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The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) outlines targets for protecting and restoring biodiversity by 2030, with the vision of “living in harmony with nature” by 2050. Although the 20-year vision clearly is aspirational, we emphasize that many forest attributes crucial for biodiversity—such as the abundance of large trees and the availability of dead wood—recover over much longer timescales.

Last week, firecrackers went off around the world in celebration of the Lunar New Year. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2026 welcomes the year of the Fire Horse – a symbol of vitality, energy and momentum. Experts recommend slowing down and managing the fast-paced changes of the Fire Horse by staying grounded.

In that spirit, let us pause and reflect on some of the recent progress on biodiversity restoration. From species coming back from the brink of extinction to a decrease in wildlife crimes, here are some of the best conservation stories from 2025. 

Coral reefs are marine biodiversity hotspots that provide a wide range of ecosystem services1. They are reservoirs of bioactive metabolites, many produced by microorganisms associated with reef invertebrate hosts2.

Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage.

The world has four years left to achieve the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3, which calls for the conservation of at least 30% of planet Earth by 2030 (the 30×30 target). This global effort requires countries to acknowledge and support a wide range of governance systems that deliver sustained biodiversity outcomes within and beyond protected areas.

Tropical forests enhance regional rainfall but a robust analysis of this benefit is lacking. Consequently, the rainfall generating services of tropical forests are rarely accounted for in policymaking. We synthesised observational and model-based values of the reduction in rainfall due to tropical deforestation to quantify rainfall generation. Across these studies, we estimate that each meter squared of forest contributes 240 ± 60 L each year to regional rainfall. The Amazon forest has an even stronger rainfall benefit, with each meter squared of forest contributing 300 ± 110 L each year.

For decades, a dominant argument for protecting forests has focused on carbon. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, store it in wood and soils, and slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases. A new scientific review suggests this emphasis overlooks other ways forests shape climate and human well-being. Forests, it argues, are not only a mitigation tool for the future climate. They also help people adapt to climate change today, shaping temperature, water and human well-being in ways that are felt locally.

Meeting the ambitious targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) will require expanding ecosystem restoration across governance domains for marine and coastal ecosystems. Marine spatial planning (MSP), which balances the development of multiple human uses in the ocean with the preservation of ecosystem health, might be the most effective vehicle for achieving this aim. However, to date, MSP and restoration efforts have proceeded on separate tracks, and biodiversity loss continues.

Since 2023, the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) has been collaborating with the Koror State Government (KSG) to conduct research and monitoring aimed at providing essential baseline data to guide the Koror Southern Lagoon Coastal Fisheries Management Plan, a new fisheries management initiative for Koror State. The management plan identified several fish spawning aggregation sites for protection, including the longnose emperor (melangmud, Lethrinus olivaceus) at Mutiaur.

The interlinked crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are slipping down political agendas just as geopolitical instability and fiscal pressures rise. Overseas development aid is falling in real terms, and many megadiverse countries are juggling debt stress that pushes conservation to the margins.