Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information or to customize your cookie preferences.

Accept Deny

GoGreenNation news

This Month in Conservation Science: Trojan Seahorses and ‘Vampire’ Birds

News Feed
Friday, November 22, 2024

When I worked for a major academic publisher in the early 2000s, Christmas came twice a year: once in December and once when the annual Journal Citation Reports came out. The JCR, published every year since 1975, ranks academic journals against each other. Each journal receives something called an “impact factor,” a calculation based on how many papers a journal publishes and how many times its papers are cited by subsequent research within two years. This is a very big deal in scientific circles. The higher the impact factor, the more readily the publisher can sell a journal to libraries and other institutions and the more likely the journal is to receive high-quality submissions. That, in turn, helps keep future impact factors high. It’s not a perfect system. Smaller journals — such as those from the Global South or those covering narrow topics — don’t get cited as often, so they may not receive a high impact factor. That doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact, though: Recent research found that these smaller, niche journals actually have a greater effect on policy — particularly when it comes to protecting endangered species. Meanwhile there are plenty of other ways to assess a journal’s impact. Media mentions are also a big deal, and many journals now publish statistics for each paper’s news links or social-media shares. It could be argued that nonscientific citations have a greater effect on policy and public perception than anything else. So let’s dive into those smaller journals and share the latest science from other conservation journals around the world. Below you’ll find more than three dozen papers that grabbed my attention in the past few weeks. They cover “vampire” birds, hungry monkeys, feral cats, roaming lions, the wildlife trade, and more. Most of the articles are open access, so they should be available to researchers (and any other interested readers) around the globe. Will they also shape policy? That remains to be seen, but some of these papers have only been downloaded a couple of hundred times as of this writing, so let’s give them a fighting chance. “Animal-borne sensors reveal high human impact on soundscapes near a critical sea turtle nesting beach” (Biological Conservation) “Are vehicle strikes causing millions of bee deaths per day on western United States roads? Preliminary data suggests the number is high” (Sustainable Environment) “Camouflage or Coincidence? Investigating the Effects of Spatial and Temporal Environmental Features on Feral Cat Morphology in Tasmania” (Ecology and Evolution) “Climatic drought and trophic disruption in an endemic subalpine Hawaiian forest bird” (Biological Conservation) “Conserving genetic diversity hotspots under climate change: Are protected areas helpful?” (Biological Conservation) “Counterillumination reduces bites by Great White sharks” (Current Biology) “Diurnal Activity Budgets and Feeding Habits of Grivet Monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops aethiops) in Fragmented Moist Afromontane Forest” (African Journal of Ecology) “Environmental Conservation and the Bulawayo CBD as a Linguistic Landscape Construction: An Ecolinguistics Perspective” (Journal of Asian and African Studies) “Fabulous but Forgotten Fucoid Forests” (Ecology and Evolution) “Facing the heat: nestlings of a cavity-nesting raptor trade safety for food when exposed to high nest temperatures” (Animal Behaviour) “Great Gerbils (Rhombomys opimus) in Central Asia Are Spreading to Higher Latitudes and Altitudes” (Ecology and Evolution) “Large Reductions in Temperate Rainforest Biome Due to Unmitigated Climate Change” (Earth’s Future) “Lead-based ammunition is a threat to the endangered New Zealand Kea (Nestor notabilis)” (Conservation Letters) “Madagascar’s proposed domestic