Wildlife Conservation and Protection

A team of researchers in France are building on fundamental experimental research undertaken in the Ukrainian Chornobyl exclusion zone with a new project in the Japanese Fukushima Prefecture to further our understanding of what it means for animals to live and reproduce in radioactive environments.

A federal court in Brazil has blocked the start of planned explosions along a 35-kilometer (22-mile) rock formation called Pedral do Lourenço in the Tocantins River, pausing a major infrastructure project until a judge can inspect the site.

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• Papua New Guinea is a global hotspot of avian biodiversity, home to spectacular and behaviorally complex bird species that occur nowhere else on the planet.
• A new study shows that forest fragmentation reduces unique forest-specialist birds, but boosts generalist species like pigeons, sunbirds and bulbuls.
• Birds suffered greater declines in habitats cut off from the surrounding landscape, compared to degraded habitats that remained connected to nearby intact forests.
• The shift in the bird community in degraded and isolated habitats undermines ecosystem stability and resilience, as birds that once performed vital pollination, seed dispersal and insect control services are lost.

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The blue crane, South Africa’s national bird, is now at greater risk of extinction, as a new regional assessment lists the species as “vulnerable.”

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• In September 2024, Churna Island and the sea surrounding it became Pakistan’s second designated marine protected area, home to a variety of corals and serving as a nursery for fish.
• It followed the 2017 designation of the country’s very first MPA around Astola Island, a haven for coral, birds and sea turtles to the east.
• While Pakistan’s first two MPAs are small and have yet to be fully implemented, they represent baby steps in the country’s nascent effort to protect its marine environment.
• The country still has a long way to go to protect 30% of its ocean by 2030, as mandated by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

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• Brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) are some of the world’s most threatened primates, as deforestation has razed about 85% of their habitat in Colombia.
• With monkey populations living in patches of forests, conservationists in the Middle Magdalena region feared that low genetic variation could lead to a further collapse of the species, so they started creating biological corridors connecting forest fragments.
• The project currently maintains 15 ecological corridors, with plans to create six more. Researchers work with landowners to create private conservation areas, leveraging the benefits of forest restoration for agriculture and ecosystems in general.

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Hundreds of monkeys can now safely cross roads in Alta Floresta, a city in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Seven canopy bridges have reconnected rainforest fragments that were separated by urban roads.

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• A new study published in the journal Marine Biodiversity delivers the first global IUCN Red List assessments for 22 cold-water coral species in the Northeast Atlantic.
• More than 30% of the species are at risk of extinction due to bottom-contact fishing, habitat destruction and climate change, with white coral (Desmophyllum pertusum) listed as globally vulnerable.
• Experts say the findings highlight gaps in conservation, especially for deep-sea species often excluded from monitoring and protection efforts.
• The study’s release comes at a key moment, as international talks continue under the Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty to improve high seas biodiversity protections.

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• Mongabay article
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• New research by wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC reveals a thriving online trade in live tarantulas and scorpions in the Philippines, with more than 16,000 arachnids found offered for sale on Facebook in 2020 and 2022.
• Most traded species are nonnative, but native and threatened tarantulas are also being poached and sold, often before being scientifically described, raising red flags for conservationists.
• The study highlights legal and enforcement gaps, with many sellers likely operating without required permits and rare species potentially being smuggled through postal services.
• Researchers urge stronger regulation of online platforms and closer collaboration with courier services and authorities to curb the illicit trade and protect vulnerable arachnid species.

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• Mongabay article
• study cited

On June 27, 2025, Friends of the Everglades and Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County regarding a reckless plan for a massive detention center in the heart of the Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Friends of the Everglades is represented by Earthjustice and attorneys Scott Hiaasen and Paul Schwiep.

As the lawsuit points out, the plan has gone through no environmental review as required under federal law, and the public has had no opportunity to comment. Despite that, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has plowed ahead with developing the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport — a site that is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and critical habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species.

“This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,” said Eve Samples, Executive Director of Friends of the Everglades. “Friends of the Everglades was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 to stop harmful development at this very location. Fifty-six years later, the threat has returned — and it poses another existential threat to the Everglades.”

Full Press Release: https://www.everglades.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FOE-Alligator-Alcatraz-Press-Release.pdf

• Astrid Puentes’s journey from Bogotá to the UN is shaped by a deep awareness of how environmental harm often mirrors social injustice. Early in her legal career, she confronted cases where pollution and exclusion disproportionately affected Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and rural communities in Colombia.
• As the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment, Puentes champions a rights-based approach to conservation. She urges the global community to recognize marginalized communities not as victims, but as essential leaders with solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises.
• Puentes calls for a shift from fragmented environmental action to a holistic, justice-centered vision. For her, protecting ecosystems means addressing systemic inequalities and listening to the lived expertise of those most affected by environmental degradation.
• Puentes spoke with Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler in May 2025.

Bee hotels are artificial nesting structures that have been specially designed to house cavity-nesting species. Often placed in backyards or gardens, they provide safe havens and nurseries for essential pollinators.

The study

Flinders University scientists are working on securing a sustainable future for the burrow-dwelling endemic skink (Tiliqua adelaidensis) by assessing their suitability to cooler and slightly greener locations, below their usual range in the state’s drier, hotter northern regions.