Restoration turns pastures into wildlife haven in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

A lowland tapir with its calf.CACHOEIRAS DE MACACU, Brazil — Gesturing across the still, green water reflecting the backdrop of forest-clad mountains, Nicholas Locke told of the time when this flourishing wetland was once a barren pasture after being drained, cleared, and used for cattle grazing. Over the last five centuries, much of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest has suffered a similar […]

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Carbon markets entice, but confuse, corporations: Report

The Pesalat Reforestation ProjectCorporations see investments in voluntary carbon markets as a key part of their climate strategy, according to a new report from the environmental nonprofit Conservation International and the We Mean Business Coalition, a partnership of climate NGOs. Both are based in the U.S. Voluntary carbon markets provide businesses with the opportunity to buy credits that, […]

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On Sumatra coast, mangrove clearing sparks scrutiny of loophole

A fisherman looks for crabs.EAST TANJUNG JABUNG, Indonesia — Ambo Angke trudged through the cemetery knowing he had been right to worry. A high tide surge had inundated the resting place here on the eastern coast of Sumatra after developers ripped out the trees protecting the shoreline. “The mangroves were completely cleared,” Ambo, 48, told Mongabay Indonesia in November […]

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For Philippines’ unprotected hotspots, new conservation window beckons

A narcissus flycatcher.After hours of wading through raging rivers and braving the steep, slippery slopes of the Victoria-Anepahan Mountain Range (VAMR) on a rainy morning in October 2022, wildlife specialist Aubrey Jayne Padilla and her Indigenous Tagbanua parabiologist companions breathed sighs of relief as they reached Atabay Lake, one of their three research stations and base camp […]

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Locals fight to save ‘a piece of the sea’ in Venezuela’s Andes

lagoonWhen Nelly Flores looks out over the Urao Lagoon, she smiles and asks me: “Do you know what those dots moving in the water are?” Mosquitoes, I guess. Nelly shakes her head and her smile widens. “No. They’re not mosquitoes. They’re, they’re … baby fish. What are they called?” She picks up her cellphone to […]

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Dollars and chainsaws: Can timber production help fund global reforestation?

A man planting a tree.Pedro Brancalion is used to the roar of chainsaws. For years, he’s heard loggers tearing down rainforest giants in the Brazilian Amazon, and listened as ancient trees were toppled and yanked from the Atlantic Forest’s remaining fragments. But this time the rip-roar of machinery and thwack of falling trees means something very different. This time, […]

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Mexican restoration dominated by non-environmental interests

seedlingWith its towering natural walls, Sumidero Canyon National Park is one of the main tourist attractions in Chiapas state in southern Mexico. Protecting mostly dry tropical forest — one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world — the 22,000-hectare (54,360-acre) reserve is home to more than 1,700 species of fauna and flora, of which […]

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