rosewood trade undermines species protection and exposes fatal flaws in the CITES regime” (Madagascar Conservation & Development) “Native plants play crucial role in buffering against severity of exotic plant invasions in freshwater ecosystems” (Biological Conservation) “Nearly half of Colombian artisan craft plant species lack national and international vulnerability assessments” (Ecosystems and People) “Predicting conservation priority areas in Borneo for the critically endangered helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil)” (Global Ecology and Conservation) “Predicting the potential habitat of bears under a changing climate in Nepal” (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment) “Requiem for Argentine mammals: A spatial framework for mapping extinction risk,” (Journal of Nature Conservation) “Sacred Groves and the Conservation of Forest Genetic Resources: a review” (Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences) “The Trojan seahorse: citizen science pictures of a seahorse harbour insights into the distribution and behaviour of a long-overlooked polychaete worm” (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences) “‘Vampire birds’: diet metabarcoding reveals that migrating Woodchat Shrikes Lanius senator consume engorged camel ticks in a desert stopover site” (Journal of African Ornithology) The Interplay of Lions and African Wild Dogs These papers, which examine some of the same species but share no authors, deserve to be looked at in unison: “Long-Distance, Transfrontier Carnivore Dispersals in Southern Africa” (Ecology and Evolution) “Spatial Risk Effects From Lions Compound Impacts of Prey Depletion on African Wild Dogs” (Ecology and Evolution) “Droughts reshape apex predator space use and intraguild overlap” (Journal of Animal Ecology) Focus on Microplastics This month also featured a lot of research on microplastics — as many as 10 papers a day, by my count. Here’s a small selection focusing on microplastics’ effects on wildlife. This weighs a little more heavily on subscription-access papers, but many of these are open access. “Bibliometric Insights into Microplastic Pollution in Freshwater Ecosystems” (Water) “The dual role of coastal mangroves: Sinks and sources of microplastics in rapidly urbanizing areas” (Journal of Hazardous Materials) “Ecotoxicological Impact of Cigarette Butts on Coastal Ecosystems: The Case of Marbella Beach, Chile” (Sustainability) “From insects to mammals! Tissue accumulation and transgenerational transfer of micro/nano-plastics through the food chain” (Journal of Hazardous Materials) “Is pollution giving fish a headache? Biomarker analysis in fish brains from Danube floodplain” (13th International Symposium Kopački Rit: Past, Present, Future 2024) “Microplastics alter the functioning of marine microbial ecosystems” (Ecology and Evolution) “Microplastics and terrestrial birds: a review on plastic ingestion in ecological linchpins” (Journal of Ornithology) “Microplastics in Animals: The Silent Invasion” (Pollutants) “Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) microplastics affect angiogenesis and central nervous system (CNS) development of duck embryo” (Emerging Contaminants) “Unraveling Plastic Pollution in Protected Terrestrial Raptors Using Regurgitated Pellets” (Microplastics) Our next column will be a bit different: We want to share researchers’ favorite peer-reviewed papers of 2024. For consideration, drop us a line at tips@therevelator.org and use the subject line TMICS. Send us a link, your name and institution, and 1-3 sentences about why you think readers should check out your paper. We’re eager to hear from you, especially if you’re from the Global South or an institution without much public-relations support. (Deadline: Dec. 10, 2024.) Scroll down to find our “Republish” button Previously in The Revelator: This Month in Conservation Science: ‘The Earth Is Dying, Bro’ The post This Month in Conservation Science: Trojan Seahorses and ‘Vampire’ Birds appeared first on The Revelator.

