New Future

Animals living on small islands are often thought to be more susceptible to extinction compared to those distributed across mainland land masses. Small population sizes, limited habitat availability, and genetic isolation can propel species into a downward spiral.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — During the second half of the 20th century, Thailand’s forest cover plummeted from around 50% to 25% due to urbanization and rapid economic development.

A federal court in Brazil has reinstated the Amazon soy moratorium, a private-sector antideforestation measure that helps protect the Amazon Rainforest against the expansion of soy farms in the biome. The Aug.

Hundreds of wildfires across Europe have burned at least 1 million hectares, or around 2.5 million acres, since the start of the year. That’s made 2025 the worst year for the continent since official wildfire records began in 2006.

The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, now officially recognizes four distinct giraffe species, it announced on Aug. 21. Until recently, giraffes across Africa were classified as a single species with eight to 11 subspecies.

KATHMANDU — Until the summer of 2024, residents of Rajabahs village in Nepal’s southeastern Madhesh province reeled under a water shortage for more than eight years as wells and springs dried up amid extreme summer heat.

COLOMBO — In the mist-wrapped folds of Sri Lanka’s Knuckles Mountain Range, a UNESCO-recognized world heritage site, where clouds softly wrap the rugged peaks in a soft embrace, a group of scientists recently stumbled upon a ghost from the island’s colonial past, in the form of a forgotten orchid.

For decades, the case for saving tropical forests has been cast in terms of carbon. Trees sequester vast quantities of it; razing them pumps more into the air.

BOGOTA, Colombia — The California Senate has unanimously approved a resolution calling for a review of its imports of crude oil from the Amazon rainforest and an eventual phase-out, following years of advocacy from Indigenous leaders in South America.

A year ago, deep in the heart of the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, the lifeless body of Gaia, a jaguar known and loved by conservationists, was found charred by fire.

A growing number of oceans-based solutions to the climate crisis have been tried or devised in recent years, thanks largely to an influx of funding. These range from replanting lost mangroves, to modifying the genome of corals, to pumping nutrient-rich deep water to the surface, to engineering clouds to be more reflective.

In the last year, Bangladesh has seen an about-turn from occupying forest land in the name of development activities such as constructing ecotourism parks, football academies, residential and training facilities for government officials.

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Turtles and tortoises have outlived dinosaurs, endured ice ages, and survived the shuffling of continents. Yet despite their evolutionary stamina, these ancient mariners and land dwellers now find themselves in peril.

Sharks continually shed and regrow teeth throughout their lives, replacing worn or lost teeth with new ones. That makes them particularly good at catching prey. However, these top marine predators could lose their literal edge as ocean acidification damages their teeth and makes it harder to keep and replace them, a new study says.