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Mongabay Newscast

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Jul 19, 2022 • 7min

Mongabay Reports: New Guinea has the most plant species of any island

A report published in the journal Nature concludes that New Guinea is the most floristically diverse and speciose island on the planet. In addition to being the second largest island in the world, New Guinea is the world's largest tropical island. More than two-thirds of its 13,634 plant sepecies are endemic, occurring nowhere else in the world.  New Guinea is not without its conservation challenges. If you are a regular listener of the Mongabay Explores Podcast you'll recall our third season, which explains the historical context, challenges, and drivers of deforestation on the island over seven episodes. Despite these challenges, New Guinea still retains 80% of its original forest cover, making it the final frontier of tropical species discovery and also the third largest rainforest on the planet, just after the Amazon and Congo basin.  To also read & share the story, go here: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/new-guinea-has-the-most-plant-species-of-any-island/ Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy this series, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo Credit: Image by Rhett Butler. Please send feedback to submissions@mongabay.com, and thank you for listening.  
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Jul 12, 2022 • 42min

'Water always wins' but 'slow' solutions to water scarcity are growing in popularity

Human-made 'gray' infrastructure is crumbling, causing some urban areas to lose up to 40% of this precious resource: several major cities across the globe now regularly run out of water or have shortages. Yet our pervasive attempts to control water have actually made accessing it harder, especially as humanity faces the silmultaneously occurring biodiversity, climate and water crises.  Author and journalist Erica Gies joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss her new book 'Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge.' She covers non-invasive solutions ('slow water') that could help humanity not just mitigate our water problems, but also restore biodiversity that's been degraded by 'gray' infrastructure.  Cities such as Chennai, India, are already embracing these slow water practices, many of which are rooted in traditional hydrological knowledge, while other areas like coastal Louisiana contemplate managed retreat from rising water. Solving water access and water infrastructure design isn't a simple one-size-fits-all solution, but there are many measures socieities could take today, and on a local level, to make things easier for us in the future. Related Reading: 'The volume of water is beyond control’: Q&A with flood expert M. Monirul Qader Mirza Beyond boundaries: Earth’s water cycle is being bent to breaking point Episode artwork: A person in an inflatable boat paddles down flooded Highway 610 in the Houston area as rains associated with Hurricane Harvey continue to fall in the area. Image by Mannie Garcia/Greenpeace. Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please share your thoughts and ideas! submissions@mongabay.com.
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Jul 5, 2022 • 10min

Mongabay Reports: Will the vaquita vanish?

This week the world marks Save the Vaquita Day. Our featured article examines a threat to this critically endangered marine mammal (Phocoena sinus), a small porpoise that lives only in the Upper Gulf of California, and of which only 8 remain in the wild. Mongabay reports that a recent CITES decision lifting a prohibition on the export of captive-bred totaoba fish from Mexico could paradoxically spell disaster for vaquitas--which drown in nets that are set to capture the fish illegally, to feed a black market which will likely continue to thrive if a legal trade in farmed totoaba is established. To also read & share the story, go here: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/experts-fear-end-of-vaquitas-after-green-light-for-export-of-captive-bred-totoaba-fish/ Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy this series, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo Credit: An illustration of a vaquita. Image courtesy of Greenpeace. Please send feedback to submissions@mongabay.com, and thank you for listening.
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Jun 28, 2022 • 41min

How marine conservation benefits by blending Indigenous knowledge and western science

