Rewilding & Conservation News and Discussions

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This has been known for years now.

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AI for ecology and conservation: New tools track food webs and soundscapes

https://phys.org/news/2025-09-ai-ecolog ... -food.html

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Peace Talks Between Türkiye and the PKK Offer a Historic Opportunity for Environmental Restoration
September 19 , 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Richmond Hill, Canada, 19 September 2025 - For nearly half a century, the conflict between Türkiye and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has not only killed tens of thousands of people but also caused deforestation, pollution, and land degradation in the region. The recent call by the incarcerated PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan for the group to disarm and dissolve offers a rare prospect for peace and order.

A new publication by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) calls for including environmental restoration in the negotiations agenda to build a just and lasting peace. It proposes a set of policy recommendations guiding negotiators on how to address the environmental legacy of the conflict in peace talks. The recommendations seek to address the limits of conventional peacebuilding processes, which often focus merely on legal and political issues while neglecting the environmental damages that need to be restored.

“Decades of conflict have devastated lives and damaged the land in Kurdish regions of the Middle East, and peace talks that overlook environmental consequences can cause the same tensions and grievances to return,” said Dr. Pınar Dinç, the Environment-Conflict Nexus Research Fellow at UNU-INWEH. “However, the recommendations set out in this publication can help repair the ecological damage of war and make sustainability, justice, and inclusion part of recovery after conflict.”

UNU-INWEH's policy brief calls on negotiators to recognize that war harms not only people but also forests, rivers, wildlife, and entire ecosystems that must be restored. It also urges them to hear the narratives of local communities and involve them in the recovery process after conflict, since top-down peace efforts often miss the daily realities these communities face. Finally, it underscores the need to reject rebuilding models based on resource extraction and inequality, and instead support fair, sustainable approaches.

“Building back the environment that has been damaged by conflicts and wars must be an essential component of peacebuilding and transitional justice,” said Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of UNU-INWEH. “The ability of local communities to restore the environment and rebuild livelihoods based on their Indigenous knowledge strengthens stability and ensures a lasting peace.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1099137

caltrek’s comment: The more we realize that peace can be a win - win proposition, the better off we will be as a species and as custodians of our environment.

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Green turtle bounces back from brink in conservation 'win'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg426qqqqnro

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Scientists Successfully Extract 40,000-Year-Old RNA From Woolly Mammoth
The ancient pachyderm was preserved in permafrost, providing the most intact RNA ever studied.
By Graham Templeton November 19, 2025

https://www.extremetech.com/science/sci ... ly-mammoth
The woolly mammoth is probably the single most iconic extinct mammal, leading to seemingly never-ending efforts to resurrect it. To do that, however, scientists will need a good understanding of their genetics, and that's difficult when the last meaningful population died out tens of thousands of years ago.

Now, scientists have published incredible findings from a Siberian mammoth they've named Yuka, revealing that they've found mostly intact RNA that can be dated to around 40,000 years old. It's an astonishing discovery that could change mammoth biology and, more importantly, our understanding of how RNA evolved in the first place.

Now, if you're thinking back to prior finds of intact mammoth genetic material, let me assure you that you're not losing your mind. There have been several discoveries of mammoth DNA, most notably of 1.2 million-year-old mammoth DNA preserved in a tooth, which was also found in Siberia.

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Polar bears may be adapting to survive warmer climates, says study

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-polar-sur ... mates.html

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It "Belongs To Everyone And No One": A Huge UN Treaty On International Waters Is About To Kick Into Action
By Tom Hale
January 16, 2026

Introduction:

(IFL Science) Described as “the biggest conservation victory ever" and “a turning point for humanity,” the High Seas Treaty kicks into action on Saturday, January 17, 2026. Here’s what it’s all about, and why it is such a big deal.

The UN High Seas Treaty is the first legally binding international agreement geared towards protecting marine life and ecosystems in the high seas, the vast portions of ocean areas that are beyond any single country's jurisdiction. It's also known as the UN Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement.

Covering roughly 50 percent of the Earth’s surface, the high seas are like a “wild west” that has proved notoriously difficult to safeguard and manage. The area is immense, remote, and until now, largely ungoverned by any comprehensive legal framework. This treaty aims to change that, equipping the international community with the legal tools and structures needed to protect these waters at a global scale.

