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### World Water Day: 3 stories of resistance and restoration from around the globe
Kristine Sabillo 21 Mar 2025
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### Conservationists, fishing industry find balance on protecting African penguins
Shreya Dasgupta 21 Mar 2025
](https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/03/conservationists-fishing-industry-find-balance-on-protecting-african-penguins/)
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### With climate change, cryosphere melt scales up as a threat to planetary health
Sean Mowbray 21 Mar 2025
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### âSustainableâ palm oil firms continue illegal peatland clearing despite permit revocation
Hans Nicholas Jong 21 Mar 2025
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### With Europeâs forests, we canât manage what we canât measure (commentary)
Sten B. Nilsson 20 Mar 2025
](https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/with-europes-forests-we-cant-manage-what-we-cant-measure-commentary/)
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### âFatal Watchâ: Interview with documentary makers on fisheries observer deaths
Edward Carver 20 Mar 2025
](https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/fatal-watch-interview-with-documentary-makers-on-fisheries-observer-deaths/)
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Bleak future for Karoo succulents as desert expands in South Africa
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### Why are the British flooding parts of their coast?
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### New dams call into question Cambodiaâs commitment to REDD+ projects
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Fernanda Wenzel 17 Mar 2025
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How one researcher walked thousands of miles along Indiaâs shores to conserve sea turtles
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Priyanka Shankar 20 Mar 2025
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Liz Kimbrough 17 Mar 2025
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Leonie Joubert 14 Mar 2025
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Documentary films have the power to shape how we understand nature. They offer a deeper look into the planetâs challenges, bringing people together through shared experiences and inspiring action. As a media partner for the 2025 Environmental Film Festival in the Nationâs Capital (DCEFF), Mongabay is featuring exclusive interviews with the makers of this yearâs \[âŠ\]
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Rajesh Ghimire 11 Mar 2025
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Chitwan city using Indo-Nepal wildlife corridor for waste dump
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](https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chitwan-city-using-indo-nepal-wildlife-corridor-for-waste-dump/)
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Indigenous community calls out Cambodian REDD+ project as tensions simmer in the Cardamoms
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Gerald Flynn 10 Mar 2025
](https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indigenous-community-calls-out-cambodian-redd-project-as-tensions-simmer-in-the-cardamoms/)
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Chauffeur at Indonesia energy nonprofit drives uptake of biogas by Java farmers
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A tale of two cities: What drove 2024âs Valencia and Porto Alegre floods?
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Gerry McGovern, Sue Branford 12 Mar 2025
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Chitwan city using Indo-Nepal wildlife corridor for waste dump
==============================================================
Rajesh Ghimire 11 Mar 2025
](https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/chitwan-city-using-indo-nepal-wildlife-corridor-for-waste-dump/)
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Indigenous community calls out Cambodian REDD+ project as tensions simmer in the Cardamoms
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Gerald Flynn 10 Mar 2025
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### World Water Day: 3 stories of resistance and restoration from around the globe
Kristine Sabillo 21 Mar 2025
More than [2 billion people](https://www.unwater.org/publications/who/unicef-joint-monitoring-program-update-report-2023) around the world live without access to safe drinkable water, as [rivers](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/in-cameroon-forest-and-water-source-restoration-offers-sustainable-solutions/), [groundwater](https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/serious-groundwater-contamination-in-several-parts-of-india-report/), [lakes](https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/global-lakes-are-in-hot-water-amid-climate-change/) and [glaciers](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/andes-glacier-melt-threatens-amazons-rivers-intensifies-droughts/) face continued threats of pollution and overexploitation due to [urbanization](https://india.mongabay.com/2024/07/rapid-urbanisation-and-climate-change-threaten-groundwater-resources-in-ladakh-says-study/), environmental destruction, and climate change.
This World Water Day, Mongabay looks back at some of its coverage from 2024 on how local communities are trying to protect the worldâs dwindling water resources.
**Protecting the Amazonâs headwaters**
Mongabayâs short documentary [_The Time of Water_](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/time-is-water-a-cross-border-indigenous-alliance-works-to-save-the-amazon/), directed by Pablo Albarenga, follows Indigenous leaders Uyunkar Domingo Peas Nampichkai of the Achuar people from Ecuador and Wrays PĂ©rez RamĂrez of the WampĂs Nation from Peru as they travel along the tributaries of the Marañón, the main source of the Amazon River. During their journey, they stop at villages to talk to communities, especially the younger generation, about protecting the Amazon Basin from threats posed by mining, logging, and the fossil fuel industry.