We discuss the effectiveness of combining traditional Indigenous ecological knowledge and Western science for conservation and restoration initiatives on this episode. Our first guest is Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan, an ethnobotanist at the University of Arizona, who discusses an ancestral food of the Comcaac people in the state of Sonora in Mexico: eelgrass. Nabhan explains how eelgrass is making a big comeback thanks to the people's restoration work, and is retaking its place at the table as a sustainable source of food for the Comcaac community while gaining international culinary attention in the process. Host Mike G. also speaks with Dr. Sara Iverson, a professor of biology at Canada’s Dalhousie University, about a research project called Apoqnmatulti’k that aims to better understand the movements of lobster, eel, and tomcod in two important ecosystems on Canada’s Atlantic coast. Iverson explains why those study species were chosen by the Mi’kmaq people and why it’s so important that the project combines different ways of knowing, including Western science and traditional Indigenous knowledge, which a Mi’kmaq elder dubbed 'two-eyed seeing.' Further reading about Apoqnmatulti’k here: • “In Canada, Indigenous communities and scientists collaborate on marine research” Listen to episode #145 (June 1, 2022) of this podcast to hear about related Indigenous aquaculture traditions via your favorite podcast provider, or here: • “Podcast: Indigenous, ingenious and sustainable aquaculture from the distant past to today” Episode artwork: A conservationist working on a seagrass restoration project. Image courtesy of Seawilding. Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please share your thoughts and ideas! submissions@mongabay.com.
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Jun 22, 2022 • 12min

Mongabay Reports: 'Lost' Amazonian cities reveal sustainability secrets

Our featured article this week examines archaeological research revealing details of a massive, Pre-Columbian urban settlement in the Amazon, 4,500 square kilometers in size, that provides valuable insights into how humanity could develop sustainable cities without degrading their environments.  To also read & share the story, go here: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/lost-amazonian-cities-hint-at-how-to-build-urban-landscapes-without-harming-nature/ Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy this series, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo Credit: Incachaca archaeological site in Bolivia. Image courtesy of Greg Keelen on Unspash. Please send feedback to submissions@mongabay.com, and thank you for listening.
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Jun 15, 2022 • 45min

New whale calls and dolphin behaviors discovered with bioacoustics

Host Mike G. dives into new discoveries from the exciting field of marine bioacoustics research that are helping us better understand the lives of whales and dophins, and we feature fascinating recordings from that research. His first guest is Erin Ross-Marsh, the lead researcher on a study of humpback whales at the Vema Seamount in the South Atlantic off the coast of South Africa. Ross-Marsh tells us about the study’s finding that these humpbacks were making gunshot calls, a type of non-song call that was previously unknown in these particular whales, and plays some humpback songs, non-song calls, and gunshot calls for us to listen to. He also speaks with Sarah Trabue, a research assistant with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) who is the lead author of a recently published paper detailing the findings of a bioacoustic study of bottlenose dolphins in and around New York Harbor. Trabue discusses what the study reveals about dolphin behavior in the highly trafficked waters around New York City and plays for us some of the dolphin vocalizations recorded as part of the study. Further reading: • Mongabay: “What’s popping? Humpbacks off South Africa, new acoustic study finds” • WCS: “The New York – New Jersey Harbor Estuary is a Dining Hotspot During Summer and Autumn Months for Bottlenose Dolphins” Episode artwork: humpback whales off the coast of Hawaii. Photo Credit: Ed Lyman/NOAA. Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please share your thoughts and ideas! submissions@mongabay.com.
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Jun 7, 2022 • 8min

Mongabay Reports: Palm oil investigation with BBC and Gecko Project exposes corporate theft from communities

Our featured article this week summarizes a joint investigation Mongabay recently conducted with BBC News and The Gecko Project, uncovering how companies have cut local & Indigenous communities out of the profits from Indonesia's palm oil boom, despite being legally required to share those profits. Major brands including Kellogg's, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, and numerous others have sourced palm oil from these plantations.  To also read & share the story, go here: 'A hidden crisis in Indonesia's palm oil sector: 6 takeaways from our investigation.' https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/a-hidden-crisis-in-indonesias-palm-oil-sector-6-takeaways-from-our-investigation/ Read the responses from consumer goods firms to our plasma investigation: https://thegeckoproject.org/articles/responses-from-consumer-goods-firms-to-our-plasma-investigation/ Read the full investigation here: 'The promise was a lie': How Indonesian villagers lost their cut of the palm oil boom. https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/the-promise-was-a-lie-how-indonesian-villagers-lost-their-cut-of-the-palm-oil-boom/ Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy this series, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo Credit: A bag of oil palm fruitlets gathered by the Suku Anak Dalam. Image by Nopri Ismi. Please send feedback to submissions@mongabay.com, and thank you for listening.
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Jun 1, 2022 • 57min

