Photo: Neretvica River

Neretvica River

Neretvica protest June 2021

Sign on the Neretvica River that says "Let me flow" (Photo by Amel Emric)

Photo: Sign on the Neretvica River 

Sign on Neretvica River

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Neretvica River in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photo by Amel Emric)

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Local activists have gained numbers and strength during months of uncertainty about the river’s future

The Neretvica River in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been at the center of a struggle against small hydropower dams for 15 years, but despite the protracted battle, local activists are not wavering in their commitment to keep the river wild.

After protests, and as the result of an ongoing legal battle, two small hydropower electric plants on the Neretvica River are cancelled

Re:wild, Island Conservation and Galápagos National Park Directorate will work together to restore Floreana Island (pictured here), home to 54 threatened species, and reintroduce 13 locally extinct species, including the Floreana mockingbird—the first mockingbird described by Charles Darwin. (Photo courtesy of Island Conservation)

Floreana Island coastline (Photo by Island Conservation)

Floreana coast

A Floreana Marine Iguana sitting on rocks near the ocean on Floreana Island. 

Re:wild, Island Conservation and the Galápagos National Park Directorate are working together across the Galápagos region over the next 10 years to restore 25 islands and protect at least 30 percent of each country’s waters. (Photo by Andrew S. Wright) 


Floreana Marine Iguana (c) Andrew S. Wright

Floreana Marine Iguana

Floreana Giant Tortoises went extinct on Floreana Island. However, tortoises on Isabela Island were found to have Floreana Giant Tortoise genes. Conservationists with Galápagos National Park Directorate have created a breeding program to reintroduce the species to Floreana. 

Re:wild, Island Conservation and Galápagos National Park Directorate are working together to restore Floreana Island, home to 54 threatened species, and reintroduce 13 locally extinct species, including the Floreana mockingbird—the first mockingbird described by Charles Darwin. (Photo by Andrew S. Wright)

Floreana Giant Tortoise (Photo by Andrew S. Wright)

Floreana Giant Tortoise

Re:wild, Island Conservation and the Galápagos National Park Directorate are working together to restore Floreana Island, home to 54 threatened species, and reintroduce 13 locally extinct species, including the Floreana mockingbird—the first mockingbird described by Charles Darwin. (Photo by Bill Weir) 

Floreana Mockingbird (c) Bill Weir

Floreana Mockingbird

Paula A. Castaño, a wildlife veterinarian and island restoration specialist with Island Conservation with a Galápagos Hawk. Castaño, who lives in the Galápagos Islands and works across Latin America, is leading the efforts to reintroduce a number of endangered species back to their wild homes, in collaboration with the Galápagos National Park, local communities and other partners. Castaño took over the Instagram account of Leonardo DiCaprio May 17. The amplification of her voice on social media is a preview of how Re:wild, a new global environmental organization, will bring international attention and resources to scale the work of environmental heroes. (Photo by Paula A. Castaño, Island Conservation)

Paula A. Castaño, wildlife veterinarian and island restoration specialist with Island Conservation

Paula A. Castaño, a wildlife veterinarian and island restoration specialist with Island Conservation with a Galápagos Hawk. (Photo by Paula Castaño)

Paula Castaño with Galápagos Hawk

Paula Castaño, wildlife veterinarian and island restoration specialist with Island Conservation, holding a Floreana Racer (Photo by Luis Ortiz Catedral)

Paula Castaño with a Floreana Racer (Photo by Luis Ortiz Catedral)

Paula Castaño with Galápagos Racer

Floreana Mockingbird. (Photo by Bill Weir)

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3x2 crop_ Floreana Mockingbird. (Photo by Bill Weir)

Floreana Giant Tortoise. (Photo courtesy of Island Conservation)

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Aerial view of Floreana Island. (Photo courtesy of Island Conservation)

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Feature_aerial of Floreana Island

Re:wild, Island Conservation and their partners will work with local communities to bring back tortoises, mockingbirds and flycatchers to the island 

Latin America’s Pacific archipelagos and islands, stretching from Mexico to Chile, are microcosms of incredible wildlife. They are home to more than 2,300 species found nowhere else on Earth, and their waters support large populations of fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.

 A bold plan to rewild the Galápagos will start with Floreana Island 

Cortinarius galbus. (Photo by Eduardo Nouhra)

Cortinarius galbus

Amanita nouhrae. (Mathew Smith)

Bovista pezica. (Photo by Luciana Hernández Caffot)

Bovista pezica

Amanita galactica. (Photo by Giuliana Furci)

Amanita galactica 

Podoserpula aliweni. (Photo by Giuliana Furci)

Podoserpula aliweni 

Lichenompalina altodina (Photo by Pablo Sandoval) 

Lichenompalina altoandina 

Lichenompalina altoandina. (Photo by Pablo Sandoval)

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Lichenompalina altoandina (Pablo Sandoval)

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Lichenompalina altoandina

These discoveries range from the world’s only known aquatic fungus to a puffball from Argentina to a fungus that grows on...wait for it...salt!

