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By Mongabay
Twenty species of gibbons swing through the tropical forests of Asia, all are threatened by human activities like deforestation, hunting and trafficking baby gibbons for the exotic pet trade. In reco…
By Malaka Rodrigo
- The death of Kavantissa, one of Sri Lanka’s most iconic wild tuskers, sparked widespread public grief, political attention and criticism of wildlife authorities over elephant protection and veterinary care.
- Questions over the treatment provided before his death have prompted calls for an independent, evidence-based investigation, with experts cautioning against drawing conclusions before clinical findings are assessed.
- Sri Lanka recorded 455 wild elephant deaths in 2025, including 79 from gunshot injuries as the primary cause, highlighting the continuing threat posed by human-elephant conflict.
- Kavantissa’s head was separated and buried securely to protect his tusks, but conservationists argued that cremating the entire body would send a stronger message that a living tusker is worth more than its ivory.
By Sandy Watt
In Poland’s ancient Białowieża Forest, scientists say wetlands and dense forests could act as natural military defences. At the same time it could be the lifeline the forest needs.
By Marta KasztelanSandy Watt
POLAND — Białowieża Forest. Białowieża Forest, one of Europe’s last remaining primeval forests, straddles the border between Poland and Belarus. Its wetlands and ancient trees support a dazzl…
By Cooper Williams
- World Kangaroo Day celebrates the iconic Australian animal and the special place it has in the country’s environment and First Nations cultures.
- Kangaroos, and the broader macropod family, are losing habitat from worsening drought and bushfires in Australia. Critically endangered species, including Gilbert’s potoroo and the mala, face extinction amid added pressures from climate change.
- There are growing concerns over super El Niño, expected to bring increased droughts, extreme heatwaves and severe bushfires in 2026-2027.
- Balancing urban development and prioritizing conservation will be critical to protecting species from worsening climate events.
By David Akana
YEREVAN, Armenia — A Mozambican safari operator credited with helping restore wildlife populations in Mozambique’s Zambezi Delta, has won the 2026 Markhor Award, which recognizes contributions to…
By Usraat Fahmidah
- Climate migration is often considered an adaptation strategy, as it moves people out of harm’s way from the immediate shocks of climate change.
- But a new study involving climate migrants in informal settlements in southwest Bangladesh finds that relocation can create new forms of vulnerabilities.
- As climate migration increases, Bangladesh’s secondary cities lack policy implementations that ensure migrants can access safe housing, services and stable livelihoods after they arrive.
By Karla Mendes
- Federal employees in the environmental and Indigenous affairs sectors fear a return to the institutional harassment and dismantling of institutions they faced during the Jair Bolsonaro administration if his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, wins the runoff election Sunday, Oct. 25.
- Complaints of harassment and violence filed with the Federal District Labor Prosecutor’s Office nearly tripled during Jair Bolsonaro’s four-year term.
- The weakening of regulatory agencies has led to record levels of deforestation in the Amazon and intensified violence against Indigenous groups that protect the forest.
- Environmental officials and Indigenous experts have launched campaigns and open letters to mobilize the public to vote for incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and defend them and regulatory agencies.
By Maxwell Radwin
- A road through Mexico’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, on the Caribbean coast, threatens mangroves and forest ecosystems, environmental groups say.
- Local communities have filed an injunction to permanently cancel the project and restore areas that have been damaged by construction.
- In early October, the country’s environment ministry published a statement about minimizing infrastructure inside the reserve — but environmental groups say they want more information about the future of the road project specifically.
- They argue the courts should address an ongoing injunction request against the road, saying it would guarantee protections for the reserve.
By Vanessa Romo
- An investigation analyzed 722 micro watersheds that feed the Beni River in Bolivia, the Caquetá River in Colombia, the Madre de Dios River in Peru, and the Caroní River in Venezuela. These areas are home to 74 Indigenous groups spread across 202 territories.
- In all four river basins, natural water resources are under pressure. Mining activity has left behind large pools of artificial or anthropogenic (human-made) water, and where livestock ranching has taken hold, the water has disappeared.
