CONSERVATION NEWS

In 1987, Conservation International had a radical idea to reduce Bolivia's debt in exchange for nature conservation. Since then, the country has become a laboratory for the protection of nature, field-testing ideas that would spread around the world.

Following a decade-long fight led by Indigenous activists and environment leaders, Ecuadorians voted decisively to end oil drilling in one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth — a move heralded by supporters as “historic.”

Eight Amazonian nations have agreed to create an alliance to protect the world’s largest rainforest, following decades of rising deforestation and warnings of a “tipping point” that could alter the ecosystem — and Earth’s climate.

For years, two communities in southeast Colombia have worked to protect the black caiman — the largest predator in the Amazon River basin, which was hunted to near extinction in the area for its highly-prized skin.

Years ahead of schedule, Bolivia has met an ambitious goal to protect 30 percent of its land — and that's thanks in large part to Amazonian towns and villages that are accelerating the pace and scale of conservation in the country.