Conservation Mag https://conservationmag.org/ en-gb adriaan@conservationmag.org (Adriaan Buys) Sun, 19 Jul 2026 12:04:54 +0200 JSitemap Pro https://conservationmag.org/images/ConservationMag144.png https://conservationmag.org/ Conservation Mag 5 Ecotourism Destinations to Visit in 2026 https://conservationmag.org/en/places/5-ecotourism-destinations-to-visit-in-2026 https://conservationmag.org/en/places/5-ecotourism-destinations-to-visit-in-2026 While travelling is fun, air travel contributes to global carbon emissions. This transportation method accounted for 2.5% of CO2 emissions in 2023. Meanwhile, energy intensity improvements have yet to counterbalance demand.

Simultaneously, mass tourism often contributes to poor waste management. For example, Mount Everest experiences numerous forms of pollution, from solid waste to human excrement. What once was a natural wonder is now a tourist destination closely resembling a dump. 

Your vacation destination can dictate your environmental impact. How you get there accounts for the largest share of your trip’s emissions, and choosing ecologically fragile environments as a destination can put pressure on local habitats. Where you stay can also make an impact, as upscale accommodations often use significant energy and resources.

]]> Destinations Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:58:22 +0200 Reversing the Black Market Journey of the North American Box Turtles https://conservationmag.org/en/environment/reversing-the-black-market-journey-of-the-north-american-box-turtles https://conservationmag.org/en/environment/reversing-the-black-market-journey-of-the-north-american-box-turtles A box stuffed with two hundred and fifty box turtles, prized for their multicoloured shells, awaits their future in the port of Miami after seizure of an illegal shipment. These seizures are often destined for Asian markets, where the animals are valued for medicinal purposes, as cultural tokens, and as pets. Conservative black-market estimates of $1,000 to $2,000 per turtle in these markets make the trade lucrative.  

Confiscated box turtles suffer from inhumane trafficking conditions, often crammed into a sock and tightly packed with others. Close quarters trigger infections, dehydration, and cracked shells. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the animals are like trauma victims and in need of rapid, intensive care.

]]> Environment Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:08:53 +0200 Cozumel’s Forgotten Fox: Rediscovering a Species on the Brink of Extinction https://conservationmag.org/en/wildlife/cozumels-forgotten-fox-rediscovering-a-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction https://conservationmag.org/en/wildlife/cozumels-forgotten-fox-rediscovering-a-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction The first photograph ever captured of a Cozumel fox (Urocyon sp.), uploaded to iNaturalist in September 2023. For a species long thought to be possibly extinct or at best extremely rare, this record provided the first visual confirmation that the fox was persisting on the island. Photo Credit: Rafael Chacón. 

Photographs recently published in the journal, Neotropical Biology and Conservation is giving the world its first-ever look at the Cozumel dwarf fox (Urocyon sp.), an undescribed species previously presumed extinct.
With their existence and persistence confirmed, the question now is: can the species still be saved?

]]> Wildlife Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:32:35 +0200 Sustainable Farming Practices That Protect Biodiversity https://conservationmag.org/en/sustainable-food/sustainable-farming-practices-that-protect-biodiversity https://conservationmag.org/en/sustainable-food/sustainable-farming-practices-that-protect-biodiversity Food and wildlife shape one another more than most people realise. Every meal connects back to landscapes, habitats, and choices. Across the world, farmers, researchers, and conservation groups are exploring how productive farmland can also support healthy soils, cleaner water, pollinators, and thriving ecosystems.

Instead of being merely places that produce food, farms can become living, breathing landscapes. Farming has a huge impact on the world, and you have the power to make its outcome positive by supporting biodiversity while putting nutritious food on your table. It all comes down to where your food comes from and what kind of landscape it grows in. 

]]> Sustainable Food Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:59:40 +0200 The Heat of the Moment - Global Warming and Fire Adaptation in South African National Environment Month - Part 4 https://conservationmag.org/en/environment/the-heat-of-the-moment-global-warming-and-fire-adaptation-in-south-african-national-environment-month-part-4 https://conservationmag.org/en/environment/the-heat-of-the-moment-global-warming-and-fire-adaptation-in-south-african-national-environment-month-part-4 If you go back far enough, the story of biodiversity is also the story of astronomy. In the early universe, only the light elements such as hydrogen and helium existed. Through immense heat and pressure, the heavier elements that make up organic life - namely carbon, oxygen, calcium, iron, and many others - were forged deep within ancient stars; enriched minerals and elements that scattered across the cosmos when some of these stars exploded in spectacular supernovae. Over billions of years, this stellar material became part of new stars, planets, rocks, and oceans - establishing geology. Geology became soil. Simple organic compounds gradually increased in complexity through chemical reactions, eventually forming the first self-replicating cells - a process known as abiogenesis. Soil became plants. Plants became ecosystems. And then: ecosystems bore fauna and people. The calcium in your bones, the iron in your blood, the oxygen you breathe, and the carbon that forms every cell in your body were created inside stars long before the Earth existed. We are all made of stardust - one moment in a chain that began in stellar fire billions of years ago and, in a sense, we are the universe looking back on itself.

]]> Environment Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:39:15 +0200 How Sustainable Forestry Cuts Trees While Protecting Habitats https://conservationmag.org/en/environment/how-sustainable-forestry-cuts-trees-while-protecting-habitats https://conservationmag.org/en/environment/how-sustainable-forestry-cuts-trees-while-protecting-habitats Forests filter water, store carbon, shelter wildlife and supply the timber, paper, and building materials modern life depends on. That creates a real tension — the same forests people rely on for resources are the ones that need protecting most. Sustainable forestry exists to resolve that tension by changing how harvesting happens and what gets left behind.

]]> Environment Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:28:17 +0200