Wildlife & land conservation

Close-up of jaguar eyes

Once on the brink of local extinction, jaguars across the Brazil-Argentina border have more than doubled since 2010

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In the 90s, the Green Corridor, a 457,000-acre stretch of protected land that links Argentina’s Iguazú National Park and Brazil’s Iguaçu, was home to between 400 and 800 jaguars. By 2005, that number had dropped to 40. Today, thanks to coordinated conservation efforts between the two countries, the population has grown to at least 105. Women-led economic initiatives and formal institutional support, like “Jaguar Friendly” certification for the local airport, have proven vital to strengthening human-wildlife connections and bolstering conservation efforts.

Aerial view of river

The Yurok Tribe reclaims 17,000 acres of stolen land in California’s largest-ever landback deal

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The Yurok people have lived along the Klamath River in Northern California for millennia. But when the California gold rush began, the tribe lost 90% of its territory. For the last two decades, the tribe has worked with the nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy to get its land back. The 17,000 acres compose the final parcel of a $56 million, 47,097-acre land transfer that effectively doubles the tribe’s land holdings. The tribe has already designated the land as a salmon sanctuary and community forest and plans to put it into a trust.

Wolf pack

Wolves continue remarkable comeback in Northern California with three new packs

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Though native to California, after 1924, a gray wolf was not documented in California until 2011, when a wolf known as OR-7 famously crossed the state line from Oregon. Since then, wolves have steadily reclaimed a presence in the state. In 2015, wildlife officials documented the first pack in California in nearly 100 years. Now, three new packs have been discovered in a remote region where the Sierra Nevada meets the Cascades.

Kyrgyzstan landscape with teal lake

Kyrgyzstan creates 3,000 square mile ecological corridor to protect biodiversity

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The Kyrgyz Republic has announced the creation of a vast ecological corridor covering over 3,000 square miles, marking a major step forward in the Central Asian nation’s conservation efforts. This new corridor is said to connect existing protected areas, including Khan-Tengri National Park and Naryn Nature Reserve, expanding the total protected landscape to over 4,600 square miles. Among the species benefiting are the snow leopard – classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN – and its prey, such as the Asiatic ibex and argali sheep.

Leopard

Sri Lanka’s Kumana National Park emerges as a stronghold for vulnerable leopards

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A new study reports a notably high density of Sri Lankan leopards in the country’s Kumana National Park. Using camera traps, the study recorded more than 90 leopard encounters, including 34 identified individual leopards, captured on film across a 16-month survey period. Since 2017, a citizen science program has also recorded 80 individual leopards in Kumana, using a naming system to identify each individual. The Sri Lankan leopard is tagged as a species “vulnerable” to extinction, according to the IUCN Red List criteria.

Amazon rainforest burning

Brazilian judge orders seizure of illegally cleared lands in the Amazon

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Justice Flávio Dino of the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed. By one estimate, more than half of the forest lost in the Brazilian Amazon has been on private lands. The ruling also calls for halting the process known as regularization, by which land grabbers are granted title to stolen lands, even when they have illegally destroyed forest on those lands. The decision, which may be appealed, further requires the government to seek compensation from landowners who have destroyed forest.

Baby sea turtles in the sand

Endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery in majority of places they’re found worldwide

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Endangered sea turtles are making a comeback in many parts of the world, according to a newly published global survey from researchers at Stanford University and other institutions. The study, featured in Endangered Species Research, found that threats to the marine animals—such as hunting, pollution, and coastal development—are declining in more than half of the areas examined. Although the findings offer hope, researchers caution that not all turtle populations are rebounding equally. Leatherback turtles, in particular, remain under severe threat.

Two parrots flying

One of the rarest parrot species in Brazil doubles in population in last 20 years

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Habitat loss and the illegal pet trade drove the red-tailed amazon, endemic to the southeastern Brazilian coast, to fewer than 5,000 individuals by the end of the 20th Century. Thanks to a project to install artificial nests on an island on the Paraná coast, the number of parrots has almost doubled in the last 20 years, taking the bird from “endangered” to “near threatened” status, the only case of its kind in Brazil. Although trafficking has decreased, it remains an active threat to the species’ survival.

Pangolin

Nigerian officials arrest Chinese pangolin trafficking ‘kingpin’

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Nigerian officials have arrested a Chinese national suspected of masterminding a transnational smuggling operation of pangolin scales, according to Dutch nonprofit Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC). The arrest is linked to the seizure of more than 7 tons of pangolin scales in August 2024. The investigation is part of wider efforts to disrupt wildlife trafficking networks in Nigeria, the main illegal wildlife trade hub in West Africa. WJC says the collaboration has enabled 37 arrests, seizures of more than 21.5 metric tons of pangolin scales, and 12 convictions since July 2021.

Chevron gas station

Chevron ordered to pay $740 million to restore Louisiana coast in landmark trial

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Jurors have found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands impacted by dredging canals, drilling wells, and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh. The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast.

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