GNR officers rescued a snake that became trapped in protective netting in Ponte de Lima, in the northern district of Viana do Castelo. The rescue was carried out by officers

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Thousands of delegates are now gathering in Yerevan to discuss the future of life on Earth as we know it at the U.N.’s COP17 biodiversity summit. Countries have made considerable progress in developing national conservation plans under the biodiversity framework agreed to at COP15 in Montreal in 2022, but most remain well off pace to meet the overall goals set for 2030, according to an assessment published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity on Thursday. The report finds that nearly 90% of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 196 parties have established national biodiversity targets, close to 60% have completed national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and more than 70% have submitted national reports. However, fewer than half of the national targets assessed by governments are on track. The U.S. is not a party to the treaty. Graphical representation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. From State of Biodiversity Action: Global Report on Collective Progress in the Implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework The framework set 23 targets aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. They include conserving 30% of the world’s land and seas, restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems, reducing pollution and invasive species, slowing species extinctions, reforming subsidies that damage nature, and mobilizing $200 billion a year for biodiversity. Most countries have incorporated much of that agenda into national policy. At the time the report was prepared, 162 parties (83%) had established targets aligned with the global framework, covering an average of 22…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A military-backed operation shut down a major illegal gold mining site in Gashaka-Gumti National Park, driving more than 4,000 miners from Nigeria’s largest national park, according to the Africa Nature Investors Foundation (ANI). The miners had already fled by the time Nigerian soldiers arrived at the Kila mining area in July, according to Tunde Morakinyo, executive director of ANI, a Nigerian conservation organization working with the government to manage Gashaka-Gumti. He said no shots were fired during the operation, and bulldozers were brought in to fill the mining pits and shafts. As world leaders and conservation practitioners head to Armenia for the U.N. biodiversity summit Oct. 19-30, with the goal of protecting and conserving 30% of land and waters by 2030, the crackdown spotlights the complexity of safeguarding some of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Gashaka-Gumti is a stronghold for one of the rarest primates in the world: the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti). The park is also home to more than 1,000 plant species and hundreds of bird and butterfly species, with some of the highest rates of endemism on the continent. A ranger patrols Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park, where the Africa Nature Investors Foundation says it employs more than 180 rangers to help protect the park. Image courtesy of Africa Nature Investors Foundation. The operation followed years of growing friction over mining in the park. Tensions came to a head in late 2025. Two rangers were killed by miners in October 2025, according to Morakinyo. The…This article was originally published on Mongabay

French police repressed protesters in Paris on Saturday, detaining dozens during unauthorized demonstrations demanding better education conditions and opposing budget cuts and the high cost of living, authorities reported.

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The Paris police prefecture said law enforcement forces intervened to disperse two unauthorized demonstrations that had formed mid-morning.

RELATED: France Suspends Stun Grenades After Teen Loses a Hand

By 11:00 local time, 61 people had been detained, 589 preventive checks had been carried out and four fines imposed under the security operations, an official report stated.

The first protest consisted of a union gathering of about 100 people in the Gare du Nord area, while the second was made up of high school students on rue de Rennes.

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has condemned what he described as “direct threats” against his home and family after a video emerged showing a protest speaker calling for his address to

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JAKARTA — Wisye Sahambangung is a fisher, community leader, and mangrove conservationist from Sarawet, a coastal Indonesian village in North Sulawesi province. Since 2022, the 45-year-old has led Rhizopora, a women’s group that restores mangroves and helps create economic opportunities for women in the village. Rhizopora, named after the Rhizophora genus of mangrove trees, has become a community-based conservation movement. Its members collect mangrove propagules and seedlings, support restoration projects, monitor coastal areas, and teach other villagers how to plant mangroves. They revive the mangrove forest that is home to crabs and fish, which are their primary source of income. In collaboration with the NGOs Yayasan Bumi Tangguh and CARE Indonesia, Rhizopora helped plant 30,000 mangrove trees during an eight-month restoration project this year. For Wisye, protecting mangroves is about protecting the people who depend on the coast. The group sells seedlings, collects and sells mud crabs, and runs savings-and-loans activities that boost their incomes. Her work has taken her from Sarawet’s muddy coastal areas to an international forum in Australia, where she shared the women’s experiences of protecting their coastal environment. “Since Rhizopora was established, Sarawet has become more widely known nationally and internationally,” she said proudly. Wisye Sahambangung in Australia during her trip to Melbourne for Women Deliver 2026. Image courtesy of Wisye Sahambangung. Wisye spoke with Mongabay via video call about how she leads Rhizopora in protecting coastal ecosystems while creating income opportunities for women in the community, the challenges of community-led conservation, and the impact on…This article was originally published on Mongabay

For Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto, one of the most memorable moments of becoming a wildlife ranger was a trip to town. She and her fellow recruits walked through the streets in their new uniforms, on their way to open bank accounts. Soon, they would receive their first salaries. For a woman who had struggled to make ends meet in rural Zimbabwe, it was an extraordinary moment. “We were very proud,” she recalled. Hoto, 34, grew up in Huyo, a village in Zimbabwe’s Lower Zambezi Valley, where her family depended largely on growing and selling vegetables. Money was scarce, and although she had done well at school, she could not afford to continue her education beyond secondary school. Marriage, she hoped, might offer a better life. Instead, she says, she endured nearly four years with a violent husband before deciding to leave. She returned to her parents’ home with her young daughter and resumed working in the family garden. Her fortunes changed in 2017, when the International Anti-Poaching Foundation began recruiting local women for Akashinga, a new wildlife protection initiative. Hoto was among 16 women selected from roughly 100 applicants. Many men in her community doubted that women could confront poachers or withstand the demands of ranger work. She went anyway. Within a few years, she had become a ranger sergeant, leading other women on patrol. She later returned to university, graduating in 2023 with a degree in wildlife, ecology and conservation. Today, she works as a biodiversity officer with Akashinga, using…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Spain’s law enforcement agency, the Civil Guard, announced on Sept. 25, 2026, that it seized 209 reptiles from breeding facilities in Jérica and Sot de Ferrer (Castellón), including critically endangered iguanas endemic to Fiji. Nearly half of the reptiles were protected under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. They also seized unlicensed handguns and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition. Authorities arrested three individuals — two men aged 48 and 51 and a 37-year-old woman — on a litany of charges: Belonging to a criminal organization, wildlife-related offenses, smuggling, money laundering and illegal weapons possession. The alleged traffickers reportedly smuggled reptiles from the wild in the Americas, Africa and Asia, and then bred them without permits, the authorities said. They added that these reptiles were then sold at European reptile and trade fairs, mixing smuggled animals with legally acquired animals — a practice called laundering that’s prevalent in wildlife trade. In this way, traffickers exploit the “legal gray area surrounding documentation that certifies the animals’ origins,” the authorities said in a press release. The Spanish case is just one recent example among a slew of seizures and arrests involving rare tortoises, endangered turtles, poisonous frogs, endemic iguanas and many other protected reptiles and amphibians worldwide. The trade is lucrative — estimated to be worth some $2.5 billion — and comes with little risk. It’s often unregulated. Smugglers are rarely caught, and if they are, they get off by paying a small fine, which is absorbed as the cost of doing business.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Plastic pollution has rapidly escalated into a global environmental crisis that threatens ecosystem function and human health at an epic scale. Solutions are urgently needed, but while scientists, conservationists and more than 75 nations have called for binding limits on fossil fuel-driven plastic production, the plastics industry is opposed to all limits and is instead pushing a collection of technologies known as ‘chemical recycling.’ Critics say the industry is utilizing deceptive accounting practices and marketing jargon to rebrand polluting plastic incineration disposal methods. To date, chemical recycling facilities have created a relatively miniscule amount of recycled plastic, according to industry critics. But consumer product labels claiming “20% recycled plastic” have become an increasingly common sight on single-use plastic items. Reading such labels, consumers might logically assume that the product contains 20% recycled material, but that might not be the case. In addition, that potentially misleading label could be greenwashing environmentally damaging plastic incineration. Chemical recycling: Cutting-edge solution or sleight of hand? Chemical recycling, also dubbed ‘advanced recycling’ by the industry, uses chemicals, intense heat and/or pressure to break down plastic waste into its molecular building blocks. This contrasts with traditional ‘mechanical’ recycling methods which shred plastic waste into tiny flakes that can be melted and re-molded into new products. The most common form of chemical recycling, called ‘pyrolysis,’ uses high temperatures and pressure to convert waste plastic into an oil, which can be further processed into a variety of chemicals, some of which can be used to create new plastics.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

