Who let the dogs out? Feral canines pose a threat to Nepal’s wildlife
KATHMANDU — Four of the five days of the Nepali Hindu festival of Tihar, which occurs at the same time as the better-known Deepavali, are dedicated to animals. Kukur Tihar,…
Lessons from panda conservation could help Asia’s other, overlooked, bears
Serving as the mascot of a world-renowned conservation organization, building diplomatic relationships between China and the world, playing protagonists in blockbuster movies — giant pandas have done it all. The…
Q&A with Whitley Award winner Sonam Tashi Lama
KATHMANDU — Nepali conservationist Sonam Tashi Lama from the Red Panda Network is one of the six global conservation leaders to win this year’s prestigious Whitley Awards, which carries a…
Are red pandas related to panda bears? Candid Animal Cam meets the furry red creature
Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we're meeting the red panda. Did you know that…
Mischaracterizing the conservation benefits of trade (commentary)
In May of 2015, ten people were arrested and three charged in Yunnan, China. They had killed a Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and were selling its meat. The panda’s paws…
Lemur species losing favorite food to climate change, new study says
Bamboo-eating lemurs in Madagascar could be slowly starving as a changing climate slashes the availability of their favorite part of the plant, a new study shows. “For extreme feeding specialists…
Pandas losing ground to hungry livestock in Chinese nature reserve
A recent spike in livestock rearing, once seen as an alternative to farming and timber harvesting that would allow China’s forests to recover, is now impinging on the habitat of…
China sends first pandas to Indonesia under captive-breeding agreement
JAKARTA — A panda couple arrived here on Thursday, kicking off a captive breeding program aimed at boosting the species’ population, which is already inching upward thanks to the efforts…
‘Grandpa’ Pan Pan, world’s oldest male giant panda, dies in China
The world lost yet another celebrity in 2016. On 28 December 2016, Pan Pan, believed to be the world’s oldest male giant panda, died aged 31 at the Dujiangyan base…
Researchers say you get what you pay for when it comes to payments for ecosystem services
Researchers at Michigan State University wanted to determine whether or not programs that compensate local communities monetarily for their active participation in conservation efforts really works. Their study, the results…
Giant panda population rises by nearly 17 percent
Giant panda at the Panda Breeding Centre in the Wolong Panda Reserve. Photo by: © Bernard de Wetter / WWF. One of the most iconic animals on the planet got…
China’s recent forest tenure reforms threaten panda habitat
Since the 1950s, plantations and second-growth forests in China have been locally managed by village communities as collective forests, which today account for 58 percent of China's forestland. Many of…
Why conservationists need a little hope: saving themselves from becoming the most depressing scientists on the planet
Have conservationists become too pessimistic for their own good—and the good of their cause? Tad Lo waterfalls in Laos. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Here's a challenge: take a conservationist…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Deforestation on the rise in Quintana Roo, Mexico, as Mennonite communities move in
- Logged and loaded: Cambodian prison official suspected in massive legalized logging operation
- Bolivian national park hit hard by forest fires in 2022, satellite data show
- Deforestation ‘out of control’ in reserve in Brazil’s cattle capital
Oceans
- Fishy business of squid vessels needs stronger regulation, study says
- Indonesia’s mangrove restoration will run out of land well short of target, study warns
- As U.N. members clinch historic high seas biodiversity treaty, what’s in it?
- Will new bottom trawling rules do enough to protect South Pacific seamounts?
Amazon Conservation
- Peru congress debates stripping isolated Indigenous people of land and protections
- Make it local: Deforestation link to less Amazon rainfall tips activism shift
- In Brazil, criminals dismantle one of the best-preserved swaths of the Amazon
- France seeks EU okay to fund biomass plants, burn Amazon forest to power Spaceport
Land rights and extractives
- Peru congress debates stripping isolated Indigenous people of land and protections
- Brazil tackles illegal miners, but finds their mercury legacy harder to erase
- Lula government scrambles to overcome Yanomami crisis, but hurdles remain
- ‘Brought down by gold’: Communities and nature suffer amid Nigerian bonanza
Endangered Environmentalists
- ‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
- Vietnam’s environmental NGOs face uncertain status, shrinking civic space
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy
- Murders of 2 Pataxó leaders prompt Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to launch crisis office
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- For key Bangladesh wetland, bid for Ramsar status is no guarantee of protection
- Biodiversity, human rights safeguards crucial to nature-based solutions: Critics
- Protecting canids from planet-wide threats offers ecological opportunities
- Mangrove forest loss is slowing toward a halt, new report shows
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- As Indonesia’s new capital takes shape, risks to wider Borneo come into focus
- Tunnel collapse at dam project in orangutan habitat claims yet another life
- Sulawesi nickel plant coats nearby homes in toxic dust
- Indonesia’s grand EV plans hinge on a ‘green’ industrial park that likely isn’t
