Wondering what went right this year in the conservation world? We’ve got you covered with our Conservation Optimism Round-Up! We have collated 12 stories of optimism (one from each month) from around the globe for that final dose of motivation of 2025. Looking forward to spreading even more conservation success stories and conservation optimism in 2026.

1. January: African Communities Leading the Charge in Wildlife Conservation

“Today, in hundreds of community-run ‘conservancies’ being established across tens of millions of acres of Africa, herders and their cattle are sharing the unfenced land with elephants, giraffes, wildebeest, and buffalo. Armed only with mobile phones, the herders keep their livestock safe while protecting wildlife.”

2. February: Sea ranger service expands across Europe

“This year has been a year of transition for the Sea Ranger Service, marked by new beginnings, significant recognitions, and growing impact across all areas of the mission. 2024 highlights include the first-ever youth ranger bootcamp in the UK, seagrass restoration in six countries and many others.”

3. March: AI and drones helping to monitor thousands of seals

“Volunteers on the ground counted 6,200 seals along an 8km (4.9-mile) run of shoreline around Winterton-on-Sea in Norfolk. But more than 8,500 seals were counted by drone cameras and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).”

4. April: After public outcry, Brazil Supreme Court withdraws proposal for mining in indigenous lands

“Following intense outcry nationwide and abroad, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has recently removed the proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.

“On the same day, the Federal Attorney General’s Office presented a draft presidential decree also excluding mining activities on Indigenous territories but allowing tourism and other activities led by Indigenous communities.”

5. May: For this year’s Endangered Species Day: Three Stories of Recovery

“Every third Friday of May is Endangered Species Day. […] Despite challenges, conservationists from Africa to the Amazon are working on the ground to prevent further extinctions. For three threatened species, conservation efforts have brought them a step closer to recovering their numbers in recent years.”

Read the story below on Mongabay of the hopeful return of the Okapi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Cape Vultures in South Africa; and a curious little marsupial named the Brush-tailed Bettong in Australia.”

Every 3rd Friday of May is Endangered Species Day. More than 900 known species are already extinct, while at least 28,500 others are listed as endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN. Conservationists from Africa to the Amazon are working on the ground to prevent further extinctions.

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— Mongabay (@mongabay.com) 19 May 2025 at 03:17

6. June: Highest number of Great Indian Bustard spotted in years!

“73 GIBs spotted in a waterhole survey in the semi-arid region of India. This is a big win for the breeding centre of GIB as their numbers are slowly rising in the wild.”

7. July: Kenya is using seed balls covered in charcoal dust to plant trees.

“People in Kenya are finding innovative ways to spread seed balls in a bid to fight climate change, prevent animals from eating them before they root, and plant as many trees as possible.”

8. AUGUST: Court bans fishing in Pacific protected area, overriding Trump officials’ rollback

“A federal judge in Hawaii has ruled that commercial fishing is illegal in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, a federally protected area in the central Pacific Ocean. The decision from Judge Micah WJ Smith overturns an April letter released by the National Marine Fisheries Service that allowed fishing in parts of the monument. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is about 370,000 sq nautical miles (1,270,000 sq km), or nearly twice the size of the state of Texas. The monument is home to one of the largest collections of deep-sea coral reefs, as well as protected areas for seabirds and shorebirds on the planet. It provides refuge for species threatened by the climate crisis and other stressors caused by humans.“

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A federal court just blocked the Trump admin’s rollback on fishing bans in the vast Pacific Islands Heritage marine monument, protecting hundreds of thousands of sq miles of coral reefs, seabirds & cultural heritage. A win, for now, for oceans & Indigenous voices. #OceanConservation #MarineMonument

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— Ocean Hoptimism (@oceanhoptimism.org) 11 August 2025 at 19:05

9. SEPTEMBER: 60th ratification of the High Seas Treaty triggers entry into force

“At the United Nations this week, four new countries ratified the High Seas Treaty: Sri Lanka, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone and Morocco. This means the High Seas Treaty has reached the milestone of 60 state ratifications needed to trigger its entry into force, and will become legally effective on 17th January 2026.

The Treaty is the first legally binding international agreement to safeguard marine life in the High Seas, which covers two-thirds of the world’s oceans and plays a critical role in ensuring a healthy planet. It provides new tools to halt biodiversity loss and ocean degradation through enabling the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters and ensuring environmental impact assessments of planned human activities. It will also boost equity for developing countries through increasing knowledge and technology access, strengthening capacity, and ensuring the equitable access and sharing of the benefits of marine genetic resources. These provisions are vital to achieving climate and biodiversity global goals, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30×30 target to protect 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030.”

The High Seas Treaty just hit its 60th ratification and will enter into force Jan 2026! This is huge – a historic step to protect ocean life beyond borders. Now comes the hard part: making it real! highseasalliance.org/2025/09/19/h... #HighSeasTreaty #Ocean #OceanConservation #GlobalAgreement

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— Henning Schoenenberger (@schoenenberger.bsky.social) 21 September 2025 at 15:00

10. OCTOBER: Renewables overtake coal as the world’s biggest source of electricity

“For the first time, renewable energy has overtaken coal for electricity production in the first half of this year, with the increase in capacity so strong that it met 100% of the growth in global electricity demand.

Solar power met 83% of that growth, thanks to “spectacular reductions in cost”, with prices falling 99.9% since 1975. Last year, Pakistan imported solar panels that could produce 17 gigawatts of power, equivalent to a third of the country’s energy generation capacity — and a solar boom across Africa has panel imports increasing by 60% this year. Both China and India increased their solar and wind capacity to the extent that they cut back on fossil fuel generation.”

11. NOVEMBER: Rare parrots return to Atlantic Forest fragment after decades of silence

“Earlier this year, 20 red-browned amazons were released into a thousand-hectare forest reserve in Coruripe, outside of the state capital, Maceió, is part of the Project for the Evaluation, Recovery and Conservation of Endangered Birds. A team of sugar mill employees monitors the birds daily and sends video updates twice each day.

In addition to the red-browed amazons, other species restoration projects are underway here, including for the Alagoas curassow (Mitu mitu), a turkey-sized bird that’s been declared extinct in the wild for the past 30 years; it was reintroduced here from a captive population in 2019. The reserve also hosts reintroduced populations of the solitary tinamou (Tinamus solitarius), a ground-dwelling bird, and the red-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonarius).”

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Rare parrots return to Atlantic Forest fragment after decades of silence ->Mongabay | #Forest | More from Lil Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai

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— Climate, Ecology, War & More - Dr Glen Barry BigEarthData.ai (@bigearthdata.bsky.social) 15 November 2025 at 17:28

12. DECEMBER: Police and locals come together to save white-lipped deer

“Ice-cold river, hearts on fire. In Sichuan, police and locals teamed up to brave -10°C waters, saving three precious white-lipped deer from a frozen trap.”

Thank you for an amazing 2025, and Happy New Year 2026!
#ConservationOptimism