- On March 11th, 2025, Virunga National Park authorities discovered a young gorilla named Fazili caught in a poacher’s trap.
- The closure of Virunga National Park eco-guard patrol posts in areas under M23 occupation has prevented regular patrols and monitoring since April 2024, said researchers, and some locals are taking advantage of the security situation to benefit from the park’s resources, collaborate with armed groups for land, or take part in the wild meat trade.
- No species have completely disappeared from the park, and the population of gorillas continued to rise in 2024 but there has been a 50% decrease in wildlife since the M23 resurgence in 2021 and poaching is expanding, said park officials.
- About one hundred community trackers are working to protect wildlife during the security crisis.

The nonprofit watchdog Coffee Watch recently filed a petition to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to stop the import of coffee produced with slave labor in Brazil. Coffee Watch relied in part on several Mongabay reports to file the petition. “Mongabay is kind of how I learned about the problem, way back in the […]

- In southeastern Brazil’s Jequitinhonha Valley, a region that is home to up to 85% of the country’s known lithium deposits, residents say the arrival of the mining company Sigma Lithium brought new community conflicts and issues with their water supply.
- Some researchers say decisions concerning where and how to mine, as well as the types of consultation practices companies use, result in different levels of impact, but that there’s no way governments can ensure corporate responsibility.
- Local communities in the Jequitinhonha Valley have a blueprint on how companies can improve relations and mitigate impacts.
- Sigma Lithium did not respond to Mongabay’s request for a comment, but its website states its mission is to support the growth of the electric vehicle industry as a producer of sustainable lithium.