Archive for November 2021

In the dark, early morning hours, Magali Salinas trails a troop of howler monkeys through the Amazon rainforest. Magali is particularly invested in this troop. She rehabilitated each monkey, brought them together and released them into the wild. Now, she watches and waits. “I care for them as if they were my own children,” Magali […]

At the COP26 climate summit earlier this month, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari struck an upbeat note on Africa’s plan to build a Great Green Wall. “With all hands on deck and concerted efforts at land restoration by African leaders, I am optimistic that Africa’s ambition of restoring over 100 million hectares [247 million acres] of […]

Quinta Monteiro and her son Nivaldo watch a Nigerian comedy show on TV as they sit in their living room in Guinea-Bissau’s capital, Bissau. The sound of cars zooming by can be heard just outside the apartment complex, but a reminder of Monteiro’s more rural past hangs above their heads. A skirt in green, yellow, […]

Diogo de Souza used to wake up at 3 a.m., stop by the house of a community member who knew about manatees, and the two began work among the carapanãs, the large Amazonian mosquitoes, as the sun came up. Sitting still in their wooden canoe under the scorching sun typical of the dry season, they […]

SORONG, Indonesia — An Indigenous clan in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua has had its rights to its ancestral lands and forests recognized by the local government, a key step toward acknowledgment at the national level. On Oct. 15, Sorong district head Johny Kamuru issued a decree recognizing the rights of the Gelek Malak Kalawilis […]

The oldest desert on Earth also gives rise to some of the planet’s tallest dunes.

More than 50 countries have agreed to protect shortfin mako sharks, an endangered species that has been teetering on the brink of extinction due to fishing overexploitation. The decision has been welcomed by conservationists and scientists who have worked for years to enact a fishing ban on the species, Isurus oxyrinchus, although they say the […]

Defeat for Japan’s opposition party in last month’s national elections has dashed hopes for a quick resolution to the contentious relocation of a U.S. military base on the island of Okinawa — a move that the party had campaigned against. The proposed shifting of the Futenma Marine air base within Okinawa, from a densely populated […]

The rhinos are long gone, as are other large mammals like the now-extinct quagga and bluebuck. Conservationists are now fighting to preserve what remains of the renosterveld, South Africa’s most threatened ecosystem, from quiet destruction. Characterized by shrubs and grasses that are still home to diverse flowers, insects, birds and small mammals, the renosterveld (Afrikaans […]

Only 14% of wildlife seizures made in Vietnam in the past decade have resulted in convictions, according to a new report that highlights the weak enforcement in the country and lack of coordination between its agencies in following up on investigations. The report, published by the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency, revealed that of at least […]