Beauty is what you buy

It seems fitting that WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 arrived in my inbox the day Hurricane Milton slammed into my hometown.

I grew up on Little Sarasota Bay, with the Intracoastal Waterway and a view over to Siesta Key in the backyard.

When we moved into that waterfront house in the summer of 1981, jumping mullet slapped the surface of the bay constantly and pelicans were plentiful. Now you can spend the day in the backyard before you hear a mullet splash, pelicans are rarer, and an alligator was even spotted nearby—runoff makes the bay’s salt water brackish.

On September 26, 2024, the storm surge from Hurricane Helene flooded homes on our block for the first time; the water was several feet deep in living rooms.

Less than two weeks later, on Wednesday night, October 9, Milton, the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, made landfall in a direct hit to Siesta Key.

Sunset at Siesta Beach in Siesta Key © Rebecca Self

We are at a Tipping Point

On the west coast of Florida, we’ve seen multiple hurricanes in a single year before, even in rapid succession, but the scale and intensity of these storms and their storm surges are unprecedented.

WWF’s report makes clear something Floridians are seeing firsthand: we are at a tipping point.

What is a tipping point? The term has been applied to a wide variety of processes in which, beyond a certain point, the rate of the process increases dramatically. From human behavioral sciences like economics and sociology to epidemiology, ecology and physics, the fundamental notion remains the same. In colloquial terms, if we were being pessimistic, we might call it the point of no return.

WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 authors describe tipping points as:

“When cumulative impacts reach a threshold, the change becomes self-perpetuating, resulting in substantial, often abrupt and potentially irreversible change – a tipping point.

The Living Planet Report details numerous case studies in which ecological degradation combined with climate change increases the likelihood of reaching local and regional tipping points:

• North America: fire suppression, drought and pest invasion
• Great Barrier Reef: overfishing, pollution and warming waters
• India: wetland loss, drought and flooding
• Tipping points with global impact: drought in Amazon Rainforest, Greenland’s melting ice

Tipping points, whether local, regional or planetary, can initially be gradual, but then sudden and irreversible. Ecosystems may not instantaneously change from one state to another, but beyond a certain point of stress, change becomes unavoidable and rapid.

The Power of Positive Tipping Points

There are also positive tipping points. For example, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has long used the term tipping point in a different way, fighting climate inaction and despair with the power of positive tipping points.

In a recent interview, he shared his belief, and rationale, that we are at a political tipping point:

• The power of fossil fuel companies to determine legislative outcomes is diminishing. Surging oil and gas costs spur governments to decarbonize faster, and fossil fuels are losing the electricity generation marketplace.
• Last year, worldwide, 90% of the new (generating capacity) was renewable. (Fossil fuel companies are in) the process of losing their second-largest market, transportation. The job market reflects this shift, with the clean economy generating three times as many jobs.

Momentum toward positive tipping points is undeniably growing; WWF’s report shows it’s just not fast enough.

Takeaway #1: Double down on support

In the face of global tipping points, WWF’s Living Planet Report asserts it is urgent to recognize the interconnectedness of nature, climate and human well-being. Tackling climate, biodiversity and development goals together simultaneously opens up opportunities to conserve and restore nature, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and improve human well-being.

My first takeaway from the report is to redouble my own efforts to support businesses, non-governmental and political organizations and individuals actively addressing ecological tipping points—to build toward positive, regenerative tipping points.

What is WWF’s Living Planet Report?

WWF’s Living Planet Report (LPR) is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. Now in its 15th edition, the report provides a science-led overview of the state of the natural world and includes the Living Planet Index (LPI), which tracks how species populations are faring around the world.

This year’s Living Planet report reveals a catastrophic 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations over just 50 years from 1970 to 2020.

I was born in Tampa, Florida, in 1970. The report indicates that in my lifetime, based on almost 35,000 population trends and 5,495 species of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles:

• Freshwater populations have suffered the heaviest declines, falling by 85%,
• terrestrial (69%) and
• marine populations (56%).

