This region in Southeast Europe is home to the vast majority of the continent’s remaining wild rivers. But they have been under threat from plans to develop renewable energy infrastructure in the form of hydropower. How can Montenegro balance its need for clean energy and protect nature?

At least one journalist is killed every year while reporting on environmental issues according to Natalie Southwick, South and Central Americas Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. She told DW why environmental journalists in the region are targeted for their reporting.

Billions of desert locusts have darkened the skies of East Africa. The infestation could have disastrous effects on the region that's still reeling from recent drought and aggressive flooding. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has warned locust swarms have already damaged tens of thousands of hectares and are threatening the region's food security. Andrew Wasike reports from Kenya.

The Ostwall Fortification in western Poland is an extensive network of bunkers built by the Nazis in the 1930s. The abandoned underground complex has now been taken over by bats. In fact, it's become one of the largest hibernation sites in Europe. Once a year, the bunkers are opened so that the animals can be counted. The last tally found 35,000 bats sheltering there.

Every year, hundreds of rhinos are killed by poachers in South Africa's national parks. Many gamekeepers sell their knowledge on where to find the animals. Economic deprivation is one major reason for poaching. The Black Mambas, an all-female gamekeeper crew, want to put an end to these practices and convince men in their own villages to spare the animals.

Between October and December, the skies above the Kasanka National Park in northern Zambia are taken over by swarms of fruit bats. Around ten million of the animals descend on a small patch of forest in the park, in what is thought to be the largest migration of a mammalian species. It's a journey that's still a mystery to scientists. A German research team has been studying the population.

There's a ticking time bomb under the rain forest deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There's a massive peat bog that stores more than 30 billion tons of carbon. It would spell disaster if that amount of CO2 were released into the atmosphere. Activists say little is being done by the government to protect the peatlands.

One year ago, on January 25, Brazil's Brumadinho dam collapsed, killing 270 people. Millions of tons of toxic mining waste engulfed houses and waterways. More than 3,700 large dams are currently planned or under construction worldwide. DW speaks to Barnaby Dye, a research associate with the FutureDAMS project at the University of Manchester.

In India, the development versus environment conflict is in full swing: One of the battlegrounds has been the Aarey forest in Mumbai. It's one of the city's last green spaces. Last fall, trees were cut down to build a storage shed for a new metro line. That in turn sparked protests. Construction was halted in the end, but the conflict persists: How do you save the last green spaces in cities?

In the chaos of fighting, animals are often left behind or forgotten. Zoo animals are unable to escape the frightening realities of war around their cages. Amazingly, there are people who travel in the opposite direction of retreating civilians and head into harm's way to save these animals. Dr. Amir Khalil is one of them, having spent 25 years as a veterinarian and rescuing thousands of animals.