Conservation, like the global economy these days, is typically marred by dismal reports of melting glaciers, vanishing ecosystems and mounting pollution. Occasionally, however, there are glimmers of hope.

In 1996, Pan Wenshi, China’s premier panda biologist, began a study of the highly endangered langurs of Chongzuo, Guangxi province. At the time, the langur’s population had dropped from an estimated 2,000 individuals in the late 1980s to fewer than 500 a decade later, mostly due to hunting pressures. Dr. Pan recognized that tackling larger social and economic issues jeopardizing the species was essential for the langur’s long-term survival.

In an effort to secure public support for langur conservation, Dr. Pan raised money for a new school in another village, oversaw the construction of health clinics in two neighboring towns, and organized physical checkups for women throughout the area.

Unfortunately, villagers were still dependent on the reserve’s trees – the langurs’ primary habitat and sole food source – for fuel. In 2000, with a $12,500 environmental award from Ford Motor Company, Dr. Pan built biogas digesters to provide cooking fuel for roughly 1,000 people. Today, 95 percent of the human population living just outside the reserve use biogas for their daily power needs. As a result, the park’s number and diversity of trees has increased significantly, as has the langur population, which numbers at more than 500 today – up from 96 in 1996.

Unfortunately, conservation success stories are often the exception and not the rule. A new conservation “report card” has found that one in four of the world’s 5,487 known mammal species face extinction. The assessment, done as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Red List of Threatened Species, took more than 1,700 experts from 130 countries five years to complete.

Human-induced habitat loss, pollution, and hunting continue to put pressure on already at-risk species. Some of the most threatened are found in Asia, a region undergoing rapid human population and economic growth. Currently, 79 percent of Asia’s primate species face extinction, making Dr. Pan’s work in langur conservation all the more extraordinary in comparison.

However, according to the report, five percent of threatened species have seen rebounds due to focused conservation efforts. Perhaps the simple act of helping locals overcome daily living challenges impacting these species will become an important part of many more wildlife conservation programs.