At a regional level, the fastest declines have been seen in:

• Latin America and the Caribbean—a staggering 95% decline
• Africa (76%) and
• Asia and the Pacific (60%).

Declines have been less dramatic in Europe and Central Asia (35%) and North America (39%) because large-scale impacts on nature were already apparent before 1970; some populations have stabilized or increased thanks to conservation efforts and species reintroductions.

Wolverine, Russia.

What is the Living Planet Index?

The LPI monitors changes in the size of species populations over time, which is an early warning indicator of extinction risk and helps us understand ecosystem health.

When a population falls below a certain level, a species may not be able to perform its usual role within the ecosystem—whether that’s seed dispersal, pollination, grazing, nutrient cycling or other processes that keep ecosystems functioning.

Stable populations provide resilience against disturbances like disease and extreme weather events; a decline in populations, as shown in the global LPI, decreases resilience and threatens the functioning of the ecosystem.

Kirsten Schuijt, Director General, WWF International, shared:

“The linked crises of nature loss and climate change are pushing wildlife and ecosystems beyond their limits, with dangerous global tipping points threatening to damage Earth’s life-support systems and destabilize societies.

Although the situation is desperate, we are not yet past the point of no return. The decisions made and action taken over the next five years will be crucial for the future of life on Earth. The power—and opportunity—are in our hands to change the trajectory. We can restore our living planet if we act now.”

Wildlife Russia. Tiger in the water pool in the forest habitat. Siberian tiger cat in the lake.

Takeaway #2: Focus on Solutions

There is good news, too: despite the alarming overall decline in species populations, many populations have stabilized or increased as a result of conservation efforts. Protected and conserved areas have slowed the extinction rate for mammals, birds and amphibians by an estimated 20–29%. Recent analysis showed that conservation actions have had a net positive effect.

Isolated successes, species-based approaches, and merely slowing nature’s decline are not enough. We need to do more, faster, and in a more coordinated, regenerative way.

It’s a message Al Gore has been sharing for decades, and his stress is on solutions, too. He says:

“A lot of people go straight from denial to despair without pausing, intermediate, to solving the problem. And so that’s definitely an issue and I have been emphasizing justifiable optimism for quite a long time. And it’s not an artifice.

…We are gaining momentum in an impressive way and we have the basis for success. …We’re in the midst of a major sustainability revolution that has the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution coupled with the speed of the digital revolution. …It is still undeniably true that the crisis is still getting worse faster than we have yet begun to deploy these available solutions. Now we are gaining momentum, and I’m certain that we will soon be gaining on the crisis itself.”

In his climate presentations and trainings, Gore ends with a call to take hopeful action, emphasizing facts like:

• If and when we reach true net zero, the temperatures on Earth will stop going up with a lag time of as little as three to five years.
• If we stay at true net zero, half of the human-caused CO2 will fall out of the atmosphere in as little as 25 to 30 years.

My second takeaway from the Living Planet Report is really a reminder: all the solutions we need already exist. We already have the frameworks, technologies and nature-based solutions needed. This is a matter of will and collective action.

WWF’s Living Planet Report provides a framework for solutions, pointing to 4 urgent transformations to focus upon.

Sloth in nature habitat. Beautiful Hoffman’s Two-toed Sloth, Choloepus hoffmanni, climbing on the tree in dark green forest vegetation. Cute animal in the habitat, Costa Rica. Wildlife in jungle.

WWF’s Living Planet Report: The 4 Transformations

To maintain a living planet where people and nature thrive, we need collective action that meets the scale of the challenge, including more coordinated, effective conservation efforts while addressing drivers of nature loss. It will require nothing less than a transformation of our food, energy and finance systems.

• Transforming Conservation

Protected areas currently cover 16% of the planet’s lands and 8% of its oceans. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) calls for 30% of lands, waters and sea to be protected by 2030, and to restore 30% of degraded areas by 2030.

Countries need to:

• extend, enhance, connect and properly fund systems of protected areas in a fair and inclusive way.
• Effective conservation outside of protected areas is also essential. 