- Over the 25 years analyzed, the four catchment areas lost nearly 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres) of natural water, an area more than double the size of Colombia’s Tayrona National Park. The greatest loss occurred in the Colombian Caquetá catchment area, which crosses a department where extensive livestock ranching has long been the main economic activity.
- In the three basins with mining activity — the Madre de Dios, Beni, and Caroní — artificial water sources appeared: four in every five hectares of these water sources are on Indigenous territory.
By Philip M. Fearnside
- If Flávio Bolonaro wins Brazil’s 25 October runoff election the consequences for the environment will be enormous, especially in the Amazon but also for the world, argues Philip Fearnside, a researcher who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon for 50 years.
- Flávio, son of Brazil’s anti-environmental former president Jair Bolsonaro, is slightly ahead of incumbent President Lula in the polls, but the difference is within the margin of error. Flávio, who denies anthropogenic climate change and has supported a series of anti-environmental bills as senator, plans to follow in his father’s footsteps.
- The Amazon rainforest is near a series of tipping points, beyond which risk of the forest collapsing rises sharply. If the forest collapses, the emission of greenhouse gases would push global climate past the point where warming escapes from human control. Flávio’s policies would increase this risk.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
By David Brown
Nearly every shallow-water coral reef ecosystem on Earth is at high risk of ecological collapse by 2075, according to the first coral reef assessment of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE). The R…
By David Akana
YEREVAN, Armenia — More than 80 conservation, Indigenous and civil society organizations have called on governments meeting at the COP17 U.N. biodiversity summit in Armenia to keep mining, oil and …
By Associated Press
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan shut down schools and offices and grounded hundreds of flights as Typhoon Champi brushed by the island Friday, packing strong winds and torrential rains. Champi peaked …
By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
- Kavantissa was a much-loved elephant among residents in Galgamuwa in north western Sri Lanka and, despite a worsening human-elephant conflict in the area, had no record of attacking humans.
- Considered the tallest elephant in the island, Kavantissa died on Oct. 16 owing to gunshot injuries.
- As public outrage escalates over the elephant’s death and the alleged mismanagement of the keystone species, authorities say that daily raids to confiscate illegal firearms and curb wildlife crimes will be launched to ensure protected areas and elephant habitats remain safe for all the species.
- Following tusker Kavantissa’s death, Thailand-based animal rights groups are pressuring their government to repatriate two elephants donated by Thailand to Sri Lanka.
By Winda Charmila
- Indonesian social media users, from celebrities, civil society organizations and public officials, say that their accounts and posts have been restricted or even taken down after posting about Indonesia’s wildfires and haze.
- The Indonesian government is under criticism for its handling of months-long wildfires and haze, which has spread to neighboring countries.
- Many internet users suspect the communications ministry is responsible for taking down and limiting accounts and posts related to the wildfires or critical of the government.
- Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid has denied the accusation, saying there had been “no content takedowns or takedown requests from the ministry to limit information related to wildfires.”
By Shanna Hanbury
Two Indigenous women who do not speak Portuguese were denied assistance from their interpreter while voting in Brazil’s Oct. 4 election. The translator who accompanied them to the polls, community …
By Mongabay.com
Twenty years after a helicopter crash killed some of Nepal’s most prominent environmental figures, the nation is celebrating ecological gains while grappling with a void in visionary leadership, re…
By Romi Castagnino
A newly discovered Australian ballista spider has evolved one of the most specialized hunting strategies ever seen. Instead of chasing prey, it builds a spring-loaded silk snare that appears to targe…
By Elizabeth Rusch
- On Oct. 26, 2026, 15 youth will begin a landmark trial against Canada and its attorney general over the country’s net-zero emissions plan they say contributes to the climate crisis and is undermining their Charter rights to life, liberty and security.
- At the trial, young indigenous plaintiff Leandrea Taylor Reeves of the Yukon, in the North, will offer her lived experience of how climate change disrupts her cultural practices and endangers her community.
- Canada’s North, especially the Yukon, is warming faster than the rest of the country and most of the world.
- Reeves details reductions in available groundberries, declining snow, unpredictable seasons and impacts on hunting, accessibility and culture.
