Madidi National Park, in northeastern Bolivia, boasts a jaw-dropping concentration of some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. The vast landscape ranges from the Amazon River basin up nearly 6,000 meters to the peaks of the Andes. 

A comprehensive WCS survey has documented thousands of plants and animals, some new to science, that are informing conservation in the region. Wild Audio spoke to WCS Bolivia’s Rob Wallace to learn more.

Documenting the Extraordinary Biodiversity in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park

This week representatives from across the globe will gather in Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties, or COP, of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Wildlife Conservation Society will have a large delegation attending. They’re focused on issues essential to addressing the climate crisis that range from preserving ecological integrity to the empowerment of Indigenous peoples. WCS President and CEO Monica Medina leads the delegation and spoke with Wild Audio for this report.
 
Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Monica Medina

Assessing the Stakes of the UN Climate Conference

Many people think of the Amazon as this vast, highly intact tropical forest, but it is also the largest freshwater system in the world. It’s the most biologically diverse place on Earth. Home to hundreds of Indigenous Peoples and traditional cultures. And also, two important species of catfish. Those will be up for discussion at the upcoming Convention on Migratory Species meeting.
 
Reporting: Dan Rosen, Hannah Kaplan
Guests: Mariana Montoya, Susan Lieberman

The Push to Unite the Amazon Basin Around a Pair of Catfish Species

The United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, works in 170 countries and territories around the world to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. Not surprisingly, that work aligns in a variety of ways with nature conservation. Leading the UNDP’s Nature Hub is Midori Paxton. WCS Wild Audio checked in with her to discuss the work of the hub and the implementation of its Nature Pledge.

Reporting: Nat Moss
Guest: Midori Paxton

S4 E1: The United Nations Development Programme Has a Nature Pledge

Film Archivist Lepold Krist has been steeped in a century’s worth of WCS history as he catalogues and digitizies historic archive films documenting conservation work globally, and across New York’s zoos and aquariums.  

Thanks to funding from the Leon Levy Foundation, which allowed WCS to create the Shelby White and Leon Levy WCS Archives Film Initiative, he is preserving footage of everything from studies of biomechanics of crabs in, to the growth of the Bronx Zoo, to polar research expeditions.  Hannah Kaplan has the story.

To see the full catalogue of films, launching in Spring 2024, visit https://library.wcs.org/ 

Reporting: Hannah Kaplan
Guest: Leopold Krist

Protecting WCS's Video History to Inform Its Conservation Future

WCS’s Global Health team has been closely watching the spread of avian influenza—first as it decimated populations of bird species around the world, and more recently when it jumped to mammals. In this two-part series, we look at the potentially devastating impacts of this growing wildlife pandemic and what is being done to slow its spread.

Reporter: Hannah Kaplan
Guests: Dr Christian Walzer, Dr Paulo Colchao

Avian Influenza | A Deadly Virus Spills Over to Mammals

In the second episode of our two-part series on the current avian influenza crisis, WCS Wild Audio’s Hannah Kaplan looks at the rise of this new, more deadly strain in domestic poultry farming. 

In places like Cambodia, such farms have become a breeding ground for the virus, and the last five years have seen a dramatic increase in rates of infection of wild birds that share the same habitats.  

Meanwhile, scientists continue to track the growing threat to mammals, with the recent transmission to dairy cows in the US causing new concerns of potential new spillover to wildlife and people.

Reporter: Hannah Kaplan
Guests: Dr Emily Denstedt and Robert Tizard

Avian Influenza, Part 2 | Cambodia's Conservation Progress At Risk

Winner of the Conservation Prize at this year’s New York Wild Film Festival, Hamid Sardar’s documentary film Mongolia: Valley of the Bears highlights a clash between the traditions of a nomadic community in northern Mongolia and one dedicated ranger’s mission to conserve wildlife in the boreal “taiga.”

Climate Change and Bear Conservation in Mongolia Come Together in an Award-Winning New Documentary

The waters off New York City are some of the busiest in the world with both ships and marine life. In fact, new research co-authored by WCS shows that fin whales can be found in these waters all 12 months. And that has important conservation implications.
 
Reporter: Dan Rosen
Guests: Carissa King-Nolan, Dr. Melinda Rekdahl

Turns Out the World’s Second-Largest Animal is Found Off the Big Apple All Year Round

April 22 is Earth Day, which could not be a more fitting occasion for conservationists, ministers, and development experts to gather in Bhutan hosted by the Royal Govt of Bhutan, under the Patronage of Her Majesty The Queen, Jetsun Pema Wangchuck. The goal: to develop a long-term plan for sustainable funding to protect tigers across their range.
 
To understand the stakes and the opportunity, we turned to several representatives of the global Tiger Conservation Coalition, which includes: the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Fauna & Flora International (FFI), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Natural State, Panthera, TRAFFIC, the United Nations Development Programme (UNPD), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Why Are the World’s Foremost Tiger Conservationists Gathering in Bhutan?

It’s been over 50 years since the first Earth Day in 1970. As we commemorate this year’s edition, says WCS’s John Calvelli, there is a great deal of concern about our future. But there is also reason for optimism. One example comes from the Miombo Woodlands in Southern Africa.
 
Reporter: Dan Rosen
Guest: John Calvelli

Documenting the Extraordinary Biodiversity in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park

WCS Wild Audio

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