A person in the state of Louisiana has died from avian influenza or bird flu, also known as H5N1, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) reported on Jan. 6, marking the first recorded human fatality from H5N1 in the U.S.

“The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds,” LDH said in its press release.

The department added its investigation had found no evidence the virus transmits from person to person. The patient, who was older than 65 years and reportedly had underlying medical conditions, “remains the only human case of H5N1 in Louisiana,” LDH said.

“Though H5N1 cases in the U.S. have been uniformly mild, the virus does have the capacity to cause severe disease and death in certain cases,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, infectious disease physician at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Reuters.

Avian influenza viruses naturally occur in wild aquatic birds. Some of these viruses can also infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species, with some strains causing minor symptoms, while others can be deadly.

A highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain of the virus that emerged in Europe in 2020 has been particularly contagious and deadly. Mongabay previously reported that this strain has impacted at least 485 bird species and 48 mammal species, killing seals, sea otters, dolphins, foxes, albatrosses, bald eagles, pumas and polar bears. The current H5N1 animal pandemic has been aided by humans, Mongabay reported, with industrial-scale poultry farms helping the virus spread faster and more widely.

In the U.S., there have been 65 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu since 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Most infected people are farmworkers exposed to known sick or infected farm animals, and have experienced minor symptoms.

In December, the CDC had analyzed samples of the H5N1 virus infecting the Louisiana patient and found the strain in the patient was more closely related to the one circulating in wild birds and poultry and different from the one spreading among dairy cattle in the country. The latter has been associated with more, but milder, human cases.

The CDC’s analysis also found that the virus infecting the patient seemed to have picked up mutations within the person. Those changes “were not found in virus sequences from poultry samples collected on the patient’s property, suggesting the changes emerged in the patient after infection,” the CDC said.

Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist and immunologist at the Emory University School of Medicine, told CNN that while the evolution of the virus is concerning, it “highlights how we need to prevent each possible spillover infection to reduce the risk of onward transmission to others.”

The CDC said it’s continuing to monitor changes in H5 viruses and “that the risk to the general public remains low”.

Banner image: Colorized transmission electron micrograph of H5N1 virus particles (yellow). Image via Flickr by CDC and NIAID (CC BY 2.0)

The latest forest survey report from India suggests a slight increase in the country’s forest and tree cover in recent years. But experts say the net marginal gain masks considerable declines across many biodiversity-rich forests and mangroves as well as in overall forest quality, reports Mongabay India’s Kundan Pandey.

The report, published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), notes that the country’s forest cover increased by 1,446 square kilometers (558 square miles) since 2021. This includes a forest cover increase of 156 km2 (60 mi2, or 0.2%) and a tree cover increase of 1,289 km2 (498 mi2, or 1.16%). But how these numbers account for plantations and forests isn’t clear.

“In India, plantation is happening in 18,000 sq. km. [6,950 mi2] annually. But the total forest and tree cover increase is merely 1400 sq. km [540 mi2] in two years. It is a total mismatch,” B.K. Singh, a former principal chief conservator of forests in the state of Karnataka, told Mongabay India. “Either the forests are being cut, and plantations are partly supplementing, or a major chunk of plantations are failing. It must be examined.”

Debadityo Sinha, climate and ecosystems lead at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, said the report shows India is losing prime natural forest and moving toward planted forest. For instance, forest cover has declined in biodiversity-rich areas like the Western Ghats, Himalayan states, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The shift in India’s forest quality can also be interpreted through the change in the various categories of forest, Pandey reports. The FSI classifies forest types by their percentage canopy density: “Very Dense Forest” (VDF) has more than 70% canopy density, “Moderately Dense Forest” (MDF) 40–70%, and “Open Forest” (OF) 10–40% canopy density.

Pandey writes that over the past decade, 46,707 km2 (18,033 mi2) of VDF, MDF and OF have degraded into nonforest areas, while 40,709 km2 (15,718 mi2) of forests have lost density, shifting from VDF and MDF to OF.

The FSI report notes that agroforestry, or the practice of integrating trees and shrubs on farmlands and rural landscapes, has grown by 20.02% over the past decade. While the resulting increase in tree cover is a good sign, Singh told Mongabay India that it’s not the same as improving forest cover. “So we are unable to hold on to our forest, but we are able to grow agroforestry,” he said.

The report also shows an overall decrease in India’s mangrove cover, Pandey reports, with considerable declines in the state of Gujarat and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. At the same time, the report suggests there was increase in mangrove cover in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

This is a summary of “Forest Survey reveals India’s shift towards plantations, a threat to natural ecosystems” by Kundan Pandey.