By Naina Rao
Snow leopards range across Asia’s rugged mountains, where they face mounting threats from climate change, declining wild prey, and retaliatory killings from local herders. Today, on Oct. 23, Intern…
By Liz Kimbrough
- A study off Cornwall, England, found that nets fitted with bird-of-prey kites had 71% lower odds of catching guillemots and razorbills, and nets with spinning “looming-eye” buoys had 59% lower odds.
- Ten fishers set more than 1,000 camera-monitored nets over about 17 months, and the nets caught 191 non-fish animals, most of them seabirds that drowned.
- Bycatch peaked in January and February in sea bass and mackerel nets, which suggests short, targeted winter deployments could protect birds without year-round rules.
- The devices have limits: kites struggled in light and strong winds, the buoys may have attracted seals, and a separate Danish study found the buoys stopped deterring birds after about a month.
By Bobby Bascomb
On Oct. 20, International Sloth Day, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress to ban the import of wild sloths into the United States. The proposed legislation comes months after the dea…
By Garry Lotulung
- As forest and peatland fires engulf Indonesian Borneo, orangutans and other endangered wildlife are losing habitat and food, as well as being caught directly in the fires.
- In 2026, more than 48,500 hectares (120,000 acres) have burned in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, an area larger than Vienna.
- More than 50 orangutans have been rescued this fire season, through joint operations involving the NGO YIARI and local environment authorities.
By Chisapi Kumbutso
The Zambian government has ordered a copper miner to assess its infrastructure for weaknesses and clean up areas affected by pollution of the Kafue River, after residents downstream of the plant that…
By Diego Ávila Muskus
- Morichales, ecosystems which consist of the moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa), regulate freshwater bodies and rank among the ecosystems with the greatest carbon sequestration capacity (up to 590.8 metric tons per hectare).
- The ecosystem and culture of the Warao people, who consider the palm their “tree of life,” are facing serious pressures due to urbanization, industry and weak protection laws.
- Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Mercado, a Venezuelan biologist and professor, spoke to Mongabay about his research on this species.
- He advocates for an integrated approach to science that combines biological research with ethnographic work in communities, fostering a collective awareness in which human beings play an active role in the solution.
By Associated Press
With host communities across the U.S. turning against their gargantuan data centers, America’s technology giants are promising to take fewer taxpayer handouts, keep fewer secrets or shower more mon…
By Shanna Hanbury
As Brazilians head to the polls to vote in a runoff election, Amazon deforestation is also on the ballot. New data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) find that incumbent Pre…
By Vinolia
- A recent mining landslip in South Solok district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra buried four miners, after nine were killed in a similar incident in the same province in May.
- Globally, more than 20 million people work in the so-called artisanal and small-scale mining sector, many exposed to environmental disasters and dangerous levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin used to separate gold from ore that causes permanent neurological and physical harms.
- International gold prices remain at an historically high value amid global inflationary pressures and geopolitical tensions, potentially incentivizing more people to enter illegal mining despite the significant health and environmental risks.
By Shanna Hanbury
Greenland’s parliament has asked the government to pause licensing on seabed mining amid concerns about foreign interests in mining and potential environmental consequences for marine life. The Oct…
By Mongabay.com
Wildlife traffickers are increasingly targeting critically endangered maleo birds from coastal Indonesia for the international exotic pet trade, according to a recent study. In 2024, enforcement agen…
By Aimee Gabay
- A new report finds that more than 61.5 million hectares of protected areas analyzed across tropical countries overlap with oil and gas blocks, while another 42.7 million hectares overlap with mining concessions.
- It identifies major gaps in protection for key biodiversity areas, with more than 40% in the Amazon, 29% in the Congo Basin and more than half in Southeast Asia and Central America still unprotected.
- Ahead of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP17) in Armenia, the report authors call on governments to restrict extractive activities in high-biodiversity areas and strengthen Indigenous peoples and other local communities’ land rights and role in conservation.
- The report says that meeting the 30×30 target requires more than expanding protected areas, arguing that governments should ensure that conservation protects the right ecosystems, is effectively enforced and prevents large-scale extractive and industrial activities from undermining biodiversity.
By Glenn Hurowitz
- As delegates assemble this week in Yerevan, Armenia, for a summit on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17), an environmental leader argues in a new op-ed that it’s a moment of seemingly Biblical importance and resonance.
