South Asia

Asian elephant and baby

Bangladesh bans capture and exploitation of wild asian elephants

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In a “landmark” ruling, Bangladesh’s High Court has suspended all licenses for the adoption of critically endangered wild elephants, meaning they can no longer be legally taken into captivity or exploited. The ban to protect the approximately 200 wild elephants remaining in Bangladesh was welcomed by animal rights groups. Nearly half the elephants are living in captivity.

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Mangrove forest

Pakistan has expanded mangroves nearly threefold between 1986 and 2020

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Around the world, mangrove forests have undergone a decades-long decline that’s just now slowing to a halt. But Pakistan bucks this trend. The country’s mangroves expanded from 48,331 hectares in 1986 to 143,930 hectares in 2020, according to a 2022 analysis of satellite data. Many in Pakistan are looking to mangroves to bolster precious fish stocks and defend against the mounting effects of climate change.

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Golden mahseer fish swimming

Indigenous effort in Bangladesh helps reverse endangered fish’s slide to extinction

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Unchecked logging and quarrying of rocks from streambeds in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts led to springs drying up and populations of putitor mahseer fish, an endangered species, disappearing. A project launched in 2016 and backed by USAID and the UNDP is working with Indigenous communities to reverse this decline.
Now, as a result of these efforts, areas where forests have been conserved have seen the flow of springs stabilize and fish populations revive.

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River dolphin

11 countries sign global pact to protect endangered river dolphins

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Since the 1980s, the combined populations of river dolphin species have plummeted by 73%. With the Global Declaration for River Dolphins, 14 countries are expected to join forces to protect six surviving species. So far, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Venezuela have signed the declaration.

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Nepal forest

Nepal’s constitutional bench halts ‘triple taxation’ on community forests

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Nepal’s Constitutional Court has issued a stay on the laws that require community forest user groups to pay taxes to the local, provincial, and federal governments.
Community forest user groups manage about 34% of Nepal’s forested area under a participatory conservation model that has been praised for increasing forest cover and empowering local communities.

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