Environment

Wildlife, oceans, forests, climate and conservation

In Environment, ECOnews covers wildlife and biodiversity, oceans, forests, climate change, pollution, recycling and conservation. Surprising stories from around the planet that explain how nature works and how people are changing it.

Aerial view of Perisher ski resort with snow-covered slopes in Australia's Kosciuszko National Park.

Artificial ski runs laid like white strips over brown slopes may be saving seasons for now, but they are also feeding the same climate problem that is melting the snow

By ECONEWS

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July 24, 2026 at 6:30 PM

A black hawk-eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus) perched on a tree branch in tropical forest.

A black hawk-eagle was recorded for the first time in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, turning Mexico into the scene of a high-flying naturalist surprise

By ECONEWS

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July 24, 2026 at 5:00 PM

A jukumari, or Andean bear, stands in native forest near the headwaters of Bolivia's Parapetí River.

The jukumari has reappeared near the headwaters of the Parapetí River, a hopeful sign for conservationists in Bolivia’s Chaco because spotting such an elusive bear is not an everyday thing

By ECONEWS

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July 24, 2026 at 3:00 PM

ROV manipulator grasps a degraded VHS cassette 8,700 ft deep on the Argentine seafloor.

An underwater robot dove nearly 13,000 ft. in the Argentine Sea and found fishing nets, bags, and even a VHS tape, as if the ocean floor were keeping a trash pile from another era

By ECONEWS

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July 21, 2026 at 5:00 PM

Aerial view of a large reverse-osmosis desalination complex on the Atlantic coast, with seawater intake and brine outfall channels.

Morocco is getting serious about water security with mega-desalination plants and new rules for cities of millions, a massive bet that shows how far the water crisis can go

By ECONEWS

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July 21, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Diver hovers above young kelp fronds and restored algae in the Zapallar marine refuge on Chile’s central coast.

Artisanal fishers in Chile are using marine refuges to protect black sea urchins and help revive underwater forests, an unexpected move where saving one species helps lift an entire ecosystem

By ECONEWS

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July 21, 2026 at 10:15 AM

A restored watershed in Chiloé, Chile, featuring native forest vegetation and infiltration trenches that supply a gravity-fed water network.

A rural community in Chiloé spent years struggling with drought and managed to bring its water back using nature-based methods, a small story on the map but a huge one for the people turning the tap on again

By Adrian Villellas

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July 21, 2026 at 6:30 AM

A bottom-set fishing net equipped with sealed, recycled plastic bottles acting as acoustic reflectors to warn dolphins.

Recycled plastic bottles could reduce accidental dolphin bycatch in fishing nets by up to 88%, a pretty wild twist for a waste material usually linked to pollution

By Adrian Villellas

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July 20, 2026 at 6:30 PM

Researchers conducting a field test in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, where seawater is pumped onto sea ice to increase its thickness and reflectivity.

The first experiment to thicken Arctic ice with seawater showed promise, but it comes with a huge catch that could turn a climate solution into a serious dilemma

By ECONEWS

—

July 20, 2026 at 5:00 PM

A Mexican mantled howler monkey in the forest canopy of Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, where researchers detected microplastics in fecal samples.

Plastic is no longer just on beaches and in rivers, scientists found microplastics in howler monkeys in Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, a strange warning that pollution has reached the treetops

By ECONEWS

—

July 20, 2026 at 12:30 PM

A deep-sea submersible camera captures a corroded radioactive waste barrel on the seafloor, now colonized by sponges and anemones.

About 80 years after some 200,000 radioactive barrels were dumped in the ocean, France is leading a mission to find them, an uncomfortable story that sounds like a forgotten file under the sea

By ECONEWS

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July 20, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Erin Brockovich speaking about the environmental impact of AI data centers and the need for greater transparency in local communities.

Erin Brockovich is once again tied to an environmental fight against a utility company, and the case inevitably recalls the battle that turned her into a symbol of citizen resistance

By Adrian Villellas

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July 19, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Aerial view of gold mining operations in a river in Bolivia, with machinery, sediment, and deforested land visible

Bolivia is facing new environmental tensions over an agreement with mining cooperatives that, according to critics, could trigger thousands of applications and put protected areas under enormous pressure

By ECONEWS

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July 16, 2026 at 12:30 PM

Male Edwards’s pheasant with metallic blue plumage and white crest in a conservation breeding program

A Málaga-born pheasant traveled thousands of miles to Vietnam, and its mission is to help revive a species missing from the wild since 2000

By ECONEWS

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July 16, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Aerial view of the Colorado River delta showing dry channels and limited water flow toward the Sea of Cortez

After decades of dams, diversions, and drought, the Colorado River will once again flow into the Sea of Cortez—a scene many believed was lost and that is seen almost as a historic return of the water.

By Adrian Villellas

—

July 16, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Foam and polluted water in the Tagus River showing signs of contamination in Spain.

The Tagus River has just issued a silent warning in Spain: at the 19 monitoring sites analyzed over the course of nearly a year, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and signs of fecal contamination have been detected along some 300 kilometers of the rive

By ECONEWS

—

July 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM

Kayaker paddling on the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, showing urban water use and recreation.

