Humans are currently facing a global triple-threat crisis. Together, population growth, climate change, and biodiversity loss paint a grim view of a future where agriculture has replaced wildlife, and humans and nature alike struggle for survival on a dying, overheated, overpopulated planet. Over the last few months, it has become clear that the magnitude of […]
Humans transform the world, but they don’t remember
In the last century, humans have so dramatically transformed the environment in which they live that the Earth has entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The magnitude, extent, and rate of change in the environment is so great that it is often hard to comprehend. The difficulty people have to realize how much ecosystems […]
A model to predict migratory connectivity
Migratory birds undertake epic journeys connecting oceans and continents, awing people across the globe. Sadly, as spectacular as these seasonal movements are, many populations of migratory birds are in decline due to human threats, but tackling their conservation is challenging, as for most species many mysteries of their migrations remain unknown. Scientists believe birds migrate […]
Covid-19 and biodiversity one year later
One year ago, the world stood still due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus spread inexorably, and most of the world was in lockdown. As a society, those were traumatic and confusing days. The uncertainties regarding what was happening and what was going to happen were immense. In this context, we tried to find positive […]
The necessity of behavior change to reach goals in nature conservation
In his 93 years, the famous British naturalist David Attenborough has visited almost every place on earth, exploring the wild pristine nature, telling fascinating stories. “A life on our planet”, is his latest documentary, where he reflects on his life looking back at defining moments and the changes he has seen in nature and the […]
Conservation tool or environmental threat? Blockchain technology is a double-edg...
Bitcoin has been hailed as ‘the future of money.’ As I write this, a single bitcoin is worth over $34,000 USD. In 2009, when Bitcoin was released, a single bitcoin was worth $0.0008. That is less than one tenth of a cent. In between, billionaires have been made. Bitcoin’s incredible rise in value and popularity […]
Killing in the name of greater good? The complexities of trophy hunting
Trophy hunting is a topic that sparks discussion, often debated in the comment section of a trophy picture shared on one of many social media platforms. A middle-aged man with a wide grin on his face, posing proudly with the corpse of a dead animal. Many find such images disturbing. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? […]
Will there always be more fish in the sea?
In May of this ‘exciting’ year of 2020, it was widely reported that the Smooth Handfish (Sympterichthys unipennis) was declared the first species of bony fish to go extinct in modern times. Without a doubt, it is sad that a creature described as having a ‘punk rock hair-do’ has been relegated to a single, discolored […]
Conservation beyond charisma
Despite biodiversity conservation slowly creeping into national and international political agendas, monitoring and protecting all species remains impossible. We simply do not have the people, time or resources. So, at a time in which species are declining at unprecedented levels, which species should we focus on? Which species should concentrate all of our attention and […]
Cognitive dissonance and conservation: Will our minds subconsciously guide us to...
On a cold February day in Washington D.C. in 2015, United States Senator Jim Inhofe pulled an infamous political stunt on the senate floor. He unraveled a snowball that he had gathered earlier that day, using it as a prop to “disprove” the reality of climate change. He ended his statement by playfully hurling the […]