CONSERVATION NEWS

As countries ramp up efforts to stem a wave of species extinctions amid a global biodiversity crisis, overcoming data gaps is critical to effective conservation.

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.

Three years after Australia’s most devastating fire season ever, new images from motion-activated cameras placed across the country’s scorched forests are giving researchers an unequaled view into wildlife recovery.

The Indonesian government has granted six species of threatened “walking sharks” the highest level of protection — a move experts hope will lead to the conservation of other sharks, whose numbers have plummeted due largely to the shark fin trade.

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.