Journals this month looked at “fabulous but forgotten” ecosystems, hungry monkeys, roaming lions, lead-poisoned birds, and more — including a focus on microplastics. The post This Month in Conservation Science: Trojan Seahorses and ‘Vampire’ Birds appeared first on The Revelator.

When I worked for a major academic publisher in the early 2000s, Christmas came twice a year: once in December and once when the annual Journal Citation Reports came out.

The JCR, published every year since 1975, ranks academic journals against each other. Each journal receives something called an “impact factor,” a calculation based on how many papers a journal publishes and how many times its papers are cited by subsequent research within two years.

This is a very big deal in scientific circles. The higher the impact factor, the more readily the publisher can sell a journal to libraries and other institutions and the more likely the journal is to receive high-quality submissions. That, in turn, helps keep future impact factors high.

It’s not a perfect system. Smaller journals — such as those from the Global South or those covering narrow topics — don’t get cited as often, so they may not receive a high impact factor.

That doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact, though: Recent research found that these smaller, niche journals actually have a greater effect on policy — particularly when it comes to protecting endangered species.

Meanwhile there are plenty of other ways to assess a journal’s impact. Media mentions are also a big deal, and many journals now publish statistics for each paper’s news links or social-media shares. It could be argued that nonscientific citations have a greater effect on policy and public perception than anything else.

So let’s dive into those smaller journals and share the latest science from other conservation journals around the world. Below you’ll find more than three dozen papers that grabbed my attention in the past few weeks. They cover “vampire” birds, hungry monkeys, feral cats, roaming lions, the wildlife trade, and more. Most of the articles are open access, so they should be available to researchers (and any other interested readers) around the globe.

