What happens to an ecotourism town when the wildlife doesn’t show?
DONSOL, Philippines — Omar Nepomuceno is looking for the whale sharks, as he has for over 20 years. Ask him what the odds are of finding one, and he’ll answer…
Why sustainability should be on your plate when you travel (commentary)
Like many remote islands blessed with natural beauty and temperate weather, the economy of the South Pacific nation Vanuatu is underpinned by tourism as well as agriculture. Both of these…
Leopards get a $20m boost from Panthera pact with Saudi prince
Wild cat conservation group Panthera has signed an agreement with a member of the Saudi royal family to help protect leopards worldwide, especially perhaps the rarest subspecies in the world,…
Homestay programs in Nepal’s rhino hub hold promise and pitfalls for locals
NAWALPUR DISTRICT, Nepal — A few kilometers from the town of Danda along the East-West Highway in Nepal's southern plains, the road diverges. One fork leads to Barauli, the other…
On the island of Java, a social forestry scheme creates jobs at home
KALIBIRU, Indonesia — For years, Parjan hoped his community might one day gain title to the Menoreh Hills. The green valley northwest of the Javan city of Yogyakarta was tilled…
On one island, a microcosm of Vietnam’s environmental challenges
CAT BA ISLAND, Vietnam – While approaching Hai Phong, a major city on Vietnam’s northeast coast, it is impossible to miss signs of the country’s fast-growing economic might. GDP growth…
In East Africa, spread of sickle bush drives conflict with wildlife
ARUSHA, Tanzania — At the Randilen Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in northern Tanzania, the searing heat and parched terrain make it an attractive hour for a cold swim. A herd of…
Can jaguar tourism save Bolivia’s fast dwindling forests?
ÑUFLO DE CHÁVEZ, Bolivia — Few countries in the tropics have seen their trees chopped down as quickly as Bolivia did between 2001 and 2017. According to data from the…
Giant pines a tourist draw, cash cow for Yogyakarta farmers
MANGUNAN, Indonesia — Not long ago, people would come to Mangunan only to tap the giant trunks of reddish pine for sap, used as everything from antiseptic to glue. But…
Guyana: The school where indigenous youth learn about their land
ANNAI, Guyana — It’s 8:30 a.m. and the main school building of the Bina Hill Institute’s Youth Learning Centre is strangely quiet. The classrooms are deserted, the newly built dormitories…
DRC’s Virunga to welcome visitors again after 8-month closure
Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo will reopen its gates to tourists on Feb. 15 after officials closed them more than eight months ago. A spate…
Bans on the bird trade in South America yield mixed results
The trade of live birds in South America is down to its lowest levels in years, according to a report released Jan. 16 by conservation NGOs TRAFFIC and WWF. But…
‘Conservation never ends’: 40 years in the kingdom of gorillas
December 1978 A year into an 18-month research project on the critically endangered mountain gorilla in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, Amy Vedder and Bill Weber, newlywed graduate students from the…
Bird business: The man who taught his tribe to profit from conservation
Read the other stories in this four-part series on the indigenous groups living around Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India: From a new bird to a new community reserve:…
Komodo protesters say no to development in the dragons’ den
JAKARTA — Locals and activists have denounced plans to build tourism infrastructure in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, a string of sun-kissed islands best known for their resident giant lizards. Developers…
‘Biological passports’ show whale sharks travel less than we thought
Whale sharks are capable long-distance swimmers, but it turns out that a lot of them are also homebodies. A new study published Aug. 9 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress…
An indigenous village navigates its ecotourism success
Reaching the village of Wae Rebo on Indonesia’s Flores Island requires a seven-hour drive down rugged jungle roads from the port town of Labuan Bajo. At the edge of the…
In Vietnam, cable car plans continue to threaten important cave system
PHONG NHA, Vietnam - Since 2014, one of the world’s largest cave systems has been under threat from developers planning to construct a cable car that would carry thousands of…
‘We are going to self-destruct’: Development plans threaten Malaysian island
LANGKAWI, Malaysia – In Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, part of Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark, a man in T-shirt and shorts laughs with his friends as one of the long-tailed macaques…
Local conservancies create new hope for wildlife in Kenya’s Maasai Mara (commentary)
Set amid the open plains and rolling savannas of Kenya’s Maasai Mara landscape, Naboisho conservancy hosts some of the finest wildlife viewing that Africa can offer. Covering around 20,000 hectares…