The Chattahoochee River has gone from smelling like sewage and mud to featuring parks, trails, and kayaks, but the death of more than 44,000 fish has served as a reminder that its recovery remains fragile

By ECONEWS

—

July 15, 2026 at 3:00 PM

Bird nest built with thin cable and natural fibers, showing wildlife adaptation to human-made debris

Birds near the front lines in Ukraine are building nests with fiber-optic cable left behind by military drones: a small but striking image of how nature is trying to survive amid the rubble of the battlefield

By ECONEWS

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July 15, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Aerial view of the Maullín River wetlands in southern Chile, a protected ecosystem under environmental pressure

Chile has just imposed a fine of about $4.1 million on a real estate development consisting of 87 lots along the banks of the Maullín River, and the case is already being viewed as a stern warning to rural real estate developers

By ECONEWS

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July 15, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Group of Andean rheas walking across a dry highland landscape in Peru, a critically endangered bird species in the Andes

The largest running bird in the Peruvian Andes can reach speeds of about 37 miles per hour, but it now faces a threat from which it cannot escape: a lack of funding

By ECONEWS

—

July 14, 2026 at 6:36 PM

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Environment

Artificial ski runs laid like white strips over brown slopes may be saving seasons for now, but they are also feeding the same climate problem that is melting the snow

A black hawk-eagle was recorded for the first time in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, turning Mexico into the scene of a high-flying naturalist surprise

The jukumari has reappeared near the headwaters of the Parapetí River, a hopeful sign for conservationists in Bolivia’s Chaco because spotting such an elusive bear is not an everyday thing

An underwater robot dove nearly 13,000 ft. in the Argentine Sea and found fishing nets, bags, and even a VHS tape, as if the ocean floor were keeping a trash pile from another era

Morocco is getting serious about water security with mega-desalination plants and new rules for cities of millions, a massive bet that shows how far the water crisis can go

Artisanal fishers in Chile are using marine refuges to protect black sea urchins and help revive underwater forests, an unexpected move where saving one species helps lift an entire ecosystem

A rural community in Chiloé spent years struggling with drought and managed to bring its water back using nature-based methods, a small story on the map but a huge one for the people turning the tap on again

Recycled plastic bottles could reduce accidental dolphin bycatch in fishing nets by up to 88%, a pretty wild twist for a waste material usually linked to pollution

The first experiment to thicken Arctic ice with seawater showed promise, but it comes with a huge catch that could turn a climate solution into a serious dilemma

Plastic is no longer just on beaches and in rivers, scientists found microplastics in howler monkeys in Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, a strange warning that pollution has reached the treetops

About 80 years after some 200,000 radioactive barrels were dumped in the ocean, France is leading a mission to find them, an uncomfortable story that sounds like a forgotten file under the sea

Erin Brockovich is once again tied to an environmental fight against a utility company, and the case inevitably recalls the battle that turned her into a symbol of citizen resistance

Bolivia is facing new environmental tensions over an agreement with mining cooperatives that, according to critics, could trigger thousands of applications and put protected areas under enormous pressure

A Málaga-born pheasant traveled thousands of miles to Vietnam, and its mission is to help revive a species missing from the wild since 2000

After decades of dams, diversions, and drought, the Colorado River will once again flow into the Sea of Cortez—a scene many believed was lost and that is seen almost as a historic return of the water.

The Tagus River has just issued a silent warning in Spain: at the 19 monitoring sites analyzed over the course of nearly a year, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and signs of fecal contamination have been detected along some 300 kilometers of the rive

The Chattahoochee River has gone from smelling like sewage and mud to featuring parks, trails, and kayaks, but the death of more than 44,000 fish has served as a reminder that its recovery remains fragile

Birds near the front lines in Ukraine are building nests with fiber-optic cable left behind by military drones: a small but striking image of how nature is trying to survive amid the rubble of the battlefield

Chile has just imposed a fine of about $4.1 million on a real estate development consisting of 87 lots along the banks of the Maullín River, and the case is already being viewed as a stern warning to rural real estate developers

The largest running bird in the Peruvian Andes can reach speeds of about 37 miles per hour, but it now faces a threat from which it cannot escape: a lack of funding

Chemists are turning ammonia into pure hydrogen at 482°F, far cooler than standard cracking, and the trick is using electricity to pull the gas through a palladium membrane

Roman soldiers guarded a German forest fort for 150 years, and archaeologists digging just inches below the forest floor have found a temple of Mars and a pin hinting at who came after

A volunteer diver picking up trash at the bottom of a Wisconsin lake found a 1,000-year-old dugout canoe, and the Wisconsin Historical Society has decided the safest place for it is exactly where it lies

Czech cave explorers and a robot have measured the Hranice Abyss to 1,476 feet underwater, and a decade after it became the world’s deepest flooded cave, nobody knows where the bottom is

A Hawaiian tree snail vanished from the wild after Hawaii brought in a predator to fight a garden pest, and 33 years later it is back behind walls that keep its hunters out

A Swiss glacier has pulled back far enough to reveal a larch that stopped growing about 10,300 years ago, and its still-attached roots show the tree grew on ground the ice later buried

Chinstrap penguin droppings across Antarctica release an estimated 540,000 tons of methane a year, and the bare ground between the guano patches gives off almost nothing

Twenty family dogs listened to nonstop invented words while wearing electrodes, and scientists found that dog brains lock onto the same hidden detail of speech that human brains rely on from infancy

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