LATIN AMERICA'S BIG CAT PROBLEM
Increasing reports of seized jaguar skins and teeth suggest that demand for jaguar parts has grown in the past decade, particularly in China. As relations between Latin America and Asia strengthen, criminologists and conservationists are concerned that a formal market for trafficked jaguar parts could reverse conservation progress.
SAND MINING
Sand is the single most mined commodity. Used to make concrete, its extraction eclipses other metals and minerals by a huge margin. Yet while it is abundant, it is not infinite. Fears that some sand deposits are being overused, combined with increasing evidence that the dredging of rivers and seafloors causes vast damage to ecosystems and coastal communities, bring the sustainability of this vital material into question.
DOSSIER: CARBON OFFSETTING
The IPCC embraced the notion of carbon offset schemes in the landmark Paris Agreement, but projects have faced criticism that they lack effectiveness and transparency. Mark Rowe investigates the world of carbon offsetting to determine the role it really plays on the path towards net zero.
SPOTLIGHT ON... TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA
Community trekking is the latest development to emerge from the evolution of responsible tourism. The people of the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia have faith it will provide the sacred landscape with a blessed future.
WILD PHILIPPINES
Having worked and lived in the Philippines on and off for more than 20 years, photographer Nigel Hicks has extensively studied the natural habitats and the unique wildlife of this poorly understood country. A fragile and pressured ecosystem, he explores the threats and opportunities facing the country’s natural environment, introducing the subject using extracts and photography from his latest book, Wild Philippines.
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