Will they also shape policy? That remains to be seen, but some of these papers have only been downloaded a couple of hundred times as of this writing, so let’s give them a fighting chance.

    • “Animal-borne sensors reveal high human impact on soundscapes near a critical sea turtle nesting beach” (Biological Conservation)
    • “Are vehicle strikes causing millions of bee deaths per day on western United States roads? Preliminary data suggests the number is high” (Sustainable Environment)
    • “Camouflage or Coincidence? Investigating the Effects of Spatial and Temporal Environmental Features on Feral Cat Morphology in Tasmania” (Ecology and Evolution)
    • “Climatic drought and trophic disruption in an endemic subalpine Hawaiian forest bird” (Biological Conservation)
    • “Conserving genetic diversity hotspots under climate change: Are protected areas helpful?” (Biological Conservation)
    • “Counterillumination reduces bites by Great White sharks” (Current Biology)
    • “Diurnal Activity Budgets and Feeding Habits of Grivet Monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops aethiops) in Fragmented Moist Afromontane Forest” (African Journal of Ecology)
    • “Environmental Conservation and the Bulawayo CBD as a Linguistic Landscape Construction: An Ecolinguistics Perspective” (Journal of Asian and African Studies)
    • “Fabulous but Forgotten Fucoid Forests” (Ecology and Evolution)
    • “Facing the heat: nestlings of a cavity-nesting raptor trade safety for food when exposed to high nest temperatures” (Animal Behaviour)
    • “Great Gerbils (Rhombomys opimus) in Central Asia Are Spreading to Higher Latitudes and Altitudes” (Ecology and Evolution)
    • “Large Reductions in Temperate Rainforest Biome Due to Unmitigated Climate Change” (Earth’s Future)
    • “Lead-based ammunition is a threat to the endangered New Zealand Kea (Nestor notabilis)” (Conservation Letters)
    • “Madagascar’s proposed domestic rosewood trade undermines species protection and exposes fatal flaws in the CITES regime” (Madagascar Conservation & Development)
    • “Native plants play crucial role in buffering against severity of exotic plant invasions in freshwater ecosystems” (Biological Conservation)
    • “Nearly half of Colombian artisan craft plant species lack national and international vulnerability assessments” (Ecosystems and People)
    • “Predicting conservation priority areas in Borneo for the critically endangered helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil)” (Global Ecology and Conservation)
    • “Predicting the potential habitat of bears under a changing climate in Nepal” (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment)
    • “Requiem for Argentine mammals: A spatial framework for mapping extinction risk,” (Journal of Nature Conservation)
    • “Sacred Groves and the Conservation of Forest Genetic Resources: a review” (Egyptian Academic Journal of Biological Sciences)
    • “The Trojan seahorse: citizen science pictures of a seahorse harbour insights into the distribution and behaviour of a long-overlooked polychaete worm” (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences)
    • “‘Vampire birds’: diet metabarcoding reveals that migrating Woodchat Shrikes Lanius senator consume engorged camel ticks in a desert stopover site” (Journal of African Ornithology)

The Interplay of Lions and African Wild Dogs

These papers, which examine some of the same species but share no authors, deserve to be looked at in unison:

Focus on Microplastics

This month also featured a lot of research on microplastics — as many as 10 papers a day, by my count. Here’s a small selection focusing on microplastics’ effects on wildlife. This weighs a little more heavily on subscription-access papers, but many of these are open access.

    • “Bibliometric Insights into Microplastic Pollution in Freshwater Ecosystems” (Water)
    • “The dual role of coastal mangroves: Sinks and sources of microplastics in rapidly urbanizing areas” (Journal of Hazardous Materials)
    • “Ecotoxicological Impact of Cigarette Butts on Coastal Ecosystems: The Case of Marbella Beach, Chile” (Sustainability)
    • “From insects to mammals! Tissue accumulation and transgenerational transfer of micro/nano-plastics through the food chain” (Journal of Hazardous Materials)
    • “Is pollution giving fish a headache? Biomarker analysis in fish brains from Danube floodplain” (13th International Symposium Kopački Rit: Past, Present, Future 2024)
    • “Microplastics alter the functioning of marine microbial ecosystems” (Ecology and Evolution)
    • “Microplastics and terrestrial birds: a review on plastic ingestion in ecological linchpins” (Journal of Ornithology)
    • “Microplastics in Animals: The Silent Invasion” (Pollutants)
    • “Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) microplastics affect angiogenesis and central nervous system (CNS) development of duck embryo” (Emerging Contaminants)
    • “Unraveling Plastic Pollution in Protected Terrestrial Raptors Using Regurgitated Pellets” (Microplastics)

