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The Wildlife Habitat Council launched a new certification website that enables its members to add projects, upload documentation, submit applications, and more. CEF members that have been recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for achievements in land conservation include BASF, Boeing, CH2M, Chevron, Dow Chemical, Fidelity Investments, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, and Waste Management. 

Since 2007, the World Wildlife Fund and Coca-Cola have jointly raised tens of millions of dollars for water conservation projects. The partnership proved a winner for both organizations, write E. Richard Brownlee and Allison Elias. "What began as a relationship full of risk and uncertainty grew into a robust partnership built on trust at all levels of the organizations," they explain

JetBlue is teaming up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help Caribbean vacationers avoid contributing to the illicit trade of threatened and endangered species.

Kenya-based Wildlife Works Carbon employs "wildlife rangers" on about 500,000 acres in and around two national parks to protect elephants from poachers. The company sells carbon credits to raise the funds needed to pay the rangers. The cash raised also goes to compensate landowners for leaving land and resources in their natural condition, and to fund educational and community projects. It's the country's pilot project as part of its belonging to the United Nations' Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program.

An estimated 3,300 acres on oat farms that supply oats for Honey Nut Cheerios will soon provide new dedicated, flower-rich habitat for pollinators. General Mills is partnering with the Xerces Society, a pollinator and wildlife conservation organization, to plant wildflowers on the supplier farms. Meanwhile, The Wildlife Habitat Council released a white paper explaining the issue of pollinators' decline and actions corporations can take to help.

Bordering Myanmar on the southeast and the Indian states of Tripura on the north and Mizoram on the east, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is one of these areas. Characterized by semi-evergreen forest that is considered part of the highly endangered Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, CHT is a refuge for at least 26 globally threatened species, making it a critical conservation priority. But conservation efforts in the region have historically been challenged by the very remoteness and political instability that have helped protect it from deforestation seen in other parts of Bangladesh. That protection is now disappearing with the influx of settlers from other regions who are increasingly clearing forests for agriculture, logging trees for timber and firewood, and hunting wildlife. In other words, time is running out for Bangladesh's last rainforest and its traditional tribes.

Asia Pulp and Paper will restore and conserve 1 million hectares of Indonesian rainforest, targeting threatened species like orangutans, elephants, and tigers. The plan was developed with input from Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, and other environmental groups.

Increased conservation advocacy by groups including the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund encouraged the Mexican government to renew efforts to save the critically endangered vaquita porpoise from extinction. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has signed a memorandum of understanding that includes stricter enforcement of a permanent ban on fishing nets in Mexico's Upper Gulf of California, where about 30 vaquitas are estimated to be left.

Research published in the American Journal of Primatology earlier this month finds that the overall Western Chimpanzee population declined by six percent annually between 1990 and 2014, a total decline of 80.2 percent. The main threats to the Western Chimpanzee are almost all man-made. Habitat loss and fragmentation driven by slash-and-burn agriculture, industrial agriculture (including deforestation for oil palm plantations as well as eucalyptus, rubber, and sugar cane developments), and extractive industries like logging, mining, and oil top the list. In response to the finding that the Western Chimpanzee population has dropped so precipitously in less than three decades, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) elevated the subspecies' status to Critically Endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species.

In a creative attempt to protect California's waning water supply, Los Angeles released 20,000 "shade balls" into the LA Reservoir. According to researchers, shade balls could reduce surface evaporation by 85 to 90 percent, protect water quality by preventing chemical reactions triggered by sunlight, deter birds and other wildlife, and protect the water from rain and wind-blown dust. 

Through an ambitious project model combining innovative financing approaches with traditional conservation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and The Orangutan Project (TOP) will join forces with local communities to actively manage the 100,000 acres of former logging forest, known as Bukit Tigapuluh (known as Thirty Hills), to protect rather than exploit the land's natural resources.

An estimated 50 to 80 percent of southern wetland forest is now gone, and that which remains provides ecosystem services totaling $500 billion as well as important wildlife habitat. Logging is considered one of the biggest threats to the 35 million acres of remaining wetland forest in the southern U.S., and conservation organizations are saying this threat is coming largely from the wood pellet biomass industry.

According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, before 1900, the cheetah population numbered over 100,000 and its range included the majority of Africa through the Middle East and into Asia. Since then, however, the animal has gone extinct in more than 20 countries, with a mere 7,100 animals remaining globally

The ocean's value has been estimated as high as $24 trillion, yet despite its inherent connections to the health and well-being of wildlife, humans, and the global economy, it continues to be overexploited and polluted. Plastic pollution and shark killing are two major problems that could be - at least in part - alleviated by new materials: a seaweed-based biodegradable plastic packaging, and a sugarcane-based alternative to a widely used moisturizer normally derived from shark liver oil.

In 1900, an estimated 100,000 tigers roamed free on our planet. Yet within a hundred years, that number plummeted by more than 95 percent - the result of rampant poaching and widespread habitat loss. But it seems the tide may finally be turning for the majestic cat. On Sunday, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced that wild tiger numbers were on the rise for the first time in over a century.

Since 1994, the researchers have found increasing amounts of evidence suggesting that lion bones are starting to replace tiger bones in certain tonics and cure-alls. Records show the industry forming in fits and starts-a skeleton here, a live lion there. The real action, though, began in 2007, after the international community adopted stricter measures to protect tigers and other big cats in Asia. The following year, South Africa issued permits for the export of 50 lion skeletons. By 2011, that number had jumped to 573 skeletons.

A local environmental group slams the plan for the just-approved 58-acre facility, which will eventually employ 2,800 people but faces months of hearings before breaking ground

In this animation, animals sing an emotional rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. The video opens with the creatures existing happily in their habitats: a blue whale breaches, a brown pelican skims the water, a rhinoceros runs with her calf, and a pair of baby harp seals play in the snow.

interactive infographic showing the 100 most endangered species in the world

Last month, the first comprehensive study on global bush meat consumption found that 113 species in Southeast Asia have dwindled to precarious numbers, primarily due to bush meat hunting and trapping. But while this region may be one of the worst affected, the study, published in Royal Society Open Science, reports that bush meat hunting is driving many of the world's mammals to the brink of extinction. "The large mammals are much more threatened than the small ones," says William Ripple, a professor of ecology at Oregon State University and lead author of the study. "This is likely because there is more meat on large mammals."