- Set in view of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s Ark is said to have found dry land and wildlife species rescued from the Biblical flood disembarked, it’s an opportunity for world leaders to chart a new course for biodiversity conservation, which lately appears to be faltering.
- “Thousands of years later, our fellow creatures need another rescue in the shadow of Mount Ararat, via this summit,” he writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
By Associated Press
LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — A bow once used to fire arrows in an ancient hunt. A crunched tube of mayonnaise and a discarded wine bottle. An alpinist’s cracked helmet. A statuette dating back to …
By Ruth Kamnitzer
- Seabirds and native forests build climate resilience in atoll islands, a new study finds.
- Using data collected on 28 atoll islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans, the study finds that nutrients from seabird guano, along with native vegetation, boost island building and maintenance processes.
- Researchers find that on rat-free islands with abundant seabird populations, reef accretion (growth) will be able to keep pace with levels of sea-level rise projected under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming, until 2100.
- The study shows that rewilding atoll islands by removing invasive predators and planting native vegetation would build resilience to sea-level rise.
By Usraat Fahmidah
- Extreme heat is becoming a workplace health crisis for Bangladesh’s garment workers amid rising temperatures and prolonged heat waves, increasing concerns about occupational heat exposure.
- But comprehensive health data remain limited as experts say systematic monitoring of heat exposure is needed to understand the scale of the problem and identify workers most at risk.
- Besides health risks, extreme heat also creates economic losses for factories.
- Experts say protecting workers requires enforceable standards and shared responsibility among governments, garment manufacturers and international fashion brands.
By Ouma Elvine Tina
- Kenya has made significant progress in climate legislation and policy, but a gap remains between its commitments to a just transition and women’s lived realities, particularly the unequal burden of unpaid care work.
- Experts say women’s experiences of climate stress, from collecting firewood and water to navigating floods and losing income, constitute critical expertise that must inform climate financing, policy decisions and adaptation strategies.
- The researchers say a just transition needs three things: The costs and benefits of environmental action must be fairly distributed, people affected by environmental decisions must have a say in those decisions, and historical inequalities leaving some communities exposed to environmental harm cannot be carried forward into a changing climate.
By David Akana
- Madhu Rao, chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) told Mongabay governments must confront the conflict between industrial development and biodiversity protection and that expanding protected areas alone will not be enough.
- Rao said that countries must invest in effective management, protect critical ecosystems, support rangers and ensure Indigenous peoples and local communities have a meaningful role in conservation.
- As governments prepare to review progress toward protecting 30% of the world’s land and waters by 2030, Rao identifies a serious gap between international commitments and what happens on the ground.
- Yet she remains cautiously optimistic, arguing that stronger national institutions, better funding and clearer restrictions on damaging industrial activities could still make a difference.
By Erik Hoffner
- A recent survey of American farmers revealed that many are practicing an ecological form of agriculture that incorporates woody perennials like trees and shrubs — agroforestry — including a livestock-centric brand of this called silvopasture.
- Grazing animals on pasture with trees has many advantages for them and their keepers, and many U.S. farms are working to implement these systems despite waning federal support for such highly climate- and biodiversity-positive methods.
- Silvopasture seems to be growing in popularity across Vermont that Mongabay recently visited, and nationally too, since it increases the quality of forage while providing shade to animals during the hotter and drier conditions that are increasingly prevalent due to climate change.
By Victoria Schneider
- A new study describes how short periods of heavy rainfall play a key role in low cacao harvest yields in Ghana.
- Using newly available data on daily temperatures and precipitation in Ghana, the authors found that rains occurring during the flowering season damage the plants, leading to poorer harvests.
- The findings build on previous research which has found that heat and drought impact cacao harvests, ultimately pushing up global chocolate prices and presenting new challenges to farmers.
By Spoorthy Raman
- Six belugas from the 30 transferred from Marineland, a shuttered marine park in Canada, have died after an unprecedented two-month-long rescue operation.
- Four of the beluga deaths occurred at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, one at SeaWorld San Diego, and one at Oceanogràfic València in Spain, which also reported the death of a bottlenose dolphin.
