Paul Van Damme and Fortuna Vargas Meja met 28 years ago in Puerto Villarroel, a village in the Bolivian department of Cochabamba. Van Damme was a Belgian marine biologist who found in the lagoons of the Bolivian Amazon the closest thing to a sea. Vargas was a native of Cochabamba who had worked as a navigator for 12 years before becoming a fisherman, so he knew well the Amazonian rivers and lagoons that so fascinated the European scientist. At that time the 1990s commercial fishing had just begun to boom in Puerto Villarroel, a municipality located on the banks of the Ichilo River in the Mamor Basin, which includes three departments of the Bolivian Amazon. In one day and a night I caught 1,200 kilograms [2645 pounds] [of fish], because there werent many of us, recalled Vargas, who is now 70 years old and has not worked as a fisherman for 15 years. Until then, the area and its forests had been well preserved and was home to a mainly Indigenous population. People from the Moxo and Yuqui Indigenous groups lived in communities along the banks of the river, living mainly off hunting, fishing and subsistence agriculture. Little by little, people from other parts of Bolivia started to move to the urban center of Puerto Villarroel and its outskirts, leading to it eventually becoming the main and largest commercial port connecting western and eastern Bolivia. Fortunato Vargas, a fisherman from Puerto Villaroel, at home. Image courtesy of WaraThis article was originally published on Mongabay

SO PAULOA new study published in Nature estimates that forests in Indigenous lands in Brazils Amazon have the potential to absorb over 7,000 tons of noxious fumes from forest fires every year, preventing about 15 million cases of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases annually, which would otherwise cost $2 billion to Brazils public health system. The effect on the health of populations adds to the environmental impacts of fires in the Amazon forest, which are mainly caused by deforestation and contribute to increased emissions. What was not yet known was the level of those damages, the costs and the ability of the Amazon forests in Indigenous lands to absorb the pollutants, said the studys authors. Fire-related incidence of respiratory and cardiovascular infections for the entire Brazilian Amazon on a municipality basis from 2010 to 2019. Spatially, the Arc of deforestation in the Amazon was the region with the highest average incidences of infections reported. Image courtesy of EcoHealth Alliance. The study is the first to measure how much the loss of rainforests protected by Indigenous peoples can cost human health, said Paula Prist, lead author of the study and research scientist at the EcoHealth Alliance, during a press conference last week. The study is part of compounding research pointing to the successful forest conservation efforts and environmental services Indigenous territories in the Amazon provide. The Amazon Indigenous lands ratified by the Brazilian state, which number 383, were included in the study. Based on an analysis of ten years of data, fromThis article was originally published on Mongabay

EBURU, Kenya The twin peaks of Mount Eburu are draped with 87 square kilometers, about 34 square miles, of montane forest. Theyre home to more than 40 species of mammals, including the critically endangered mountain bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci). Like other forest reserves in central Kenya, Eburu has suffered degradation because its also a source of food and fuel for surrounding communities. This could change, though, as a household biogas project aims to reduce demand for timber, firewood, and charcoal, by providing locals an alternative source of energy. Lydia Nyota heads one of 150 households in the village of Eburu that have begun using biogas for cooking and lighting their homes. Like most of her neighbors here, the 60-year-old used to rely on firewood and charcoal from the nearby Eburu Forest for fuel. We value this forest because it gives us rain and it hosts critically endangered species, Nyota told Mongabay. The Eburu Forest is home to more than 40 species of mammals, including the critically endangered mountain bongo. Image courtesy Tsavo National Park (Fair use.) Reserves of biodiversity Eburu is the easternmost of 22 protected forest blocks in central Kenya. Once part of the Mau Forest complex, an expanse of montane forest thats a vital source of the water that feeds lakes and rivers across the Rift Valley region, Eburu is now an island of forest surrounded by agriculture and settlements. Despite decades of encroachment, Eburus various zones shifting from acacia and lelechwa on the lower slopes,This article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA When the Indonesian government announced its food estate program in 2020, it envisioned the establishment of large-scale agricultural plantations across the country. These plantations of crops like rice, cassava and potato were supposed to be the answer to what the government says is an impending global food crisis, and would help feed the worlds fourth-largest population. But a field investigation at the sites of the food estate program in the Bornean province of Central Kalimantan by independent researchers in March 2022 and February 2023 instead found sprawling plantations that had been abandoned. Three years into the program, theres no rice or cassava crops ready to be harvested, and no farmers tending their fields. Instead, wild shrubs have sprouted on these plots of lands, and excavators have started to rust away, according to the investigation by environmental NGOs Pantau Gambut and Walhi Central Kalimantan, and BBC News Indonesia. In the village of Tewai Baru, Gunung Mas district, for instance, the investigation found 600 hectares (nearly 1,500 acres) of cassava plantations withering away. Villagers told the researchers that the crops hadnt been harvested. And despite being more than a year old, well into maturity for cassava plants, these crops appeared thin and stunted, the researchers found. The cassava tubers themselves were small, about the size of a human finger. The investigation also found seven abandoned excavators that no longer worked. A cleared area for the establishment of cassava plantation as a part of the food estate program in the TewaiThis article was originally published on Mongabay