Our next column will be a bit different: We want to share researchers’ favorite peer-reviewed papers of 2024. For consideration, drop us a line at tips@therevelator.org and use the subject line TMICS. Send us a link, your name and institution, and 1-3 sentences about why you think readers should check out your paper. We’re eager to hear from you, especially if you’re from the Global South or an institution without much public-relations support. (Deadline: Dec. 10, 2024.)

Scroll down to find our “Republish” button

Previously in The Revelator:

This Month in Conservation Science: ‘The Earth Is Dying, Bro’

The post This Month in Conservation Science: Trojan Seahorses and ‘Vampire’ Birds appeared first on The Revelator.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

How a Historic Meeting Between Pope Leo and King Charles Might Shift the Narrative on ‘Creation Care’

From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Tony Juniper, the chairman of Natural England, a government conservation agency. The serene music of the choirs of Windsor Castle, the Sistine Chapel and children from the choir of Saint James Chapel, floated up to the […]

A longtime advisor to King Charles offers perspective on the value of the leaders coming together on climate and environmental concerns ahead of COP30, the upcoming global climate conference.Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on EarthFrom our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Tony Juniper, the chairman of Natural England, a government conservation agency.

Conservation
Government

Iguanas Are Native, Not Invasive, on This Mexican Island, DNA Study Suggests, Rewriting Conservation Ideas

The spiny-tailed iguanas of Clarion Island predate human presence in the Americas by tens of thousands of years, researchers say

Iguanas Are Native, Not Invasive, on This Mexican Island, DNA Study Suggests, Rewriting Conservation Ideas The spiny-tailed iguanas of Clarion Island predate human presence in the Americas by tens of thousands of years, researchers say Sara Hashemi - Daily Correspondent November 7, 2025 1:39 p.m. A spiny-tailed iguana on Clarion Island Daniel Mulcahy The spiny-tailed iguanas on Mexico’s Clarion Island were long thought to have been introduced by humans. But a study published this October in the journal Ecology and Evolution turns that idea on its head. It suggests the lizards predate humans in the Americas—and that they are an endemic, not invasive, species. Clarion Island, the oldest on the remote Revillagigedo Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, was once covered in prickly-pear cactuses that made it almost impenetrable without a machete, per a statement. That all changed in the 1970s, when the Mexican military set up a base on the island and introduced sheep, pigs and rabbits that ate most of the vegetation. Biologists also assumed the iguanas were introduced by military personnel, because previous surveys of the island had not recorded them. “It was all speculative that they were introduced—no one ever tested it,” Daniel Mulcahy, an evolutionary biologist at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and the study’s first author, tells the New York Times. Fun fact: Clarion’s unique wildlife Iguanas aren’t the only animals endemic to Clarion Island: It’s home to unique birds, snakes and lizards. It also was once the habitat of the Townsend’s shearwater (Puffinus auricularis), a rare seabird that had its nesting sites decimated by the island’s invasive mammals. The bird is now considered “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with just 250 to 999 thought to still live in the wild worldwide, according to a 2018 assessment. Mulcahy tells the outlet that he collected DNA from the iguanas while on a Smithsonian Institution research trip to study snakes more than a decade ago. The DNA materials from the island iguanas didn’t seem to match those of iguanas from the mainland. But he didn’t think to publish those results until a colleague told him the Mexican government planned to exterminate the lizards under the belief that they’re invasive and harming the local ecosystem, he tells the Times. The result was his new study, which compared the mitochondrial DNA of island and mainland iguanas and found that they are genetically distinct from each other. The researchers’ evolutionary analysis found that the two populations likely diverged some 425,000 years ago. Humans, on the other hand, only crossed the Bering Land Bridge to the Americas roughly 15,000 to 25,000 years ago. As such, the island’s iguanas “substantially predate not only the establishment of the navy base on Clarion Island but also human colonization of the Americas,” the researchers write in the paper. This finding, they add, suggests the iguanas dispersed naturally over water—likely on a mat of floating vegetation—to make their way to the island. But that raises another question: How did the Clarion iguanas go unnoticed for so long? The study authors suggest the reptiles probably remained hidden because of the dense vegetation that once covered the island, allowing the skittish animals to hide. The iguanas tend to run away from humans, hiding in rock crevices or burrows. “We posit that the iguanas on Clarion Island were historically elusive and that recent alterations to the vegetation have made them more conspicuous,” they write in the study. Though pigs and sheep have now been eradicated from the island, they write, rabbits remain. So does the environmental destruction wrought by the invasive species, which “significantly altered” the island’s native plants. “This type of work is fundamental to conserving some of the world’s most unique and imperiled diversity,” Rayna Bell, an evolutionary biologist at the California Academy of Sciences who was not involved with the study, tells the New York Times. The study could have important implications for future conservation plans on the island, now that iguanas can be considered native wildlife. The researchers hope their findings bring an end to Clarion Island’s ongoing iguana eradication efforts. “This research fundamentally changes how we view Clarion’s ecology,” the team says to Rob Hutchins at Oceanographic magazine. “The spiny-tailed iguana is not an invader—it’s a survivor.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Conservation
Animals
Nature