For centuries, wolves have been cast as vicious, bloodthirsty creatures of nightmares and fairy tales, rather than as deeply social animals with an important place in nature. We wanted to understand the animal behind those stories. So, in the 1990s, we spent six years living alongside a pack of gray wolves (Canis lupus) on the edge of Idaho’s Sawtooth Wilderness. In a remote mountain setting, we camped among wolves, listened to them, filmed them, and slowly became part of their world. What we came to know was an animal very different from the one humans have been taught to fear. We witnessed wolves raise their pups, care for their injured, and mourn their dead. When a mountain lion killed a member of the pack, we saw how the loss affected the wolves for more than six weeks. Above all, we learned that a wolf pack is an extended family devoted to one another by relationships, experience, and knowledge passed from one generation to the next. The Dutchers’ camp was surrounded by chain-link fence, not to protect them from the wolves, but to protect their gear from the animals’ insatiable curiosity. Image © Jim and Jamie Dutcher. That understanding shapes how we see what is happening to wolves across the American West today. After decades of effort and revenue spent to restore gray wolves to a fraction of their former range, U.S. states are now pursuing aggressive policies to radically reduce their numbers once again. In Idaho, legislation enacted in 2021…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Adriana Hora dos Santos stands waist-deep in the water. Her dark hair is tied in a single braid; her arms and torso covered by a pink Lycra shirt. The thick mangrove mud reaches her thighs. Using a machete just over 40-centimeters (16-inches) long, she pries dozens of oysters from the twisted roots with a steady cadence: Not too fast, not too slow. Across the Vaza-Barris river, the buildings of Sergipe’s state capital Aracaju seem otherworldly. Here, one hears the lapping of the water, the strike of the blade and Santos’s voice: “I am, I am a shellfish gatherer / Queen of the mangrove, I am a warrior! / I am, I am a shellfish gatherer / A fighting woman, a striver / It’s the wind that gives it to me / It’s the river, it’s the mangrove, it’s the sea / My chest aches, enclosed river / My chest aches with no fish caught / Come, woman, fight, emancipate yourself / We are Sergipe’s shellfish gatherers!” This is the anthem of the Movement of Women Shellfish Gatherers of Sergipe (MMS), a grassroots collective that has resisted continuous environmental degradation and cultural erasure for decades. Acting as guardians of the mangrove, they do environmental protection work while facing pressures that put their own survival at risk. To hear one of these women is to hear many: Their verbs almost always come in the plural. “We are always in a flock,” Santos says. And it was as a flock that they introduced…This article was originally published on Mongabay

For more than two decades, National Geographic photographer Steve Winter and environmental journalist Sharon Guynup have followed big cats into some of Earth’s wildest, most dangerous places. Their work has taken them from the jungles of India and Brazil to the high Himalaya, from Southeast Asia’s forests to the African savanna and the urban wilds of Los Angeles, documenting the world’s big cats and the ways humans are succeeding or failing in living alongside them. Winter’s iconic photos of tigers, jaguars, snow leopards, cougars and lions have earned some of the field’s highest honors, including Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He is also known for his innovative use of remote camera traps, which has allowed him to capture intimate glimpses of animals that are extraordinarily difficult to observe in the wild. A young male Bengal tiger trips a camera trap in India’s Kaziranga National Park. Image © Steve Winter/Big Cat Voices. Guynup, an award-winning environmental journalist, and now, Mongabay’s global wildlife editor, has penned prolific reporting on numerous topics. She’s especially known for her coverage of big cat conservation, exposés on wildlife trafficking, documenting the creation of wildlife corridors, and alerting the world to the threats posed by zoonotic diseases. The two have been partners in life and work for 37 years (they married just last year), and together have produced investigations delivering real change. Their reporting on captive tigers in the U.S., for example, (featuring Steve’s photos and Sharon’s prose), revealed abuse and wildlife trafficking, contributing to the passage of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

