degraded

Scientists removed just 20–40% of fish from a degraded Chinese lake; underwater plants and water clarity began recovering

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Scientists removed just 20–40% of fish from a degraded Chinese lake; underwater plants and water clarity began recovering

Representative Image of a pristine highland lake transitioning from murky water to clear, with submerged plants thriving (AI Generated Image) Caohai Lake, a highland lake in southwest China, began losing its underwater vegetation after 2016. By 2019, submerged plants covered less than 10 per cent of the lake, down from around 70 per cent just … Read more

A man bought 51,000 acres of degraded land in Florida; decades later, it became the largest private restoration project east of the Mississippi

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A man bought 51,000 acres of degraded land in Florida; decades later, it became the largest private restoration project east of the Mississippi

He is 85, known as the father of sociobiology, has been at Harvard for 60 years, and has won a hundred scientific awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. Yet what E.O. Wilson, an evolutionary biologist, is focused on is a new conservation approach, a new ecological Grail which is a quest to refute conservation sceptics who … Read more

In 1967, Guy Savy and a partner bought a degraded Seychelles island; after restoring nesting habitat, its sooty tern colony rose from under 20,000 pairs to about 700,000

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In 1967, Guy Savy and a partner bought a degraded Seychelles island; after restoring nesting habitat, its sooty tern colony rose from under 20,000 pairs to about 700,000

Guy Savy and a partner bought a degraded Seychelles island A tiny coral island on the northern edge of the Seychelles Bank was once close to ecological collapse. Years of commercial farming, habitat destruction and wildlife exploitation had badly damaged its natural environment. Today, after more than five decades of careful conservation, Bird Island is … Read more

A small Scottish town raised £6 million to buy 10,500 acres from a major landowner; its new nature reserve is now restoring 190 hectares of degraded peatland

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A small Scottish town raised £6 million to buy 10,500 acres from a major landowner; its new nature reserve is now restoring 190 hectares of degraded peatland

When people in the small Scottish town of Langholm set out to raise £6 million, they were not simply trying to buy a piece of countryside. Their campaign secured 10,500 acres and helped create the community-owned Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, turning an ambitious local vision into one of the region’s largest community-led conservation efforts. Now, … Read more

In 1998, Costa Rica spread 12,000 tonnes of orange waste over degraded pasture; 16 years later, tree diversity had tripled and forest biomass was 176% higher

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In 1998, Costa Rica spread 12,000 tonnes of orange waste over degraded pasture; 16 years later, tree diversity had tripled and forest biomass was 176% higher

Aerial view of the orange peel-treated area (right) and untreated pasture (left), surveyed by Princeton researchers. In the late 1990s, an unusual conservation experiment began in Costa Rica when ecologists proposed using orange peels and pulp to help restore a badly degraded piece of land inside a national park.For this, orange juice company Del Oro … Read more

How 280,000 volunteer-planted trees transformed New Zealand’s Tiritiri Matangi from a degraded island into a conservation sanctuary

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How 280,000 volunteer-planted trees transformed New Zealand's Tiritiri Matangi from a degraded island into a conservation sanctuary

Rangitoto framed – Tiritiri Matangi Island Off the coast of Auckland, in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf, lies an island that looks like a slice of untouched wilderness. Dense native forest blankets its hills, rare birds call from the canopy and visitors walk along quiet tracks surrounded by ferns and flowering shrubs. Yet just a few … Read more