More than 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) of primary forest in the Venezuelan Amazon were lost between 2016 and 2020, deforestation that was driven by illegal mining, agricultural expansion, and fires. This is according to a report generated using extremely high-resolution satellite images and published by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP). This significant […]
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The stork and the farmer: A conservation parable with lessons from Nepal
KATHMANDU — Growing up in the southwestern plains of Nepal, Prashant Ghimire was always fascinated to observe birds roam the fertile farmlands. “I especially liked to watch storks and cranes fly. I would throw pebbles at them to make them fly,” remembers Ghimire, whose interest in birds led him to study forestry and then ornithology. […]
Study paints ‘bleak picture’ for nearly all marine life without emissions cuts
A new study has found that nearly 90% of assessed marine life will be at high or critical risk by the year 2100 if climate change accelerates along a high-emissions pathway, and that these species will face risks across 85% of their native ranges in the ocean. “It’s a pretty bleak picture,” Alex Pigot, study […]
Poverty-fueled deforestation threatens Kenya’s largest water catchment
OLENGURUONE, Kenya — Mau Forest covers some 2,700 square kilometers (1,042 square miles) in western Kenya, making it the largest native montane forest in East Africa. The forest is also Kenya’s largest water catchment area and feeds several lakes, including Lake Victoria. But Mau Forest is shrinking as its trees fall to human pressures. Even […]
Snares: Low-tech, low-profile killers of rare wildlife the world over
On an early morning in January 2013, rangers patrolling Kahuzi-Biéga National Park, a 6,000-square-kilometer (2,300-square-mile) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spotted a young female Grauer’s gorilla. Known to the rangers as Iragi, a name that means “lucky” in Congolese, she had a wire snare wrapped around her hand. Unable to […]
Bangladesh struggles to protect the last of its last wild elephants
DHAKA, Bangladesh — In the early hours of July 19, a herd of wild elephants came down from the hills to a crop field located in Rangunia, in Bangladesh’s Chattogram district, in search of food. The elephants soon began damaging crops and banana orchards planted close to the forests as they foraged for food. Abdul […]
‘Birds are messengers’, says BirdLife’s Patricia Zurita
Next month BirdLife International, a global partnership of 115 organizations working to protect birds and their habitats, will mark its 100th anniversary by holding the BirdLife World Congress in London. The event will bring together scientists, conservationists, and other stakeholders from around the world. BirdLife has a lot to celebrate on its 100th birthday. It […]
Jumbo task as Malawi moves 263 elephants to restock a degraded national park
LIWONDE NATIONAL PARK, Malawi — Early one July morning, a helicopter with wildlife officials on board flies above the forests of Malawi’s Liwonde National Park in search of elephants. Within half an hour, a small herd has been spotted and the crew radios a support team on the ground. As the ground team gets in […]