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Sanguila also stresses the importance of conserving what is left of Mindanao’s forests, especially now that we know what a special place it is. Although much of the original forest cover in the lowlands have been lost, she believes it is critical to establish new protected areas to halt the environmentally destructive harvest of natural resources, to promote societal environmental awareness, and to allow habitats to regenerate over several decades.
Siler hopes this paper is only the beginning of a bright future for biodiversity research in the area. He plans to continue working with the University of Kansas, graduate students from the program – many of whom have started their own programs in the United States – as well as their Philippine collaborators.
Myanmar Army: The national armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. |
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Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA): A multilateral agreement that calls for political dialogue between the Myanmar army and the country’s ethnic armed organizations. Signed on Oct. 15, 2015 by the Tatmadaw and eight armed groups. |
Border Guard Forces (BGFs): Created by the Tatmadaw in 2009 and 2010. They were formed by integrating Tatmadaw soldiers with those from units originally with either ethnic armed organizations or militia groups. The BGFs have served as proxy forces for the Tatmadaw to exercise influence in areas not under their direct control. |
Karen National Union (KNU): Formed in the late 1947, the KNU is Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed opposition group. The KNU initially called for independence, but since 1976 has instead been seeking a federal system. Signed a bilateral ceasefire with the government in 2012 and is part of the NCA. |
Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA): Formal armed wing of the KNU. It was founded in 1949. |
“When you do survey work on Mindanao, two main issues need to be addressed; security-related and local (within site) politics,” Sanguila said. Culturally, Mindanao is incredibly complex and diverse. The island is home to some two dozen ethnolinguistic groups speaking roughly 70 languages, who often have conflicting interests over how to use the island’s rich agricultural and natural resources. Proper precautions had to be taken before researchers could go into the field, including meeting with local authorities, tribal leaders, hunters, police and military for advice.
All that hard work is now paying off. “Having [Sanguila] down there and being one of the more active biodiversity researchers in the southern Philippines is a fantastic position to develop new conservation initiatives and awareness about biodiversity,” Siler said. In 2013, Sanguila came to the University of Oklahoma on a Fulbright scholarship to study genetic sampling techniques as well as the ins and outs of building and caring for a natural history collection. It was there, in collaboration with Siler, that the ambitious project to survey the reptiles and amphibians of Mindanao was born.
Another major goal of the research was to update outdated IUCN conservation status assessments by sorting out unresolved taxonomic questions. That work, the researchers say, has just begun. Many more long-term species surveys are needed to truly understand the diversity and conservation status of the reptiles and amphibians of Mindanao. That will require using modern genetic sampling techniques as well as input from more traditional taxonomists who perform the detailed work of teasing apart species relationships. According to Sanguila, 20 percent of the species recorded require “immediate systematic revisions” before informed decisions can be made regarding their conservation status.
- Study: Snares claim another local extinction as Cambodia loses its leopardsby Isabel Esterman on May 30, 2023 at 8:46 am
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JAKARTA — Top officials from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s biggest palm oil producers, will meet European Union policymakers in Brussels amid a diplomatic standoff over a new deforestation rule that threatens to shut the commodity out of the EU market. The rule, formally adopted by the EU on May 16, bans the trading within
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KATHMANDU — When Suman Hamal was growing up in his hometown of Putalibazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, he saw birds of different species and sizes fly around in his neighborhood. He recalls being amazed by the beauty of the creatures and wondering how they could take to the skies. “But I would feel heart-wrenched when
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OASI DI CANNEVIÉ, Italy — In the early morning haze, Luca Bellini steered his green boat through the web of canals and lagoons of the Po River Delta. He had just pulled the fyke nets after 12 hours in the water so biologist Mattia Lanzoni could check for baby eels entering the Po from the
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It’s been seven years since the last significant El Niño — one of the strongest on record. It triggered disease outbreaks, caused changes in weather conditions that affected fisheries and agricultural production, killed livestock and led to malnutrition and food insecurity. This extreme phenomenon affected more than 60 million people across the globe. And now,
- Residents of southeast Alaskan town debate mine that’s bound to change regionby Latoyaabulu on May 26, 2023 at 3:02 pm
In southeast Alaska, people and bears alike come to the shore of the Chilkat River to catch salmon beside evergreen trees and mountains with snow-covered stony summits. Five species of salmon call the Chilkat home, spending most of their life in the Pacific Ocean before returning to the river where they were born to reproduce
- Flooding for hydropower dams hits forest-reliant bats hard, study showsby Isabel Esterman on May 26, 2023 at 2:17 pm
Flitting through the forest foliage, darting between branches and flawlessly negotiating their way around gargantuan tree trunks, bats have evolved exquisite adaptations to their forest homes. Although inaudible to human ears, the tropical forest canopy is abuzz every night with the tiny mammals’ echolocating calls as they pinpoint and gobble up their insect prey with
- Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamomsby Gerryflynn on May 26, 2023 at 1:30 am
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow. *Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. KOH KONG, Cambodia — In April 2022, the sound of a sawmill cut through the murky dawn that was steaming over Cambodia’s western
- Mating game: Survival of some small wildcats at risk due to housecat hybridsby Glenn Scherer on May 25, 2023 at 5:21 pm
Interbreeding with domestic cats, and also with other wildcat species, is altering the behaviors and genetic profiles of some small wildcats, creating conservation dilemmas about how best to define and protect these species.
- Study shows Kenyan elephant shrew may be adapting to human disturbance, droughtby Terna Gyuse on May 25, 2023 at 4:06 pm
A population of endangered elephant shrews has rebounded in a threatened coastal forest reserve in Kenya, suggesting the rabbit-sized mammals with endearingly long snouts could be adapting to both human disturbance and drought, researchers say. Rael Ondoro, a Kenyan-trained ecologist, told Mongabay she was inspired to carry out a population assessment of the endangered golden-rumped
- Women decision-makers can improve conservation and agriculture, study showsby Nandithachandraprakash on May 25, 2023 at 4:04 pm
A new study shows that both conservation and agricultural production can improve when women farmers more widely participate in group decisions about sustainable practices. The report, published in February in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, highlights that agricultural production and conservation outcomes improved among the study group when gender diversity was increased. The findings
- Forest conservation efforts in Peru are failing across the board, study saysby Alexandrapopescu on May 25, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Peru has attracted millions of dollars in forest conservation projects over the years, has a series of international agreements and targets to protect forests and has 254 public and private parks and protected areas — but these mechanisms have had little to no effect as deforestation skyrockets in the country, says a new study. Peru,
- Expedition to Pacific ecosystems hopes to learn from their resilienceby Elizabethalberts on May 25, 2023 at 3:17 pm
How do you make people care about protecting marine habitats and wildlife? You tell stories, says Enric Sala, an explorer-in-residence and founder of the Pristine Seas project at the National Geographic Society. “We need to show people how wonderful and awesome the ocean is, what a miracle it is to have an ocean full of
- Financial downturn at Enviva could mean trouble for biomass energyby Glenn Scherer on May 25, 2023 at 2:19 pm
The world’s largest producer of biomass for energy, Enviva, has seen its stock price tumble, as operational, financial and legal problems pile up, with investors possibly also concerned about the company’s tarnished green image.
- Head of Verra, top carbon credit certifier, to leave in Juneby John Cannon on May 25, 2023 at 2:15 pm
The founding CEO of the world’s most prominent standards organization for carbon credits sold on voluntary markets will step down. David Antonioli will leave the U.S.-based nonprofit standard-setting organization Verra after 15 years on June 16, according to a May 22 statement. Judith Simon, hired as Verra’s president in February, will take over as interim
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