It’s been over 50 years since the first Earth Day in 1970. As we commemorate this year’s edition, says WCS’s John Calvelli, there is a great deal of concern about our future. But there is also reason for optimism. One example comes from the Miombo Woodlands in Southern Africa.

Stories of charismatic critters capture our attention, but often only after it’s too late to save them. In an Earth Day op-ed for The Narwhal, WCS Canada's Justina Ray says that those animals have a broader story to tell about the critical step of whole ecosystem protection.

"It will take great resources and a long-term commitment with focus at each individual tiger landscape if we are to see tigers roaming once again in the forests of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and elsewhere across Asia," writes John Calvelli in an Earth Day essay for PBS Nature. "That’s why some of the leading tiger conservationists are in Bhutan today, and why they have been joined by experts in development assistance and finance. Securing a billion dollars over 10 years is a tall order, but the alternative is to see a magnificent, iconic species wink out in our lifetimes."

April 22 is Earth Day, which could not be a more fitting occasion for conservationists, ministers, and development experts to gather in Bhutan hosted by the Royal Govt of Bhutan, under the Patronage of Her Majesty The Queen, Jetsun Pema Wangchuck. The goal: to develop a long-term plan for sustainable funding to protect tigers across their range. To understand the stakes and the opportunity, WCS Wild Audio turned to several representatives of the global Tiger Conservation Coalition

In a new blog for The Economist's Impact platform, WCS's Hoyt Peckham and his colleagues Gaoussou Gueye and Imani Fairweather Morrison argue that as rights-holders and local stewards, small-scale fishers require a seat at the table of coral-reef management to co-create solutions for blue foods and flourishing ecosystems.

As the newly appointed Executive Director of WCS’s Global Marine program," writes Stacy Jupiter in a new essay at PBS Nature for Women's History Month, "I am ready to take on new challenges in supporting our teams around the world. And like the women who inspired me, I am also ready to support the next generation of marine biologists, particularly young women whom I can mentor to become future champions of ocean conservation."

The waters off New York City are some of the busiest in the world with both ships and marine life. In fact, new research co-authored by WCS shows that fin whales can be found in these waters all 12 months. And that has important conservation implications. Wild Audio talked to WCS researchers Carissa King-Nolan and Melinda Rekdahl to learn more.

Winner of the Conservation Prize at this year’s New York Wild Film Festival, Hamid Sardar’s documentary film Mongolia: Valley of the Bears highlights a clash between the traditions of a nomadic community in northern Mongolia and one dedicated ranger’s mission to conserve wildlife in the boreal “taiga.”

In a new blog at PBS Nature for Women's History Month, WCS Mongolia Country Director Justine Shanti Alexander writes, "In my team in Mongolia, I feel lucky to work with many women who are taking on leadership roles in conservation. I hope that more women, as well as individuals of other genders, will choose the path of conservation as a career; the snow leopards need us to keep roaring for them." Through the work she and her team are engaged in, she adds, "we are beginning to support community-led conservation initiatives, ensuring the long-term survival of snow leopards, the goitered gazelle, mountain species like argali and ibex, and the ecosystems they inhabit."

In her work as a wild animal keeper, writes Samantha Gaeta in a new blog at PBS Nature for Women's History Month, she has continually modelled her standards and practices after the many women who have inspired her in her field. "My goal," writes Samantha, "has always been to be a role model to younger people entering our field, as so many extraordinary women working at WCS’s zoos and aquarium have been for me—providing inspiration and demonstrating just how complex, demanding, and fulfilling a zoo keeper’s job can be."

In the second episode of our two-part series on the current avian influenza crisis, WCS Wild Audio’s Hannah Kaplan talks to Emily Denstedt and Rob Tizard about the rise of this new, more deadly strain in domestic poultry farming. In places like Cambodia, such farms have become a breeding ground for the virus, and the last five years have seen a dramatic increase in rates of infection of wild birds that share the same habitats.

"My classroom has always been one that welcomes inquiry, fosters empathy, and empowers students to make impactful change," writes Queens Zoo Education Coordinator Paige Grecco in a new blog at PBS Nature for Women's History Month. Her work to help younger staff develop their skills as informal educators, she says, "reaffirms the important impact our work can have through building connection with others, sharing experiences with nature, and the impacts environmental educators can have on empowering our participants."

Despite ongoing conservation efforts across the country," writes WCS Canada's Dan Kraus with colleagues in an op-ed for the Hill Times, "biodiversity continues to decline, and the number of species at risk of extinction continues to grow."

Recent cooperative efforts between the Central African Republic, NGOs and UNESCO to enact a new management plan have greatly addressed threats to wildlife and recognized by the International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme last year.

WCS’s Global Health team has been closely watching the spread of avian influenza—first as it decimated populations of bird species around the world, and more recently when it jumped to mammals. In this two-part series, the WCS Wild Audio's Hannah Kaplan looks at the potentially devastating impacts of this growing wildlife pandemic and what is being done to slow its spread.

In November of 2023, a law was enacted in Bolivia to protect the Andean condor from poisoning, demonstrating the power of this sacred species as a representative for all Bolivian wildlife. Rob Wallace describes how the law came into effect with the help from the WCS Bolivia Program and their joy last month as the nation celebrated its first National Andean Condor Day on February 4.