Banner image of tropical forest in northeast India by Shreya Dasgupta/Mongabay.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden honored Jane Goodall as one of nineteen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor. This accolade recognizes individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public, or private endeavors.

“Dr. Jane Goodall is a world-renowned ethologist and conservationist whose research transformed our understanding of primates and human evolution. She is a passionate advocate for empowering individuals and communities to protect and preserve the natural world,” read the White House statement.

Goodall, who turns 91 this April, expressed gratitude for the recognition.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” she said in a statement issued by the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). “This recognition reflects the hope and action of so many people who inspire and motivate me every day in the firm belief that together we can and we must save the natural world for ourselves and future generations.”

Anna Rathmann, Executive Director of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) USA, celebrated the honor.

“Jane’s own personal evolution from world-renowned scientist to global conservation advocate is a stunning example of each individual’s ability to make a positive impact,” she said in a statement. “We are grateful that the White House is recognizing our founder’s tireless work to inspire hope and transform it into action on behalf of our planet.”

Goodall’s journey began in 1960 at the age of 26 when she embarked on a landmark study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania, under the mentorship of Louis Leakey. Her observation that chimpanzees make and use tools reshaped scientific understanding of the relationship between humans and other animals. This discovery laid the foundation for her lifelong dedication to conservation and animal welfare.

Since founding JGI in 1977, Goodall has advanced a holistic approach to conservation, championing community-led efforts through JGI’s Tacare program and overseeing the longest-running study of wild chimpanzees. Additionally, the Roots & Shoots program, active in 70 countries, inspires young people to engage in hands-on projects that benefit communities, animals, and the environment.

Despite her decades-long career, Goodall remains an active global voice for environmental stewardship. Traveling approximately 300 days a year, she inspires audiences through speaking engagements, books, films, and podcasts. Her latest publication, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, has been translated into over 20 languages, echoing her message that individual actions can shape the future.

Header image: Jane Goodall in Japan in June 2023. Photo taken by Kaori Nishida

Climate change fueled some of the worst extreme weather events on record in 2024, according to a recent report.

Researchers at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central reviewed heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and floods that struck in 2024, and found that nearly every extreme weather event they studied was “made more intense and more frequent because of our continued burning of fossil fuels.”

While the record-breaking weather of 2024 wasn’t surprising, “it was alarming,” report co-author Ben Clarke, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, U.K., told Mongabay by email.

For instance, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first when average global temperatures crossed 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. While breaching the Paris Agreement’s limit of 1.5°C would require surpassing this temperature threshold for several years, “it is a warning that we are getting dangerously close,” the authors write.

Climate change also made nearly every heat wave in 2024 hotter, the report notes, and exposed people to an additional 41 days of dangerous heat on average.

Hotter oceans fueled by climate change also drove more powerful tropical cyclones, which includes typhoons and hurricanes. In the U.S., for instance, Hurricane Helene became the deadliest to strike the mainland since Katrina in 2005, killing more than 230 people. Consecutive typhoons made deadlier by climate change also hit the Philippines late last year, affecting millions of people.

Droughts also affected every continent, made more likely and intense because of climate change. The most prominent was the drought that gripped the Amazon River Basin for a second year running.

“The Amazon drought was particularly exceptional,” Clarke said. “Our study found climate change made the event 30 times more likely, which is a huge increase for a drought.”

Since the Amazon Rainforest stores massive amounts of carbon, “continued warming could cause widespread tree dieback and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” he added. “This in turn causes a feedback loop, making tackling climate change much more difficult.”

The report also found that climate change’s influence overshadowed that of naturally occurring climate phenomenon like El Niño in fueling extreme events, including the Amazon drought.

“Our study found that the low rainfall was influenced about equally by climate change and El Niño,” Clarke said. “However, climate change was the main driver of the persistent heat that evaporated moisture from soils and plants.”

For 2025, the authors stress on the importance of improving early-warning systems as well as the real-time reporting of heat-related deaths. They also call for an urgent shift away from burning fossil fuels.

“Our report shows how dangerous climate change has already become,” Clarke said. “It is no longer a distant threat, but a current reality that is making life much harder for people on every continent.

Banner image of average surface air temperature across North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia in June 2024, courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory.

Sweden has started its 2025 wolf hunt, with an aim to kill 30 wolves between Jan. 2 and Feb. 15.

By the end of Jan. 2, hunters had shot 10 wolves (Canis lupus), according to Sweden Herald.

Most recent estimates put wolf numbers in Sweden at roughly 375 by late 2023, a decline of nearly 20% from 2022.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) had previously said that about 300 wolves could exist in Sweden for “favourable conservation status.” In October 2024, though, the Swedish government announced that it intended to lower the minimum level further to 170 in the coming years.