- The deaths aren’t surprising considering the cetaceans suffered from ill health for years as Marineland was unable to provide them adequate care for months after it closed, according to a marine mammal biologist.
- Conservationists have called for an end to keeping cetaceans in captivity around the world to prevent a repeat of situations like this that put animals in harm’s way.
By Izzy Sasada
Have you ever seen a wildlife photograph so spectacular that you’ve wondered if it was even real? Enter “photography game farms”: captive facilities where photographers can create photographs o…
By Valentina Figuera Martínez
- Delegates gathering for the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference of the parties (COP17) will debate how to protect biodiversity and finance its conservation, and they should start by listening to Global South women already doing this work, a new op-ed argues.
- Women-led solutions to crises like biodiversity loss and climate change provide ready examples for the delegates, if they are open to learning about them.
- “Working with the women behind these initiatives [has] shown me that documenting their solutions is only part of the task,” the author writes.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
By Jeremy Hance
- The saola, a tropical bovid that superficially resembles an antelope, was only discovered by scientists in 1992, and has not been recorded since 2013.
- A search for the saola in the Annamite Mountains in Laos risks coming to a halt due to a loss of funding.
- In addition to searching for the saola, the research team is documenting the wildlife of a particularly remote corner of the Annamites, a global biodiversity hotspot.
By Wilson Odhiambo
A recent State of the World’s Birds report found nearly half of the migratory birds assessed are declining. The stark finding comes as world governments are gathered in Armenia for the ongoing U.N.…
By Mike DiGirolamo
This week on the Mongabay Newscast, Samantha Murray, CEO of the Indigenous Desert Alliance, joins the program to discuss the IDA’s recent nomination for an Earthshot Prize. The alliance is a networ…
By Andrés AlegríaElizabeth Claire Alberts
The International Seabed Authority (ISA), a U.N.-associated body, has long managed activities related to deep-sea mining in international waters. But after the Trump administration issued an executiv…
By Swati Thapa
- In the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India, traditional homes include wall hives for native bees.
- It’s the women of the household who typically care for the bees and hives.
- These indigenous bees, Apis cerana indica, face numerous threats — climate change, habitat fragmentation, pesticide exposure and even the loss of the traditional wall hives, as modern homes often do not include them.
- Women play a vital role in the survival of this native bee species.
By Alex Megerle
- The silky shark, a large, slender species that swims the tropical seas and is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, is heavily hunted for its fins and, to a lesser degree, for meat —and is caught in nets as bycatch.
- Between 2020 and 2024, Costa Rica accounted for 82% of global exports of silky shark products, according to a recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme.
- Its exports are under review under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty: If Costa Rica can’t prove its fishery is sustainable, the CITES Animals Committee will recommend new management measures; without implementation, the country’s export of silky sharks could be suspended.
- Meanwhile, a Costa Rican NGO has questioned the exports’ sustainability and alleged that the silky shark trade is being unduly influenced by the Costa Rican fishing industry.
By Karla Mendes
“It’s such a simple phrase: stay alive! The other side is necropolitics.” This appeal was made by philosopher and prominent Indigenous leader Ailton Krenak to Brazilians to reelect President Lu…
By Associated Press
A battery system that stores excess energy when it’s plentiful will power an apartment building in Buffalo, New York, when the grid is strained and electricity is costly. The manufacturer and state…
By Fernanda Biasoli
- To help address Louisiana’s serious coastal erosion problem, a recent study investigated how native estuarine animals were impacted by an innovative fill material for coastline restoration: Sand made from recycled glass.
- The study, which is part of a larger five-year research project examining the impacts of the sand on coastal ecosystems, found “no significant differences” in survival of animals exposed to the recycled glass sand compared with other sediment types.
- The researchers recorded interactions between five species and five types of sediment, as well as a control group without sediment, over the course of about a month.
- Sand made from recycled glass has potential to help mitigate environmental impacts of sand mining, researchers say, but the supply is limited, and scalability constraints mean a range of other approaches will be needed.
By Karla Mendes
- Indigenous People Minister Eloy Terena warned that all achievements and historical reparation agreements for native peoples since 2023 could be undone if far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro is elected Brazil’s president.