SANTA ELENA DE UAIRN, Venezuela Standing at the brink of a man-made canyon, Jhonny Pereira, a Brazilian-born mining boss, looks down at a dozen gold miners as they plough through piles of soil and rocks. Theyre toiling in the Parkupi mine, in southern Venezuela, about 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) from the border with Brazil. There are more people here now, he tells me, almost yelling to cover the rumbling of machines that use high-pressure water jets to dislodge rock and move gravel. You know, its out of necessity; people here are starving, he says. He is one of thousands of Brazilian wildcat miners, locally known as garimpeiros, who have migrated to Venezuela in search of gold. Pereira and other garimpeiros know their mining activities destroy these pristine lands. He laments the destruction theyre causing and has made some meager attempts to restore lands. Yet, such efforts are limited, and these territories are remain scarred, while Indigenous people witness their lands being exploited and feel trapped in a place of little opportunity. Since the collapse of Venezuelas economy reduced by roughly three-quarters between 2014 and 2021 the country has increasingly relied on Brazil for imports of food, medicine, fuel, machinery and other basic supplies to keep their local population and the mines alive. Venezuelan bolivares are useless. Here, everything is paid in Brazilian reais or in gold. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when people struggled to access food and medicine, supplies still reached the mines, says a merchant,This article was originally published on Mongabay

After four years of environmental destruction, Brazil has reached a crossroads that will determine the fate of its biomes and its role in the global climate crisis. In its first 100 days in office, the new government has taken decisive action to undo the damage inflicted by former president Jair Bolsonaro, experts say. However, they also warn there are three crucial measures pending that need to be pushed forward this year, and that failing to do so could undermine the campaign promises of President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. A damning new report from the Climate Observatory, a network of civil society organizations, compiled four years worth of measures by the Bolsonaro administration, in office from 2019 to 2022, ranging from the dismantling of environmental protection agencies to record high levels of deforestation. The report makes a clear conclusion: the former president deliberately tried to sabotage environmental conservation. There was a calculated plan to destroy the environment, Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, told Mongabay by phone. We know that everything that happened was not by chance. It was a plan of destruction. Final numbers of the damage the Bolsonaro administration inflicted on Brazils environment, according to the report, include: zero Indigenous territories demarcated; a 60% increase in deforestation from the previous four-year period, the largest increase ever recorded in a presidential term; a 12.2% increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 to 2021, the highest in 19 years; and a 38% decrease in the number of finesThis article was originally published on Mongabay