SEOUL — Wedged between skyscrapers and a bustling passenger ferry port in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, a celebrity of sorts is drawing thousands of admirers as it has been swimming for weeks now in a shallow city canal. Bukangi, a shark named after the waterfront park where she is trapped, has attracted nearly 1.4 million spectators since she was first spotted in mid-September in the southeastern coastal city, according to local authorities. At least two failed attempts to guide the shark from the canal to the open sea have added to the spectacle. Meanwhile, online videos of the marine creature swimming amid Busan’s urban landscape have gone viral on social media. The 3-meter (10-foot) female dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus), categorized as endangered on the IUCN Red List, is so popular that she has been named an official “honorary ambassador” to the city. On Oct. 6, South Korea’s National Institute of Fisheries Sciences (NIFS) identified Bukangi as a dusky shark from the ridge between its dorsal fins. Image by NIFS, Fisheries Resources Research Department via Wikimedia Commons. The Busan city government deploys more than 100 workers daily to monitor her condition and watch out for signs of poor health. Meanwhile, the city’s baseball team released special edition merchandise in her likeness, with a local distillery offering the same treatment on its bottles of soju rice liquor. The public has “developed a sense of affection” for Bukangi, said Hong Sun-kee, director of the Institution for Marine and Island Cultures at Mokpo…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Portugal’s PJ criminal police have seized 556 kilograms of cocaine in the Porto area and arrested one man as part of an investigation into an organised crime group importing drugs

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Portugal’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into allegations of mistreatment of children at a school in Lisbon, following a complaint by a former employee. The investigation concerns Externato

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Demand for metals has exploded in recent decades, thanks to population growth, technological innovation, and economic development. The volume of metal ores like iron and copper extracted globally quadrupled during the last half-century, and the trillion-dollar industry shows no signs of slowing down. But the growing demand comes with environmental risks. Both metal mines and the storage facilities that hold vast amounts of toxic mining waste, known as tailings, can release pollution into the surrounding environment, contaminating land and water with heavy metals and harmful chemicals. This pollution can eventually wash downstream, affecting coastal communities and marine ecosystems. An analysis recently published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews warns that climate change could exacerbate the risks of metal mining pollution on marine environments. Researchers examined areas where compounding risks from warmer temperatures, rising seas, and changing weather patterns could release more toxic waste into the landscape over the next century, highlighting the need for remediation and monitoring. They identified the six regions where overlapping hazards pose the highest risk: North America, South America, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, East Asia, and Australia. “We isolate six hotspots, but that makes up a large part of the world,” study lead author Adam Sproson, a research scientist at the National Oceanography Centre in the U.K., told Mongabay. “There’s quite a lot of coastline to cover.” The coastal Levant Mine in Cornwall, U.K., in 2008. This tin and copper mine operated from the 18th century until the 1930s, and its workings extended under the sea. Legacy…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Researchers surveyed 40 sites along the East African coastline from Kenya to Mozambique, studying seagrass and coral reef ecosystems. They found that when it comes to benefits for coastal communities, seagrasses bring something important to the plate. In a paper published in Cell Reports Sustainability, they write that while reefs support “greater fish biomass, abundance, and richness overall,” fish communities living in seagrass meadows may provide a richer mix of nutrients when seen from the perspective of human sustenance. These marine habitats have gained prominence in recent years not only as fish nurseries but as carbon sinks and acting as the first line of defense against floods and storms. “Protecting seagrass meadows should therefore be seen not only as biodiversity conservation but also as a public health and food security priority,” the study authors write. Rabbitfish in a seagrass meadow. Image courtesy of Benjamin Jones. Lead author Benjamin Jones, a Ph.D. student at Stockholm University at the time of the research, said the study isn’t about comparing ecosystems, but rather about applying a new lens to marine conservation. Often, a marine ecosystem’s value is determined by fish production. But for vulnerable coastal communities, “the reliability of catching nutritious fish can be just as important as the total number of fish in the sea,” said Jones, who’s now the chief conservation officer at Project Seagrass, a U.K.-based environmental charity. Accounting for fish biomass and depth, the seagrass meadows studied were “1.6 times more nutritionally multifunctional” than coral reefs, according to the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

JAKARTA — Indonesia is facing growing criticism over its response to a forest and land fire crisis that has sent choking haze billowing into neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, but officials insist the government is not to blame. The president has claimed that a drawdown in firefighting efforts means the number of fires has gone down, while one of his spokespersons trotted out a familiar rebuke that neighboring countries should be grateful for the oxygen they get from Indonesia’s forests and not complain only when they get “sent smoke.” Meanwhile, Malaysia said it was still awaiting a response to its offer of assistance fighting the fires, while Singapore raised the prospect of taking legal action against any Singapore-linked companies behind the burning. Indonesian officials have acknowledged the fires’ effects on neighboring countries, but as of Oct. 16 had issued no public apology for the haze that pushed Kuala Lumpur and Singapore into the ranks of the most polluted cities in the world. Haze from Indonesia’s wildfires obscures the sun in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 15, 2026. Image courtesy of Estelle Ng. Instead, Syahganda Nainggolan, head of the government communications office, said Malaysia and Singapore should see the problem as being “beyond human error” and “truly nature.” “We do not just send smoke; when there is no smoke, we send oxygen,” he said, echoing remarks made by previous administrations during similar fire crises. The statement drew criticism in Malaysia, where Andrew Chen Kah Eng, a politician from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has described the approval of the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC 221/2019) as a historic achievement. The amendment puts an end to the 44-hour workweek, establishing a new maximum of 40 hours per week, distributed over five working days and two paid rest days.

