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![Forest and mountain landscape of Hawaii. Photo credit: elena_prosvirova/Shutterstock Forest and mountain landscape of Hawaii](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/shutterstock_723558763_hawaii_forest.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=uwxmQ46a)
Mapping nature to create a global biodiversity framework
The year 2020 was considered a 'super year' for biodiversity. A string of interconnected events offered a unique opportunity to build a global coalition and international policy framework that recognized the central role of nature to all life on Earth. At the UN Biodiversity Conference (…
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![A baby orangutan hangs on a tree in Borneo. Photo credit: Alex East/Shutterstock A baby orangutan hangs on a tree in Borneo](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/shutterstock_1298975905_baby_orangutan.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=7jkBMZDq)
Why companies should worry about losing wildlife
Biodiversity loss threatens society, businesses and a well-functioning economy
Biodiversity has decreased by 60 percent in just four decades, the WWF Living Planet Index has concluded. Scientists even speak of the Earth entering the sixth extinction event in its history, and it appears…
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![Photo: John Michael Vosloo/Darrel Camden-Smith/JMcurto/Shutterstock Photo collage: elephant, pangolin scales, orangutan](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/shutterstock_wwd2020.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=HzCmissh)
What to watch on World Wildlife Day 2020
Today is World Wildlife Day.
Around the world many GEF partners, from UN Environment Programme, and World Wildlife Fund to the World Bank are sharing stories, raising awareness, and encouraging action around the WWD 2020 theme of Sustaining all life on Earth.
This year is especially important. 2020…
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![More than 150 people from 17 countries gathered in Fiji for the GEF's Pacific Expanded Constituency Workshop to meet with regional counterparts, review GEF strategies, and discuss policies, procedures, and experiences from GEF projects. Photo: Malvika Monga/GEF. GEF's Pacific Expanded Constituency Workshop session in a Fiji village](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/fiji_ecw_group_circle_blog.jpeg?h=e85f6c07&itok=qS1ED6_v)
From Ridge to Reef: learning from holistic best practice in Fiji
Like many other Pacific Island countries, Fiji is one of the most coveted tourist destinations in the world. At the same time, it is a microcosm of some significant development and environmental challenges. A natural resource-dependent country with limited land area, Fiji experiences intense…
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![Madagascar is the world’s leading producer of vanilla. Fanamby has initiated a programme for the crop which aims to support farmers in producing good-quality vanilla with sure access to international markets, but without it being their only source of revenue. This programme also aims to promote gender equality by involving the leadership of strong women producers. Photo: Pierre-Yves Babelon/Shutterstock. A malagasy farmer and son in their plantation of vanilla near Sambava, east of Madagascar. Photo: Pierre-Yves Babelon/Shutterstock.](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/shutterstock_malagasy_vanilla_farmer.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=uhZA9pQb)
Conserving nature boosts farmer incomes and cuts poverty
Local communities need to be engaged when it comes to using their natural resources sustainably
Madagascar, island of a thousand wonders, is well known for its many endemic species of plants and animals. With more than 13 million hectares (more than 50,000 sq miles) of forest, it is home to more…
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![This year’s International Day for Biological Diversity focuses on biodiversity as the foundation for our food and health and as a key catalyst to transforming food systems and improving human well-being. Read the examples below that illustrate the roles certain species play in maintaining healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. Photo: Zoran Kompar Photography/Shutterstock. Honey bee on a flower. Photo: Zoran Kompar Photography/Shutterstock.](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/shutterstock_honey_bee_biodiversity_news.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=lZX9h94m)
Celebrating biodiversity in all corners of the world
The recent IPBES Global Assessment Report revealed that around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, many within decades.
Turning this situation around will take time, money, and collective efforts at many levels. Since 1993, when the Convention on Biological…
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![While this year's Biological Diversity Day focuses on human nutrition and health, these are just a few of the aspects of life on Earth that are at stake when biodiversity’s future is threatened. But it’s not too late. We can change course. Photo: Conservation International/Aulia Erlangga. While this year's Biological Diversity Day focuses on human nutrition and health, these are just a few of the aspects of life on Earth that are at stake when biodiversity’s future is threatened. But it’s not too late. We can change course. Photo: Conservation International/Aulia Erlangga.](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/ci_aulia_erglangga_woman_rice.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=edj4y_-N)
This Biological Diversity Day, there is something to celebrate: proven solutions
The people who live along and fish the Mekong River within the Stung Treng protected wetland in northeast Cambodia may not be aware that they’re within the boundaries of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot—one of 36 global terrestrial regions of very high biological diversity that are under extreme…
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![The people living on the mountain are the poorest of the poor and the unluckiest of the unlucky - losing children, homes and crops to the conflict and lacking schools and medical clinics. These women, having seen years of fighting, were not willing to give up. Photo: <a href=\"http://www.jenguyton.com/\">Jen Guyton</a>. The people living on the mountain are the poorest of the poor and the unluckiest of the unlucky - losing children, homes and crops to the conflict and lacking schools and medical clinics. These women, having seen years of fighting, were not willing to give up. Photo: <a href=\"http://www.jenguyton.com/\">Jen Guyton</a>.](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/gorongosa_coffee_blog_woman_child_jenguyton.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=XJYFPTxh)
Are you here to plant trees or help people?
How Gorongosa National Park is using agriculture to protect biodiversity and lift people out of poverty
Imagine trying to convince a group of poor farmers who don’t know you to plant a crop that they’ve never heard of, has no nutritional value, and takes three years to start producing. After…
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![As part of our mission to protect globally important biodiversity, the GEF supports protection of endangered species around the world by securing their habitats and combating the illegal wildlife trade. Photo: Sretachok.P Oat/Shutterstock. As part of our mission to protect globally important biodiversity, the GEF supports protection of endangered species around the world by securing their habitats and combating the illegal wildlife trade. Photo: Sretachok.P Oat/Shutterstock.](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/EarthDay2019_collage.png?h=e85f6c07&itok=S6C1BEUZ)
Save our species: an Earth Day "Did you know?"
April 22 is Earth Day and the theme this year is protecting endangered species. Beyond the beauty of the coral reefs, the majesty of whales, and the lovability of baby sea turtles, these species maintain ecosystems that are vital to our way of life. Nothing in the world exists on its own.
As part…
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![The GEF-funded Global Wildlife Program (GWP) ensures that elephants have safe and secure land to move in, that they are away from communities with whom they share resources to avoid conflict, and that those engaged in illegal wildlife trade are prosecuted by improving evidence collection and intelligence gathering. Photo: Villiers Steyn/Shutterstock. African elephant herd drinking together at watering hole. Photo: Villiers Steyn/Shutterstock.](/sites/default/files/styles/listing_image_290x218/public/WorldElephantDay2_870.jpg?h=e85f6c07&itok=lg8uhA8Y)
Ensuring a world where elephants aren't the next dinosaurs
On August 12, we celebrate World Elephant Day to raise awareness on the plight of the world’s elephant population. This is an important day for me, as the Program Manager of the Global Wildlife Program (GWP) that started two years ago to combat illegal wildlife trade across 19 countries in…