Malaysia revokes oil palm concession near UNESCO-listed Bornean park
The 10,900-acre concession was revoked had been the subject of protests and a lawsuit by Penan, Berawan and Tering Indigenous communities who said it threatened their livelihoods.
Wildlife & land conservation
This archive tracks meaningful progress in protecting wildlife and preserving land — from habitat restoration and endangered species recoveries to new protected areas and conservation policy wins. These stories focus on what’s working, grounded in evidence and reported with care.
Wild mammals are making a comeback in Europe thanks to conservation efforts
By the first half of the 20th century, many of Europe’s mammals had been reduced to just a fraction of historical levels. But many mammal populations have seen a dramatic increase over the last 50 years.
Indigenous Shuar community in Ecuador wins decades-long battle to protect land
Ecuador’s National System of Protected Areas now includes the 13,583-acre ancestral Tiwi Nunka Forest in the country’s south.
Cheetah reintroduction in Malawi brings vultures back to the skies
Four species of critically endangered vulture have returned to a park in southern Malawi from which they disappeared more than 20 years ago, due to the reintroduction of cheetahs, lions, and the carcasses they left behind.
Rwanda’s mountain gorillas make strong comeback in conservation win
When American naturalist Dian Fossey moved to Rwanda half a century ago to study mountain gorillas, their numbers were dwindling, down to just 254 individuals, but today they’re up to over 600.
Colombia launches $245-million initiative to create and maintain protected areas
Heritage Colombia is one of the most significant conservation investments the country has ever made — pooling $245 million from governments, international institutions, and private donors to protect nearly 80 million acres of land and sea over the next decade. Colombia holds roughly 10% of the world’s biodiversity, making it one of the most ecologically critical places on Earth to get this right. Crucially, local communities are central to the design, not an afterthought. If it succeeds, Heritage Colombia could become a replicable model for how nations fund lasting, community-rooted conservation at scale.
1,000 acres of forest to be returned to Onondaga Nation in historic lake cleanup agreement
Land has been returned directly to a Native American tribe in New York for the first time, and the parcel is significant: nearly 1,000 acres of forest, wetlands, and the sacred headwaters of Onondaga Creek. The Onondaga Nation, original stewards of central New York, will own the land outright and care for it using traditional ecological knowledge, with plans to bring native brook trout back to waters they fished for centuries. The transfer grew out of a Superfund settlement with Honeywell, the company behind decades of industrial pollution nearby. It’s one of the largest Indigenous land returns in U.S. history — a small but meaningful shift in a global movement recognizing Native nations as the rightful caretakers of their homelands.
Kenya’s coastal communities launch groundbreaking programs offering carbon credits for mangrove conservation
Launched two years ago, this first-of-its-kind initiative, known as Mikoko Pamoja (‘Mangroves Together’), raises money for its mangrove conservation by selling carbon credits to people and organizations eager to shrink their carbon footprint.
After long decline, eastern monarch butterflies show signs of recovery in Mexico
Eastern monarch butterflies covered 35% more ground in the mountain forests of central Mexico this past winter than they did the year before, according to a World Wildlife Fund survey.
Caribou herds in British Columbia have tripled in less than a decade
Environmentalists say the mix of traditional knowledge from Indigenous elders, hands-on community engagement, and Western science offer a model for improved conservation.