The return of wolves to Germany has become one of the most emotionally charged conservation issues of the past two decades. Nowhere is this more visible than in Lower Saxony, the state with the country’s largest wolf population and one of its highest livestock densities. A new study of twelve shepherds working in professional, part‑time, and hobby capacity offers an intimate look at how people on the front lines of the conflict experience the daily realities of coexistence. W

When the world shut down in March 2020, conservationists feared the worst for Africa’s protected areas. Tourism collapsed, economies stalled, and global attention shifted away from biodiversity. A new study published in Ecology and Society in 2025 offers a picture of what actually happened inside 50 protected areas across 17 Sub‑Saharan African countries and what it means for the future of conservation. The COVID‑19 pandemic hit the conservation world with a force few anticip

When people think about ecosystem restoration, they often picture one thing: planting trees. While this is, of course, part of it, restoration has a lot more to offer. However, to achieve a meaningful and lasting outcome, we need a deeper understanding of what successful restoration actually looks like. With the help of experts, scientists, practitioners and decision-makers from diverse academic backgrounds, Duguma et al. (2025) outlined five critical frontiers for ecosystem

A blog entry by Rhoda Kachali My PhD journey began long before I ever made a formal application to Leuphana University. It is a conversation I have been having with friends and colleagues involved in conservation for the last 20 years. My PhD was merely an extension of conversations we had been having for over two decades. I had talked so often with a friend of mine at the University of Zambia that the day she saw the PhD advertised, she immediately shared it with me with a c

What comes to your mind when you hear the word rewilding? You may think of bison on open plains, wolves in forests, or rivers returning to their natural courses. You probably do not imagine people playing a central role. Photocredit: Bri Mathias A recent study by Zoderer et al. (2025) of 89 initiatives within the European Rewilding Network (ERN) challenges this perception. The findings indicate that “rewilding” refers to six distinct strategies, including megaherbivore land

Environmental justice (EJ) has become a key concept for understanding the connection between environmental problems and social inequalities. It asks a simple but demanding set of questions: who bears the risks, who enjoys the benefits, and who gets a say? In the United States, environmental justice (EJ) emerged in the 1980s at the intersection of environmentalism and civil rights movements. Communities, largely Black and low-income, began to challenge the siting of hazard

If you think restoration is only about planting flowers and waiting, the recently published paper by Gray et al. 2025 gives a broader perspective. It shows that people understand 'restoring nature' in different ways, often without noticing. In two real-world labs in Germany, the research team spoke with farmers, village groups, conservationists, and local officials to learn about their values, knowledge, and hopes for restored grasslands before starting any work. Three main v

Western Province of Rwanda, July - August 2025 During July and August 2025, I embarked on my very first fieldwork for data collection....

Equity is no longer a side note in conservation; it now shapes the agenda. The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework asks...

In April, we, the JaC Lab, together with the Welthaus Linz hosted an event that brought together perspectives from two very different...

In the 21st century, the way science is conducted, disseminated, and applied has fundamentally changed. The emergence of “Science 2.0”...

What if the solution to climate crisis was quietly sitting under our noses – soggy, carbon-rich, and overlooked? Teufelsmoor, picture by...

Bridging Justice, Power and Sustainability In a world facing rapid biodiversity loss and a worsening climate crisis, the need for...

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) has long seen as a solution to the challenges of conservation and equitable...

Evaluation the ecological effectiveness of protected areas in Tanzania The Katavi–Rukwa Ecosystem, located in western Tanzania, is a rich...

Outcome of Equitable Governance in conservation Conservation biology is an important field that aims to protect the planet's biodiversity...