âWe donât live without water. Thatâs why we have to make a great alliance to recover the rivers, the jungle,â PĂ©rez RamĂrez says. âNot to extract gold, as the non-Indigenous man wants. Gold is not eaten ⊠Time is now, and we must act fast, because time is not gold. Time is water.â
**Restoring a Kenyan riverbank**
In Kenya, decades of intense agriculture have stripped the trees in Tana Riverâs catchment area, resulting in soil washing into the river. This has led to a decline in both water quality and farmland productivity, Mongabayâs Ochiengâ Ogodo [reported](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-kenya-a-river-restoration-initiative-pays-for-itself-and-then-some/) in October.
Ogodo tells the story of the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund (UTNWF), launched by U.S.-based NGO The Nature Conservancy in 2015 with support from the private sector, civil society and the government. The fund has helped farmers and local authorities in parts of the Upper Tana River create buffer zones along riverbanks to reduce erosion and to reforest degraded areas.
âIt is really important to have ecological systems be the foundation of water security. That is why we see the protection and restoration of nature as being critical \[to\] ensuring our water security,â said Naabia Ofosu-Amaah, a senior adviser on water and climate resilience issues at TNC.
**Wetland restored in Zimbabwe**
In Harare, Zimbabwe, destruction of the cityâs wetlands for new housing developments and poor waste management have resulted in depleted wells and water shortage. The government and residents of Harare have now come together to restore a 34-hectare (84-acre) wetland known as Monavale Vlei, which lies in a catchment area that serves as a primary source of water for the city, Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay and contributor Tatenda Chitagu [reported](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/community-led-wetland-restoration-may-hold-key-to-harares-water-crisis/).
To do this, full-time staff and community volunteers have been removing invasive plants and identifying and responding to threats such as development proposals.
Recent surveys show that the wetlandâs streams are cleaner than nearby wetlands that have been used for cultivation, Gabay and Chitagu write.
### Conservationists, fishing industry find balance on protecting African penguins
Shreya Dasgupta 21 Mar 2025
Conservation NGOs and commercial sardine and anchovy fisheries in South Africa have reached an out-of-court [settlement](https://sanccob.co.za/news/high-court-victory-for-the-critically-endangered-african-penguin/) agreeing to extents of fishing closures around six key African penguin breeding colonies. The agreement, endorsed by the environment minister, was made a court order on March 18.
The boundaries of the new fishing closures achieve âthe sweet spot between benefits to penguins and costs to \[fishing\] industry,â Kate Handley, executive director of Cape Town-based nonprofit Biodiversity Law Centre, representing the conservation groups, told Mongabay by phone.
Populations of the critically endangered African penguin (_Spheniscus demersus_), which primarily live on small islands off Namibia and South Africa, have [plummeted](https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/11/population-crash-means-african-penguins-are-now-critically-endangered/) by 93% over the last 70 years.
In 2022, South Africaâs environment ministry [imposed](https://biodiversitylaw.org/breaking-landmark-litigation-launched-to-protect-the-african-penguin-from-extinction/) interim fishing closures around six key islands where penguins breed, to run until 2033. However, the NGOs BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) [filed a lawsuit](https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/08/south-africa-seeks-to-settle-landmark-african-penguin-lawsuit/) against the ministry in March 2024, saying the closures were âbiologically meaninglessâ and didnât protect the birdsâ food supply from competition with commercial sardine and anchovy purse-seine fisheries.
In February 2025, the South African Pelagic Fishing Industry Association (SAPFIA) and the Eastern and Southern Cape Pelagic Association (ESCPA), both co-respondents in the case, called for a meeting with the NGOs to discuss a settlement, which was followed by âreally difficult and very intense negotiations,â Handley said.
The agreement, now made a [court order](https://biodiversitylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20250318-BLSA-Minister-Order.pdf), overturns the previous interim closures. The new closures will be in effect for 10 years, with a scientific review after six years.
âA middle of the road compromise position was agreed to in which the extent of closures are about halfway between the Interim Closures that are currently in place and the area closures that the Applicants were seeking in their court action,â SAPFIA and ESCPA told Mongabay in a joint emailed statement. âIt is hoped this will end the intense dialogue that has raged since 2008 about the closures in relation to the extremely concerning decline in the African Penguin population.â
The NGOs made concessions on certain closures to accommodate the fisheriesâ interests, but also secured key victories, Handley said.
