Mary Kate McCoy

Writer and Editor at Conservation International Blog

Digital Content Producer at Wisconsin Public Radio.

Articles

An overlooked climate ally is in deep trouble

1 week ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Underwater and out of sight, one of humanity’s most effective weapons against climate change is struggling. According to a new study, failure to protect the world’s seagrasses will come at a steep cost — in more ways than one. Protecting the world’s seagrasses could avert climate damages valued at over US$ 200 billion by preventing the release of 1.2 billion tons of carbon pollution — an amount equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 100 million homes in the United States.
News spotlight: Study offers hope for endangered axolotl

2 weeks ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Axolotls — the cute and charismatic creatures made famous by the video game “Minecraft” — are in a free fall. Pollution, modern farming and the introduction of invasive fish that prey on the critically endangered species have reduced their habitat to the channels of a single lake in Mexico. But a new study is offering a glimmer of hope: Captive-bred axolotls can survive in the wild, Justine McDaniel reported for The Washington Post.
In Hawai‘i, new effort to bring invasive species to heel

1 month ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Off the coast of Hawai‘i, an unwelcome guest crowds the waters, devouring creatures that cross its path. How to stop them? A new effort wants to put them on your feet. Measuring barely a foot long (30 centimeters), lemon yellow with electric-blue stripes, ta’ape doesn’t look like much of a threat, yet it travels in the thousands, a moving wall of fish in Hawai‘i’s waters. For decades, the invasive species has feasted on native fish — and fishermen’s wallets.
‘It protects us from them’: In new film, Indigenous traditions persist amid loss

1 month ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

“What is that smoke for?”In a remote Amazonian village, a young boy asks his grandfather why a haze surrounds their home. “It protects us from them, from the invisible beings of the water,” his grandfather replies. A new short film, “Lanawaru,” follows the boy as he seeks comfort in the Indigenous traditions, prayers and guidance of his grandfather, whose help is sought after a member of their community disappears.
News spotlight: Report warns of growing human toll as planet warms

1 month ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Last year was the hottest on record — sparking major climate disasters across the globe. More than 150 “unprecedented” heatwaves, floods and storms left a trail of destruction that included lost lives, destroyed infrastructure and decimated crops, Damian Carrington reported for The Guardian.
‘Future of nature restoration': Conservation International wins Microsoft challenge

1 month ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Data — the key to understanding and tackling some of the world’s toughest problems — suffers from at least one major challenge. It’s often scattered and disorganized. Whether stored in a university database, a government server or a scientist’s hard drive, data is not useful if no one knows where it is or has access to it.
World falling well short of climate goals, new report finds

1 month ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

The results are in on the world’s first climate change progress report: Drastic improvement is needed — and fast. The report, released Friday, is the technical synthesis report from the Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake process, which is designed to evaluate the global response to the climate crisis every five years. The report will inform critical decisions at the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai, known as COP28.
As ghost junk haunts the sea, ‘mermaids’ are fighting back

1 month ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Sitting on the side of a small boat off the coast of Baja California, suited up in diving gear, a group of 10 women prepared to descend into the chilly waters. Their mission? Remove as much “ghost gear” as possible. Abandoned fishing lines, nets and traps are a pervasive and deadly threat to the world’s oceans, smothering coral reefs and ensnaring marine animals. According to one estimate, nearly a third of fishing lines are lost or discarded at sea.
For one former logging company, nature’s green is gold

2 months ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

Editor’s note: In the fight against climate change and wildlife extinction, businesses have to a key role to play. But how? Conservation International’s investment fund, CI Ventures, is helping startup companies fund new business models founded on the protection of nature. Here is one of them. The Amazon rainforest faced another difficult year in 2024, from deforestation to extreme drought and record wildfires.
News spotlight: Indigenous leaders sign landmark carbon deal in Philippines

2 months ago | conservation.org | Mary Kate McCoy

One of the last strongholds of forest in the Philippines just got a major boost. Indigenous leaders on the island of Palawan recently signed a landmark deal to establish the country’s first locally owned forest carbon project. The project, which places a monetary value on the potentially climate-warming carbon stored in trees, aims to halt deforestation through the sale of carbon credits — effectively making the forest more valuable alive than cut down. Find out more: What are ‘carbon credits’?