England is turning 99,000 hectares of land into nature recovery projects
The initiative consists of five large-scale projects to boost biodiversity, tackle the climate crisis, and expand public access to nature.
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.
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.
Global population of one-horned rhino soars due to conservation efforts in India
The International Rhino Foundation announced the milestone, reporting that the population now numbers 4,014 individuals—up from just 100 individuals 50 years ago.
Bangladesh successfully staves off declines in vulture populations through conservation efforts
The Bangladeshi government has implemented several timely initiatives to ban the use of harmful veterinary drugs and declare several “vulture safe zones” across the country.
India’s Madras High Court rules that nature has legal status on par with humans
The highest court in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has ruled that “Mother Nature” has the same legal status as a human being.
England to ban glue traps in ‘momentous victory’ for wildlife
Protected and endangered species including hedgehogs, birds, bats, and pet cats have been known to sustain injuries in glue traps, many of which are fatal.
Gabon announces immediate end to the logging of the Massaha ancestral forest
This is a precedent-setting case in the country’s management of forests, representing the first time an area will be declared protected at the request of the resident community.
Scotland’s forests are the largest they have been for 900 years
Scotland’s reforestation story just keeps growing: tree cover has tripled over the past century, climbing from under 6 percent of the country’s land to roughly 18 percent today. That’s close to forest levels not seen since medieval times. Behind the numbers are decades of work by government agencies, private landowners, and rewilding groups like Trees for Life, who’ve been steadily replacing fast-growing conifer plantations with native species like Scots pine, birch, and oak. Public enthusiasm is striking too — around 80 percent of Scots backed Highland reforestation in a 2021 survey. Scotland’s recovery is a hopeful reminder that landscapes stripped bare over centuries can begin healing within a single lifetime, when communities decide they want them back.
Norway’s walrus population bounces back thanks to hunting bans
By the 1950s, only a small population of Svalbard’s walruses remained. In 2006, researchers were thrilled to count 2,629 walruses, and the latest count in 2018 recorded 5,503.
Endangered markhor population doubles in 3 decades in Pakistan
The markhor was listed as an endangered species by the IUCN in 1994 due to overhunting for meat and horns, and its population number was estimated to be less than 2,500 at the time.