Wildlife ranger protecting Uganda and Rwanda’s great apes © Richard de Gouveia

• Transforming Food Systems

Food production is one of the main drivers of nature’s decline: it uses 40% of all habitable land, is the leading cause of habitat loss, accounts for 70% of water use and is responsible for over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

Coordinated action is needed to:

• scale up nature-positive production to provide enough food for everyone while also allowing nature to flourish;
• reduce food loss and waste;
• increase financial support and foster good governance including by redirecting environmentally harmful subsidies. 

Indigenous women harvesting tea, Sri Lanka.

• Transforming Energy

The way we produce and consume energy is the principal driver of climate change. We must

rapidly transition away from fossil fuels to cut greenhouse emissions in half by 2030. In the last

decade, global renewable energy capacity has roughly doubled; costs for wind, solar and

batteries have fallen by up to 85%.

Over the next five years, we need to:

• triple renewable energy,
• double energy efficiency,
• modernize energy grids. 

Nat Hab Electric Safari Vehicle © Justin Sullivan

• Transforming Finance

Redirecting finance toward business models and activities that contribute to the global goals on nature, climate and sustainable development is essential. Globally, over half of GDP (55%)—or an estimated US $58 trillion—is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. Our current economic system values nature at close to zero. In fact, private finance, tax incentives and subsidies that exacerbate climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are estimated at almost $7 trillion US dollars per year.

Financing green involves mobilizing finance for conservation and climate impact at scale, while greening finance entails aligning financial systems to deliver nature, climate and sustainable development goals. We need both.

Living Planet Report Takeaway #3: Share the Story

The Report states that what happens in the next five years will determine the future of life on Earth. What can we each do?

I heard an idea at the Mountainfilm Festival earlier this year that has stuck with me:

As explorers and travelers, our returns are essential. How we share our adventures and expeditions determines how exploration makes a difference and how it translates into action toward positive tipping points.

I am a researcher, writer, leadership advisor and professor; that’s how I make a difference. Photographers document the environment and practice visual advocacy when they share their photos and the stories behind them. 

How will you contribute toward transformation and positive tipping points? Are groups and organizations you are a part of driving transformation?

Sunda bearded pigs, Borneo, Malaysia.

How We’re Transforming Travel

At Nat Hab, we’re working to transform travel so it contributes to the conservation and regeneration of the local communities and wild places we visit. Our mission is conservation through exploration: protecting our planet by inspiring travelers, supporting local communities and boldly influencing the entire travel industry.

Since 2007, Natural Habitat Adventures has been the world’s first 100% carbon-neutral travel company. We embarked on that ambitious project in partnership with Sustainable Travel International, reducing and offsetting the carbon emissions that result from all office- and trip-related activities.

In 2018, we began partnering with South Pole, a sustainability consultancy that works with businesses and governments to reduce carbon impacts by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions via third-party verified projects around the world. In 2019, we offset all our travelers’ flights to and from our global adventure destinations, increasing the total amount of our carbon offset by 300-400%.

Nat Hab & WWF “Discovering Our Planet Together.” Photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader & Sustainability Director © Court Whelan

Nat Hab’s efforts are currently focused in these areas:

• Conservation
• Supporting Local Communities – Philanthropy & Community Relief
• Transportation
• Reducing waste
• Offsets & a Green Office Culture

Conservation travel makes natural habitats even more valuable and appreciated by bringing positive attention and economic resources into local communities. From Madagascar to Namibia, conservation travel has inspired individuals and whole communities to protect wild places and the life that thrives there. Our hope is that after travelers experience the beauty and silence of the wilderness, they become ambassadors for conservation in their own communities.

Coastal brown bear in Lake Clark National Park. Photographed at Nat Hab’s Alaska Bear Camp by Expedition Leader © Rylee Jensen

The post WWF’s Living Planet Report: Biodiversity, the Climate Crisis & What’s Next first appeared on Good Nature Travel Blog.

