Conservation, Divided: in-depth series starts Tuesday

Conservation, Divided is an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future.
Veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance completed the series over the course of eight months.
Conservation, Divided launches next Tuesday, April 26. Stories will run weekly through May 17.

Conservation is messy. Conservation is complicated. Conservation is really, really difficult. But if we are to avoid mass extinction, conservation, most of all, is necessary.

Beginning next Tuesday, Mongabay will release an in-depth four-part series investigating how the field of conservation has changed over the last 30 years — and the challenges it faces moving into an uncertain future.

In Conservation, Divided, veteran Mongabay reporter Jeremy Hance analyzes recent changes at conservation organizations, including whom they partner with and how they raise money. And how groups — big and small — employ science, measure success, and work with local people.

Running as an undercurrent through the series is the ongoing tension between traditional and so-called “new” conservation philosophies, which differ fundamentally in the value they place on the needs of wildlife versus people. The series probes the debate over which approach is up to the monumental task of preserving biodiversity and ecosystems as Earth’s human population and temperature rise.

The series examines groups that are working innovatively and those that are sticking to tried-and-true methods. It features groups that everyone has heard of — think pandas — and those that work far under the radar.

Developed over the course of eight months as part of Mongabay’s Evolving Conservation reporting initiative, the series draws on interviews with over 20 conservation experts with a range of perspectives.

Conservation, Divided launches next Tuesday, April 26. Stories will run weekly through May 17.