Additional Extract:

What’s at stake?

International waters account for 95 percent of the habitat occupied by life on Earth. Much more than just a vast blue expanse, these waters serve as the largest reservoirs of marine diversity. They also provide essential migratory "superhighways" and feeding grounds for global citizens like blue whales, humpback whales, leatherback turtles, seabirds, and many more.

To protect the high seas is to protect the very circulatory system of our biosphere – and they desperately needed protecting. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), nearly 10 percent of marine species are at risk of extinction, primarily due to unsustainable fishing, pollution, disease, and climate change.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/it-belongs- ... on-82246

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Plagued by Flooding, an African City Reengineers Its Wetlands
By Annonciata Byukusenge and Freddie Clayton
January 6, 2026

Extract:

(Yale Environment 360) Forty years ago, Kigali (capital of Rwanda) was protected from stormwaters by extensive wetlands at the base of its many hills. The wetlands soaked up rain, slowed floods, and filtered runoff. But decades of degradation, including informal agriculture, sand mining, and industrial dumping in these areas have reduced the wetlands’ ability to perform these essential ecological functions.

Rapid urban growth has placed additional pressure on the wetlands. The city’s population has risen by 4 percent each year since 2020, and open space continues to be replaced with impermeable concrete, which sends ever more runoff downhill. The flooding erodes soil, destroys buildings and infrastructure, and causes tens of millions of dollars’ worth of damage a year, according to Teddy Kaberuka, a Rwandan economist.

Eager to protect its citizens and property, create green space for communities and wildlife, and curb financial losses, Kigali began working nearly a decade ago to restore its natural defenses. In just a three-year period, the city converted a degraded swamp into a functioning wetland — featuring a series of ponds, a riverine forest, and a savanna — that stores carbon, controls floods, filters pollutants, and enhances biodiversity. Building on that success, the city is currently reforesting hillsides and restoring an integrated wetland system that will eventually span more than 18,000 acres. The ambitious project will ultimately reshape one of Africa’s fastest growing capitals.

As wetland loss accelerates worldwide, few cities have the space, resources, or political will to restore nature at this scale. Kigali’s project cannot stop floods on its own or reverse climate change, but it represents a rare, citywide effort to rebuild nature-based infrastructure — offering one of the continent’s clearest models for urban areas seeking to boost their resilience.

The article also discusses the loss of access by 14,000 farming households to land being restored.

Read more here: https://e360.yale.edu/features/kigali- ... storation




Rwanda

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A hearing test for the world's rarest sea turtle: Understanding its vulnerability to human-caused noise

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-world-rar ... ility.html

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New Technologies are Stepping Up the Global Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking
By Eve Bohnett
February 6, 2026

Introduction:

(The Conversation) In late 2025, Interpol coordinated a global operation across 134 nations, seizing roughly 30,000 live animals, confiscating illegal plant and timber products, and identifying about 1,100 suspected wildlife traffickers for national police to investigate.

Wildlife trafficking is one of the most lucrative illicit industries worldwide. It nets between US$7 billion and $23 billion per year, according to the Global Environment Facility, a group of nearly 200 nations as well as businesses and nonprofits that funds environmental improvement and protection projects.

People buy and sell a wide range of items, including live animals, plant powders and oils, ivory carvings and musical instruments.

Historically, enforcement has been largely reactive. There is so much global trade that fewer than 1 in 10 international cargo shipments of any kind are physically inspected. Traffickers also avoid detection by using false or generic names instead of proper species identification, employing coded language in online listings, rerouting shipments and shifting to different messaging platforms when enforcement pressure increases. Emerging digital tools are helping authorities link online monitoring, legal reference tools and on-the-ground investigations.

As a researcher at the University of Florida working at the intersection of conservation science and applied technology, I observed these advancements firsthand at an international meeting of governments and partner organizations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, often known by its acronym, CITES. This treaty – the cornerstone for international regulation of trade in endangered plants and animals – is enforced by national customs and wildlife agencies.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/new-techno ... g-272137