Over $720 million in profit from tourism in Peru’s protected natural areas
When evaluating a business proposition, we often consider two economic variables: revenue versus investment. If you earn 40 times what you put in, that’s quite clearly a profitable venture. This…
African Parks backs marine reserve brimming with wildlife in Mozambique
A sliver of ocean on the Southern Africa coast is getting a new chance at success thanks to an agreement announced Dec. 6. The National Administration of Conservation Areas of…
Birdwatching poised to take flight in Colombia, study reveals
Colombia is home to more bird species than any other country on Earth. It’s also well-known for a long-simmering conflict that has only recently begun to cool. Now, a pair…
Curiosity saves the cat: Tourism helps reinvent the jaguar
From villain to hero, the jaguar (Panthera onca) stands at the cusp of a radical overhaul in its public image. As the largest cat in the Americas, the species commands…
Business owners in top Belize destination want increased mangrove protections
SAN PEDRO, Belize - Walking the shore of San Pedro provides a solid picture of the tension between natural resources and the economy in this, the top tourist town in…
On poaching in South Africa, education “has saved more wildlife than any guard with a gun”
HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa – Vince Barkas, a grizzled high-school dropout with a sharp tongue and piercing blue eyes, is at war in the grasslands and savannas here in northeast South…
Goddesses of the wind: How researchers saved Venezuela’s harpy eagles
“They called him Pancho.” I listen attentively, not believing my ears as the Venezuelan scientist Eduardo Álvarez Cordero tells his story. “Pancho” didn’t know or care about his new name.…
Over the bridge: The battle for the future of the Kinabatangan
SUKAU, Malaysia – At first blush, the muddy waters of the Kinabatangan River in northern Borneo seem to laze through a hodge-podge of sleepy fishing and farming villages. The river…
Rwanda welcomes 20 black rhinos to Akagera National Park
Twenty rhinos are moving to a new home in Rwanda from South Africa over the next two weeks. The reintroduction will bring the eastern black rhinos (Diceros bicornis michaeli), a…
Stepping on their paws: study explores recreation’s unfun impacts on wildlife
In a video posted on YouTube on February 6, 2017, a woman fishes a juvenile shark out of the waters of the Fernando de Noronha, an archipelago-cum-national park off Brazil's…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Endangered chimps ‘on the brink’ as Nigerian reserve is razed for agriculture, timber
- Agricultural frontier advances in Nicaraguan biosphere reserve
- ‘Rampant forest destruction’ wracks reserve as cattle ranching advances in Brazilian Amazon
- ‘Unprecedented’ fires in Madagascar national park threaten livelihoods and lemurs
Oceans
- In hot water: Ocean warming hits another record high on climate change
- Guinea-Bissau turtle hatchery addresses unusual problem of too many eggs
- The thick of it: Delving into the neglected global impacts of human waste
- New atlas illuminates impact of artificial light in the ocean at night
Amazon Conservation
- Josefina Tunki: ‘If we have to die in defense of the land, we have to die’
- Global ayahuasca trend drives deforestation in Brazil’s Acre state
- Oil highway bears down on uncontacted Indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Yasuní
- French deforestation database pressures Brazilian soy traders to clean up supply chain
Land rights and extractives
- Analysts point to logging and mining to explain Solomon Islands unrest
- Philippine groups slam ‘cruel Christmas gift’ as open-pit mining ban is lifted
- Josefina Tunki: ‘If we have to die in defense of the land, we have to die’
- In round 2 of Philippine geothermal project, tribes dig in for a greater say
Endangered Environmentalists
- Death threats and friction with military force Guatemalan rangers to flee
- Amazon mining threatens dozens of uncontacted Indigenous groups, study shows
- The Kichwa woman fighting drug traffickers and loggers in the Peruvian Amazon
- Rights groups demand end to Cambodia’s persecution of green activists
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- From Flores to Papua: Meet 10 of Indonesia’s mangrove guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
Conservation Effectiveness
- Young forests can help heal tropical aquatic ecosystems: Study
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- ‘Bad science’: Planting frenzy misses the grasslands for the trees
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- In Laos, a ‘very dangerous dam’ threatens an ancient world heritage site
- Bali’s new highway project sparks concerns about agriculture and conservation areas
- Deforestation notches up along logging roads on PNG’s New Britain Island
- Plantations and roads strip away Papua’s forests. They’re just getting started
