Environmental stories from around the web, July 20, 2018

  • There are many important conservation and environmental stories Mongabay isn’t able to cover.
  • Here’s a digest of some of the significant developments from the week.
  • If you think we’ve missed something, feel free to add it in the comments.

We’ve rounded up a few stories that were published this week by other news outlets.

Tropical forests

A warming climate will likely mean more droughts for the Amazon rainforest, new research has found (Weather.com).

Coffee could help communities restore forests in Mozambique (VOA News).

The highest court in Ecuador has backed a $9.5 billion fine levied against Chevron for damage to the country’s rainforest (The Gleaner).

Environmental impact assessments fail to accurately forecast the cost to wildlife of dam construction, experts say (Science Magazine).

The Peruvian Amazon is still losing forest to mining, as figures since the beginning of 2018 show (teleSUR TV).

A committee in Malaysian Borneo plans to tackle illegal logging once again (The Sun Daily).

Research shows that forests can be a boon for farmers in Africa (Landscape News).

Some conservation initiatives create victims through “green colonialism” (Foreign Policy).

Addressing climate change will require more than REDD+, Norway’s environment minister says (REDD Monitor).

Other news

Eight critically endangered black rhinos, new to their home, died after they apparently drank salty water (The Hindu, Reuters, The Guardian, The New York Times).

Investigators are using confiscated wildlife products to devise new ways to nab traffickers (Undark).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has slackened the rules on the disposal of coal ash (Reuters).

Pink dolphins could suffer with the construction of a bridge between Hong Kong and China, biologists say (Reuters).

Polluted beaches in Gaza still provide respite for residents confined to sweltering apartments and too little power (Reuters).

Locals kill more than 290 crocodiles at a breeding farm in Indonesia after a man’s death (Reuters).

Botswana is the latest country in Africa to consider allowing trophy hunting of elephants (Reuters).

Conservationists, including Jane Goodall, aim to protest grizzly hunting near Yellowstone by entering the lottery for a permit (The Guardian).

Climate change could wipe out all of Canada’s Arctic glaciers, a new study shows (The Guardian).

For the first time, scientists have shown that young white sharks haunt “nursery” areas around Long Island (Florida Atlantic University/Phys.Org).

Whale sharks live longer than we thought, new research shows (Nova Southeastern University/EurekAlert).

Up to one-third of plastic in U.K. grocery stores is a challenge to recycle (The Guardian).

Recent research charts out the threats that the peace agreement in Colombia could level at the country’s rainforest (St. John’s College/University of Cambridge/EurekAlert).

Environmental activists from Kenya are walking to South Africa to draw attention to elephant and rhino conservation on the continent (Xinhuanet).

A tropical ecologist proposes providing safe and enclosed havens for rhinos on Australia’s savannas (The Conversation).

Tanzania has a new five-year plan for its chimpanzees (The Citizen/AllAfrica.com).

Climate change is forcing geese to make speedier migrations (The New York Times).

Online trading facilitates the movement of illegal wildlife products (The Revelator).

The Trump administration plans to change the Endangered Species Act in ways that conservation groups say will be harmful to wildlife (Reuters).

A planned railway through Nairobi National Park could be detrimental to wildlife, conservationists say (BBC News, The Revelator).

Coral reefs in the deep aren’t the refuge for fish and other reef species that scientists had hoped, a new study finds (Reuters, The Atlantic).

An analysis in the journal Science adds to the growing evidence that meat consumption could destroy the environment (The Guardian).

Banner image of black rhinos in Kenya by Harald Zimmer, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0).

Banner image of black rhinos in Kenya by Harald Zimmer, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0).

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South Africa Today – Environment


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