The top 10 most fabulous fungi findings

Roger on Green Team

Roger with friends

Roger Osario (center), a National Park Service ranger. (Photo courtesy of Roger Osario)

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Roger Osorio (center) teaching youth about conservation.

Roger Osorio

How a youth training program paved the way for Roger Osorio to become a ranger

A path to becoming a ranger

Samantha Mynhardt, post doctoral researcher at University of Pretoria and Esther Matthew, senior field officer with Endangered Wildlife Trust, with Jessie the scent-detection dog. (Photo by Nicky Souness)

Jessie, Esté and Sam

A golden mole burrow. (Photo by Nicky Souness) 

Golden Mole burrow 

Esther Matthew, senior field officer, Endangered Wildlife Trust and Jessie, the scent-detection dog, searching for golden moles in the dunes near Port Nolloth. (Photo by Nicky Souness) 

Jessie, the border collie scent detection dog (left) and Esther Matthew (right). (Photo by Nicky Souness) 

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Esther Matthew, senior field officer for EWT, and Jessie the scent detection dog. (Photo by Nicky Souness)

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Jessie the scent-detection dog and Esther Matthew, senior field officer with Endangered Wildlife Trust, while searching for golden moles on the West Coast of South Africa. (Photo by Nicky Souness)

An expedition team with Endangered Wildlife Trust is using eDNA and a scent-detection dog to confirm which species are living in the dunes of Port Nolloth in South Africa

An expedition team with Endangered Wildlife Trust is using eDNA and a scent-detection dog to confirm which species are living in the dunes of Port Nolloth in South Africa. 

Is De Winton's Golden Mole, lost to science for 85 years, on the verge of being rediscovered?

Santa Isabel in Ecuador in the Andes. An expedition team from Tropical Herping rediscovered the Orcés Blue Whiptail, a lizard feared extinct, in a town in the Yungilla Valley in 2018. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

Santa Isabel, Ecuador

Santa Isabel, where a team from Tropical Herping rediscovered the Orcés Blue Whiptail. (José Vieira/Tropical Herping)

Santa Isabel

A male Orcés Blue Whiptail, a lizard thought possibly extinct until an expedition team with Tropical Herping found a small population in Santa Isabel, Ecuador. (José Vieira/Tropical Herping)

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Orcés Blue Whiptail 

A female Climbing Whorltail Iguana. An expedition team with Tropical Herping rediscovered the species, which was feared extinct and hadn't been seen since 1899, after several expeditions to Balzapamba, Ecuador. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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Female Climbing Whortail Iguana

Climbing Whorltail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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A male Climbing Whorltail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

A male Climbing Whortail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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Climbing Whortail Iguana. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

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A Climbing Whorltail Iguana rediscovered by an expedition team with Tropical Herping. The lizard hadn't been seen since 1899. (Alejandro Arteaga/Tropical Herping)

Conservationists are working to make sure the rare lizards don’t disappear again

A quest to find every species of reptile living in Ecuador has unearthed two species that many scientists feared were extinct.

The cold cases of two lost lizards in Ecuador have finally been cracked

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Starry Night Harlequin Toad blog header

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Fundación Atelopus has seen 'El Viejito' for 11 years now on their monitoring trips. (Photo courtesy of Fundación Atelopus)

El Viejito

Atelopus laetissimus is one of four harlequin toad species living in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and somehow surviving with chytrid in the environment. (Photo by Jaime Culebras, Photo Wildlife Tours)

Atelopus laetissimus

The Guajira Harlequin Toad in Colombia vanished for 14 years before it was rediscovered in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. (Photo by Jaime Culebras/Photo Wildlife Tours)

Atelopus carrikeri

Bacteria from the skin of the Elegant Harlequin Toad in Ecuador can kill Bd in a petri dish. (Photo by Jaime Culebras, Photo Wildlife Tours)

Elegant Harlequin Toad

José Luis Pérez González, a member of Fundación Atelopus, swabs a Guajira Harlequin Toad in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. (Photo by Jaime Culebras/Photo Wildlife Tours)

José Luis Pérez González

The Rancho Grande Harlequin was rediscovered in 2003 after there hadn't been a single scientific documentation of the species in 17 years. (Photo by Margarita Lampo)

Veragua Harlequin Toad

The Rancho Grande Harlequin Toad is highly vulnerable to chytridiomycosis, but thanks to high reproductive rates, the species persists. (Photo by Manuel Guerreiro)

Richards-Zawacki in historic golden frog habitat. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

Cori Richards-Zawacki

The Variable Harlequin Toad had seemingly vanished from its home in Panama, until Dr. Cori Richards-Zawacki and Dr. Jamie Voyles found a small population in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Cori Richards-Zawacki and Dr. Jamie Voyles)

Atelopus varius research

Fundación Atelopus is working with the Indigenous Arhuaco communities to combine scientific and Indigenous knowledge to best protect the Starry Night Harlequin Toad.

