Civil society milestones from around the world

Vultures, for article on Asia's vulture recovery

20 years after 99.9% decline, Asia’s vultures are now recovering

By Peter Schulte / August 13, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Asia’s vultures are making a genuine comeback after one of the most dramatic wildlife collapses ever recorded. The turnaround traces to a coordinated ban on veterinary diclofenac — the painkiller quietly killing vultures through scavenged livestock carcasses — alongside breeding programs, drug monitoring, and community-level Safe Zones. Nepal’s populations have shown real, if partial, growth, while India’s numbers have stabilized but remain far below historical levels, and problematic large diclofenac vials are still manufactured. This story shows that science-led, cross-border conservation can reverse declines once thought permanent.

Tiger running in the snow, for article on Nepal tiger population

Nepal’s wild tiger population climbs to 429, nearly quadrupling since 2010

By Peter Schulte / August 5, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Nepal’s wild tigers now number 429 — already exceeding the country’s estimated habitat carrying capacity of around 400, which means the recovery itself is generating new pressures like human-tiger conflict and habitat strain. Getting here took 15 years of patient, community-rooted conservation, with local buffer zone committees and forest user groups driving anti-poaching efforts alongside government enforcement. Nepal now ranks third globally for wild tiger population, just ahead of Indonesia. This story shows what’s possible when communities lead conservation — and why expanding habitat must keep pace with the animals returning to it.

Saiga antelope, for article on saiga population recovery

Once critically endangered, Kazakhstan’s saiga rebounds to 4.6 million

By Peter Schulte / August 2, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Kazakhstan’s 2026 spring aerial census, flown by two biplanes over 215 hours, counted saiga across three herds — the largest, the Ural population, alone reaching 2.7 million, up 17.4% in a single year. Two decades ago the entire national population had crashed below 25,000. The rebound is now so complete that farmers report herds trampling crops and crowding pastureland, and the conservation effort behind it won the 2024 Earthshot Prize. It stands as proof that a species written off as nearly gone can return in the millions.

Whale fin, for article on Antarctic whale recovery, for article on humpback whale recovery

Humpback whales rebound from near-extinction after 1986 hunting ban

By Peter Schulte / August 2, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Humpback whales are staging one of the most remarkable comebacks in modern conservation history, with southern hemisphere populations growing from fewer than 10,000 at the peak of commercial whaling to more than 100,000 today. Last December, a South African couple counted 299 humpbacks gathered in a single group — what experts describe as likely the largest such sighting on record. It’s a living signal of what decades of sustained international protection can achieve. But the recovery is fragile: shipping traffic around southern Africa quadrupled after 2023, raising serious collision risks for whales that took generations to return.

European bison in the snow, for article on European bison recovery

Wild bison return to Romania’s Southern Carpathians after 250 years

By Peter Schulte / July 21, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

European bison vanished from Romanian forests roughly 250 years ago, hunted and squeezed out until only captive breeding kept the species alive — so a self-sustaining wild herd, nearly half born free in the Țarcu Mountains, represents something conservationists once considered impossible. A new Bison Ambassadors program pairs an actress, a regenerative farmer, and a biologist with the rewilding landscape to carry that story to audiences institutional conservation rarely reaches. Tensions with farmers and uncertain funding mean the future is not guaranteed. Still, this recovery shows what patient, community-rooted rewilding can achieve — and how one landscape’s healing can inspire others across Europe.

Mangroves, for article on mangrove recovery

The world’s mangroves have been rebounding since 2010 after decades of decline

By Peter Schulte / June 13, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Mangrove forests are coming back — and the scale of the recovery is genuinely meaningful. Since 2010, the world has been gaining more mangrove coverage than it loses each year, reversing decades of rapid destruction. These forests do extraordinary work: they absorb carbon at rates that dwarf most land-based forests and shield more than 15 million people annually from storm flooding. Community-led restoration in countries like Senegal and the Philippines has been central to the turnaround. It’s a reminder that ecosystems under pressure can recover quickly when protection, funding, and local knowledge work together.

Tuna swimming, for article on tuna stock health, for article on tuna stock health

No major commercial tuna stocks remain overfished, ISSF report finds

By Peter Schulte / June 9, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Tuna recovery has reached a milestone that ocean scientists have been working toward for generations — for the first time since scientists began tracking these stocks in 2011, none of the world’s 23 major commercial tuna stocks are classified as overfished. That turnaround reflects decades of international cooperation, science-based catch limits, and harvest strategies that now cover more than half of the global tuna catch. Getting all 23 stocks out of the danger zone while total catch was simultaneously rising shows that abundance and sustainability can move together. It’s a hopeful proof of concept for global fisheries management everywhere.

Pangolin, for article on Chinese pangolin population

Chinese pangolins rebound in southern China for the first time this century

By Peter Schulte / May 20, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Chinese tree pangolins are quietly returning to Guangdong Province, where wildlife monitors now count 1,778 of the scaly, ant-eating mammals in the wild — places where local populations had crashed to zero just years ago. Six years after China granted the species its highest protection status, a network of 690 infrared cameras is tracking the rebound in near-real time, while the country’s first dedicated pangolin research and breeding center has opened in Guangzhou. China also removed pangolin scales from its official list of approved traditional medicine ingredients, cutting at the demand that made this the world’s most trafficked wild mammal. For a creature vanishing within living memory, a measured comeback in its home range offers a real template for pulling other species back from the edge.

Elephant with baby, for article on elephant return to Uganda

At least 60 elephants return to Uganda’s Mount Elgon after 40 years

By Peter Schulte / May 18, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Elephants have returned to Uganda’s Mount Elgon National Park — at least 60 of them, crossing the Suam River from Kenya into forests their ancestors abandoned during the poaching and conflict of the late 1970s. Drone footage and collar tracking confirm the herd has settled in, and wildlife officials say the mountain’s regenerating forests are finally lush enough to welcome them home. One striking theory: the elephants who once learned to fear Uganda have died of old age, and a new generation is rediscovering the land without that memory. It’s a quiet, hopeful reminder that when habitat heals, wildlife often finds its own way back — and that lasting coexistence will depend on supporting the farming communities now sharing the landscape.

Mongolian wild asses, for article on khulan wild ass

Hundreds of Asiatic wild asses return to eastern Mongolia after 65 years

By Peter Schulte / May 13, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Asiatic wild asses, known as khulan, are roaming eastern Mongolia again after more than 60 years away, with hundreds now recorded crossing the Trans-Mongolian Railway into habitat they had vanished from. The turnaround began with a simple experiment: conservationists and government partners opened fence-free stretches of railway and watched to see what would happen. Animals crossed, trains kept running safely, and in May 2025 a monitored passage corridor was made official near the China-Mongolia border. Mongolia’s Gobi is home to roughly 91,000 khulan, the vast majority of the species worldwide, so reconnecting their range really matters. It’s a hopeful reminder that even the hard lines we’ve drawn across wild places can be redrawn.