Categories
Random pieces

Obituary for Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, the Indigenous Nasa defender

Carlos Andrés Ascué Tumbo, known to friends and comrades as “Lobo,” or “Wolf,” was no stranger to the forces that threatened his land and his people. The son of Colombia’s Andes, he belonged to a long line of Indigenous Nasa defenders and was a dedicated educational coordinator and leader. But in a country labeled as […]

Categories
Random pieces

The dominant arguments for protecting nature are not resonating with most Americans

The election result is a significant setback for efforts to protected biodiversity and slow climate change. For those committed to defending nature, it may feel as though the walls are closing in. Environmental degradation is intensifying, and America is now expected to pull back from even modest leadership on these critical issues. But giving up […]

Categories
Random pieces

An area of deforested land the size of Mexico could regrow without significant human intervention

215 million hectares of deforested and degraded former forest land are capable of natural regrowth without significant human intervention—an area larger than Mexico. That’s according to a study published last week in Nature. The research, based on high-resolution satellite data analysis across the tropics, identified five nations—Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico, and Colombia—as having over half […]

Categories
Random pieces

This week’s election stands as one of the most consequential in U.S. history for the world’s beleaguered ecosystems, endangered species, and ultimately, the future of our planet

Tomorrow’s election stands as one of the most consequential in U.S. history—not only for Americans but for the world’s beleaguered ecosystems, endangered species, and ultimately, the future of our planet. The choices voters make will shape the governance of 340 million people and define the fate of Earth’s biodiversity and the fragile web of life […]

Categories
Random pieces

5 weird facts about lemurs for World Lemur Day

Today is World Lemur Day  Lemurs, Madagascar’s iconic residents, encompass over 100 species. Exclusively endemic to the island (one species was introduced to a neighboring island), these fascinating creatures have evolved into one of the most diverse primate groups on the planet.  To celebrate World Lemur Day, here are five lesser-known facts about these remarkable […]

Categories
Random pieces

Reptile appreciation day

With United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) starting today in Cali, I thought a fitting way to mark Reptile Appreciation Day would be to highlight the blue anole (https://mongabay.cc/4Ycrmm), endemic to the island of Gorgona, located off the Pacific coast of Colombia, not far from Cali. Gorgona, long noted for its biodiversity, hosts this vibrant […]

Categories
Random pieces

International sloth day

Today is International Sloth Day 🦥 Sloths, as a group, might be said to epitomize the concept of taking life slowly. The six species, found mainly in Central and South America, spend most of their days hanging from trees, moving deliberately to conserve energy—a strategy shaped by a diet of nutrient-poor leaves. Yet, contrary to […]

Categories
Random pieces

An ode to the sawfish for International Sawfish Day

Once formidable predators in the world’s coastal and estuarine waters, sawfish—members of the ray family with their distinctive, toothed “saws”—now find themselves on the verge of vanishing. On International Sawfish Day, it is worth highlighting a creature whose form is as memorable as its fate is precarious. Sawfish, which can grow up to 7.6 meters […]

Categories
Random pieces

Living Planet Index 2024

Yesterday the latest Living Planet Index (LPI) report was released by WWF and Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It paints a sobering picture: wildlife populations have plummeted by an average of 73% over the past half-century. Based on nearly 35,000 monitored population trends spanning 5,495 species, LPI documents a collapse in biodiversity that extends across […]

Categories
Random pieces

Obituary for filmmaker Ryan Killackey, 1978-2024

Ryan Killackey, who died on October 4th, aged 46, was a man of singular purpose. Born in Homewood, Illinois, he came of age with a fascination for nature that would eventually drive him to the farthest reaches of the Amazon rainforest. But his was no simple journey of exploration or adventure; it was a pursuit […]

Categories
Random pieces

The octopus: A creature whose intelligence is as intriguing as its ability to blend into its surroundings

On World Octopus Day 🐙,  it seems fitting to reflect on a creature whose intelligence is as intriguing as its ability to blend into its surroundings. The octopus, a soft-bodied mollusc with eight limbs, has long mesmerized audiences ranging from scientists and storytellers. With over 300 species scattered across the oceans—from shallow coral reefs to […]

Categories
Random pieces

A cost-benefit analysis has exposed promises of palm oil riches for Papuans as ‘bogus’

A recent study has put the Indonesian government’s claims about the economic benefits of oil palm cultivation in Papua under scrutiny, reports Hans Nicholas Jong. Papua is the Indonesia-controlled portion of the island of New Guinea The Pusaka Bentala Rakyat Foundation’s analysis reveals that the environmental and social costs tied to the palm oil industry […]

