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Environmental science and conservation news

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146 environmental defenders were killed or...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

The latest tally from Global Witness is a grim ledger. In 2024, at least 146 people were killed or disappeared while defending land, water and forests. That brings the total to at least 2,253 deaths and disappearances since 2012, a steady toll that turns local acts of stewardship into mortal hazards. The organization’s report reads less […]

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Satellite images reveal oil project surge in Ugandan...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

New satellite analysis shows that wells and roads for a project in Uganda feeding Africa’s longest heated oil pipeline have progressed significantly within a protected area and near a critical wetland. The Tilenga oil field marks the starting point of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, currently under construction by the French multinational […]

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Nepal’s Himalayan biodiversity struggles with new...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

A journey into Nepal’s Limi Valley is always profound. We at the Himalayan Wolves Project first visited the area more than a decade ago and were immediately struck by its high-altitude, wind-sculpted landscapes, and the extraordinary diversity of wildlife inhabiting them: Himalayan wolf (Canis lupus chanco), snow leopard (Panthera uncia), wild yak (Bos mutus), kiang […]

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Growing trees on farms boosts nutrition in rural Malawi

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

Planting fruit trees on farms improves dietary quality, according to new research from Malawi that tracked nearly 1,000 households over 10 years. The study, published in Conservation Letters, found that families who had trees on their farms ate more fruits and vegetables than those without trees. The research examined data from 936 households across Malawi […]

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Spain sweltered under hottest summer on record in...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

MADRID (AP) — Spain said Tuesday that summer 2025 was the hottest on record for the southern European nation, which like the entire Mediterranean region is being hard hit by climate change. Its national weather service said that the country had an average temperature of 24.2 C (75.5 F) between June 1 and Aug. 31. […]

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From shamba to PELIS: Kenyan farmers derive...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

KAKAMEGA, Kenya — A Monday morning finds 50 members of the Nzoia Community Forest Association trekking through rain-drenched thickets in the 5,300 hectare (13,000 acre ) Nzoia Forest Plantation. They are returning to an area designated as Compartment One, the 42 hectares (103 acres) deep inside the plantation. Two weeks ago, they planted maize here. […]

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Grassroots community seeds sorghum in eastern...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

LEMBATA ISLAND, Indonesia — A horde of children from Tapobali village rush out of Wulandoni 4 Junior High School to the sorghum field clasping blades and gathering starchy panicles into woven baskets. “We sell some of the harvest, and the rest is ingredients for baking,” Yudi Fridolin Atawolo, who teaches English at the school, told […]

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The return of the axolotl (cartoon)

Conservation news ·

2025/09/17

Axolotls may enjoy celebrity status among pet owners, but their wild populations have been dealt huge blows by habitat loss, water pollution, invasive species and the pet trade. Now, the success of reintroduction programs in their native ranges in Mexico — where they have tremendous cultural significance — brings new hope for their comeback.

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The carbon market paradox: Steve Zwick on why...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/15

Carbon markets sit at the awkward junction of science, finance, and politics, where the appetite for simple stories collides with a system built on probabilities. Few reporters have spent more time in that junction than Steve Zwick. He came to climate through the trading pits of Chicago, where he watched how information asymmetries reward insiders […]

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Finding optimism

Conservation news ·

2025/09/14

Since publishing my piece on optimism in conservation, I’ve heard from many who are finding it tough. I’m not an expert, but here are ideas that might help in the right situation. There’s a longer version of this piece here. Treat optimism as a method, not a mood. Narrow the frame, pick levers you […]

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Forests on Indigenous lands help protect health in...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

Healthy forests are more than climate shields; in the Amazon, they also serve as public-health infrastructure. A Communications Earth & Environment study spanning two decades across the biome links the extent and legal status of Indigenous Territories to 27 respiratory, cardiovascular, and zoonotic or vector-borne diseases. The findings are complex, but one pattern is clear: […]

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Floodwaters begin receding in a major Pakistani city...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say floodwaters that threatened a major town in eastern Punjab province have started receding, sparing its 700,000 residents. However, rising waters on Friday swamped villages near two nearby cities, forcing panicked evacuations. The Disaster Management Authority said waters around Jalalpur Pirwala, which had touched the official danger mark, are now […]

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Countries shorten tuna fishing closure at Pacific...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

2024 was a record year for tropical tuna catch in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, thanks to a big increase in skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) catch, and stocks are considered healthy. So when the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), a multilateral body that manages tuna and other fish stocks in this region, held its annual meeting Sept. […]

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Indonesia reopens Raja Ampat nickel mine despite reef...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has allowed a controversial nickel mine to resume operating in the marine haven of Raja Ampat, despite a company-commissioned study finding the project has harmed the environment and community health in one of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems. State-owned miner PT Gag Nikel resumed working on Sept. 3 on […]

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Conservationists split over greener ranching versus...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

Beef production is a major driver of climate change. It fuels deforestation in crucial biomes, a significant source of carbon emissions, and cows themselves produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Regenerative ranching practices aim to reduce the environmental and climate impacts of rearing cattle, but some conservation groups say a pivot away from beef is […]

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On World Dolphin Day, spotlight falls on threats to...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

September 12 is World Dolphin Day. Marine conservation and advocacy nonprofit Sea Shephard created the day in 2022 to remember that dolphins, among the most intelligent animals on Earth, are under threat and need protection. That date, Sept. 12, was chosen to memorialize the massacre of 1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Leucopleurus acutus) on the Faroe […]

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Indonesia flooding traced to corporate canals that...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/12

JAKARTA — Flooding disasters in Indonesia are increasingly traced not to natural causes, but to corporate destruction of peatlands, NGO Pantau Gambut warns in its newest report. The report reveals how the construction of industrial-scale canals, not just haze, poses a growing threat. Pantau Gambut says its new report builds on earlier findings that peat […]

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Ebony’s uncertain future without elephants

Conservation news ·

2025/09/11

In 2017, when Vincent Deblauwe joined the Congo Basin Institute in Cameroon to study African ebony, he soon realized the fate of the tree lay with another species. Around campfires and during treks, the Indigenous Baka people told him that the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) was key to the survival of African ebony (Diospyros crassiflora). […]

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Photos: Indigenous elders push for comeback of the...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/11

DUNOY, Philippines — In the dense, tropical rainforests of the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, an ancient predator drifts silently beneath the surface of still rivers. For Indigenous Agta elders, this reptile is not a menace, but a guardian. “We have always coexisted peacefully with crocodiles, and today I am passing on to my grandchildren […]

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Park guardians or destroyers? Study dissects 2...

Conservation news ·

2025/09/11

Long celebrated by some NGOs and Indigenous rights activists as the guardians of the forest, the Batwa of South Kivu had lived inside what is now Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) until the 20th century, when they were expelled by the Congolese government, at that time MPR (Popular Movement […]

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