New Future

Conservation news is often heartbreaking, with reports of dramatic biodiversity loss globally year after year. But in 2024, there were several reasons for cheer as well, with conservationists finding that certain species, once at the brink of extinction, are making a comeback.

The Bangladeshi government’s forest department recently added surveillance drones to their arsenal of conservation tools. Wildlife inspectors started using this technology to prepare a dragnet around a poaching hotspot with an aerial view.

In 2015, AquaBounty Technologies became the first company in North America, and likely the world, to get regulatory approval to sell a genetically engineered animal for human consumption. Its Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), spliced with genes from other fish, held promise because it could grow much faster than conventional farmed salmon.

In Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, Paul Raad crouched in the undergrowth, scanning the ground for signs of jaguar activity. He wasn’t looking for the big cats themselves; instead, the veterinarian from São Paulo State University (UNESP) was searching for fresh jaguar feces.

The Amazon Rainforest, where next year’s COP30 climate summit will be hosted, is reeling from two consecutive years of severe drought, with major rivers at record lows, leading to water shortages and transportation disruptions for local communities.

BUDJALA, Democratic Republic of Congo — “We are in a province with an agropastoral vocation, ” says Jean Guillaume Ngbanga Masolo, provincial inspector for agriculture in South Ubangi province. From his office in the capital, Gemena, Ngbanga Masolo oversees a territory facing chronic food insecurity.

Earlier this year, commodity-trading giant Cargill exported a shipment of soy from Brazil to Europe, aiming to test whether it would comply with the European Union’s new regulation on deforestation-free products, or EUDR. It found that although the shipment met several of the EUDR’s requirements, it still faced several challenges to reach full compliance.

TAOLAGNARO, Madagascar – Acting on a tip from a village informant, Fabian met a colleague at the edge of the spiny forest reserve just after nightfall. Together, they cycled quietly through the community-managed forest, looking for the poachers.

SILVANIA, Colombia — On a warm but overcast afternoon, hundreds of Indigenous representatives and spiritual leaders gathered to witness a remarkable convergence of native nations from across the Americas. Serving as ambassadors and messengers, runners took off from Alaska and Patagonia, some covering up to 16, 000 kilometers (10, 000 miles) across treacherous landscapes in seven months.

2024 was a year marked by a COP climate summit so dismal that many governments and analysts questioned whether the annual meetings are even worth holding.

In 2022, the world agreed at a U. N. biodiversity summit to protect 30% of Earth’s land and water by 2030. While protected areas already account for almost 15% of the planet’s land, protection for the world’s oceans is lagging far behind, at just over 8%.

As 2025 dawns, here is a look at some of the storylines that could shape the fate of tropical forests this year.

Watching wild animals can be exhilarating, educational and a richly rewarding experience. But spotting wildlife and keeping them in sight is often challenging. So wildlife researchers are increasingly turning to learning about animals through the sounds they produce.

Conservationists searching for Vietnam’s critically endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, one of the world’s most threatened primates, have found no sign of the species in one of the two forest patches where it was thought to remain.