MONGABAY

MARCH 24. 2025

As apes adapt to human disturbance, their new behaviors also put them at risk: Study

Human activities such as mining, agriculture, urbanization, damming and logging threaten the habitats of great apes in Africa and Asia. Apes have shown resilience to these disruptions by adapting their behavior in a variety of ways, including crop raiding and changing nesting sites, a new study finds.

In ‘The Battle for Laikipia, ’ the human face of resource conflict in Kenya

KIMANA, Kenya — Lush, fertile and green, the Laikipia highlands of Kenya are renowned for their beauty and abundant grasses that feed its wildlife and livestock. They’re also the theater of some of the longest-running land disputes in the country.

Tanzania’s marine reserves offer long-term benefits to communities, study finds

Marine protected areas in Tanzania boosted living standards in nearby communities over a span of nearly 20 years, a recent study in Conservation Letters found. Near MPAs, living standards improved, and there was a shift away from agricultural work, said study author Julia Girard, a Ph. D.

New allegations of abuse against oil palm giant Socfin in Cameroon

YAOUNDÉ — In the village of Apouh, in southwestern Cameroon’s Edéa municipality, a group of women has remained steadfast in its fight against palm oil giant Socapalm.

5 takeaways from the 2022 Repsol oil spill in Peru

On Jan. 15, 2022, more than 11,000 barrels of oil spilled into the ocean off the Peruvian coast. It flowed from a pipeline that had broken while the Mare Doricum, an Italian tanker, unloaded oil at Terminal No. 2 of the La Pampilla refinery in the region of Callao, near Lima. On Jan.

Regulation loopholes fuel illegal wildlife trade from Latin America to Europe

Latin America, a biodiversity hotspot home to 40% of the world’s species, is witnessing an alarming decline in its wildlife. Illegal wildlife trafficking to wealthier parts of the world, such as North America and Europe, is one of the factors driving the decline.

Plastic pollution cuts into fishers’ livelihoods in Ecuador and Peru

Plastic waste is increasingly causing problems for fishers. Fishnets bring up bottles, propellers get tangled in bags, water pumps get clogged with debris, and boats collide with bags of trash.

India’s Indigenous restaurateurs bring tribal cuisines to the city

Indigenous entrepreneurs in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand are popularizing traditional tribal foods with urban restaurants, reports Mongabay India’s Kundan Pandey. One such restaurant is Ajam Emba in Jharkhand’s capital, Ranchi. The name means “delicious taste” in Kurukh, the language spoken by the Indigenous Oraon community.

Sumatran culinary heritage at risk as environment changes around Silk Road river

PALEMBANG, Indonesia – The pempek restaurants in the Plaju neighborood were full to the gills in early March. Palembang chefs pulverized mudfish caught from the Musi River into subtle variations of the historic city’s specialty fish cake.

MARCH 21. 2025

Women’s rights to forests and land remain weak in much of the Global South

A new report by the NGO Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) reviewed national laws and regulations across 35 countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It found that since RRI’s 2017 assessment, there’s been little progress in securing women’s rights to forests in Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities.

Indonesia’s Indigenous Akit community faces exploitation & land loss

For the Akit tribe of Bengkalis and Pelalawan districts in Riau province, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, land is more than just soil beneath their feet: it is their identity, their lifeblood, and their heritage.

Chinese business in the Amazon generates controversy

In the last decade, the Pan Amazon has seen a substantial increase in the presence of Chinese companies, either as direct investors or as contractors building infrastructure for governments financed by loans from China. The lack of transparency that characterizes their homeland fosters an environment that allows Chinese companies to escape scrutiny.

Pressure bears down around uncontacted tribes at the edge of Brazil’s arc of deforestation

“They’re curious about us, and we’re curious about them. ” That’s how Daniel Cangussu describes the recent interaction with a small Indigenous group that had just contacted non-Indigenous society in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon. “We don’t know their language yet, but we communicate all the time.

Uncontacted Ayoreo could face health risks as Gran Chaco shrinks, experts warn

Deforestation in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, driven largely by agribusiness and infrastructure development, poses an increasing threat to the Indigenous Ayoreo people. The communities, living in isolation, risk losing their ancestral lands and customs, and could be exposed to deadly diseases from the outside world, experts warn.