More than 60% of people in Central Africa have no access to electricity. An ambitious proposal aims to change that with a network of pipelines, refineries and gas-fired power plants stretching across 11 countries in the region. But critics say the proposed Central African Pipeline System is a mistake. Nathalie Lum, chairwoman of the Central Africa Business Energy Forum (CABEF), an organization that hosts an annual conference of oil and gas corporations and regional energy ministers, told Mongabay that CAPS will help make the Central Africa region an energy poverty-free zone by 2030. Access to reliable, affordable energy can help reduce poverty, attract investments, and create jobs, while also providing an important source of revenue for governments. she said. CABEF describes itself as a platform for developing cooperation between Central African countries which aims to use natural gas, a fossil fuel, to power homes and businesses as well as the mining industry. However, a 2020 study by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector development arm of the World Bank Group, suggests that Africas onshore wind potential is enough to satisfy the entire continents current electricity demands 250 times over. The continent also has an abundance of solar energy, which is increasingly affordable to harness. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, the unit cost of electricity from solar has declined by 85% over the past decade, while the cost of wind energy has declined byThis article was originally published on Mongabay

This month, Muslims across the world welcomed the month of Ramadan a blessed month during which they fast and strive towards nurturing God-consciousness both spiritually and through acts of goodness. This month also marked the release of the new IPCC report, which provides a how-to guide to defuse the climate time-bomb, as described by UN Secretary General Antnio Guterres. However, what characterized this report was a hopeful urgency in the call to action. The report calls for a joint commitment by all of humanity to participate in a global effort towards a radical shift in the impacts of climate change. As the IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair, Debra Roberts explained last year, Our assessment clearly shows that tackling all these different challenges involves everyoneworking together to prioritize risk reductionin this way, different interests, values and world views can be reconciled  Different perspectives, world views, and approaches to understanding and connecting with the Earths wellbeing, must cooperatively form the climate action narrative. Muslims and the Islamic world view play a role in this. The Pew Research Center identifies a global Muslim population of more than 1.9 billion, which is projected to grow significantly in the coming years. With more than 50 Muslim-majority nations in the world, along with a significant number of Muslims living in places like Europe and North America, the climate change discourse impacts Muslims bilaterally. Many Muslim nations are bearing significant impacts from climate change, while others are also living in nations that are actively contributing to climateThis article was originally published on Mongabay

*This report was carried out as part of a journalistic partnership between Mongabay Latam and La Barra Espaciadora de Ecuador. On Aug. 10, 2009, in the community of Los Reyes, Sandra Zabala, a local farmer, and two of her sons, Byron and Damaris Duche, were attacked with spears by people who were later identified as members of the Taromenane clan, based on the type of weapons they used. The Taromenane are one of Ecuadors Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation (pueblos Indgenas en aislamiento voluntario, PIAV), along with the Tagaeri, who live in the buffer zone of the Yasun National Park, located in the northeastern province of Orellana, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This was not the first time these Indigenous groups had clashed with colonos, or local settler farmers, but it was the first time that such an attack by Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation had taken place on the borders of the agricultural frontier as opposed to inside the rainforest. Since the 1980s, confrontations provoked by the advancing activities of the logging and oil industries led to a massacre in which at least 60 individuals from PIAV groups were killed, and loggers and other workers were killed with spears. The three members of the Duche Zabala family died in the attack, with their deaths increasing intercultural tensions in the region. In an attempt to resolve the conflict, in 2013, the Ecuadorian government delineated the Strip of Diversity and Life along a 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) stretch of the western boundary ofThis article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA Every time a new Javan rhino calf is spotted, Indonesias environmental authorities issue an update of the precise population number for the near-extinct species. The rhinos entire population is confined to a single national park, filled with hundreds of camera traps that allow conservationists to monitor sightings of known, named adult rhinos as well as any new births. Since 2011, when officials started installing the camera traps, the government has reported steady growth from 35 to 72 individual Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus). According to a new investigative report, however, the seeming precision of these numbers belies serious problems with transparency, poor management of the species, and indications that the population may in fact be declining. Among the key revelations in the report published April 11 by Indonesian nonprofit environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara is that 18 rhinos (nine females and nine males) that have not been spotted alive for years (some since 2019) are still included in the most recent population counts. Further investigation by Auriga Nusantara found that three of these 18 missing rhinos have died: one female in 2019 and a female and a male in 2021. None of these missing and dead Javan rhinos were publicly announced by either the agency that manages Ujung Kulon National Park or the Indonesian environment ministry. By contrast, the government has regularly publicized news of Javan rhino births, signaling a stable population growth. Its an unfair glorification from the government for not publishing these losses as well, Timer Manurung, theThis article was originally published on Mongabay

