STORIES
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In 2017, the WWF Offices in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia coordinated a tri-national effort to tag and study Amazon River Dolphins, applying satellite GPS technology to the task for the first time. The project is part of a broader scientific attempt to understand river dolphin health and migratory patterns. For five days, a research team explored the waters in and around the Tarapoto lakes, near the Peruvian border, hoping to add data about Colombia’s river dolphins to the project. The goal was to capture and tag five individuals, but unexpectedly high waters gave the dolphins a wider roaming range than usual, and the crew struggled to get the job done, capturing only one dolphin during the expedition.
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15 imagesThe annual migration of monarch butterflies is one of North America's most iconic natural spectacles, filled with fascinating enigmas of natural history that have kept the scientific community on edge for over 50 years. In recent decades, the monarch population has suffered a 90% decline due to the loss of their reproductive habitat from the expansion of industrial agriculture and urban development in the native prairies of the United States and Canada. Additionally, deforestation in Mexico, where the monarchs spend the winter, and extreme weather events induced by climate change further threaten their survival. Monarch butterflies are long-distance migrants, environmental indicators, and an iconic species among pollinators. Any conservation action aimed at protecting their habitat will benefit many other species. Along their migratory route, thousands of people are working to reverse this alarming trend and create a new future for the monarchs. The monarchs have become a symbol of North America, and in these polarized times, their story can be used to reconsider our relationship with the natural world, provide hope, and unite the three countries under the same goal: to save the Monarchs. This story was the cover feature of the January 2024 international edition of National Geographic.
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26 imagesThis story highlights models of landscape restoration where “primary” or “old growth" forests form the anchor of a landscape conservation strategy which includes both ecological integrity objectives and sustainable community agriculture objectives - and where the two are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. The goal is to emphasize how both objectives can be achieved in tandem, so as to encourage better and more integrated planning, and also to avoid an emerging risk, which is that decision makers aiming to generate as many hectares of restoration as possible to meet their commitments under international restoration targets) will end up focusing on large, industrial-scale plantations as “restoration”. The project will generate a high-impact photo essay on three landscapes in Mexico (Sierra Gorda, Calakmul, El Carmen), which is a global leader in forest restoration efforts. These three landscapes were chosen for their diversity of species and ecosystem types as well as their variety of land tenures, governance and funding mechanisms and will provide powerful images of primary forests, wildlife and ecological restoration combined with agricultural sustainability and community development.
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13 imagesThe endangered Barbary Macaques are the last wild primates in the Mediterranean basin and are still a poorly known species despite their infamous exotic colony in Gibraltar Rock, where overpopulation is creating conflict with tourists and forcing authorities to implement drastic population control measures. Only a few wild populations of Barbary Macaque survive hidden in the Atlantic Cedar Forests in the mountains of Morocco and Algeria. The harsh conditions of their habitat –cold and moist for half of the year– force the macaques to feed constantly for survival. Family groups stay together and are dominated by males. Males and females share the responsibility of raising the young. However, the males show a unique behavior for wild primate species, known as alloparenting: they take care of the babies and young even if they are not their offspring. But the future of these macaques is dire. Their native forest habitat was once widespread in the region, but logging, droughts, and plagues –that are increasing in a warming planet– have caused a decline in forest cover of up to 75% in the last 50 years. Without them, barbary macaques will not be able to survive in the wild, where they are also threatened by wildlife trafficking for pets and, recently, interactions with tourism that can rapidly affect their survival skills in the wild.
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34 imagesSkadar Lake is a transboundary wetland shared by Montenegro and Albania that hosts a small breeding colony of the endangered Dalmatian Pelican. This colony has struggled for decades due to the floods and human disturbance. A collaborative team of CEPF (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund) grantees is working to restore the balance.
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