By Maxwell Radwin An Indigenous community in Ecuador has finally obtained national protections for part of its territory after decades of fighting off deforestation and pollution in its mega-diverse rainforests. Ecuador’s National System of Protected A…
Giant kangaroo fossil points to previously unknown species in New Guinea
By Jim Tan A previously unknown genus of primitive giant kangaroo that once roamed the rainforests of New Guinea has been described by a team of paleontologists from Flinders University in Australia. The researchers say they hope the findings, publishe…
Red-hot demand for ipê wood coincides with deforestation hubs in Brazil
By Aldem Bourscheit The highest rates of illegal exploitation of ipê trees are found in areas of the Brazilian Amazon where deforestation is skyrocketing. Increasing domestic consumption and exports have encouraged the felling of these threatened tropi…
$245-million initiative to create and maintain protected areas in Colombia
By Maxwell Radwin A new multi-million-dollar conservation initiative in Colombia aims to create numerous new protected areas and biological corridors across the country, bringing it closer to meeting long-term climate change prevention goals. The $245-…
Podcast: ‘Water always wins,’ so why are we fighting it?
By Mike DiGirolamo While modern water infrastructure assets such as dams and aqueducts have provided human civilization with electricity and potable water for a long time, it has also deprived us of it by paving over vast amounts of land, interrupting …
Net-zero commitments must include more anti-deforestation policies, UN tells private sector
A growing number of companies are committing to net-zero emission goals in an effort to lower their carbon footprint and prevent climate change. But they’ll likely fall short if their business practices don’t do a better job of factoring in anti-defore…
‘Beenome’ project aims to boost bee conservation with genetic mapping
From tiny, jewel-toned metallic bees to cartoonish and lumbering bumblebees, the United States is home to more than 4,000 native and 55 non-native bee species. Now, scientists have announced a plan to map the genomes of at least 100 of these species, r…
WTO ban on ‘harmful’ subsidies won’t impact small-scale fishers, Indonesia says
JAKARTA — Small-scale fishers in Indonesia will be exempt from an end to “harmful” subsidies agreed by governments at the World Trade Organization. Indonesian negotiators citing existing fishing quotas that are meant to be sustainable and the fact that…
Podcast: How marine conservation benefits from combining Indigenous knowledge and Western science
Today we’re taking a look at two stories that show the effectiveness of combining traditional Indigenous ecological knowledge and Western science for conservation and restoration initiatives. Listen here: Earlier this month, we featured indigenous aqua…
Helping empower the next generation of environmental journalists at Nature’s frontline
MENLO PARK, CA — With the impacts of environmental degradation becoming more acute around the globe, the world needs journalists reporting from Nature’s frontline to provide accurate and actionable information. This is especially the case across the tr…