By analyzing records in countries of the Amazon and Orinoco basins—which include Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador—a paper published today in Oryx—The International Journal of Conservation, categorized 85 past and present initiatives or projects that work to preserve the South American River Turtle, or charapa (Podocnemis expansa), a critically endangered species. These projects are protecting more than 147,000 female turtles across the basin, an unprecedented figure.

Leading conservation organizations, including Global Wildlife Conservation, Panthera, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and World Wildlife Fund, alongside The Belize Zoo, Foundation for Wildlife Conservation, Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and Field School, and the University of Belize and its Environmental Research Institute, have joined together to applaud the government of Belize for declaring new plans to protect the Maya Forest Corridor – a critical link in Central America’s largest forest and a vital wildlife pathway.

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, formed between WCS, the government of the Republic of Congo, and the local communities, is arguably the most advanced and demonstrably successful conservation models of its kind in Africa

The Wildlife Conservation Society extends congratulations to conservationist Lee White who was named this week by President Ali Bongo Ondimba as Gabon’s Minister for Forests, Sea, the Environment and Climate Plan.

WCS congratulates the Indian government for expanding protected areas in the wildlife-rich Western Ghats region to safeguard populations of endangered lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus), critically endangered Kolar leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros hypophyllus), and other species.