Indigenous activists have always been front and center in protecting the Earth and its resources, and we can all learn from their deep spiritual, cultural and economic connections with the land. But despite the considerable impact climate change has on Indigenous cultures, they’re often marginalized and discriminated against when it comes to their rights and territories. Here are five Indigenous climate activists that are fighting back in big ways. If their names aren’t already in your lexicon, it’s only a matter of time.

Autumn Peltier 

Autumn Peltier has been a force to be reckoned with since childhood. The Anishinaabe activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory in Ontario, Canada, has been advocating for the preservation of drinking water for Indigenous communities for a decade. When she was only eight years old, Peltier noticed signs of toxicity while attending a water ceremony in Ontario’s Serpent River First Nation, an experience that helped propel her role as an advocate for clean drinking water in Indigenous communities worldwide. Along with campaigning for the universal right to clean drinking water, she’s been working to ensure communities have access to it ever since.

“It’s time to ‘warrior up’, stop polluting the planet and give water the same rights and protections as human beings.” That’s the message Autumn Peltier delivered personally to the United Nations General Assembly. This was created in her honor, by © David Bernie, a Chicago-based Indigenous artist of the Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate (“People of the End Village”).

In 2016, Peltier presented Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a copper water pot at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations and confronted him on both his water protection policies and his support for pipelines. This incident led to the creation of the Niabi Odacidae fund for clean water.

Along with youth advocacy, another key element of Peltier’s work is environmental justice activism, addressing the unjust exposure of Canada’s Indigenous communities to environmental hazards, including contaminated water. Today she’s the chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation, a role that she took on after the passing of her great-aunt, Josephine Mandamin, whose own activism work was one of Peltier’s main inspirations.

“Fridays 4 Future” protest inside COP25. © John Englart

Peltier’s received numerous nominations for the International Children’s Peace Prize, including one in 2022, and has received plenty of other accolades ranging from the 2017 Ontario Newspaper Association’s Ontario Junior Citizens Award to being a part of BBC’s 100 Women list for 2019.

The Water Walker is a 2019 short documentary highlighting Peltier’s journey as she prepares to speak at the United Nations General Assembly regarding water protection.

You can follow her on Instagram at @autumn.peltier.

Dallas Goldtooth

Indigenous community members and supporters gathered outside Minneapolis City Hall to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline © Fibonacci Blue

Dallas Goldtooth is a man of many hats. Not only does the climate activist oversee Keep it in the Ground, a campaign of over 400 organizations from more than 60 countries, all calling on world leaders to end new fossil fuel development, but he’s also a comedian. Goldtooth is co-founder of the Indigenous sketch comedy group, The 1491s, which highlights contemporary Native American life in the U.S. and is an actor and writer in FX’s series Reservation Dogs, a show about the exploits of four Indigenous teens.

For his work with Keep It In The Ground, Goodtooth—who’s of Mdewakanton Dakota & Dińe heritage—was featured as a part of 2017’s Grist 50, an annual list of climate and justice leaders focused on solutions to some of the world’s biggest environmental issues. He gathered a large group of Indigenous people, farmers, green organizers and groups that helped convince President Obama to dismiss the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline. He is now fighting against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile-long underground system that—if built—would interfere with sacred sites and potentially contaminate local water supplies.

© Fibonacci Blue

Keep it in the Ground is one of several campaigns run by the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), an organization of Indigenous, grassroots environmental justice activists. Goldtooth’s father, Tom B.K. Goldtooth, is IEN’s founder and executive director.

Learn more about Goldtooth on Instagram at @dallasgoldtooth.

Mina Susana Setra

Mina Susana Setra is an Indigenous Dayak Pompakng from the Indonesian section of Borneo, where forests have long been a source of food, medicine, and supplies for her people. However, the lands where Setra grew up were turned into palm oil plantations in 1976, completely altering the cultural and environmental landscape. Rather than sit tight, Setra decided to do something about it: by working with an organization dedicated to implementing policies that support and strengthen the rights of Indonesia’s Indigenous peoples.

