As we close out the year here at WILD HOPE, we’re looking back on a whole forest of stories from 2024 that represent milestones, breakthroughs, and remarkable innovation in the world of conservation and planetary health.
Here are our Top 10 conservation stories from 2024 that bring us hope.
1. Endangered Species Act turns 50
Since it was passed in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has become one of the most powerful legislative tools to fight extinction in the United States. The ESA currently protects more than 1,600 plant and animal species — and after 50 long years saving wildlife, its impact is felt now more than ever.
2. Red-Cockaded Woodpecker removed from U.S. endangered species list
One of our favorite animal comeback stories has been the red-cockaded woodpecker, an iconic species native to southeastern U.S. pine forests. Just a few months ago, the bird passed a major recovery milestone. After dipping as low as 1,470 nest clusters in the 1970s, the RCW has rebounded to over 7,800 today — a recovery big enough to justify removing the bird from the U.S. endangered species list. See the amazing story of their recovery — featuring an unlikely ally — in “Wild Hope: Woodpecker Wars.”
3. Ecuador expands its Rights of Nature movement to protect Quito’s Machángara River
Wild Hope featured Ecuador’s groundbreaking legal protection for their natural resources in one of our first episodes, “Does Nature Have Rights?”. In 2024, the movement took another historic stride forward. In the capital city of Quito, the Machángara River was granted protections by an Ecuadorian court in a major expansion of the already successful Rights of Nature movement.
4. Historic dam removals restore riverways across the Pacific Northwest
After the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, salmon once again have free passage along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. The removal of these dams erected over a century ago has been a hardfought journey to restore the entire ecosystem along the river’s banks — and salmon are key to its recovery. Learn about their impact on the ecosystem and the work to restore the region’s riverways in “Wild Hope: The Beautiful Undammed.”
5. Sounds of ‘Nature’ officially join Spotify – and will raise funds for conservation
In lighter news, opportunities expand for everyday internet users to make an impact. Spotify’s Sounds Right project launched in April 2024, allowing “Nature” to be recognized as an artist on the platform and generate revenue for global conservation causes. At its launch, Sounds Right was projected to raise $40 million for worldwide conservation.
6. Frogs are found resisting one of the worst wildlife diseases ever recorded
The chytrid fungus spreading through the global amphibian population is a dire call for action in the conservation world; one battlefront in Panama was explored in our episode ”The Frog Ark,” but that’s not the only story of hope to emerge from this crisis! Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs in Yosemite National Park seem to be developing a natural immunity to the deadly disease — a remarkable leap forward in the recovery of amphibians worldwide.
7. Iberian Lynx downlisted from ‘endangered’ in remarkable comeback
It’s being hailed as the “greatest recovery of a cat species ever achieved” — meet the Iberian Lynx, a tufted-eared carnivore native to Spain and Portugal, and one of the newest faces of historic wildlife recovery. In 2024, the Iberian lynx was declared no longer endangered by the IUCN following an incredible 20 years of international conservation collaboration. Wild Hope is excited to feature this comeback cat — and the people who made its recovery possible — in an upcoming 2025 episode!
8. It’s nice to have proof — a historic study shows that conservation achieves its goals
In a first-of-its-kind study, the message is clear: Conservation efforts are effective in the majority of cases, and are essential to curbing global biodiversity loss. The study analyzed 665 conservation interventions around the world, finding that conservation interventions either improved biodiversity or slowed declines more than two-thirds of the time.
9. Coldplay’s ‘Moon Music’ using recycled plastics for vinyl records
The rock band Coldplay took a novel, eco-inspired approach to their October release of the album “Moon Music.” The band pledged that each of its vinyl records will be made from nine recycled plastic water bottles, while CDs will be made from 90% recycled plastic. They say this new method could reduce carbon emissions for vinyl production by 85%.
10. In a first for the U.S., a clone of an endangered species gives birth
The recovery of black-footed ferrets in the American prairie is one of our favorite stories ever to come from Wild Hope (as seen in our episode, “America’s BFF”) — and the wins keep coming! In November, the teams working to help improve black-footed ferret genetic diversity through cloning announced that the clone Antonia gave birth to two healthy kits — a big step forward as researchers explore innovated ways to rebuild populations of endangered and extinct species.
