Photograph by: Enric Sala, National Geographic
November 12, 2019
The headquarters at Zakouma National Park, in southeastern Chad, is a sand-colored structure with a crenellated parapet that gives it the look of an old desert fortress. Outside the door to the central control room on the second floor hangs an image of a Kalashnikov rifle, circled in red, with a slash: No weapons allowed inside. Kalashnikovs are ubiquitous in Zakouma. All the rangers carry them. So do the intruders who come to kill wildlife.
November 8, 2019
[…] More than 600 indigenous communities live in Canada's boreal forest, one of the last great swaths of intact wilderness on Earth. But every year, a million acres fall to logging to make timber and tissue products, including toilet paper sold in the U.S., according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. That's seven hockey rinks' worth of forest every minute.
Canada's First Nations, with help from groups such as the NRDC and Greenpeace, want to stanch the losses and protect the lands their ancestors have depended upon for centuries—or longer.
October 31, 2019
China will step up efforts to establish and optimize the system for natural protected areas, said a forestry official.
The system would include a series of policies and mechanisms, such as ecological compensation and transfer payments, said Li Chunliang, deputy head of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration at the first World Forum on Nature Conservation.
October 29, 2019
Expanding the planet’s protected natural areas to safeguard vanishing forests and other ecosystems, and the species they protect, is unlikely to be effective on its own as human encroachment into reserves grows, scientists warned Tuesday.
[…]
Both chronic underfunding of efforts to protect the land, and a lack of engagement with local communities that live there are hurting conservation efforts, they found.
October 29, 2019
Governors from eight Amazonian states in Brazil and Peru meeting at the Vatican agreed that the Amazon is threatened and called for a "green economy" that would allow people to generate income without destroying the forest.
October 27, 2019
According to results published in Nature Climate Change, researchers said new approaches in agriculture, forestry, wetlands and bioenergy could feasibly contribute about a third of the Paris Accord mitigation target by 2050– equivalent to 15 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) per year.
September 26, 2019
Indigenous peoples and local communities around the world should be recognized and supported as leaders in global conservation efforts.
A recent study of spatial data in the journal Nature, reveals that indigenous peoples manage or have tenure rights over 38 million square kilometers of land in 87 countries. This land accounts for over a quarter of the terrestrial area of the globe, and interfaces with over 40 percent of the world’s existing conservation areas.
September 23, 2019
Effectively managed protected areas are a critical tool for safeguarding biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem balance, preserving important habitats, building resilience to climate change, providing global food security, maintaining water quality, conserving natural resources, driving economic success, curbing the spread of diseases and pests, and providing many other benefits to wildlife and human health.
September 21, 2019
The United Nations (UN) Youth Climate Summit and the 74th session of the UN General Assembly are taking place in New York this week. Both events highlight the critical importance of taking swift, decisive action on climate change, including achieving sustainable land and ocean management practices and resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts.
September 4, 2019
The Chesapeake, and the Earth itself, faces challenges unlike any we have seen before. Loss of natural areas, accelerated climate change, excessive pollution and dramatic reductions of wildlife and plant species threaten the foundation of what makes the Chesapeake special. While its easy to despair, I see an opportunity to usher in a new era of data-driven, results-oriented conservation focused on protecting the ecosystems and landscapes that are critical for maintaining our diverse cultures, local economies and health.
September 3, 2019
Gorongosa National Park, which was declared a “Peace Park” by the President of Mozambique on August 1, 2019, is healing war-torn communities, protecting Africa’s natural resources, and offering a new model for nature conservation in the 21st century.
August 8, 2019
A UN Special report on climate change and the future or land use says human demand is driving unprecedented depletion of global natural resources.
August 8, 2019
A UN Special report on climate change and the future of land use makes it clear we must transform the way we use land and produce food around the world if there is to be hope of keeping global temperatures under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
August 8, 2019
The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was broadly welcomed by scientists across the globe as a framework to transform land use and increase food security.
May 7, 2019
Akagera National Park was badly degraded by poachers and settlers, but thanks to an innovative conservation effort it is now home again to the Big Five and a growing tourism business.
