the Eastern Arc Mountains 30 years ago. He would emerge after a day spent in the forest with more unknown species on his list than known ones. Most of the pygmy chameleons are endemic, or unique, to individual mountain blocks. The mountain blocks of the Eastern Arc Mountains resemble biological islands that have become the sites of species radiation for the tiny reptiles. Image courtesy of Michele Menegon. Scientists have just described six new species ofThis article was originally published on Mongabay

PUNTA CHUECA, Mexico Legend has it that, many thousands of years ago, a messenger arrived in the Comcaac land on board a strange boat after sailing on the waters of the Infiernillo Channel. The people were said to have welcomed the boat with the bill of a duck and the tail of another bird. He was the messenger of a great spirit, says Ren Montao, a Comcaac linguist. He told our ancestors that he spread xnois seeds all along the channel so that the grass would grow for the communitys use. He gave us permission to collect it and take care of it. Montao is addressing the entire community at a cultural festival in the Comcaac territory in what is today northwestern Mexico. He talks about how their ancestors learned that xnois (Zostera marina), a type of seagrass also known as eelgrass, could feed their people. Ren Montao, a Comcaac linguist, talks about the origin of xnois during a cultural festival in Mexico. Image by Astrid Arellano for Mongabay. Zostera marina is paramount for us, Montao says. There are other parts of the world where it barely exists, but here, in this channel, theres plenty. The messenger showed people how to harvest it, what parts shouldnt be touched so that it can regrow. From that moment, Comcaac warriors and fishers learned that it was a food that would give them the necessary strength to survive long days at sea, and the different ways it could be prepared were passedThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), human rights abuses at sea and the collapse of ocean ecosystems are fundamentally intertwined. Fish populations have rapidly declined globally, with 35% of fish populations now overfished and 57% fished at the maximum sustainable level. More vessels are chasing fewer fish, and up to one in five fish are believed to be caught illegally. To remain profitable, unscrupulous operators turn to illegal fishing, human trafficking, slavery and other abuses to cut costs. This is facilitated by the complex, opaque nature of global fisheries. There is one essential step every government can and must take to end this and bring fisheries out of the shadows: introducing comprehensive transparency. Without knowing who is catching what, where, when and how, we cannot make progress for a safe, sustainable ocean. By publishing information like vessel licence lists or the beneficial owners who really profit from the activities of a given vessel, governments can make it much more difficult for those responsible for illegal fishing or human rights abuses to escape unpunished, or to sell their products into global markets. Yellowfin tuna. Image by Martin Gil Gallo via the Creative Commons, CC-BY-NC. The necessary steps are often straightforward and low cost. For example, all vessels should be given a unique number which remains with it through its entire life, regardless of changes in name or owner. This is the same principle as a car number plate, ensuring that any infractions can be handled appropriately. The case of the ISRARThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Our planet is in crisis.  Human activity is driving accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss across the globe. The devastating impacts of both processes are disproportionately felt by women and Indigenous communities, globally. Radical, transformative change is needed now to halt and reverse current trends, and to conserve the species and ecosystems upon which we all depend for our wellbeing. The direction for much conservation policy and practice in the decade ahead was set this December 2022, when Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), an ambitious plan for achieving the vision of a society living in harmony with nature. The adoption under the GBF of a target to protect 30% of the planets land and seas by 2030 (Target 2) has garnered the bulk of the media attention  (and controversy) but more radical as well as more inclusive, equitable and effective in the long term would be the successful implementation of Target 23, on gender equality. The CBD over the years has adopted many gender-related decisions mostly as related to gender balance and representation (Booker et al. 2022). Yet Target 23 is different. As a stand-alone target, parties to it are committed to monitoring and reporting on progress made towards gender equality under the convention. The target sets out not only women and girls equal rights to participate effectively in biodiversity action and policy (a commitment also set out under the related Target 22, on ensuring equitable decision-making)This article was originally published on Mongabay

From rising sea levels to scorching heat waves, the planet has one foot in the climate grave. But a new report says three targeted policy interventions could lead to positive tipping points, helping pull us back from the brink. The report produced by Systemiq, a company that advocates for systems change in the global economy, along with the University of Exeter in the U.K. and the Bezos Earth Fund focuses on areas that could trigger a cascade of decarbonization in sectors representing 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It was released at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January. These positive or desirable tipping points can help humankind transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions as fast as we can, Tim Lenton, chair in climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter and a contributor to the report, told Mongabay. The report, titled The Breakthrough Effect, identifies three credible super-leverage points that have the potential to cut carbon emissions not just in one sector, but to snowball into a series of tipping points and support faster decarbonization returns across numerous industries. Such positive tipping points occur where reinforcing feedback within a system is able to get strong enough to become self-propelling, according to Lenton. The first recommendation is for a mandate on zero-emission vehicles; the second a mandate to employ green ammonia as fertilizer; and the third is public procurement of non-meat proteins. All three of these sectors are connected toThis article was originally published on Mongabay