Scientific consortium hasn’t given up on giant telescope in Hawaii despite protests, increased costs

Construction on the Thirty Meter Telescope stalled at a different site on Mauna Kea in 2019 amid protests. Opponents said the land is sacred to Native Hawaiians.

Despite some daunting setbacks, executives with the Thirty Meter Telescope aren’t giving up on their plans to build it on Mauna Kea, and are investigating the possibility the observatory could be constructed on a site where an old telescope was decommissioned and torn down.Gov. Josh Green and the entire Hawaii congressional delegation signed a letter last month promising to work with state officials to establish a permitting process for construction on the sites of decommissioned telescopes on Mauna Kea.That letter to the chair and co-chair of the board of directors of the Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory acknowledges “your commitment to addressing the Hawaii community’s request for a possible relocation to a disturbed site” on the mountain.Construction of the telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea stalled in 2019 as protests erupted on the mountain, attracting thousands of project opponents from across the state. Those protests became a powerful rallying point for Hawaiians, including some who consider the mountain to be sacred land.Protesters opposed to the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope gather outside the Hawaii Legislature in Honolulu, April 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Cathy Bussewitz, File)APThe protests ended with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and construction has remained in limbo ever since. Years of delays caused the total estimated cost of the TMT project to grow to $3 billion, according to TMT Project Manager Fengchuan Liu, and TMT now has “a pretty big funding gap.”The funding shortfall for TMT at this point is about $1 billion, he said, but that could change depending on when construction would begin.Money and other challengesThe National Science Foundation announced earlier this year it had opted to fund a different large telescope project in Chile, a decision that Liu called “a major challenge.” But TMT planners are working on a solution to that problem.TMT backers have approached Congress for funding via the NSF, and Liu said in an interview Monday the Senate draft of the 2026 federal budget includes language explicitly supportive of funding for TMT as well as the Extremely Large Telescope being built in Chile.The House draft supports the development of large telescopes, but does not mention TMT specifically.“We’re working through that, we have a lot of support from the Hawaii congressional delegation, we very much appreciate it, and the governor as well, but it’s hard to predict in these days how the congressional appropriation process will work out,” Liu said.U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who represents rural Oahu and the neighbor islands, said in an interview Monday that she and other lawmakers plan to send a bipartisan letter to leadership of the House Appropriations Committee to ask for an amendment to the House draft of the budget bill to include language similar to the Senate version.She said she believes the letter signed by Green and the Hawaii congressional delegation was intended to demonstrate a unified position in support of TMT.Tokuda acknowledged some TMT critics continue to oppose the project, and said finding a balance between culture and the advancement of science “will take courage — community and political courage as well. This is something that can be a huge benefit to Hawaii island, to Native Hawaiians, to many.”Green said in the letter that “we look forward to working with TIO and the broader community to honor the shared responsibility for stewardship of Maunakea and the success of this project.”Makana McClellan, director of communications for Green, said the governor “will stand on his letter,” and declined further comment.Sen. Brian Schatz also said through a spokesman that he would not make any further comment, and Sen. Mazie Hirono and Rep. Ed Case did not respond to requests for comment Monday.Pua Case, who describes herself as a protector of Mauna Kea, said the letter is another example of political leaders disregarding TMT’s opponents.She said they have been collecting signatures of people opposed to construction on Mauna Kea for more than a decade, and now have nearly 500,000 signatures.That petition demonstrates the opponents of the project “are more than some Hawaiians and our allies,” she said. “We are many, many more than that, and we must safeguard our sacred lands and Mauna Kea and our Hawaii.”“Throughout the years, Native Hawaiians, communities throughout Hawaii and around the world have stood, sacrificed and worked together to safeguard our sacred lands including Mauna Kea and our Hawaii,” she said. “We have remained unified for a mauna that brought us together in ways that we never thought possible.”The Thirty Meter Telescope has been in the planning stages for years and has a state conservation district use permit authorizing the project to move forward, but opponents have filed challenges in an attempt to invalidate it.What ‘disturbed’ site?The idea that new facilities could be built on the site of a decommissioned telescope on Mauna Kea was included in Act 255, which state legislators passed in 2022. That law also established the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority as the sole authority for the management of lands on Mauna Kea.The law prioritized “the reuse of footprints of observatories that are scheduled for decommissioning, or have been decommissioned, as sites for facilities or improvements over the use of undeveloped lands for such purposes.”The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and the University of Hawaii Hilo Hoku Kea Observatory have been decommissioned and removed from Mauna Kea, but nothing else has been built on the sites where those telescopes once stood.Green promised in the letter that his administration will work with the Mauna Kea oversight authority and the university “to establish a clear and transparent procedure for obtaining the necessary permits associated with a decommissioned site.”Longtime TMT opponent E. Kalani Flores said there are no decommissioned telescope sites on Mauna Kea large enough to accommodate the Thirty Meter Telescope.“The size and scope of the TMT is so huge and massive that it wouldn’t even fit on that site,” he said of the Caltech telescope site. “The question is, what disturbed site is there?”Flores also noted the use of NSF funding for the TMT project would trigger a requirement for a federal environmental impact statement and a cultural consultation, “so we’re talking about years away from it ever happening.”“What we’re seeing now is it appears that the governor and the congressional members are trying to make decisions excluding any input from Native Hawaiians in particular, and we have concerns in that regard, of course,” he said.___This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Conservation
Culture
Mountains

