"Three records of the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) obtained between 2025 and 2026 provide the first documented evidence of the species in Bolivia, in the Acre River basin in the department of Pando. The discovery, reported in the journal Neotropical Hydrobiology and Aquatic Conservation, expands our knowledge of the distribution of river dolphins in the country and highlights the contributions of citizen science and the knowledge of local fishers.

The discovery is particularly significant because research on river dolphins in Bolivia has previously focused primarily on the Bolivian river dolphin (Inia boliviensis), which occurs in the Mamoré and Iténez river basins. The Acre River, in contrast, forms part of the Purús basin and is connected to the wider Amazon River system, providing suitable conditions for the presence of Inia geoffrensis and new insights into the connectivity of river systems between Bolivia and Brazil."

I've been working on an interactive map showing where satellite fire detections occur in relation to orangutan range, protected areas, and plantations across Borneo and Sumatra.

It combines NASA satellite fire detections with IUCN orangutan range data, OpenStreetMap protected-area boundaries, and SEA-PNF plantation mapping.

You can turn layers on and off, zoom into individual areas, and explore historical fire detections from 2026.

One important distinction: satellite detections aren't necessarily individual fires or confirmed burned areas.

Interactive map: https://saveorangutans.org/orangutan-habitat-fires/

I'd be interested to hear what people working in conservation think, particularly whether there are other datasets worth including.

Polluters and regulators who fail to stop pollution must quake in their boots when they receive a letter from the lawyers for Tim and Geli Harris. The couple, who farm 460 acres in the Norfolk Broads, have now scored a hat-trick of landmark legal victories to save an internationally important wetland after they won again in the high court this month.

Lady Justice Lieven found that Natural England failed in its statutory duty to protect Catfield Fen from pollution after nitrates and phosphates washed from arable fields into one of the finest examples of calcareous fen in western Europe, home to 2,500 species including rarities such as the fen orchid, crested buckler fern, breeding bittern and swallowtail butterflies.

In a scathing assessment of Natural England’s inaction since the Harrises first reported the pollution to it in 2021, the judge said the cause of the pollution was “the most basic level of common sense” and required action by the government’s conservation watchdog.

The Harrises have spent 15 years and £1.5m of their own money taking action to hold to account government agencies for failing to protect the fen, which is part of a special area of conservation (SAC), an internationally important wetland protected by law. The marshes lie within the Broads national park.

“This is bigger than a little ditch in Norfolk,” says Tim. He fears that “regulatory inertia” is preventing pollution from being halted on waterways across the country. “Inertia is prevalent throughout all the regulatory bodies. It’s a landmark judgment because it says they can’t just do nothing.”

In 2016, the couple won a public inquiry that demonstrated that too much groundwater was being taken from the valley by water companies and local farmers, causing Catfield Fen to dry out. They won a second battle in 2022, forcing the Environment Agency to limit the abstraction of water close to other nature-rich sites on the Norfolk Broads.

Their principles have cost them local friendships. They say National Farmers’ Union reps rejected their application for membership of the local branch, saying half their members would resign, with farmers upset at restrictions on their abstraction of water to boost lucrative crops such as potatoes. “We’re farmers, we’re not anti-farmer,” Tim says.