Endangered orangutan mother and baby in forests of Borneo, Indonesia

Since its founding in 1999, Mina Susana Setra has been an activist for the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of Nusantara (AMAN), an Indonesian Indigenous peoples’ human rights and advocacy organization that’s today made up of nearly 2,300 Indigenous communities and approximately 15 million people. AMAN also collaborates with NGOs and civil society networks supporting Indigenous peoples. She’s protested the exclusion of Indigenous people from governmental negotiations on forest and climate initiatives and worked on the global program Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), a framework for guiding activities to reduce emissions in forests, along with the sustainable management of forests in developing countries.

In 2012, Setra was instrumental in a review of the Forestry Law to the Constitutional Court, which led to the invalidation of the Indonesian government’s claim to customary forest areas. She’s also president of If Not Us Then Who, Inc., a global awareness campaign utilizing tools like photography, filmmaking, content curating and local artworks to showcase the role Indigenous and local peoples play in planet protection.

Indigenous woman celebrating her Bornean heritage

If this all isn’t enough, Setra is also a founder of Indonesia’s Ruai TV, which focuses on citizen journalism to give marginalized communities in West Kalimantan a voice.

She’s on Instagram at @minasetra.

Amelia Telford

When Amelia Telford graduated high school in 2012, the young Aboriginal and South Sea Islander woman from Bundjalung country (in Australia’s New South Wales) decided to take a bit of time away from her studies and focus on climate change—inspired by coastal erosion in her hometown—instead. The following year she took on the role of Indigenous coordinator for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Australia’s largest youth-run organization, aimed at building a movement of young people leading solutions to the climate crisis. While there, Telford developed a program that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in leading roles in climate action and in efforts to run sustainability projects in their local communities.

“Climate Guardian Angels” outside the U.S. consulate in Melbourne, Australia. © John Englart

Today, she is the national director and founder of SEED, Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network. First launched in 2014, the rapidly expanding organization of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths has grown into a national network of Indigenous youth focused on creative, positive change and protecting their land and people from climate change impacts and fossil fuel extraction. Along with 13 other environmental groups, Seed was responsible for getting the country’s four largest banks to eliminate funding for a Queensland coal mine.

“Two turtles against climate change” Australian rally for Climate Action. © John Englart

In 2014, Telford was named the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’s (NAIDOC) Youth of the Year, followed by both Young Environmentalist of the Year for Australia’s Bob Brown Foundation and Australian Geographic’s Young Conservationist of the Year in 2015.

Levi Sucre Romero

A farmer and Indigenous leader from Costa Rica, Levi Sucre Romero is a coordinator for the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (MAPF). This organization helps ensure and protect the land rights of Indigenous and forest communities. He’s also an organizer and manager for the technical side of the RIBCA, a MAPF project representing eight Indigenous Costa Rican territories and their people.

Romero, who comes from eastern Costa Rica’s Bribri Talamanca Indigenous community, has worked in rural development and community organization for over two decades. The Indigenous leader is a strong proponent in the fight against forest degradation, which causes the planet’s imbalance. This, he says, accelerates climate change and in turn limits the production of certain foods and increases the risk of health endemics such as Covid 19 due to the mismanagement of natural resources.

According to Romero, one possible solution is for governments to create more space for Indigenous knowledge regarding natural resource management policies. He believes traditional know-how can go a long way toward protecting biodiversity and, in turn, the world.

Indigenous territories are increasingly under siege. A recent study in the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the situation in the Amazon concluded, “The trend toward weakening of environmental protections, Indigenous land rights, and the rule of law … poses an existential threat to [Indigenous peoples and local communities] and their territories. Reversing this trend is critical for the future of climate-buffering Amazon forests and the success of the Paris Agreement.”

“We know that 25% of the medicines [the world] uses come out of the forests and that by losing the forests, we put in danger future solutions,” said Sucre Romero. Variety and diversification are the alternatives, and the forests hold the keys.

Says Sucre Romero, “I believe that Costa Rica is a reflection of what is happening regionally: The governments have not been able to understand that the communities—that is, the people, the Indigenous people, those of us who live with the forest—are a key factor in the protection of those resources and a key factor of human survival. Politicians just do not understand.”

