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Recovery Tracker

Documented comebacks

Places and species where a decline was measured, and then a recovery was measured, along with what actually made the difference and what still could undo it.

10 documented recoveries
~50% of monitored wildlife populations are stable or increasing (Living Planet Index 2026)
6 kinds of intervention behind them
Published October 2026 Last reviewed October 2026 Evidence level Varies by entry; each is sourced

Most of what we publish documents loss, because most of the evidence points that way. The 2026 Living Planet Index puts the average decline in monitored wildlife populations at 73% since 1970. But the same dataset shows that around half of those populations are stable or increasing; the average falls because the declines are steeper than the gains are large.

This page collects recoveries that clear the same bar as everything else on the site: a measured decline, a measured rebound, and a named source. Each entry also says what worked, because the useful lesson in a recovery is rarely luck.

Editorial analysis — read with care

Recovering is not the same as safe. Several species here are still listed as threatened, and many of these gains are described by researchers as conservation-dependent: they last only as long as the protection behind them.

This list is biased toward what is watched. Recoveries only count if someone measured them, so well-studied species in well-funded regions are overrepresented.

What worked — filter by intervention
GlobalSouth & Southeast Asia

Tiger

+70%~3,200 → ~5,700 wild tigers, 2010–2025
Protected areasAnti-poaching & enforcement

What worked: National tiger recovery plans and the intergovernmental Global Tiger Initiative, professional ranger units, protected-area expansion, cross-border anti-trafficking work and demand-reduction campaigns.

Caveat: The recovery is concentrated in parts of Asia. Tigers remain Endangered and still face habitat loss and poaching across much of their former range.

WWF, Living Planet Report 2026Wildlife Trade →
Global~80 nesting countries

Green Sea Turtle

EN → LCIn 2025, the first marine turtle ever downlisted from Endangered to Least Concern
Fisheries & bycatch rulesEnforcementProtected nesting beaches

What worked: Fifty years of coordinated work: protecting nesting females and eggs, beach and lighting management, turtle excluder devices and other bycatch measures, and enforcement against illegal take.

Caveat: Some regional populations remain threatened, and WWF describes the species' recovery as conservation-dependent. Remove the protections and the gains can reverse.

WWF, 2026; IUCN Red List, 2025Sea Turtles →
GlobalAtlantic & Pacific

Atlantic & Pacific Bluefin Tuna

RebuiltFrom −80% (Atlantic) and 2% of unfished levels (Pacific) in 2010 to no longer considered overfished
Fisheries & bycatch rules

What worked: Reduced fishing quotas, increased monitoring, international fisheries agreements and consumer campaigns for sustainably sourced fish.

Caveat: Fish stocks rebuilt under quotas stay rebuilt only while catch limits remain science-based; loosening them is the fastest way back to overfishing.

WWF, Living Planet Report 2026Overfishing →
RegionalSouthern Africa

African Savanna Elephant

RisingSome southern African populations increasing, while the species stays Endangered overall
Community stewardshipAnti-poaching & enforcement

What worked: Legal frameworks that give local communities a direct stake in elephant stewardship (community-based natural resource management), backed by anti-trafficking work, judicial reform and reduced corruption.

Caveat: Savanna elephants are still declining across much of their range. This is a regional recovery, not a continental one.

WWF, Living Planet Report 2026African Elephant →
RegionalEurope

Grey Wolf

+79%~12,000 (early 2010s) → 21,500+ (early 2020s) across Europe
Legal protectionCoexistence measures

What worked: Strict legal protection under the Bern Convention and EU law, alongside coexistence tools such as livestock guardian dogs, fencing and compensation for verified losses.

Caveat: Recovery has sharpened conflict with livestock farming, and the wolf's protection was downgraded under the Bern Convention in December 2024.

Population estimates as cited in our Grey Wolf profile; Council of Europe, 2024Grey Wolf →
RegionalEngland

European Otter

Every countyNear-absent from much of England by the 1970s; confirmed in every county by 2011
Pollution bans

What worked: Banning organochlorine pesticides such as dieldrin, which had built up in river food chains, followed by broader water-quality improvements.

Caveat: Road deaths at river crossings are now among the most frequently recorded causes of otter mortality, and survey methods have changed over the decades.

UK Environment Agency, National Otter Survey, 2011European Otter →
LocalSvalbard

Atlantic Walrus

×2.12,629 (2006) → 5,503 (2018) individuals
Legal protection & hunting ban

What worked: Full protection from hunting since 1952, after roughly 350 years of exploitation had pushed the population to near-extinction.

Caveat: Still listed Vulnerable, and dependent on sea ice and haul-out sites now under pressure from warming and growing vessel traffic.

Population surveys as cited in our Svalbard reportField Notes: Svalbard →
LocalWestern Ghats, India

Nilgiri Tahr

+21%1,031 → 1,303 in Tamil Nadu, 2024–2025; 2,668 counted range-wide
Habitat restorationProtected areas

What worked: The Nilgiri Tahr Project (2022–2027): shola-grassland restoration, radio-collaring, drone surveillance, captive breeding and reintroduction into former range.

Caveat: One year of change, measured by the first-ever synchronized census, so the long-term trend is still being established.

Tamil Nadu & Kerala Forest Departments, 2025Field Notes: Western Ghats →
LocalTaiamã, Pantanal

Jaguar

~×2Adult count nearly doubled, cubs 3 → 13–14, a year after the 2020 fires
Protected areas

What worked: A remote, well-protected site where flooding held up (down about 20%, against 62% Pantanal-wide) and fish and caiman remained plentiful. Taiamã was expanded as a protected area in March 2026.

Caveat: The study's authors stress that Taiamã's conditions are unusual. This is a local refuge effect, not a Pantanal-wide recovery.

Global Change Biology, 2025Field Notes: Pantanal →
HabitatMadagascar

Protected Forests

57 of 109Protected areas recorded reduced deforestation in 2024
EnforcementProtected areas

What worked: Stepped-up law enforcement and ranger patrols supported by the Forest Watcher monitoring app.

Caveat: This is a slowing of loss inside protected areas, not a reversal: Madagascar recorded record proportional forest loss in 2025.

As cited in our Madagascar reportField Notes: Madagascar →

No entries match this filter.

What the pattern shows

Across these ten entries, recovery followed a specific, sustained intervention aimed at a specific pressure: a hunting ban for walrus, a pesticide ban for otters, catch limits for tuna, bycatch rules and beach protection for turtles. None of them recovered because the wider drivers of nature loss went away. That matches the Living Planet Report's own conclusion: targeted conservation works, but without changes to how food, energy and finance systems operate, these gains stay local and fragile.

We add entries only when both the decline and the recovery are measured and sourced. Suggestions are welcome through our Contribute page.

Living Planet Report 2026 — press release and notesWWF-UK, October 2026
2026 Living Planet ReportWWF / ZSL
Jaguar population increases after wildfire and droughtOregon State University, 2025