For example, on the west coast, the closure around Robben Island was extended beyond what the NGOs had sought, while in the Southern Cape, the closure around Stony Point covers nearly the entire core foraging range for the African penguin. In the Eastern Cape, a 20-kilometer (12-mile) closure was established around Bird Island, although minimal fishing happens there, Handley said. Overall, the NGOs have achieved a âgood regional representation of protection for African penguins,â she added.
The out-of-court settlement means thereâs no judgment that sets a judicial precedent, but Handley said she hopes âthe case will inspire other conservation organizations to take up the mantle and use the law as a tool to fight for the protection of threatened species.â
**_Banner image_** _of African penguins by Olga Ernst via_ [_Wikimedia Commons_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_penguin#/media/File:Bruth%C3%B6hlen_Brillenpinguin.jpg) _(_[_CC BY-SA 4.0_](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)_)._
### Court orders Trump administration to address pesticide risks to endangered species
Bobby Bascomb 20 Mar 2025
A U.S. federal judge recently [ordered](https://biologicaldiversity.org/programs/environmental_health/pdfs/50-Order.pdf) the Trump administrationâs Fish and Wildlife Service to complete assessments on the impacts of six pesticides and the steps needed to protect endangered species from them.
This isnât the first time pesticide safety has come before the Trump administration. In 2017, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) conducted an analysis revealing that two pesticides â malathion and chlorpyrifos â were so toxic they posed an existential threat to more than 1,200 endangered animal and plant species, according to an investigation by _[The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/politics/endangered-species-david-bernhardt.html)_.
However, just before the reportâs release, political appointees in the Department of the Interior, which oversees the FWS, blocked its publication and initiated a new process designed to apply a much narrower standard that could downplay the hazards of the pesticides, the _Times_ investigation noted.
Assessments by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2017 and 2021 found each of the six pesticides in question pose significant harm to many of the roughly 1,800 plant and animal species protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). According to a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, an NGO, chlorpyrifos is likely to harm 97% of endangered species, diazinon 78%, carbaryl 91%, atrazine 56% and simazine 55% and methomyl 61%.
The ESA requires that the FWS review the EPAâs assessment and propose a strategy to prevent species from going extinct. The agency hadnât issued its final biological opinion by 2022, so the Center for Biological Diversity sued the FWS that year. On March 13 this year, a federal judge ruled that the FWS must issue a final biological opinion and assess next steps to prevent extinctions.
Insects and amphibians are particularly vulnerable to pesticides, says Jonathan Evans, the environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Even some mammal species, including the [red wolf](https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/pdfs/No-Refuge-Report-2020.pdf) (_Canis rufus_), are at risk as pesticides bioaccumulate in the bodies of their prey.
To reduce exposure and mitigate harm to wildlife, Evans says the government can require larger buffer areas between where pesticides are applied and endangered species habitat, especially waterways.
The first biological opinion from the FWS is due by March 31, and all of them must be completed by September 2028. However, the Trump administration has demonstrated a lack of compliance with other court orders, and roughly 400 FWS employees were fired as part of the recent government downsizing, potentially making compliance challenging.
âWe are all certainly concerned about the state of our government to run efficiently and effectively but we need to continue pursuing actions to uphold our laws and protect the environment and the wildlife that we hold dear,â Evans says.
Mongabay reached out to pesticide industry trade groups the American Chemistry Council, which declined to comment, and CropLife, which didnât reply by the time of publication.
**_Banner image_** _of a red wolf by LaggedOnUser via [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/47847725@N04/4531335218/) (_[_CC BY-SA 2.0_](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)_)._
### US jury sides with pipeline company in lawsuit against Greenpeace
Bobby Bascomb 20 Mar 2025
A jury in the U.S. state of North Dakota has found the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace liable for defamation against Texas-based Energy Transfer, operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace has denied the claim, saying the company is using the lawsuit to intimidate and silence peaceful protest.
The jury ordered Greenpeace to pay Energy Transfer more than $650 million in damages. Greenpeace said it plans to appeal. âWe know that this fight is not over,â Deepa Padmanabha, Greenpeace senior legal adviser, [told the media](https://apnews.com/article/greenpeace-dakota-access-pipeline-lawsuit-verdict-5036944c1d2e7d3d7b704437e8110fbb).
The case revolves around protests against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017 by [thousands of people](https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/standing-rock-withdraws-from-ongoing-environmental-assessment-of-dakota-access-pipeline/) near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The Standing Rock tribe sued the government to block the pipeline, arguing that it passed dangerously close to their water supply.
