For years, many of India’s Advasi Indigenous Peoples – who live alongside the Periyar Tiger Reserve – had struggled with unemployment and poverty. But in the late 1990s, the government and donor groups launched a wide-ranging project that twinned development and conservation. Many of the 200,000 Advasi community members were taught how to become wildlife guides and forest rangers. 

That helped both protect the reserve’s endangered big cats and kick off an eco-tourism boom in the region that provided jobs and stability for many local families.  

Information taken from the UN Environment Programme Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7), launched in December 2025, which explores everything from the health of coral reefs to the status of the ozone layer