A Century After Vanishing, a Gentle Giant Returns

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) has built over 204 wildlife crossings, fencing systems, and protected corridors across a 3,400-kilometer stretch of the Rocky Mountains. Since Y2Y's founding in 1997, reports of wildlife-vehicle collisions have substantially reduced, thousands of safe animal crossings have been documented, and 9.8 million hectares of connected habitat has been protected.

Farmers in Vietnam face rising sea levels but rejected the city's water engineering projects. They prefer gradual measures to cope with climate change so scientists have allowed the farmers to steer the conversation.

A community-led beetle-mapping project on Kaua'i, funded by a $25,000 county grant, has mobilized residents to track invasive coconut rhinoceros beetles. Together they created 700+ data points that identified thousands of beetles, empowering the community to fill gaps in government capacity.

Led by Native Hawai’ians, Kamehameha Schools owns thousands of acres of land dedicated to stewardship and conservation. The school partners with Native Hawaiian organizations and conducts eco-cultural education programs for students and members of the community to foster connections between them and the environment.

As locust swarms threaten crops in Pakistan, a pilot program offers farmers a way to get rid of the pests without using insecticides that harm the environment, while also earning money. Once farmers trap the locusts at night, the creatures are turned into high-protein chicken feed for animal feed mills. During the pilot project, farmers netted up to $125 for one night’s work and the community hauled an average of seven tonnes a night. While harvesting locusts works for some farming areas, it might not be as easy for farmers in desert areas who have to rely on chemical sprays offered by the government.

Solar-powered irrigation systems are helping Nigerian smallholder farmers reduce fuel costs by over 60%, extend their growing seasons, and increase crop yields, while also improving local air quality and reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

The Corridors of Life project, led by IPÊ and driven by land reform settler families in Brazil's Pontal do Paranapanema region, has restored over 6,000 hectares of Atlantic Forest through community nurseries, rural startups, and agroforestry systems. Since 2002, they have brought back 174 bird species, 29 mammal species, and economic opportunity to hundreds of families.

The Piscataway Bioenergy Project converts human wastewater biosolids into renewable natural gas through anaerobic digestion, capturing methane that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. They have used the captured methane to fuel approximately 95 Montgomery County public buses at a reduced cost.

Since 2017, Rewilding Ukraine has reintroduced native grazing species like kulan and water buffalo to the Danube Delta, which has restored more than 18,000 hectares of wetlands, doubled carbon storage in soils, increased plant diversity, reduced wildfire risk, and helped native fish populations recover—even amid ongoing war.

Silvopasture—combining native trees with rotational grazing on cattle pastures in the Peruvian Amazon—has more than doubled the number of cattle able to graze per hectare. Within a year, significant carbon has been sequestered and cattle health has improved.