María Ignacia Jiménez López rows through the canals where El Palmar ejido has undertaken mangrove reforestation in the Centla swamps. The people of El Palmar have restored 409 hectares (1,011 acres) of the reserve — about 0.1% of its total area. Their reforestation efforts focus on the canals, fishing zones and community-use areas, helping preserve the swamps and wetlands that local fishing families rely on. Read the full story.

Students observe a pendulum in a physics lab at Universal High School Kisaasi, a private school in Kampala. Since the government raised salaries for science teachers in public schools, private schools now struggle to recruit science educators. Read the full story.

X-rays taped to a window at Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas. In the first quarter of 2024, the hospital operated with a budget 24% lower than the previous year. Health care professionals, patients and union leaders say the measures implemented by Javier Milei’s government have directly affected the accessibility and quality of medical care. Read the full story.

ARA, a young Nahua woman who experienced sexual violence in 2021, had to travel 64 kilometers (40 miles) to formally report her aggressor, as her municipality lacks specialized institutions to do so. For indigenous women in southern Mexico, the journey to justice is often long and costly. Only eight of Guerrero’s 85 municipalities have specialized units to investigate sexual crimes and violence against women, forcing many to undertake an expensive and arduous process. Read the full story.

Before moving to Lazimpat, a neighborhood in Kathmandu that has become a haven for LGBTQ+ people, Sunita Lama — a trans woman — married and had two sons, fulfilling the traditional expectation that “men have to carry on the lineage.” Though she has since left the marriage, Lama now lives with her two sons, ages 16 and 18, in her rented home, where they see her as both father and mother. Lazimpat’s transformation began with the arrival of a national LGBTQ+ rights organization, which soon attracted a vibrant community of residents. Read the full story.

Beatrice Zindora, a self-trained midwife who operates an informal birth center, prays in her home. Despite warnings from medical professionals about the risks, DIY midwifery remains common in Zimbabwe, where affordable and accessible institutional care is increasingly scarce. Read the full story.

Himalayan vultures, which typically nest on rugged cliffs, rest on the ground at Jamunkhadi’s community zoo. Nepal’s new Forest Act permits community forest groups to showcase wildlife as an ecotourism venture, but experts argue that these parks may cause more harm than good. Read the full story.

Hemu Kafley, an environmental scientist and founder of the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Science, showcases her innovative low-cost mobile weather station, designed to monitor drought conditions and safeguard agricultural livelihoods in Nepal. See the full gallery.

Viviana Velázquez Hernández poses for a portrait in her home in El Bosque, a community that has lost 90 meters (295 feet) of coastline since October 2021. On the gulf coast of Mexico, rising sea levels have damaged more than 50 homes, and the encroaching ocean has forced residents to move inland, leaving behind the lives they’ve known for decades. Read the full story.

A displacement camp in Kalehe offers temporary shelter for those affected by last May’s devastating floods and mudslides, events that underscored the lifesaving role of trees. Following the disaster, which left thousands of people missing and destroyed an estimated 1,200 homes, the Kalehe government initiated a reforestation campaign, aiming to protect future generations from such overwhelming loss and grief. Read the full story.

Mary Shambira sits with her grandchildren, Elizabeth Chiware, 10, left, and Tatenda Chiware, 8, at her homestead in Mwenezi district, Zimbabwe. In 2014, Shambira was one of over 3,000 families displaced when the Tokwe Mukosi dam in Masvingo province flooded after heavy rains. Read the full story.

Cosmos Ramos Irizarry poses with a cosmos flower — the inspiration behind their name — in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Founded in the wake of Hurricane Fiona, Red Transmasc de Puerto Rico offers a space for the trans community to share advice, provide support and foster a sense of belonging. Read the full story.

Indigenous Jujuy residents and their supporters march against a provincial constitutional reform in Buenos Aires. The reform established that public lands, such as those where these community members live, can be expropriated for lithium mining. Read the full story.

False claims of LGBTQ+ persecution are blocking genuine Ugandan asylum seekers from safe refuge, putting them at even greater risk. Genesis, an LGBTQ+ asylum seeker who requested that Global Press use only his first name, faced a number of hurdles, including a lawyer demanding 3,000 United States dollars for help with his asylum application, an amount he couldn’t afford. Read the full story.