It issued licenses for 30 individuals to be shot in 2025. An additional 20 wolves can be killed if seen as a threat to life or property, Sweden Herald reported.

The government has claimed that wolves are a threat to farmers’ livestock, dogs and people. Some hunters have said that “hunting is absolutely necessary to slow the growth of wolves.”

However, wildlife conservation groups and scientists argue that hunting wolves will “dramatically threaten” the already fragile status of the canid in Sweden, which had no breeding wolf population between 1966 and 1983. Moreover, culling doesn’t solve livestock predation issues, they add.

Benny Gäfvert, carnivore expert at WWF Sweden, said in a statement that “the EU Commission’s own in-depth analysis failed to find any evidence that culling wolves reduces attacks on livestock. Rather, research has shown that the risk of attacks on livestock increases when wolves are killed so that wolf packs break up. Then young wolves are forced to find food on their own and they are then more likely to attack livestock.”

Magnus Orrebrant, chair of the Swedish Carnivore Association, told Mongabay by email that wolf-livestock conflict isn’t even that big in Sweden, and that the government favors culling wolves over providing support for coexistence measures.

Sweden’s anti-wolf sentiment is driven mainly by hunting organizations, Orrebrant added. “Hunting organizations in Sweden are subsidized by the government to take care of ‘wildlife management’, but a lot of this money is used to lobby for hunting and against the wolf,” he said.

Wildlife management decisions in Sweden are taken county-wise by delegations severely overrepresented by the hunting lobby, journalist Misha Istratov wrote for Mongabay. Hunters are also “disproportionately represented among the top politicians,” Istratov added.

Conservation groups have previously appealed to the European Commission and legally challenged the wolf cull quotas in courts. However, “the Swedish courts are listening to political agenda and overruling our complaints,” Orrebrant said.

The anti-wolf sentiment extends beyond Sweden. In December 2024, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, which governs wildlife protection in the EU, voted to downgrade the wolf’s status in Europe from “strictly protected” to “protected” based on claims that wolves were a danger to livestock. The European Ombudsman is investigating a complaint that this claim was not based on scientific evidence.

Banner image of Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus) courtesy of Staffan Widstrand/Swedensbigfive.org.

The state of South Australia has banned fishing of several endangered or critically endangered sharks and rays in its waters.

In a media release dated Dec. 11, the state government said the new rules prohibit both recreational and commercial fishing of critically endangered species such as the whitefin swellshark (Cephaloscyllium albipinnum), oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), gray nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) and green sawfish (Pristis zijsron); as well as endangered ones like the greeneye spurdog (Squalus chloroculus), southern dogfish (Centrophorus uyato) and basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus). Additionally, fishing of all stingarees in the genus Urolophus and skates in the genera Dipturus and Dentiraja are banned.

Five of these species — the whitefin swellshark, greeneye spurdog, longnose skate (Dentiraja confusa), gray skate (Dipturus canutus) and coastal stingaree (Urolophus orarius) — are only found in Australian waters, according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and Humane Society International (HSI) Australia.

“These endemic species … are as unique as a koala and in just as much trouble, if not worse,” Leonardo Guida, shark scientist at AMCS, said in a statement. “It’s encouraging to see South Australia taking the lead to protect our threatened sharks and rays and it bodes well for the future of not just the sustainability of SA-managed fisheries but the recovery of our most unique and endangered species.”

The new rules, in effect from Dec. 16, also specify gear restrictions, catch limits for various other shark and ray species, and prohibit “the intentional damage and mutilation of non-noxious aquatic resources that aren’t being retained.” Violators can be fined up to A$20,000 (about $12,500).

The new rules follow campaigning from conservation groups, researchers, scuba divers and snorkelers to increase the level of protection for all 77 species of sharks and rays found in South Australian waters, according to a blogpost by Flinders University.

The government also said the new rules were in response to various instances of mistreatment, including “deliberate mutilation” of sharks and rays caught throughout the state.

“We have heard the concerns raised by stakeholders and the broader community about the risk of unsustainable fishing practices and mishandling of incidentally caught sharks and rays and these legislative amendments will ensure greater protections are place,” state legislator Clare Scriven said in the release.

The new rules, however, only protect the species within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the coast.

“It’s great these shark and ray species are now protected in South Australia, but it’s alarming that outside the state’s waters, these species can be legally caught and sold for their meat, commonly referred to as ‘flake’ in your fish and chips,” Lawrence Chlebeck, marine biologist at HSI Australia, said in a statement. “We expect a decision by the Australian Government whether to declare these species endangered before March 2026, but the sooner the better.”

Banner image of oceanic white tip shark with a rusty fish hook in its mouth, by Alexander Vasenin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).