Species extinction… climate change… increasing pollution. There’s no denying our planet is in crisis. So how do we to avert ecosystem collapse and secure the health and well-being of all life on Earth? Held every four years, the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) brings together thousands of conservation leaders to reach consensus on saving the environment and harnessing nature to solve pressing global challenges.
With complex, sprawling ranges across the high mountains of South and Central Asia and low population densities, snow leopards are an elusive species. Over the last decade, however, urban centers and communities surrounding their habitats have become increasingly connected, with many more investments in infrastructure on the horizon. How can new linear infrastructure—including roads, railways, and power lines—meet human needs while protecting snow leopards, their prey, and the fragile ecosystems they depend on to survive?
Along the remote border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Kugitang Mountains are home to a unique mix of species and ecosystems, from Eurasian lynx and markhor—the world’s largest wild goat—to fragile cave systems and alpine grasslands. Since 2020, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation has led a collaborative effort to strengthen protected area management, monitoring, and connectivity in this region, with support from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. The project unfolded in two phases: first focusing on Koytendag State Nature Reserve (SNR) in Turkmenistan, then expanding across the border to Surkhan SNR in Uzbekistan.
Across deciduous and evergreen forests, lakes, streams and wetlands, working farms and timber lands, Québec, Canada is enormously rich in ecological diversity. However, pressures from people—residential and commercial development, climate change, and pollution—increasingly threaten the biodiversity that depends on intact habitats. Black bears and eastern wolves need wide swaths of land in their home ranges to find food and mates, wood turtles rely on unfragmented corridors to safely reach water sources, and migratory birds need stepping stones of habitat for their seasonal movements.
Oceans cover roughly 71% of Earth’s surface, yet much still remains to be discovered about their vast depths. As scientists learn more about the ocean’s diverse and complex ecosystems, they are shattering preconceived notions and showcasing the interconnectedness of land and sea. Terrestrial wildlife needs habitat connectivity for survival, often relying on ecological corridors between parks and other protected areas. Thanks to research in recent years, it is becoming increasingly clear that habitat connectivity is just as important in the marine environment.
When lynx, elephants, markhors, bears or elk move in search of water or food, they don’t stop to show their passports at the border or pause to consider which areas are protected; wildlife goes where it needs to survive. In this special feature article for the 2024 Annual Report, interviews with Center staff illuminate the challenges and opportunities associated with several of our current efforts to reconnect landscapes that straddle international borders.
The recent UN Biodiversity Conference was held under the theme “Peace with Nature.” This 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/CoP-16) attracted an unprecedented 23,000+ delegates attending official negotiations and side events inside the security perimeter of the “Blue Zone,” while the public “Green Zone” drew approximately 40,000 visitors each day. The Center for Large Landscape Conservation was honored to send four staff members to participate at the conference in Cali, Colombia to continue advancing efforts for connectivity conservation around the world.
Thirty years ago, the Disney movie the Lion King was released, telling the story of Simba, a young lion prince, who, after the murder of his father Mufasa, flees his kingdom only to learn the true meaning of responsibility and bravery. Other memorable characters are the warthog Pumbaa, the red-billed hornbill Zazu, the mandrill Rafiki, and the meerkat Timon—all species that play a role in the richly biodiverse ecosystems of east Africa. Partly because of this movie, and zoo visits, children and adults around the world are familiar with the wildlife of the iconic landscapes of east Africa.
Many of us are familiar with Biosphere 2, the research facility created in Arizona to demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems to support and maintain human life in outer space. However, biosphere regions are model landscapes for sustainable development through collaboration and engagement. They are places designated for their unique beauty and biodiversity, and also recognized for their value to the communities of people living there, making them ideal models for large landscape conservation. The Center for Large Landscape Conservation’s Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. Annika Keeley recently had the opportunity to attend and present at EuroMAB—an international gathering of biosphere region leaders—to discuss the critical role connectivity conservation plays in these extraordinary places.
Stretching from the rolling Appalachian Mountains to the rugged Atlantic coastline, the landscapes of Northeastern North America feature bustling population centers, recreational havens and productive farms and timberlands as well as vast forests, abundant freshwater and impressive biodiversity. These are some of the most socio-ecologically complex landscapes in the world, increasingly recognized as critical for ecological integrity and climate adaptation at the continental and even global scale.
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