In his closing argument, Trey Cox, a lawyer for Energy Transfer, [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/climate/greenpeace-energy-transfer-dakota-access-verdict.html), âGreenpeace took a small, disorganized, local issue and exploited it to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline and promote its own selfish agenda.â
Greenpeace has said its involvement with the protest was minimal and the case is a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP suit, intended to discourage protest by raising the specter of an expensive legal battle.
Marty Garbus, who is part of a group of lawyers called the Trial Monitoring Committee (TMC) that has been observing the proceedings from the start, said in a [press statement](https://www.trialmonitors.org/statement-of-independent-trial-monitors-on-verdict-in-greenpeace-trial): âIn my six decades of legal practice, I have never witnessed a trial as unfair as the one against Greenpeace that just ended in the courts of North Dakota.â Garbus previously represented former South African President Nelson Mandela and U.S. civil rights activist Cesar Chavez.
Fellow TMC lawyer Steven Donzinger said the problem started with the members of the jury selected for the trial, many of whom work in the oil industry. Moreover, the trial was held in the same county where the protests took place, so âall the jurors being interviewed had feelings about the protests. It was like they were witnesses,â Donzinger told Mongabay by phone. âIt was impossible for Greenpeace to get a fair trial in this county,â he added.
A Greenpeace petition to move the trial to another county, one not directly affected by the protests, was denied, [court records show](https://www.trialmonitors.org/court-documents).
Donzinger said Greenpeace was then denied a fair opportunity to defend itself in court. One key example is Energy Transferâs claim that Greenpeace defamed the company by falsely stating that its pipeline was unsafe and had leaked. However, the court barred Greenpeace from presenting an expert witness who could verify that the pipeline had, in fact, [leaked](https://theintercept.com/2018/01/09/dakota-access-pipeline-leak-energy-transfer-partners/), Donziger said. âThat decision effectively gutted Greenpeaceâs entire defense on the issue,â he added.
Energy Transfer spokesperson Vicki Granado told Mongabay by email, âWe are very pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us.â
**_Banner image_** _of pipeline protesters by Pax Ahimsa Gethen via_ [_Wikimedia Commons_](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stand_with_Standing_Rock_SF_Nov_2016_15.jpg) _([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))._
### Housing affordability through sustainability? Mongabay podcast explores
Mongabay.com 20 Mar 2025
Countries all over the world face huge deficits in affordable housing today. But pursuing a circular economy, or the practice of making a goodâs life cycle less resource-intensive, can pave the way for less expensive and longer-lasting houses, Mongabayâs Mike DiGirolamo found in an [episode](https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/researchers-propose-a-circular-economy-solution-to-housing-affordability-against-climate-change/) of the Mongabay Explores podcast published last December.
In the episode, DiGirolamo talks to Louise Dorignon, a postdoctoral research fellow and housing circularity expert at RMIT University in Melbourne, about one of the worldâs most unaffordable housing markets: Australia.
In 2023, Dorignon, along with her colleagues, published a four-pronged approach to address Australiaâs housing problem in an increasingly warming world.
âOur goal was to find out how implementing a circular economy approach can lead to a more sustainable housing systemâ that is âcomfortable, safe, healthy and also has minimal environmental impacts,â Dorignon tells DiGirolamo.
She says the first step in their approach is to incorporate sustainability into property valuation. She notes that in Europe, countries require the disclosure of environmental performance of energy rating of a house, which a person looking to rent or buy will âimmediately see.â
DiGirolamo says having the sustainability metrics can incentivize rental landlords to incorporate sustainable practices, since such properties will be valued higher.
The second step toward affordable housing in Australia, Dorignon says, is to have regulations with clear standards and targets for energy efficiency and sustainability. There also need to be better monitoring and accountability systems to keep track of the countryâs housing stocks and how theyâre performing, she adds.
The third step, Dorignon says, is to invest more in sustainable practices, while the fourth step is to build the capacity, skills and knowledge to reform the building and construction industry.
Dorignon cites the example of Germanyâs passive house model, which she describes as âall about the house consuming very low energy for heating and cooling, and so requiring very little carbon emissions to heat or cool.â
She also mentions Japanâs efficient construction methods as a product of intensive research and development.
DiGirolamo says these changes will require culture shifts. For example, properties in Australia are treated like a [speculative investment](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/13/we-must-separate-the-idea-of-house-from-home-the-case-for-drastic-action-on-shelter), where some people buy lots of properties with the aim of renting them out for a profit.