- In almost four years, the ministry has celebrated the full demarcation of 20 Indigenous lands, the eviction of intruders from 12 territories and a 98.77% drop in illegal gold mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, in addition to “historical agreements” for the reparation of Indigenous peoples and the creation of the country’s first Indigenous Federal University.
- Philosopher and Indigenous leader Ailton Krenak told Mongabay that Bolsonaro’s policy could corrupt the management of federal bodies that defend Indigenous interests, even if they are not abolished.
By Mongabay.com
Cambodia’s population of critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins has increased to an estimated 118 individuals since the confirmed birth of six calves this year. They were born along a 120-kilomet…
By David Akana
- Nigeria’s National Park Service, with support from the military and conservation organizations, closed the Kila gold mine in Gashaka-Gumti National Park in July, the country’s largest. The operation drove out an estimated 4,000 miners.
- Parks chief Ibrahim Musa Goni calls the intervention a conservation success in an exclusive interview with Mongabay but warns that the miners could return.
- Goni acknowledges broader conservation challenges facing Nigeria’s protected areas, including the deaths of park rangers, inadequate funding and growing insecurity. However, he insists that all 13 operational national parks remain under government control.
- Goni discusses the fate of displaced miners, the role of private conservation partners, wildlife trafficking and his ambition to develop Nigeria’s parks along the ecotourism models of East Africa.
By Sajibur Rahman
- The flow of bank credit to climate-vulnerable regions remains low, with lending heavily concentrated in major commercial areas, including Dhaka.
- In the coastal districts Satkhira, Patuakhali and flood-prone Sunamganj, the volume of loans is significantly lower than that of deposits.
- Low-cost and affordable loans on favorable terms are needed to support climate-resilient agriculture, fisheries and local businesses, climate finance researcher Md Shamsuddoha says.
- However, the central bank says the low lending levels are partly due to a scarcity of local businesses and a lack of profitable projects.
By Eko Widianto
- A national park staff member, two men from a hotel security and services company, and a state firefighter gave their lives on Oct. 15 as they fought to contain a wildfire in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, an active volcanic landscape in Indonesia’s East Java province.
- A further two men — a third worker at the security company and a community firefighting volunteer — were evacuated with burn injuries to a hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city.
- “Their dedication serves as a reminder that behind every effort to protect nature and society lies struggle, courage, and sacrifice that deserve respect,” a spokesperson for Indonesia’s disaster management agency said in a statement.
- Indonesia’s main dry season is being fueled by the El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole climate patterns, leading to some of the worst wildfires seen in years across the country.
By Praveen Kumar Yadav
- Researchers used the traditional practice of “listening to the forest” to train an AI model to signal the presence of tigers in community forests in Nepal, part of efforts to prevent human-tiger conflict in the country.
- The model, which relied on calls made by animals such as deer and monkeys in response to predator presence, helped generate maps of areas people should avoid to prevent encounters with tigers or leopards.
- The pilot could have saved lives, local residents say, but a lack of both funding and institutional support meant the program couldn’t make it beyond its pilot phase.
By John Cannon
- A new Current Biology review says rewilding large animals like elephants and whales is critical for stemming species decline and extinction, but the authors caution that pitching it as a climate strategy is “high-risk.”
- These animals store, release, and move carbon in ways that vary by species and ecosystem, and right now, it’s unclear how much, where, or when.
- The climate benefits could be decades away, as the effects of animal restoration unfold over 50 to 100 years, and overpromising risks “false confidence,” according to the authors.
- But experts say they’re more aligned than not with rewilding advocates on the need for greater certainty in this growing field of science.
By Fred Nelson
- Cuts to international aid have left conservation organizations facing major funding shortfalls, while growing private philanthropy cannot replace the money lost.
- New funding models offer a chance to improve how conservation is financed and give local organizations greater control, argues Fred Nelson, founder and CEO of Maliasili, in this commentary.
- Indigenous-led and grassroots funds are expanding, alongside philanthropic collaborations that pool resources and support conservation over longer periods.
- Organizations connecting donors with local conservation groups can help more funding reach communities, but stronger accountability and equitable partnerships are needed to ensure those benefits.