Categories
Random pieces

Reforestation projects are booming, but transparency is rare

Global interest in reforestation as a climate solution is growing, but with it comes a proliferation of inexperienced organizations and opaque strategies, often resulting in failures and unintended consequences. This trend has led to calls for greater transparency in reporting outcomes and best practices. A recent study led by researchers at the University of California, […]

Categories
Random pieces

Free high-resolution, high-frequency satellite data for sites in biodiversity hotspots

Planet has unveiled Project Centinela, an initiative designed to bolster conservation efforts in some of the world’s most vulnerable biodiversity hotspots. The program will provide cutting-edge satellite imagery and analytical tools to scientists and conservationists working in areas at the highest risk of species extinction. By offering access to high-resolution, high-frequency data, Planet seeks to […]

Categories
Random pieces

World Gorilla Day: An ape recovery story

Today is World Gorilla Day The lush forests of equatorial Africa, once a riot of life teeming with an unimaginable richness of plants and creatures, are yielding to a more ordered world—trees and crops planted in straight lines, forest sounds replaced by the hum of chainsaws and motorbikes, the rich, earthy scent of understory vegetation […]

Categories
Random pieces

How to help the Sumatran rhino

Today is International Rhino Day We share the planet with five rhino species: the white and black rhinos of Africa, and the Sumatran, Javan, and Indian (Greater One-Horned) rhinos of Asia. While the Indian and southern white rhinos have seen significant recoveries, most rhinos remain critically endangered, teetering on the edge of extinction. The Northern […]

Categories
Random pieces

The economic value of manta rays

Today is World Manta Day. In conservation, economic valuation is increasingly recognized as a potent tool to incentivize species protection. Manta rays exemplify how their worth, alive, far surpasses the value placed on their body parts in global fisheries. Both the reef manta (Manta alfredi) and the giant manta (Manta birostris) face significant threats, particularly […]

Categories
Random pieces

International Vulture Awareness Day: The importance of vultures

Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. That makes it a fitting moment to recognize the crucial role these birds of prey play in our world. Vultures, long maligned as harbingers of death, are emerging as unsung heroes in the field of public health. In India, their precipitous decline in the 1990s—caused by the veterinary use […]

Categories
Random pieces

Forests: More than carbon

The destruction of tropical forests is often framed as a carbon issue, but it has more immediate consequences for people living nearby. One of the most tangible effects is local temperature. Deforestation in Borneo, for instance, has left the island significantly hotter and drier, with severe consequences for both the environment and local communities. A […]

Categories
Random pieces

Facts about the Earth’s largest rainforest for Amazon Day

Today is Amazon Rainforest Day. To mark the occasion, here are a few facts and figures about the world’s largest tropical rainforest: 🌳 The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, bigger than the next two largest rainforests — in the Congo Basin and Indonesia — combined. 🌳 At 6.9 million square kilometers, the Amazon Basin […]

Categories
Random pieces

Why Indigenous peoples may be the key to saving endangered primates from extinction

Today is International Primate Day. While most people are familiar with monkeys, the great apes, and possibly lemurs, fewer may realize that there are over 500 known species of primates, making them one of the most diverse groups of mammals. These species range from the diminutive Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur of Madagascar to the formidable […]

Categories
Random pieces

The salamander apocalypse has been deferred, for now

The amphibian apocalypse, it seems, has been momentarily postponed. Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, or Bsal, a fungal pathogen that has wreaked havoc on amphibian populations globally, remains conspicuously absent from North America. For a decade, scientists from the North American Bsal Task Force have combed forests and swabbed salamanders, searching for any trace of the pathogen. Their […]

Categories
Random pieces

International Whale Shark Day: Graceful giants of tropical seas

Today is International Whale Shark Day. In a world that often exalts the loud, the fast, and the fierce, there exists a creature that quietly defies convention. The whale shark, the largest fish in the ocean, glides through warm seas with an elegance that belies its immense size. Despite their bulk—reaching up to 40 feet […]

Categories
Random pieces

How empowering Indigenous women is saving wild cats in the Andes

In the shadow of the Andes, a quiet revolution is unfolding, reports James Hall for Mongabay News. The Queuña forests, once covering vast stretches of the mountains, have dwindled to a mere fraction of their former glory, leaving behind a landscape where biodiversity & water security hang in the balance. This ecological collapse has triggered […]

Categories
Random pieces

In South Africa, a people fight to protect their ancestral lands

On South Africa’s Wild Coast, the amaMpondo people have long resisted the advances of outsiders eager to exploit their land’s resources, reports Leo Joubert for Mongabay News. Xolobeni, a village on the eastern shore, became a flashpoint in this struggle, where traditional beliefs intersect with environmental activism. For over two decades, the amaMpondo have successfully […]