Conservation
Trading Debt for Nature
Debt-for-nature swaps that restructure national debt in return for environmental protection have been hailed by their proponents as a win-win for lower-income countries and the climate crisis. Critics dismiss the deals as complex and ineffective, but they are set to reshape conservation in the years to come.
Monkey Business in Freetown
Sierra Leone hosts the third-largest chimpanzee population in West Africa, but conservation efforts are under threat from illegal development as the capital city rapidly expands.
One Man’s Mission To Save Yemen’s Ibex
Abdullah Ahmed Salem Mawla al-Dawila turned from killing endangered Nubian ibexes to creating a sanctuary for them in Yemen's Hadramawt province. He now cares for over 50 ibexes and 20 gazelles while contending with disease, limited funding and cultural traditions that glorify hunting the animals.
Poland’s Primeval Forest Enters the Age of Polycrisis
The ancient Bialowieza forest straddles the border between Poland and Belarus, and has long seen tension between nature conservation and commercial exploitation. But the recent addition of geopolitics to the mix has plunged the ecosystem into crisis.