[Founder's Briefs]
The next decade of forest conservation faces 10 emerging pressures.

While advances in AI improve monitoring, rising demand for minerals and shifting trade rules are fragmenting forest governance. We must navigate these forces to protect the people and wildlife that depend on these habitats.

Rhett Ayers Butler writes for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/JGZygf

#Conservation

10 forces that could reshape the future of the world’s forests

The forces shaping forests in the coming decade extend beyond any single driver. Shifts in politics, finance and technology are unfolding at once, often in ways that reinforce each other. The result is greater uncertainty for ecosystems and for those who depend on them. A new horizon scan, published in Forest Policy and Economics and […]

Conservation news

Global forecasts warn of a powerful El Niño in 2026, raising risks for Indonesia’s forests. By February, burned areas reached 32,637 hectares, 20 times more than last year.

As a "Godzilla El Niño" threatens drought, monitoring shows hotspots around timber and palm oil concessions.

Learn more in this report by Hans Nicholas Jong for #Mongabay. https://mongabay.cc/I4XeDw

#ENiño #Indonesia

Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early

JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, […]

Conservation news

Two marsupials thought to be extinct for millennia have been rediscovered in Indonesian Papua. Researchers documented the pygmy long-fingered possum and the "Tous" glider.

The find was made possible through deep collaboration with Indigenous elders.

John Cannon reports for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/4Oh71a

#News #Papua

‘Rediscovered’ species in Papua spotlight importance of Indigenous knowledge

It started with a set of photographs, taken of an animal captured in 2015 on the Bird’s Head Peninsula in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea. The smallish animal with “large hands” looked a bit like a slow loris, a small primate that doesn’t live on the island, or perhaps […]

Conservation news

Climate change is pushing migrating gray whales into San Francisco Bay, with deadly results. At least 18% of whales identified in the bay since 2018 have died, many from ship strikes. As Arctic food sources collapse, these 15-meter mammals are entering risky urban waters in search of food.

David Brown reports for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/gqzLUH

#News #Whales

San Francisco Bay emerges as high-risk area for migrating gray whales

San Francisco Bay is emerging as a high-risk zone for migrating gray whales, with new research linking climate-driven habitat shifts to rising deaths from ship strikes and malnutrition.

Conservation news

What does it actually take to report on nature crime?

Join #Mongabay for the 'How to Cover Nature Crime' webinar with Daniela Quintero Díaz, Richaldo Hariandja, and host Mike DiGirolamo.

📅 May 5, 2026 | 12:00 UTC

Learn more about this #webinar!
👉️ https://mongabay.cc/HtRoNC

Come away with practical insight into how environmental investigations get done across regions and beats.

Register now! 👉️ https://forms.gle/xB4KajthCZrUjPqg8

#Webinar #Mongabay

Social media is accelerating the illegal wildlife trade, creating a direct digital pipeline from remote forests to urban buyers.

A recent sting in Laos, sparked by a Facebook post, resulted in the rescue of two 2-month-old Asiatic black bear cubs.

Naina Rao reports for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/fhIL6V

#News #Laos #Facebook

Two-month-old bear cubs rescued from Facebook sale in Laos

Two Asiatic black bear cubs posted for sale on Facebook have been rescued in Laos as part of an illegal wildlife trade sting.

Conservation news

In Himalayas, a 30-year project has turned degraded land into a thriving ecosystem.

With 88 tree species and 160 bird species, Surya-Kunj proves that community-led restoration and simple bioengineering can achieve long-term ecological stability and biodiversity.

Shradha Triveni reports for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/qS3N0a

#News #Himalayas

30-year Himalayan project shows power of community-led forest restoration

A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science shows why community engagement in forest restoration is a win-win game. The research documents a three-decade-long land restoration project on a 28-hectare (71-acre) slope of India’s Western Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand. The local communities in the surrounding villages cultivated a forest, with the […]

Conservation news

A new study reveals a rare pink morph of the katydid Arota festae in Panama.

Observed changing from hot pink to green in two weeks, the insect may be mimicking the "delayed greening" of tropical plants. Scientists say the find highlights the complex evolution of rainforest biodiversity.

Story by David Brown for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/yph51L

#News #Insect

Researchers find ‘remarkable’ hot-pink insect in Panama rainforest

In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids — leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers — in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species Arota festae. The researchers captured the katydid and raised her […]

Conservation news

New genetic evidence suggests Colombia’s Magdalena River divides two near-identical night monkey species.

These nocturnal primates remain largely invisible to science, but this discovery could fundamentally reshape national conservation strategies and protection maps.

Manuel Fonseca reports for #Mongabay.
https://mongabay.cc/JlJqxk

#News #Colombia

Colombia’s main river redraws the map of little-known night monkeys

One night, 10-year-old Sebastián Montilla heard a creature moving over a tree branch on his father’s farm in Pijao, Quindío department, one of Colombia’s renowned coffee-growing regions. As he pointed a lantern up to the canopy, he saw a wild creature with big red eyes and a long tail watching him before moving away from […]

Conservation news