BATANG TORU, Indonesia With fewer than 800 individuals remaining in the wild today, the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan isnt just the most threatened great ape species in the world its also one of the most elusive. Theyre so rare that even the people living in the Batang Toru forest, in the Tapanuli region of northern Sumatra, have rarely seen one. Scientists say it can take weeks in the field to spot just a single Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) here, the apes only known habitat. The fact that they dwell high in the trees, seldom descending to the ground, makes it even more difficult to catch sight of the orangutans. But thats not the case for 66-year old Bullah Hutasuhut, a farmer in Batang Toru. He said Tapanuli orangutans have been coming into the villagers farms nearly every week now. In the past, the orangutans sometimes came [to the farms], but not as frequently as now, Bullah told Mongabay when we visited his home village of Sitandiang last September. In Luat Lombang, another village in the Batang Toru forest, its the same story: more orangutan sightings than ever before. Muara Siregar, the Luat Lombang village chief, said sightings are especially common when the durian fruit is in season. Residents of the villages of Dolok Nauli and Hutaimbaru, also in Batang Toru, had never before seen orangutans, but now the animals are appearing increasingly often, according to Julius Siregar, an orangutan conservationist with North Sumatra-based environmental NGO Foundation for SustainableThis article was originally published on Mongabay

As mass coral bleaching events grow in frequency and intensity, scientists are finding out more about how corals, which make up the physical foundation of reefs, respond during times of heat stress. But what is less well known is how mass bleaching events affect other components of reef ecosystems, such as their amazingly colorful array of reef fish species. When a team of scientists studying reef fish behavior in the shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific during 2016 were shocked by the onset of one of the worst-ever global bleaching events a phenomenon caused by elevated sea temperatures they quickly decided to view the tragedy as an opportunity to learn more about their subjects. Their study, published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests that coral die-off due to mass bleaching events is disrupting conflict avoidance behaviors in reef fish. Fish living on newly degraded reefs are finding it harder to make the appropriate behavioral responses to competitors, say the researchers. As a result, they get into more fights and chases, expending their valuable, limited energy reserves and risking their long-term survival. By recognising a competitor, individual fish can make decisions about whether to escalate, or retreat from, a contest conserving valuable energy and avoiding injuries, Sally Keith, a senior marine biologist at Lancaster University in the U.K. and lead author of the study, said in a statement. These rules of engagement evolved for a particular playing field, but that field is changing. A melon butterflyfishThis article was originally published on Mongabay

As Russias invasion of Ukraine continues, conservation biologists have been forced to implement new solutions to protect their conservation legacy. Watch how Ukraines forest guardians are preserving nature in dangerous conditions. Meanwhile in Brazil, with the recent changes in the government, Indigenous lawmakers, political representatives and anthropologists discuss climate change, environment, mining, rights, land struggles and Indigenous wellbeing. Mongabay-India covered two stories along Indias western coastal states. In Maharashtra state, local fishers are facing depleted fish stocks in the seas due to trawlers with advanced fishing methods. In Kerala state, where coconut plantations are prevalent, farmers are experimenting with integrating other crops in between to improve farm productivity. Mongabays Romi Castagnino spoke with Harry Turner and Samantha Zwicker of the documentary Wildcat about their roles in rescuing an orphaned baby ocelot from the black market and about pet trade. Add these videos to your watchlist for the month and watch them for free on Mongabays YouTube channel. Ukraines forest guardians: preserving nature in war The Polissky and Drevliansky Nature Reserves in Ukraine, renowned for their high levels of biodiversity, have been left scarred by a year of conflict in the country. On the Ukraine-Belarus border, conservation work has become dangerous and difficult, mines are a constant threat and communication with Belarusian peers has been disrupted. As the threat of a new invasion from Belarus looms, conservationists do what they can to continue their vital work. Read more: Amid war, Ukrainian biologists fight to protect conservation legacy Malvan fishers face a diminishingThis article was originally published on Mongabay

When John Midgley dug a golden brown tarantula out of its burrow in the remote woodlands of southeastern Angola, he felt he had found one of the most astonishing animals ever. Examining the spider by headlamp in his camp, the South African entomologist marveled at the horn on its back, longer than any found on similar species from the same genus, Ceratogyrus, or baboon spiders, because of their hairy appearance. Midgley knew something else: that this eye-catching appendage, given its novelty, would likely put the animals at risk from traders and collectors of exotic pets. He and his team made every effort to mitigate this. When it came to publishing their paper, they intentionally left out the GPS coordinates for where theyd located the species, he recalled. But the spiders are relatively easy to find in the wild, he concedes. Any experienced collector legal or illegal would be able to find several per trip, he told Mongabay. Now, more than six years after it was revealed to the world, it does appear that some of the spiders known to Angolans as chandachuly and to Midgley and his co-authors as Ceratogyrus attonitifer, have found their way into the online trade. Thats according to Alice Hughes, the lead author of a recent study on the vast and unregulated global trade in invertebrates. We only see trade [about chandachuly] being discussed [online] so it is likely occurring at very low levels, Hughes told Mongabay. They [collectors] like new things. (A) Aerial view ofThis article was originally published on Mongabay

