Analysis: Conservation & Biodiversity

Human activities have an outsized impact on monarchs’ ability to migrate. Development, agriculture and logging have reduced monarch habitat. Climate change, drought and pesticide use also reduce the number of butterflies that complete the journey.

Colombia is the world’s most biodiverse country by area, but its rich forested ecosystems are facing existential threats.

The splendor of its rainforests and the aquatic hues of its coral reefs are undeniably beautiful. But Caribbean islands are also home to people, animals and other non-human species whose complex histories have been shaped by exploitative tourism.

For three years scientists with Raising Coral Costa Rica have been snapping off coral pieces from existing reefs to grow them in an underwater nursery. The team is using tested techniques and experimental ideas to grow coral and revive ancient reefs in Golfo Dulce, southwestern Costa Rica.

The Black Jaguar Foundation plans to reforest 2.4 million acres along Brazil’s Araguaia and Tocantins rivers in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. The 1,615-mile long natural corridor will require the planting of around 1.7 billion trees. Tens-of-thousands have already been planted.

The Peruvian government has moved to establish a new Indigenous reserve for "uncontacted peoples" deep in the Amazon Rainforest. Yavarí Tapiche Indigenous Reserve is home to Matsés, Remo, and Marubo peoples, as well as other groups that have yet to be identified.

In one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, new supply chains for exotic products are using flavor to change the way Colombians understand their country's biological endowment: rain forests, Amazonian rivers, and two oceans.

With their long eyelashes, banana-shaped ears, upturned mouths and stocky bodies covered with curly wool, llamas look like creatures that walked out of a Dr. Seuss story. Llamas are having a moment in the US, but they’ve been icons in South America for millennia.

Species must either migrate, adapt or die in response to climate change. By monitoring the geographic edges of where a species lives – like the southernmost tree – scientists can get a handle on the migration ability of various species.

Some decades ago, Lake Poopó was home to large communities of plants and animals and was a source of resources for the region’s inhabitants. Nowadays, the situation is drastically different. Water levels have declined over the past two decades, and eventually the lake dried out entirely.