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Brazilian Senate Ends 6×1 Schedule, Approves 40-Hour Workweek

The constitutional reform—a key commitment of the Brazilian government—will directly benefit approximately 22 million workers who were previously employed under a “6×1” schedule, consisting of six days of work followed by one day of rest.

Brazil’s Senate ratified the amendment in two rounds of voting, with 75 votes in favor and one against—the latter cast by Senator Hamilton Mourão. This decision comes five months after the Chamber of Deputies initially approved the proposal, and 11 days ahead of the presidential runoff, scheduled for October 25.

Far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, who had initially opposed the measure, shifted his position and voted in favor remotely from Porto Alegre. Progressive senators, including Teresa Leitão, labeled this move as opportunistic and warned of the need to remain vigilant against any potential attempts to overturn the new regulation.

A escala 6×1 acabou! ❤️🇧🇷

Uma conquista histórica para milhões de trabalhadores e trabalhadoras, que agora terão mais tempo para descansar, estar com a família, cuidar de si e viver.

Quem constrói o Brasil todos os dias também merece tempo para viver.

É o Brasil pronto para… pic.twitter.com/5Nq7a9xKZk

— Lula (@LulaOficial) October 15, 2026

The text reads, “The 6×1 schedule is over! A historic achievement for millions of workers, who will now have more time to rest, be with their family, take care of themselves, and live. Those who build Brazil every day also deserve time to live. It’s Brazil ready for more!”

Timeline and safeguards

The transition to the “5×2” model will not be immediate. According to the established timeline, 60 days after the official publication of the amendment—expected in February 2027—the maximum weekly working hours will be reduced from 44 to 42.

Subsequently, 14 months after the amendment is enacted—in December 2027—the limit will be set at 40 hours per week. The regulation also establishes a maximum daily limit of eight working hours. The constitutional text expressly prohibits any reduction in wages—whether proportional or affecting the minimum wage—across professional categories.

Furthermore, it delegates the organization of rest periods to collective bargaining agreements, prioritizing Sundays, while allowing for flexibility in sectors such as healthcare, security, and public transport.

While labor unions supported the measure, business sectors expressed their opposition, arguing that it could lead to higher costs per hour worked and the risk of a contraction in employment. The right-wing opposition also signaled its intention to revise the legislation should it gain control of the executive branch.

For individual micro-entrepreneurs and small business units, the reform provides for a supplementary law that includes state support mechanisms designed to cushion the impact of the transition and sustain formal employment targets.

Within the public administration, existing service contracts will have a period of up to 12 months to adjust their operational and financial frameworks to the new limits on working hours.

With the approval of PEC 221/2019, Brazil has begun a restructuring of its labor market aimed at reducing precarious working-hour arrangements in Latin America’s largest economy.

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Every year between February and May, when mahua flowers begin to fall, Mamta Tigga collects them. Mamta comes from a village in Gumla in the Indian state of Jharkhand and has been collecting mahua (a flower from Madhuca longifolia), gethi kanda (or air potato, Dioscorea bulbifera) and tendu leaves from the Indian ebony tree (Diospyros melanoxylon) for the past three years. All of these plants are important sources of food, medicine and other traditional uses in her culture. Mamta is not just a tribal gatherer, but a homemaker and a mother of two children. Over the years, she has noticed a change in what the forest gives her. “There is less mahua than before,” she says, and the amount changes with the weather. When there is more heat, more mahua falls and when it rains, the mahua flower sheds off. “This year there was less mahua, between March to April we usually collect around 4-5 quintal [100 kilograms or 220 pounds] but this time due to excessive rain we got around 25 kg of mahua.” Forest produce is an essential source of income for families like Mamta’s. Her husband is a driver, and often, when they are short on money, the funds collected by selling mahua help them survive. But what happens when the resources people depend on begin to change, while the demand for those products continues to grow? A recent review in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems examines this question in the Indian states of Jharkhand…This article was originally published on Mongabay