Costa Rica three-toed sloth and baby © Ben Hulsey

The post 5 Indigenous Climate Activists You Should Know first appeared on Good Nature Travel Blog.

A new study co-authored by World Wildlife Fund, Ecoexist, and Elephant Connection, reveals the largest ever GPS tracking database of elephant movement across Southern Africa.

Published September 9, 2024, in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the analysis is based on approximately 4 million GPS locations logged from nearly 300 tagged elephants and their associated herds traveling throughout the world’s largest land-based transboundary conservation area, the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), between 2009 and 2023.

What is KAZA?

In 2011, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe committed to collectively manage a valuable and biodiverse 106 million-acre, or 200,000 square mile region, nearly the size of France, allowing the movement of wildlife across international boundaries between protected areas, to improve dispersal opportunities and increase their chance of survival.

The Zambezi, Kwando, and Okavango rivers flow through the region. Woodlands, wetlands and grasslands provide critical habitat for lions, wild dogs, and the planet’s largest population of savanna elephants.

At the heart of the KAZA vision is the premise that conservation of the region’s rich natural resources can be the economic driver of a region, resulting in thriving landscapes where wildlife and communities coexist.

These countries converge in the Kavango and Zambezi river basins, creating a vast conservation and ecotourism destination. KAZA includes several national parks and natural wonders like the Okavango Delta and Victoria Falls.

Chobe River, Chobe National Park, Botswana

What are the benefits of large-scale transboundary collaboration?

Transboundary collaboration and the creation of wildlife corridors like KAZA offer numerous conservation benefits:

• Enhanced Biodiversity Conservation: By pooling resources and coordinating efforts, countries can more effectively protect and manage biodiversity. KAZA is dedicated to conserving a wide range of species, including the world’s largest population of savanna elephants and significant populations of lions, wild dogs, and cheetahs. This is particularly important for migratory species that move across national borders.
• Landscape Connectivity: Wildlife corridors facilitate the movement of species, crucial for maintaining genetic diversity, enabling seasonal migrations, and allowing animals to adapt to climate change by moving to more suitable habitats.
  KAZA provides critical habitat that allows wildlife to move across borders and between protected areas, which is essential for maintaining genetic diversity and ecosystem health.
  On this topic, I always think of Jane Goodall’s film, The Hope. In the period where she’s describing her transition from researcher in the bush to activist and public advocate for chimpanzees, she says, “One of the biggest problems today in conservation is the fragmentation of habitat. Populations isolated from other populations need to be genetically viable. Corridors allow connectivity. Local communities see value of it to their own future (water, education, etc.)”
• Ecosystem Functioning: Transboundary conservation areas (TBCAs) support ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, water flow, and species dispersal, which are essential for the health of the environment.
• Political and Social Cooperation: Establishing TBCAs can strengthen relationships between neighboring countries and communities, fostering peace and cooperation through a shared commitment to conservation.
• Expanded Protected Areas: Transboundary conservation can lead to the expansion of protected areas, which is vital for the long-term survival of many species and the reduction of habitat fragmentation.
• Sustainable Development: These initiatives often promote sustainable economic development by integrating conservation with other land uses, such as ecotourism, which can provide income for local communities while preserving natural resources.
  KAZA’s woodlands, wetlands, rivers, and grasslands support not only wildlife but also the local communities that depend on these ecosystems for their livelihoods.
• Research Opportunities: Scientists benefit from the larger, more diverse landscapes of TBCAs, which provide greater opportunities for research and monitoring of ecological processes and wildlife populations. That’s exactly what’s happened in the case of this WWF study.
• Climate Resilience: By maintaining larger, connected ecosystems, TBCAs can enhance the resilience of natural systems to withstand and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Transboundary collaboration in conservation leads to more effective environmental stewardship, promotes peace and cooperation, and supports sustainable development, all while providing critical habitats for a wide range of species.

Why map wildlife movement?

