In 2008, the traditionally reclusive nation of Bhutan opened its doors a bit wider to the world, but vowed to protect its traditional values by exercising caution regarding the negative influences of globalization. Bhutan held its first democratic elections in March for a new parliament and prime minister—over a year after King Jigme Singye Wangchuk […]
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 […]
Forty years ago, the world’s last species of truly wild horse – the Takh, commonly known as Przewalski’s horse – could no longer be found in the wild. Now, thanks to worldwide conservation initiatives, Takhi once again roam the steppes of their native Mongolia in Hustai National Park. Takhi disappeared from the wild due to […]
The African elephant-and its tusks of “white gold”-is again trumpeting up some international attention. In July, the Commission on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) allowed a once-off sale of 108 tons of ivory stockpile from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia to China. Though the sale-the first in 20 years-was legal, China’s seemingly insatiable […]
Rwanda and Burundi, two countries that have suffered concurrent ethnic strife and civil war, signed an agreement last month to establish a transnational conservation area. The newly demarcated area encompasses the largest swath of mountain forest remaining in East Africa. The agreement covers Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park and Burundi’s Kibira National Park, together representing 1,400 […]
Chile’s recent decision to make its Pacific Ocean territorial waters a whale sanctuary is another step in the right direction to protect the world’s declining populations of marine mammals. In September, the Chilean Congress unanimously passed a bill put forward by President Michelle Bachelet that bans whale hunting for commercial and scientific purposes off Chile’s […]
Recent initiatives show signs of hope for reviving long-dormant tourist sectors in war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq. The Swiss-based Aga Khan Foundation is contributing $1 million over the next three years to the Bamiyan Ecotourism Project in central Afghanistan. According to Sanjeev Gupta, a regional program coordinator for Aga Khan, the project’s goal is to develop […]
Part of the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States, long a tourist attraction, has just become a National Historic Landmark. Between 1943 and 1963, the U.S. government built nine nuclear reactors near the Columbia River at a site named Hanford, in Washington state. Hanford’s B reactor supplied the plutonium for the bomb used […]
After the recent discovery of a large number of previously uncounted gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), environmentalists and scientists breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, they warn that complacency must take a back seat to continued conservation, since gorillas are still considered critically endangered, and close to half of the world’s […]