Dorignon adds that most people canât afford to buy a house, and they get stuck for years spending a significant portion of their income on rent.
Families are also pushed into âless connected areas and therefore have reduced access to, essential services and things that are needed for their quality of life,â Dorignon says.
Among the models Dorignon suggests is cooperative housing, where communities plan and manage housing.
_To learn more, listen to the episode_ â[_Researchers propose a_ â_circular economy_â _solution to housing affordability against climate change_](https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/researchers-propose-a-circular-economy-solution-to-housing-affordability-against-climate-change/)_.â_
**_Banner image_** _of a housing estate in Australia by Calistemon via_ [_Wikimedia Commons_](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_housing_estate_in_Golden_Bay,_Western_Australia,_July_2023_04.jpg) _(_[_CC BY-SA 4.0)_](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)_._
### Scientists cherish win against online ornamental trade in bats
Spoorthy Raman 20 Mar 2025
Bat researchers recently [declared](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605324001844) a âmajor victoryâ in helping stop the online ornamental trade of bats, especially the painted woolly bat thatâs sought as a dĂ©cor or trinket for its brightly colored body and cute, furry face.
By August 2024, major e-commerce platforms [eBay](https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/animal-products-policy?id=5046) and [Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/endangered-threatened-or-at-risk/239374829600#:~:text=We%20may%20remove%20animal%20products,and%20follow%20all%20applicable%20laws.) had banned the sale of bat products on their sites. Conservation scientists from the IUCN Bat Specialist Group say this development follows their 2024 [study](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-024-01829-9) that found more than 800 dead bats â a quarter of them painted woolly bats (_Kerivoula picta_) â taxidermied, framed and for sale on these platforms over a three-month period. The U.S., the worldâs largest importer of wildlife, topped the list of destinations for online bat sales.
The findings prompted [awareness campaigns](https://www.lubee.org/iamnotart), a [petition](https://biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/pdfs/Painted-woolly-bat-ESA-petition-5-29-24.pdf) currently under review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to add painted woolly bats to the Endangered Species Act, and overwhelming [public support](https://www.regulations.gov/document/FWS-HQ-IA-2024-0033-0048/comment) for a U.S. [proposal](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/26/2024-30698/conference-of-the-parties-to-the-convention-on-international-trade-in-endangered-species-of-wild) to list the species on CITES, the global international trade agreement.
âItâs galvanizing,â Joanna Coleman, conservation biologist from the IUCN Bat Specialist Group, told Mongabay. âAll of us in the bat trade working group are really quite thrilled with how quickly things have progressed with _Kerivoula picta_.â
Painted woolly bats are native to South and Southeast Asia. A 2015 [study](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/increasing-concern-over-trade-in-bat-souvenirs-from-southeast-asia/5269221BEFB1774105A1B7F2B62AE5CF) was the first to highlight ornamental trade in bats from Southeast Asia. A [population assessment](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10985/22022952) of the painted woolly bat in 2020 recorded a 25% decline in its numbers, largely attributed to this trade, prompting the uplisting of the species from least concern to near threatened on the IUCN Red List.
This worried Coleman and her colleagues, who then gathered data on the online trade of bats, leading to the 2024 study and its outcomes.
âThis is truly a remarkable accomplishment and will have a huge impact on global trade in bats,â Dave Waldien, Red List authority coordinator for Old World bats at the IUCN, who wasnât involved in the 2024 study and the recent announcement, told Mongabay by email. âI am especially impressed that the bat researchers involved chose to go beyond the research and a published paper to ensure their results were effectively used.â
The researchers say adding the species to the U.S. Endangered Species Act should increase scrutiny of its imports into the U.S. Coleman said getting painted woolly bats listed on CITES Appendix II, which allows international trade with permits, can help gather data to assess if their trade is sustainable.
âWe want to see an end to all ornamental bat trade,â Coleman said. âItâs not a traditional livelihood anywhere to taxidermy a bat and put it in a frame.â
This win for painted woolly bats shows one can raise support to stop unsustainable trade in noncharismatic, misunderstood and maligned animals like bats, Coleman said. âYou feel, in conservation, that youâre fighting a losing battle, but itâs not always a losing battle.â
**_Banner image_** _of a painted woolly bat by Abu Hamas via_ [_Wikimedia Commons_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_bat#/media/File:Kerivoula_picta_1.jpg) _(_[_CC BY-SA 4.0_](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)_)._
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