How we continued destroying the natural world in 2020

Nature is in a calamitous free fall but some conservation efforts paid off this year. Here’s how everyone can do their bit, writes Jane Dalton

Fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers are estimated to remain in the world (AFP/Getty)

The tiger made a horrible, deathly sound as it lost its fight for life, hit by the bullet that Mem Mai fired. He fed the animal’s meat to his family and gave some to neighbours. After that, Mai’s taste for shooting escalated, leading him to kill and sell more wildlife in and around his home in Cambodia and Laos.

That was nearly 30 years ago, but today Mai is a passionate conservationist, with a profound love for nature, and works for BirdLife International.

“I somehow realised that if we did not change, soon all the wildlife would be hunted to extinction and my children would never be able to see the same wonderful things in nature as I have,” he says. “Wild animals are not so different from human beings so why should we kill them?”