Scientific Consortium Hasn't Given up on Giant Telescope in Hawaii Despite Protests, Increased Costs

Despite some daunting setbacks, an international consortium isn't giving up on plans to built a giant telescope on the highest peak in Hawaii

Despite some daunting setbacks, executives with the Thirty Meter Telescope aren’t giving up on their plans to build it on Mauna Kea, and are investigating the possibility the observatory could be constructed on a site where an old telescope was decommissioned and torn down.Gov. Josh Green and the entire Hawaii congressional delegation signed a letter last month promising to work with state officials to establish a permitting process for construction on the sites of decommissioned telescopes on Mauna Kea.That letter to the chair and co-chair of the board of directors of the Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory acknowledges “your commitment to addressing the Hawaii community’s request for a possible relocation to a disturbed site” on the mountain.Construction of the telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea stalled in 2019 as protests erupted on the mountain, attracting thousands of project opponents from across the state. Those protests became a powerful rallying point for Hawaiians, including some who consider the mountain to be sacred land.The protests ended with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and construction has remained in limbo ever since. Years of delays caused the total estimated cost of the TMT project to grow to $3 billion, according to TMT Project Manager Fengchuan Liu, and TMT now has “a pretty big funding gap.”The funding shortfall for TMT at this point is about $1 billion, he said, but that could change depending on when construction would begin. Money And Other Challenges TMT backers have approached Congress for funding via the NSF, and Liu said in an interview Monday the Senate draft of the 2026 federal budget includes language explicitly supportive of funding for TMT as well as the Extremely Large Telescope being built in Chile.The House draft supports the development of large telescopes, but does not mention TMT specifically.“We’re working through that, we have a lot of support from the Hawaii congressional delegation, we very much appreciate it, and the governor as well, but it’s hard to predict in these days how the congressional appropriation process will work out,” Liu said.U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who represents rural Oahu and the neighbor islands, said in an interview Monday that she and other lawmakers plan to send a bipartisan letter to leadership of the House Appropriations Committee to ask for an amendment to the House draft of the budget bill to include language similar to the Senate version.She said she believes the letter signed by Green and the Hawaii congressional delegation was intended to demonstrate a unified position in support of TMT.Tokuda acknowledged some TMT critics continue to oppose the project, and said finding a balance between culture and the advancement of science “will take courage — community and political courage as well. This is something that can be a huge benefit to Hawaii island, to Native Hawaiians, to many.”Green said in the letter that “we look forward to working with TIO and the broader community to honor the shared responsibility for stewardship of Maunakea and the success of this project.”Makana McClellan, director of communications for Green, said the governor “will stand on his letter,” and declined further comment.Sen. Brian Schatz also said through a spokesman that he would not make any further comment, and Sen. Mazie Hirono and Rep. Ed Case did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Pua Case, who describes herself as a protector of Mauna Kea, said the letter is another example of political leaders disregarding TMT’s opponents.She said they have been collecting signatures of people opposed to construction on Mauna Kea for more than a decade, and now have nearly 500,000 signatures.That petition demonstrates the opponents of the project “are more than some Hawaiians and our allies,” she said. “We are many, many more than that, and we must safeguard our sacred lands and Mauna Kea and our Hawaii.”“Throughout the years, Native Hawaiians, communities throughout Hawaii and around the world have stood, sacrificed and worked together to safeguard our sacred lands including Mauna Kea and our Hawaii,” she said. “We have remained unified for a mauna that brought us together in ways that we never thought possible.”The Thirty Meter Telescope has been in the planning stages for years and has a state conservation district use permit authorizing the project to move forward, but opponents have filed challenges in an attempt to invalidate it.The idea that new facilities could be built on the site of a decommissioned telescope on Mauna Kea was included in Act 255, which state legislators passed in 2022. That law also established the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority as the sole authority for the management of lands on Mauna Kea.The law prioritized “the reuse of footprints of observatories that are scheduled for decommissioning, or have been decommissioned, as sites for facilities or improvements over the use of undeveloped lands for such purposes.”Green promised in the letter that his administration will work with the Mauna Kea oversight authority and the university “to establish a clear and transparent procedure for obtaining the necessary permits associated with a decommissioned site.”Longtime TMT opponent E. Kalani Flores said there are no decommissioned telescope sites on Mauna Kea large enough to accommodate the Thirty Meter Telescope.“The size and scope of the TMT is so huge and massive that it wouldn’t even fit on that site,” he said of the Caltech telescope site. “The question is, what disturbed site is there?”Flores also noted the use of NSF funding for the TMT project would trigger a requirement for a federal environmental impact statement and a cultural consultation, “so we’re talking about years away from it ever happening.”“What we’re seeing now is it appears that the governor and the congressional members are trying to make decisions excluding any input from Native Hawaiians in particular, and we have concerns in that regard, of course,” he said.This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

Conservation
Culture
Mountains

‘Serious gaps’ in Labor’s environment laws undermine attempt to fix broken system, integrity experts say

Pressure mounts on federal government to rethink controversial ‘national interest’ exemption for projectsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPolitical integrity experts have raised concerns about Labor’s proposed new nature laws, including a contentious new “national interest” exemption, as pressure mounts on the Albanese government to rethink major parts of the reform.As debate on legislation to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act resumes in the lower house on Tuesday, the Centre for Public Integrity has identified several “integrity risks” that threaten to undermine attempts to fix the broken system. Continue reading...