This interview was produced with the funding support of the Pulitzer Center. WESTERN TURKANA, KenyaDriving across Northern Kenyas Turkana County, the seemingly boundless terrain of sand dunes, dusty brushes and hard, dry soil makes it hard to imagine anyone could farm and eke a living out here. As Kenya and the Horn of Africa are confronted by the fifth consecutive failed rainy season since September 2020the regions worst drought in four decadesaround 22 million people (roughly the population of Taiwan or Sri Lanka) are food insecure, says a U.N. World Food Programme report released last month. In Kenya, the number stands at 4.4 million as of December 2022, with children needing acute treatment for malnutrition on the rise. The numbers and immense toll on pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, who rely on both crops and livestock, grow starker still: their animals have been dying en masse with, 2.5 million livestock deaths recorded by the Government of Kenya, and entire communities pushed to pursue different livelihoods as traditional means and resources fail. Patricia Nyinguro, a climate scientist at the Kenya Meteorological Department, says that although there are several causes of the ongoing drought, negative. La Nia conditions are a significant contributing factor. This periodic cooling of sea-surface temperatures over the Pacific Ocean, the meteorologist tells Mongabay, leads to certain negative indices, such as prolonged drought. A Turkana man walking through the sand dunes at Eliye Springs, on the western shores of Lake Turkana. Image by Kang-Chun Cheng. A U.N. report has confirmed thatThis article was originally published on Mongabay

This story was produced with the funding support of the Pulitzer Center. WEST TURKANA, KENYABy late morning along Kaito beach on the western banks of Lake Turkana, the heat beating down from the sun is already deadly hot. A cluster of villagers, mostly women, flock around boats docked from an overnight fishing voyage. Theyre engrossed in gutting and washing the catches as children and several litters of puppies splash about the shallow waters; young men sort through the near-translucent nets in preparation for the following days trip. But underneath the buzz of energy is some anxiety, tinged with gloomtoday, the fish barely fill a few baskets. This is all we got, says one of the fishers, 24-year-old Teresa Ekutan. Its hardly enough to feed us all. The catches have been sparse for a few weeks now, Lochampa Ekingol tells Mongabay. At 32, she lives in one of the few dozen akai akamatei (straw huts) a mere stones throw away from the lake with her seven children. In 2017, Ekingol opted to leave behind her life of herding and move from Lowarengak towna two-hour walk on sandy roads in fierce heatfor closer proximity to the lake to take up fishing. In the face of the current severe drought putting millions of lives and livestock at risk in Kenya and the Horn of Africa, she and the fifty or so other villagers who came with her are part of a growing wave of pastoralists switching livelihoods to fish in the worlds largestThis article was originally published on Mongabay

In January, a wave of outrage swept Brazil after photos and footage of sick and starving Yanomami were made public. The newly sworn-in Brazilian president, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, and his team flew to the state of Roraima, home to the Yanomami reservation, to provide assistance and set up a plan to evict illegal gold miners from the territory. Gold mining in Indigenous territories illegal under any circumstances in Brazil is considered the cause of the humanitarian crisis. Miners bring diseases, infect rivers with mercury, hunt animals that are part of the Yanomami diet, and lure Indigenous people with gold and alcohol. The situation was only possible due to the intentional inaction of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who left office on Dec. 31. Bolsonaro viewed the Yanomami as an obstacle to the exploitation of the region and tried for years to revoke the demarcation of the territory during his terms in the Brazilian Congress. The first actions of Lulas administration are showing results: Miners are fleeing the region, police forces are controlling human transit and removing mining machinery and thousands of Indigenous people are receiving food donations and medical care. The crisis has also helped create a favorable setting for changes in Brazils gold trading laws, considered weak and full of loopholes, which had resulted in a pro-crime scenario. The Yanomami health disaster created a favorable setting for changes in Brazils gold trading laws. Image courtesy of Fernando Frazo/Agncia Brasil. On Feb. 7, Attorney General Augusto ArasThis article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA A court in Indonesia has sentenced palm oil billionaire Surya Darmadi to 15 years in prison for his role in the biggest corruption case in the countrys history. The Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court ruled on Feb. 23 that Surya had conspired with the elected head of Indragiri Hulu district in Sumatra, Raja Thamsir Rachman, in 2004 to secure plantation permits for Suryas company, PT Duta Palma. Surya was also found guilty on money laundering charges. In addition, the court ordered Surya to pay 1 billion rupiah ($65,600) in fines and 2.23 trillion rupiah ($146 million) in restitution for the profit he reaped from the illegal plantations. The judges also ordered Surya to pay an additional 39.7 trillion rupiah ($2.6 billion) for losses incurred by the state. Thamsir Rahman is currently on trial in the same case, and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Theres been a mixed response to the verdict in Suryas case, in which prosecutors had sought a life sentence and total fines of 86.55 trillion rupiah ($5.7 billion). Thats the figure that prosecutors say represents the total loss to the state from the scheme, making it Indonesias costliest corruption case. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the countrys biggest green NGO, criticized the verdict as too lenient and not commensurate with the environmental damage that the illegal plantations had caused. The time it takes to recover the environmental damage caused by the activity of the illegal plantations is longer than the prisonThis article was originally published on Mongabay