Saving the Orangutan

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In the Geo Quiz we hear about an unusal effort to save Orangutans. These great apes are threatened by poaching and especially habitat loss, caused by logging and farming. Their habitat happens to be in Indonesia and Malaysia but it’s limited to 2 islands. Can you name them? Download MP3

Conservation and the Spirit World

The most intriguing session I attended at this year’s AAAS meeting was led by Stanford ecologist José Fragoso. In it, Fragoso described how he and his colleagues are working with indigenous groups in Guyana and Brazil to find out how cultural change affects the diversity of species in the surrounding forests and savannas.

How consumers affect migratory birds

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Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with ornithologist Bridget Stutchbury about the problems confronting migratory birds and the role consumers play in harming or helping them. Download MP3

• “Bird-friendly” coffee

Nations agree on steps to protect nature

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Nearly 200 nations agreed to an ambitious plan to protect endangered plants, animals and ecosystems. The BBC’s Richard Black shares the last-minute agreement at the UN’s biodiversity summit in Japan.Download MP3 (Photo: Sasata)

Biodiversity as natural capital

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One fifth of animal and plant species are threatened by extinction, a global study warns, but conservation efforts have pulled some back from the brink. Host Lisa Mullins talks with biologist Thomas Lovejoy about the economic value of biodiversity and intact ecosystems. Lovejoy is in Nagoya, Japan, for a global summit on the biodiveristy crisis. Download MP3
Video:Thomas Lovejoy on marketing for biodiversity

Searching for lost frogs

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A major scientific effort to search out frogs around the world is getting underway. Researchers will fan out across 14 countries as part of the U.N. summit on Biodiversity looking for rare frog and toad species that may be on the brink of extinction including the Gastric Brooding Frog. Anchor Katy Clark interviews Conservation International’s Robin Moore about the search for lost frogs. (Photo: David Crosse/Conservation Int.) Download MP3

• Video: Conservation International’s Robin Moore and Don Church talk frogs
• Searching for lost frogs
• A Lifelong Passion for Amphibians
• More on Conservation International

Life in the deep

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The latest update of a marine life census reads like something Disney or Dr. Seuss might imagine. The report describes some of the thousands of species that live in the depths of the ocean. Scientists have found transparent sea cucumbers and tubeworms that feed on oil. And then there are “dumbos,” with large ear-like fins (pictured). Marco Werman talked with Jesse Ausubel of the Census of Marine Life project. Download MP3

• Census of Marine Life
• Species gallery
• BBC Earth News

Conservation Refugees: An interview with Mark Dowie

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The Mountain gorilla (pictured) is one of the endangered species protected in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. But what about the Batwa people native to that protected land? In his new book Conservation Refugees, journalist Mark Dowie explores how land conservation affects the lives of the people on and near the preserves. Download MP3 Photo: Sabine’s Sunshine

• More on Mark Dowie’s book
• More on the Batwa people in Uganda
• More on Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Europe presses to ban bluefin tuna trade

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European Union leaders are throwing their weight behind a proposed international ban on the trade in bluefin tuna from the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The prized fish is one of the world’s most over-harvested marine species. The World’s Gerry Hadden has the story.