Wondering what went right this week in the conservation world? We’ve got you covered with our Conservation Optimism Round-Up! We are collating stories of optimism from around the globe so that you never miss your dose of weekly motivation.

1. The Irish Government, in their most recent budget, announced big funding boosts for nature and climate

” This includes 166 million euro for heritage and a new 3 billion euro climate and nature fund!”

2. Bhutan announces a “milestone achievement” with a 39.5% increase in snow leopard numbers

” The presence of 134 snow leopards has been confirmed in Bhutan by the National Snow Leopard Survey 2022-2023, supported by the Bhutan For Life project and WWF-Bhutan. This represents a 39.5% increase from the country’s first survey in 2016, when 96 individuals were counted.”

3. A rhino-less reserve in Nepal is set to get its first two rhino habitants

” Two wild-born and captive-raised rhinos will be moved from Nepal’s Chitwan National Park to Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve on World Tourism Day, Sept. 27, to boost tourism and biodiversity in eastern Nepal. The translocation is part of a larger effort to create viable populations of greater one-horned rhinos across Nepal, which has seen its rhino population grow from just 100 in 1966 to more than 750 at present. ”

4. Prehistoric bird once thought extinct returns to New Zealand wild

” Return of takahē – large, flightless bird – to alpine slopes of the South Island marks a conservation victory in New Zealand”

5. Galapagos Giant Tortoises Prove Their Worth as Ecosystem Engineers

“ From the time those 14 tortoises were taken into captivity between 1963 and 1974 until they were finally released in 2020, conservationists with the NGO Galápagos Conservancy and the Galapagos National Park Directorate reintroduced nearly 2,000 captive-bred Galapagos giant tortoises to Española. Since then, the tortoises have continued to breed in the wild, causing the population to blossom to an estimated 3,000.”

6. Number of nesting seabirds on Lundy island in the UK at nine-decade high

“ Despite the recent threat of avian flu, which has decimated wild bird populations in some of the world’s most sensitive locations, and the problematic decline in wild sources of food such as sand eels, the total number of seabirds on Lundy stood at 40,000 this summer. This is a massive turnaround after just 7,351 remained in 2000. “

7. Some Positive UK Ocean News from the Marine Conservation Society

“Top stories include beach clean ups, dolphin rescues, oyster reintroduction and artificial reefs.”

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