How effective is environmental restoration? On today’s episode, we seek answers to that question through the lens of a much needed new project at the University of Cambridge collecting restoration evidence, and we also speak with the editor of Mongabay’s ongoing series that examines how well a range of other conservation efforts work, too.

Our first guest today is Claire Wordley, a communications and engagement officer with the Conservation Evidence group at the University of Cambridge. Claire recently wrote a commentary for Mongabay to alert the world to a new website called Restoration Evidence that collects research into how effective various restoration activities actually are. Wordley appears on the Newscast to tell us all about restoration, what types of evidence are already collected on the new website, and how she hopes conservationists can put that information to use.

Our second guest is Mongabay’s own Becky Kessler. We’re about to bring the current reporting phase of a series called Conservation Effectiveness to a close, and because Becky has served as the head editor for the series, we wanted to have her on the Newscast to discuss some of the main findings of the series. Becky worked closely on all of the installments in the series and discusses some of the top-level conclusions we reached about the effectiveness of conservation interventions like forest certification and community forest management.

Here’s this episode’s top news:

• Seychelles announces two new marine protected areas the size of Great Britain
• Drought-driven wildfires on rise in Amazon basin, upping CO2 release
• Norsk Hydro accused of Amazon toxic spill, admits ‘clandestine pipeline’
• Tropical forest fragmentation nearing ‘critical point,’ study finds
• Four Indonesian farmers charged in killing of orangutan that was shot 130 times
• Penguin mega-colony discovered using satellites and drones, raising scientists’ hopes

You can subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, Google Play, iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, RSS and via Spotify. Or listen to all our episodes via the Mongabay website here on the podcast homepage.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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