CONSERVATION NEWS

The small South Pacific island nation of Niue recently launched a first-of-its-kind sustainable funding initiative that enables anyone to sponsor a square kilometer of its ocean waters — a sanctuary for humpback whales, sea snakes and gray reef sharks.

A new initiative in the Eastern Himalayas aims to raise US$1 billion to accelerate — and scale up — local conservation work, providing resources to plant 1 billion trees, and protect and restore 1 million hectares by 2030.

The results are in on the world’s first climate change progress report: Drastic improvement is needed — and fast.

The government of Peru signed a deal to redirect more than US$ 20 million it owes to the United States into the conservation of some of the most biodiverse areas on Earth.

For more than 50 years, UNESCO has protected cultural and natural wonders as World Heritage sites due to their “outstanding universal value.” Turns out, there's another big reason these marvels are irreplaceable: their biodiversity.