Fundación Atelopus in the field

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Starry Night Harlequin Toad

The harlequin toads of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are doing something few other high-elevation toads are: surviving

The confounding, beautiful lives of Colombia’s mountain-dwelling harlequin toads

Okavango logos

Kavango River Basin landscape, wildlife and local community b-roll. (B-roll by Re:wild)

B-roll: Kavango River Basin

Botswana's Okavango Delta (Photo by Peter Moore)

Photo: Botswana's Okavango Delta

The largest population of African Wild Dogs lives in the Okavango River Basin (Photo by Peter Moore)

A mother elephant makes a fierce display to ward off the photographers at a termite mound near the banks of the Okavango river. Her truck is white from the minerals she was digging out of the termite mound. (Photo by Re:wild)

Photo: Elephants in the Okavango Delta

Hippos in the Okavango River. (Photo by Re:wild)

Photos: Hippos in the Okavango River

Photo: Hippos in the Okavango River

The Okavango River is facing many threats, including climate change-driven drought, people taking water from the river, and now oil and gas drilling. (Photo by Re:wild)

Photo: Okavango River

Khwe San, Xaara and Nxkuroo, full names and location withheld, demonstrate their traditions such as using snares made from acacia bark and other traditional hunting methods that involve living sustainably off the land. (Photo by Re:wild)

Photo: Khwe San

Khwe San, Xaara and Nxkuroo, full names and location withheld, demonstrate their traditions such as using snares made from acacia bark and other traditional hunting methods that involve living sustainably off the land.

New seismic prints from the massive steel plates line the wood-stripped roadside near the drill sites. The company is conducting a new seismic survey. For now it appears that drilling is over at the two main drilling sites at Kawe and Mbambi in Kavango East region of Namibia. The rig is on a truck loaded to move from Mbambi, and at Kawe it seems the main drill pond has been filled in. (Photo by Re:wild)

Photo: Drill Sites

The first site at Kawe village. For now it appears that drilling is over at the two main drilling sites at Kawe and Mbambi in Kavango East region of Namibia. The rig is on a truck loaded to move from Mbambi, and at Kawe it seems the main drill pond has been filled in. (Photo by Re:wild)

Signs at Kawe drill site. For now it appears that drilling is over at the two main drilling sites at Kawe and Mbambi in Kavango East region of Namibia. The rig is on a truck loaded to move from Mbambi, and at Kawe it seems the main drill pond has been filled in. (Photo by Re:wild)

Photo: Okavango Delta

Photo: Elephants in Okavango Delta

Photo: Elephants crossing floodplain

Photo: Cape Buffalo

Hippopotamus in the Okavango Delta, shot on assignment for National Geographic Magazine.

Plains Zebra and Savanna Elephants gather to drink from the life-giving waters of the Okavango River Basin.

Photo: Okavango

Photo: Reinhold Mangundu

SaveTheOkavango campaign media assets for press

Okavango media assets

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More than 130,000 elephants move through the Okavango River Basin region each year. (Photo by Cory Richards/National Geographic)

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Okavango release lead image

Oil and gas exploration by Canadian-based corporation ReconAfrica imminently threatens Namibia and Botswana’s Okavango River Basin, including a UNESCO World Heritage site that is among the planet’s most vital ecosystems for people and wildlife

Oil and gas exploration by Canadian-based corporation ReconAfrica imminently threatens Namibia and Botswana’s Okavango River Basin, including a UNESCO World Heritage site that is among the planet’s most vital ecosystems for people and wildlife 

International community joins forces with local leaders and activists in Africa in urgent global campaign calling for immediate moratorium on oil and gas drilling in irreplaceable Okavango River Basin

SMART Training Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park, 2019 (Photo by James Slade, Re:wild)

SMART Training Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park

Mts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (Photo by James Slade, Re:wild)

Mts Iglit-Baco Natural Park James Slade, Re:wild

Announcement marks largest-ever private funding commitment to biodiversity conservation – aimed at tackling Earth’s climate, extinction and health crises

Private Funders of the New ‘Protecting Our Planet Challenge’ Announce $5 Billion Commitment to Protect and Conserve 30% of Planet by 2030

ASI release logos

A member of the Fundación Atelopus team swabs Atelopus carrikeri in Colombia to test for chytrid. (Photo by Jaime Culebras/Photo Wildlife Tours)

Photos: Swabbing for chytrid

Atelopus exiguus in Ecuador (Photo by Jaime Culebras/Photo Wildlife Tours)

Photo: Atelopus exiguus

ASI launch photos for download

With first-ever action plan in place for harlequin toads, the Atelopus Survival Initiative is bringing together resources, decades of expertise and passion to save one of the world’s most imperiled groups of amphibians

In unprecedented effort, more than 40 organizations from 13 countries come together to protect and restore harlequin toads, the jewels of South and Central America, hard hit by a deadly amphibian disease

Re: The Wild