WWF author Callie Cho explains, “Mapping current migration patterns is a crucial first step toward creating effective conservation strategies and protecting these critical animal movements.”

In the same week that the KAZA elephant study was released, WWF shared a new global digital atlas of Earth’s zebra and other ungulate populations—The Global Initiative for Ungulate Migration (GIUM). The maps showcase the movements of various species, including Tibetan antelope, reindeer, and guanaco.

From wildebeest in the Serengeti to caribou in the Arctic tundra and zebra in Namibia, ungulates across the globe complete some of the animal kingdom’s most impressive land-based migrations.

Ungulate migrations play a crucial role in shaping ecosystems:

• supporting large, healthy herds
• providing essential prey for predators and scavengers,
• helping to sustain biodiversity on land, and
• creating unique conditions that support diverse plants and animals.

For thousands of years, these migrations have been vital to human survival, creating deep cultural connections with Indigenous and local communities. But ungulate migrations are disappearing rapidly.

Despite their importance, ungulate migrations are in peril due to human activity. Poorly planned infrastructure (roads, fences), agriculture, and settlements fragment landscapes and create deadly obstacles for migrating herds.

Limited mapping of migrations has hampered ungulate migration management and conservation. By combining animal tracking data, historical records, and the knowledge of local and Indigenous communities, scientists are building a global migration atlas—a powerful tool for driving conservation efforts and informing policy at all levels.

The Global Initiative for Ungulate Migration (GIUM) was launched in 2020, uniting over 80 scientists worldwide to map and analyze ungulate movements. Their efforts culminated in this interactive atlas which highlights high, medium, and low-use migration corridors for a diverse range of species.

Crucially, the map pinpoints where these routes intersect with human-made barriers like roads and railways to guide conservation efforts, infrastructure planning, and policy decisions with cutting-edge data on ungulate travel patterns.

Where did the KAZA elephants go?

Extensive elephant GPS data can provide much the same guidance in and around KAZA. It turns out elephants rely on multiple methods to move around the region.

The data showed that in KAZA elephants use:

• micro-corridors,
• protected area pathways and
• macro-corridors to move across the transborder landscape.

These corridors and pathways are essential for elephants and other species to access water and avoid direct contact with human settlements. Now we have a map for them.

The main breakthrough of the study, though, may be in the new way—or scale—of seeing and mapping movement.

WWF Lead Wildlife Scientist and primary author Robin Naidoo said:

Our study has provided a first of its kind movement-based conservation blueprint for elephants in KAZA. A key aspect of conservation is understanding and securing landscape connectivity. However, small sample sizes have prevented researchers and policymakers from developing comprehensive connectivity conservation plans based on animal movements in the KAZA region, until now.

The Scale is Unprecedented – New Ways of Seeing

What both the elephant GPS data and GIUM database have in common—in addition to a lead author—is the use of new data measurement and management tools to envision wildlife movements on a an unprecedented scale.

Recently at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, on a couple different panels, conservationists, explorers and filmmakers boldly proclaimed that we are living in a Great Age of Discovery and Exploration.

It might seem counterintuitive in this day and age. I’ll confess: I was skeptical.

They were referring, though, to the transformative impact new technologies, (especially advances in visual imaging, but also DNA sequencing, machine learning and artificial intelligence) are having on exploration and conservation. New technologies are revolutionizing the ways we see, understand and share the world.

These two studies mapping migrations exemplify this new age of discovery. New ways of seeing, tracking, and managing data allow us to “see” wildlife migrations—and collaborate and share the results with others in a way that makes a positive difference.

Photographed on Nat Hab’s Secluded Botswana Safari © Joey Sudmeier

Want to see KAZA for yourself?

Whether you’re planning a family safari, a custom safari for your own group, looking for a photo expedition, we’ve got you covered in the KAZA! Nat Hab offers river cruises as well as overland safaris in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Check out all of our African safaris here.

Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Richard de Gouveia

The post 4 Million GPS Data Points: WWF Study Reveals Elephant Migration Corridors first appeared on Good Nature Travel Blog.