Political integrity experts have raised concerns about Labor’s proposed new nature laws, including a contentious new “national interest” exemption, as pressure mounts on the Albanese government to rethink major parts of the reform.As debate on legislation to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act resumes in the lower house on Tuesday, the Centre for Public Integrity has identified several “integrity risks” that threaten to undermine attempts to fix the broken system.The thinktank has joined a chorus of critics – including environment groups, the former Treasury secretary Ken Henry and Labor MP Ed Husic – in raising alarm about a new exemption that would allow the minister to approve a project in breach of new nature laws if it was in the “national interest”.While the environment minister, Murray Watt, has insisted the power was designed for projects linked to defence, security or national emergencies, he hasn’t been able to rule out the possibility it could be used for other applications – including fossil fuel developments – because of the discretionary nature of the exemption.“Despite the claims to a limited application, the centre holds grave concerns about the scope, transparency, and accountability of the exercise of the discretion,” the thinktank wrote in an analysis of the bill published on Tuesday.The thinktank was also concerned about the apparent lack of independence of the government’s proposed independent environment protection agency.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailUnder Labor’s model, the regulator would exercise some functions at arm’s length of the government, including policing of nature laws, but the minister would keep the power to approve projects.The retention of ministerial decision-making power was a key demand of the Coalition and industry groups, but has been criticised by environmentalists.The centre’s report said it was “highly unusual” for an independent regulator to cede such “significant powers” to a minister.“Public confidence and trust in environmental decision making would be better served if responsibility lay with an independent body, free from political influence and less susceptible to vested interests,” the report said.The centre’s head of research, Gabrielle Appleby, said the government’s bill was flawed.“Environmental decision making is especially prone to capture by vested interests – that’s why integrity safeguards must be strong,” she said.“Yet these bills leave serious gaps: the new regulator lacks independence and appropriate powers, and the minister retains sweeping powers to sidestep environmental protections. The government has the solutions in front of it – it just needs the will to close these loopholes and build a system Australians can trust.”The thinktank criticised the government for developing the legislation largely behind “closed doors” in consultation with select stakeholders.It also raised concerns about the process for creating new national environment standards, which were the main recommendation of the Samuel review that inspired the reforms.While the bill establishes a power for the minister to make, vary, or revoke new green rules, the standards themselves aren’t included in the legislation.The thinktank said the standards should have been detailed in the legislation and subject to parliamentary approval. The minister is planning to consult on the design of the standards before their introduction, starting with those applying to matters of national environmental significance and offsets.Labor’s grassroots environment action group is now lobbying the government to make two amendments to the bill, which it ultimately wants passed after years of internal campaigning to fix the EPBC Act.The first would remove or limit the “national interest” carveout by giving parliament the power to disallow the decision through a majority vote in either house.The second would abolish a “continuous use” exemption that allows historically legal agricultural land clearing, particularly in Queensland, to continue without the need for federal approval or oversight.This exemption is also used by state governments to justify shark netting programs that pose a threat to endangered whales.The national secretary of Labor Environment Action Network, Janaline Oh, said there was a strong case for national interest exemption that could be used in national emergencies, but there was a significant risk that a minister could abuse that power and the power should be limited.“In the case where a project is of such overriding national interest that it can be allowed to have even unacceptable impacts, the government should go through an additional process of parliamentary scrutiny,” she said.

Conservation
Government
Nature

Suggested Viewing

From Land to River: The Journey of Resources

In this film, we’ve created a snapshot of the work of the Subalusky Lab at the University of Florida, showcasing the research team’s insights on animals and their greater impacts on various ecosystems. Ultimately, the film calls on viewers to consider the broader implications of environmental research and conservation, and how they can support or contribute to the cause even if it just means adopting a new perspective. We aim to inspire, inform, and ignite a commitment to environmental stewardship among our viewers.

Water
Conservation
Science

Between Clouds and Glass

A look at the monumental problem of bird collisions in Chicago, the deadliest city for birds, just ahead of Houston and Dallas. According to scientists, what happens in Chicago can affect bird populations across North America. As many as one billion birds die each year in the United States due to building collisions, but there are people who care and work hard to change this.

Family
Conservation
Activism

Igniting Change: Maui Brush Fires

This short film, produced by three high school students in our Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club, explores the causes and impacts of brush fires on Maui. It also highlights actionable steps that the public can take to prevent these devastating incidents. Created in partnership with the Maui Fire Department and Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, the students deliver a powerful message that educates and inspires viewers to take action.

Land Use
Conservation
Student

Primal State

Set at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Port Aransas, Texas, the film is supportive of the international efforts to utilize wastewater treatment facilities as bird sanctuaries. The film features an original jazz score and commentary by naturalist Jeff Anderson and provides a glimpse of some of the diversity of bird life found along the Texas Coast while conjuring a Zen-like union with nature.

Animals
Music
Conservation

Dipsas Speaks

Dipsas Speaks is a poetic reflection on the human-wildlife conflict in the Andean Amazon cloud forest of Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Dipsas klebbai, a snake, observes changes in her world. 100% wildlife cast.

Forests
Conservation
Animals

Join us to forge
a sustainable future

Our team is always growing.
Become a partner, volunteer, sponsor, or intern today.
Let us know how you would like to get involved!

CONTACT US

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Subscribers receive a free day pass for streaming Cinema Verde.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.