How Indigenous aquaculture leverages traditional ecological knowledge

Coastal cultures have often enjoyed abundant lifestyles thanks to the wide array of food, fiber, and other useful resources provided by the world's seas, sounds, estuaries and oceans. Indigenous peoples have also developed strong marine conservation traditions and ingenious methods of ensuring sustainable long-term harvests through practices commonly called 'aquaculture' today. On this episode we hear from Nicola MacDonald about Kōhanga Kūtai, a project in New Zealand that aims to replace the plastic ropes used by mussel farmers with more sustainable alternatives. MacDonald tells us about the project's basis in blending traditional Maori knowledge with Western science. We also speak with Dana Lepofsky, a professor in the archaeology department at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Lepofsky tells us about her research into clam gardens on the Pacific coast of North America, some of which have been found to be as much as 3500 years old. These clam gardens are such a reliable and sustainable source of food that there’s a movement afoot today to rebuild them. Resources & reading: • ‘We have a full pharmacopoeia of plants’: Q&A with Māori researcher Nicola Macdonald • The Clam Garden Network website Hear our conversation with Dune Lankard of the Native Conservancy about their kelp aquaculture project in Alaska on episode #137 or here:  • "Podcast: Kelp, condors and Indigenous conservation" Episode artwork: Green-lipped mussels are endemic to New Zealand and are commonly grown in aquaculture operations. Image courtesy of Adrian Midgley via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to get access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy the Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please share your thoughts and ideas! submissions@mongabay.com.
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May 25, 2022 • 10min

Mongabay Reports: Can celebrities ‘rewrite extinction’?

'Rewriting Extinction' is a new conservation funding group trying to reach fresh audiences that has so far raised $180,000 for projects in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Critics of the organization say 'Rewriting Exctinction' has made exaggerated claims about what it can, or has, achieved. Some experts say the effort should still be applauded. This episode features the popular article "Can celebrities and social media influencers really 'rewrite extinction'?" by James Fair: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/can-celebrities-and-social-media-influencers-really-rewrite-extinction/ Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips. If you enjoy this series, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Photo Credit: Art for Rewriting Extinction created by mxvisoor. Please send feedback to submissions@mongabay.com, and thank you for listening.
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May 18, 2022 • 1h 1min

Vandana Shiva on the agroecology solution for climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and hunger

Agroecology applies ecological principles to agriculture, and it's a key strategy for mitigating--and adapting to climate change--which also boosts biodiversity and food security--and it is the focus of a special series at Mongabay. Joining us first to discuss agroecology as a science, a practice, and a movement is Dr. Maywa Montenegro, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Then host Mike G. speaks with iconic Indian scientist, activist and Right Livelihood Award winner Dr. Vandana Shiva, whose brand new book, Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change, synthesizes decades of agroecology research and implementation. She's also the founder of Navdanya, which is both an agroecology center and a global food sovereignty movement. Dr. Shiva shares how agroecology is an effective solution not just to climate change but also for a host of other ecological crises we’re facing, such as water scarcity, land degradation, nutrition and biodiversity loss. Further reading: • ”From traditional practice to top climate solution, agroecology gets growing attention” by Anna Lappé  • "Transitioning to sustainable agriculture requires growing and sustaining an ecologically skilled workforce," Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 96. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2019.00096 Episode artwork: Dr. Vandana Shiva, photo by Kartikey Shiva. If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing, Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please share your thoughts and ideas! submissions@mongabay.com.

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