After four years of conservation action, the number of flying foxes large bat species flocking to the Indonesian island of Mantawalu Daka has grown from around 8,000 to 40,000, according to PROGRES Sulawesi, an Indonesian NGO. Conservationists have worked with community members to change negative perceptions of bats and limit hunting on the island. Protecting bats can improve forest health, and since their return in greater numbers, local fishers report fish are easier to come by around the island. Our hypothesis is that the bat poop washes out to the outer area of the islands, Sheherazade, co-executive director of PROGRES Sulawesi, told Mongabay. As it does so, its thought the bat guano spurs seagrass growth, which in turn provides habitat for fish. Now, more and more fishermen report that its easier to catch fish closer to the island. Bat hunting on Mantawalu Daka and other parts of Sulawesi remains a challenge, PROGRES Sulawesis Sheherazade explained. For her, it underlines the need to expand conservation action. Photo courtesy of PROGRES Sulawesi. Flying fox ecosystem services The positive impact of nutrient-rich flying fox poop on seagrass and fish abundance needs further research, the conservationists say. Beyond that, there are several scientifically documented benefits of having these bats around. Its known, for example, that they are key pollinators of durian, an economically valuable fruit across Southeast Asia. And they also pollinate a number of other tropical plants, directly influencing the health of forest ecosystems. Flying foxes play an important role inThis article was originally published on Mongabay

BALIKPAPAN/JAKARTA A clearing for the ramp to a new toll road in the Indonesian Bornean city of Balikpapan gapes open on the side of a paved highway as big trucks rumble past. Farther down this passage thats been bulldozed through a forested area on the Balikpapan Bay coast, the sound of excavators grows louder. Construction workers are cutting down trees and shunting them to the side, uncovering the soft, reddish soil, while others rest at a makeshift hut. The broad pathway leads to a high ground clearing with a view over the coast and the bay below. Here, a temporary office has been erected, with a handful of banners put up explaining what this ongoing construction represents. The toll road is being built as part of the development of Indonesias new capital city, Nusantara, here in East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. But experts warn that the road threatens the integrity of a protected riverside forest and the coastal mangroves and marine ecosystem that it borders. When Mongabay visited the area in October 2022, clearing for the road hadnt been completed yet. It ended at rows of thick, towering trees. But the latest satellite images reviewed by Mongabay show that the planned road has, in just a few months, cut through the coastal forests to reach a recently completed bridge from Balikpapan. In the process, the road has passed into the buffer zone of the protected Sungai Wain Forest and grazes the forest itself. A high clearingThis article was originally published on Mongabay

