Wildlife & land conservation | Good News for Humankind

Peru establishes new Indigenous reserve in the Amazon for peoples in isolation

By Peter Schulte / July 31, 2024 / Good news links

Indigenous organizations in Peru’s Amazon have achieved a milestone in a campaign that has lasted for almost two decades. Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact (PIACI) will be protected within the recently declared Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve, a territory they’ve long inhabited — and place where they have historically faced pressures that threaten their existence. The Indigenous reserve spans over 1.2 million acres in the Peruvian departments of Ucayali and Loreto.

Thai tiger numbers swell as prey populations stabilize in western forests

By Peter Schulte / July 23, 2024 / Good news links

The tiger population density in a series of protected areas in western Thailand has more than doubled over the past two decades, according to new survey data. Thailand is the final stronghold of the Indochinese tiger, the subspecies having been extirpated from neighboring Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam over the past decade due to poaching, habitat loss, and indiscriminate snaring.

Near-extinct Siamese crocodiles make comeback in Cambodia

By Peter Schulte / July 17, 2024 / Good news links

Cambodia has welcomed 60 baby Siamese crocodiles – a hatching record for the endangered species in this century, conservationists say. They have called it a “real sign of hope”, after more than 20 years of efforts to revive the reptile’s numbers in the remote Cardamom Mountains. The olive green freshwater reptile has a distinct bony crest at the back of its head – by some estimates, it can grow up to 3m or nearly 10ft.

Ecuador river is granted the right to not be polluted in historic court case

By Peter Schulte / July 8, 2024 / Good news links

An Ecuadorian court has ruled that pollution has violated the rights of the Machángara River, which runs through the capital of Quito. In some parts of Latin America and North America, inhabitants have constitutional rights to a clean environment, but Ecuador is one of the few countries that recognize the right of natural features not to be degraded or polluted.

South Sudan launches epic effort to protect the world’s largest mammal migration

By Peter Schulte / June 25, 2024 / Good news links

The migration has enabled animals such as the white-eared kob, tiang, Mongalla gazelle and bohor reedbuck to survive seasonal changes for decades. The South Sudanese government’s partnership with the nonprofit African Parks aims to protect up to six million animals on the east bank of the White Nile, a tributary of the Nile.

Iberian lynx no longer endangered after numbers improve in Spain and Portugal

By Peter Schulte / June 21, 2024 / Good news links

Less than a quarter of a century after the Iberian lynx was feared to be only a whisker away from extinction, populations of the animal have recovered enough across Spain and Portugal for it to be moved from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global red list of threatened species. According to the latest census, the lynx population on the peninsula has risen from just 94 in 2002 to 2,021 last year.

Peru grants conservation status to 16,000-acre desert oasis site

By Peter Schulte / June 20, 2024 / Good news links

Peru has granted formal conservation status to Lomas y Tillandsiales de Amara y Ullujaya, a unique fog oasis ecosystem on the arid Peruvian coastline. The state-owned land, which spans 15,936 acres in the Ica region of Southwest Peru and hosts hundreds of rare and threatened native species, will be protected for future research and exploration for at least three decades.

Inuvialuit people and Canadian governments sign deal to create massive new conservation area

By Peter Schulte / June 19, 2024 / Good news links

The Inuvialuit and the Canadian federal and Yukon governments have signed a new conservation agreement to ensure greater protection for more than 2 million acres of the Yukon’s northeast coast, 1.8% of Yukon’s landmass. The agreement provides protection and conservation of wildlife such as the Porcupine caribou herd, polar bears, and migratory birds. It will also help preserve and promote traditional use amongst Inuvialuit mostly living in Aklavik and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories who access the area.

Atlantic sturgeon reintroduced in Sweden for the first time after “functional extinction”

By Peter Schulte / June 18, 2024 / Good news links

The Atlantic sturgeon – a keystone species – was driven to functional extinction in Europe in the middle of the twentieth century. Supported by a grant from Rewilding Europe’s European Wildlife Comeback fund, a pioneering initiative has seen this iconic fish reintroduced in a Swedish river for the first time. A total of 100 juvenile sturgeon were translocated from a breeding facility in the village of Born auf dem Darß, on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, which is operated by the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Research Center for Agriculture and Fisheries in Rostock.

Landmark ruling in Suriname grants protections to local and Indigenous communities

By Peter Schulte / June 11, 2024 / Good news links

A court in Suriname approved an injunction filed on behalf of twelve Indigenous and maroon groups concerned about losing approximately 1,322,013 acres of rainforest to agricultural development. The court said the government doesn’t have the right to grant land without free, prior and informed consent, a process in which developers meet with residents to explain how projects would impact daily life.