- In March, Mongabay covered landscape restoration projects in different countries, injustice to Brazil’s Indigenous communities regarding land rights, human-elephant conflict in India due to oil palm plantations, and other issues worldwide.
- Three YouTube series — Mongabay Explains, Problem Solved, and Candid Animal Cam — released new episodes featuring coral reefs, aerosol issues, technology-critical elements, and the gray brocket deer, respectively.
- Get a peek into the various segments of the environment across the globe. Add these videos to your watchlist for the month and watch them for free on YouTube.
Mongabay looked into three inspiring landscape restoration efforts in three different countries. In Lebanon, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, residents have taken things into their own hands and have started restoration projects. Lebanon’s Shouf Biosphere Reserve, Indonesia’s Womangrove Collective, and Kinandu village in DRC are experiments and projects where local communities are working together against many odds.
In March, Mongabay released two new episodes to its YouTube series, Mongabay Explains. The explainer series broke down the complex subject of technology-critical element supply chain and explored the possibility of its being sustainable. Another episode examined whether aerosols can help us against climate change.
Even with major advances in the marine sciences in many countries, we’ve only just scratched the surface and begun to understand what’s happening in the oceans. Mongabay series Problem Solved explored the impacts human actions have on coral reefs and the interventions now needed to save them. Meanwhile, Indian researchers are set to start studying sharks and rays from a conservation angle.
From Mongabay-India’s videos from March, we saw how a village in south India is working on turning itself carbon neutral, while in some other villages in central India people have serious health issues due to contaminated water. The webinar explored the participation and inclusivity of women in India’s clean energy sector.
In Brazil, injustice against the Indigenous communities regarding land rights continue. While the Ka’apor are strategizing to keep away invaders and save their land, about 400 evicted Indigenous residents are fighting to reclaim the Monte Horebe settlement in Manaus.
Add these videos to your watchlist for the month and watch them for free on Mongabay’s YouTube channel.
India needs more conservation-relevant research on sharks and rays
Past research on sharks and rays in India lacks relevance to their conservation and management and were biased towards charismatic species. Experts recommend future studies on regional species stock assessments, critical habitats and socioeconomic drivers of fisheries.
Read more: India needs more conservation-relevant research on sharks and rays
Fluoride contamination haunts villages of central India
People in some central Indian villages are developing discolouration of teeth and bone deformities caused by excessive ingestion of fluoride. In many tribal villages, contaminated groundwater is not only a health problem but also has social impacts. Experts claim that a lack of technological interventions, and newly contaminated villages not being monitored are making the problem worse.
Read more: Continued fluoride contamination of groundwater is a glaring public health issue in central India
MONGABAY EXPLAINS
Could aerosols be a good thing against climate change?
Aerosols come in many shapes and sizes. They can drift in the atmosphere as spores of pollen, or as sand blown off arid land, or as black carbon — and in many other forms. Despite remaining aloft only for a few days or weeks until they fall to earth, aerosols can have complex and far-reaching consequences for weather, climate, and health. As the amount of human-caused aerosols soars dramatically, we try to understand how they’re changing our world.
Can the technology-critical element supply chain become sustainable?
Green energy technology growth (especially wind, solar and hydropower, along with electric vehicles) is crucial if the world is to meet Paris climate agreement goals. But these green solutions rely on technology-critical elements (TCEs), whose production and disposal can be environmentally harmful. Mining and processing of TCEs requires huge amounts of energy. Mines use gigantic quantities of fresh water; can drive large-scale land-use change; and pollute air, soil and water — threatening biodiversity. TCEs may also become pollutants themselves when they are disposed of as waste.
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