KATHMANDU The spring season in the Northern Hemisphere is a critical time for red pandas, particularly in Nepal. This is the period when these furry, tree-dwelling animals spend a lot of time on the ground to look for food. Its also the time when breeding adults of the species, Ailurus fulgens, start to reproduce, and when cubs born the previous year explore their habitat in search of a new home. These are some of the findings conservationist Damber Bista made while working on his Ph.D. at the University of Queensland, Australia. As part of the study, Bista and his team fitted 10 red pandas in eastern Nepal with GPS collars, so that they could track them to look at the effects of human disturbances on the species. Mongabays Abhaya Raj Joshi spoke to Bista recently over video call to learn about his work. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and lightly edited for length and clarity. Mongabay: Could you please describe the main objectives of your study? Damber Bista: My main overall objective was to look at the effects of human disturbance and habitat fragmentation on red pandas. I tried to look at these issues from different indicators such as their space use pattern, daily movement and behavior while close to a road. Also, as we didnt have previous studies on how cubs disperse after leaving their mother, I also looked into it. The other objective was related to their recursive behavior under which they spend aThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Community-based conservation, which seeks to simultaneously benefit people and nature, is a promising approach for tackling biodiversity loss, climate change and socioeconomic inequalities. A recent publication identifies 15 key emerging threats and opportunities in community-based conservation. These resulted from a horizon scan for community-based conservation undertaken over the past two years by a group of 39 conservation practitioners from around the globe, including staff at Mongabay. The group, coordinated by Wilder Institute, analyzed input from a global online survey that received responses from 555 individuals plus 36 groups with a diversity of knowledge backgrounds spread across 109 nations. There are several concrete steps and recommendations that can be drawn from the 15 topics identified. Here are just a few. The 15 topics identified in a recent Trends in Ecology & Evolution review as most pertinent to community-based conservations effectiveness over the coming 15 years and their thematic grouping. There is an assumed connection between topics within the same theme. Dashed arrows represent a direct connection between topics across themes; additional, subtler connections may exist. Image by the Wilder Institute. One topic highlights recently amplified calls for economic reform, or at least green economic recovery. Yet, green growth will not address the climate and biodiversity crises unless social, ecological and intergenerational outcomes are prominent in evaluating wealth. There are growing efforts to identify more comprehensive indicators of well-being. Community-based conservation, already pursuing holistic conceptions of what constitutes wealth, can both guide and benefit from wider adoption of transformative, sufficiency-focused frameworks suchThis article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA The Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), the main advocacy group for Indigenous communities in Indonesia, has won a 2023 Skoll Award for Social Innovation. Since its establishment in 1999, AMAN has been advocating for Indigenous rights to prevent communities from having their lands stolen. The main issue currently facing Indigenous communities in Indonesia is the massive expropriation of Indigenous territories and all the wealth within those territories. This has exacerbated climate change, as the clearing of Indigenous forests releases heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. On the other hand, protecting Indigenous peoples rights to their lands and forests is one of the best tool to fight climate change, as Indigenous peoples have been proven to be the best guardians of forests, even with their often-limited access to financial resources and lack of legal recognition. When compared with government-managed protection zones, forests managed by Indigenous communities are often better conserved. For example, a 2000-2012 study of the Amazon found that annual deforestation rates on tenured Indigenous forestlands were 2-3 times lower than outside these areas. To protect Indigenous peoples rights to their lands, AMAN has been carrying out a number of initiatives, like mapping Indigenous territories and lobbying for pro-Indigenous legislation. We thank the Skoll Foundation. This award shows that AMANs hard work for more than 20 years has been recognized as a tremendous fight, AMAN secretary general Rukka Sombolinggi told Mongabay. To date, 2,449 Indigenous communities, representing 20 million people, have joined AMAN. AMAN has also supported anThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Boats and water hyacinths arent the only ones floating in the Philippines Laguna Lake. In some areas of Los Baos and Bay, small-scale floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) installations can be seen afloat. With a warm breeze and the setting sun in the background, the FPV beds provide a scenic view. These installations are part of a pilot project for a planned 2,000-hectare (4,900-acre), 1,300-megawatt FPV project in Laguna province with expected operations to begin in 2024. The project is a first both for the Philippines and globally. Though floating photovoltaic installations are gaining popularity as interest in renewable energy surges, it will be the first large-scale operation on a natural lake. What exactly this will mean for local people dependent on the lake for survival remains to be seen. When he first heard of the project, says Cornelio Replan Jr., chairman of the local government-sponsored fishers association, he immediately thought of how it would affect their livelihoods as fisherfolks. We are not against development, but I hope they do not leave out fisherfolks in their plans because our livelihood depends on it and we are the ones who know the lake, Replan says, speaking in Filipino. He has been fishing since he was 12 years old. Fisherfolks cleaning their nets at the Community Fish Landing Center in Bay, Laguna, after a few days of not being able to fish due to unfavorable weather conditions. Various kinds of waste such as plastics and wood were caught up in their fishing nets.This article was originally published on Mongabay