Steeped in Science, Submersed in Story

The State of the Wild is a fantastic publication. It's truly beautiful, with an artful arrangement of pictures and text that is enjoyable to read. It does what it says it will do: provide a snapshot of the state of conservation efforts in the world. It includes overviews by continent and species, as well as a number of articles on important contemporary issues. This particular year, the focus was on conservations efforts in war time, covering the expected difficulties in Africa, but also Afghanistan (I must admit I sometimes revert to the erroneous picture of a desolate desert with robed men in machine guns the only sign of life there, but the ecology is rich and varied) and a border disagreement between Peru and Ecuador resolved in the late 1990s I was unaware of. Poverty and war go together in our times, and these wars do tend to center on locations with ecosystems that are varied but under duress, due to global climate change as well as people and resources displaced by war.

I know I'm reading this publication late, but I've discovered the series and I love it. I recommend it to anyone interested in the state of conservation in the world today, or the health of planet Earth as a whole. The editors over and over state their hopes for what they can accomplish -- the picture is at times bleak, but this is in an of itself an act of hope. In turn, I hope they are successful and I want to spread the word about this publication.

I got a free copy from Net Galley.