International Conservation & Development

Researchers have found new clues about the deadly white-nose syndrome, a disease that has wiped out millions of bats in North America. A study found that bats in China showed strong resistance to the fungal infection responsible for the deaths. The fungus invades the skin of the bats and causes characteristic white markings on the face and wings. The scientists involved in the report say some American species may evolve the ability to fight the disease. ...

A new study of market-based forest conservation schemes in Chile provides rare insight into the effectiveness of this relatively new approach to preventing deforestation. The schemes, known as non-state, market-driven (NSMD) governance regimes reduced deforestation on participating properties by between 2 and 23 percent, conclude Switzer Fellow Robert Heilmayr and Eric Lambin.

Fellow Jennifer O’Leary recently received a prestigious Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation and is freshly back on California's Central Coast from management and conservation work she’s doing in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean partially supported by a Switzer Leadership Grant.

Manta rays, which are among the bigger and more charismatic animals in the ocean, have captured humans' imagination for generations. And yet scientists still have many unanswered questions about rays' behavior. Why do they dive so deep? What do they eat in each season? Why do they congregate in certain areas?

The best use of resources is to adopt a triage approach to climate change – deal with the direst circumstances first, and work from there, says Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

A giant turtle, a mythic symbol of Vietnamese independence and longevity that had quietly paddled around Hanoi’s central lake for decades — some say centuries — is dead, official state news media has reported. The turtle, known as Cu Rua, or Great-Grandfather Turtle, weighed an estimated 360 pounds and was believed to have died of natural causes. Its precise age was unknown. ...

A first-of-its-kind analysis of the impact of 20 ocean trash items on seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles conducted using expert elicitation was published today in Marine Policy by Ocean Conservancy and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Until now, the impact of marine debris items, such as plastic bags and fishing gear, to populations of these animals has been far less clear. ...

In a new report that ranks countries by how well they protect the environment, the U.S. comes in at a disappointing 26th place among 180 nations.

Around the world, urbanization and climate change are transforming societies and environments, and the stakes could not be higher for the poor and marginalized. The 2015 UN climate conference in Paris (COP-21) highlighted the need for coordinated action to address the profound injustice of the world’s most disadvantaged people bearing the greatest costs of climate impacts. Among those at the COP were mayors from around the world advocating for the important role of cities in these efforts.