The team behind the venture hope to bring international hikers – and their tourist dollars – to a little-seen but highly scenic corner of the country.

The bankhar, a guardian dog, is being reintroduced to the steppe to protect livestock from predators and remove herders’ incentive to kill the latter and keep more animals; herd animals have tripled in number, causing overgrazing.

Young ecologists exploring the vast cave systems of Yunnan in southwest China are discovering new species all the time. China and Southeast Asia have some of the richest cave faunas in the world, but they are at risk.

Dr Julian Fennessy wants action taken urgently as the giraffe population has experienced a rapid overall decline of 40 per cent in the last three decades, and they are already extinct in seven countries.

The world’s northernmost township with a permanent population, in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, is gaining in popularity as a gateway to the icy north. Tours by sailing ship get visitors up close with nature and to some remote spots

Legislation is too slow, says Paul McIntosh ahead of his Royal Geographic Society presentation of conservation documentary Running Wild, at which he will ask people to donate unused air miles to save rare animals in Kenya

At least four new species among discoveries in recent top-to-bottom study of Malaysia’s Penang Hill rainforest, with organisers hoping that the findings will support an application next year for it to become a Unesco World Heritage Site

Outdoor enthusiasts will use abseiling, kayaking and coasteering to clean up six hard-to-access coastal rubbish spots around Shek O and Big Wave Bay in a military-style operation organised as part of the HK125 clean-up initiative

Iranian photographer Henry Dallal on how to make the queen smile for a photo, his lifelong passion for horses and keeping your cool when being charged by armed cavalry

Andy Yeung uses a drone to highlight today’s overcrowded residential estates that he says remind him of Kowloon’s infamous Walled City, which he saw demolished when a child

Erik Mararv, of Congo’s Garamba National Park, talks about being shot by poachers, imprisoned on false charges and why it’s up to the Hong Kong public to stop elephants, and people, being killed for ivory

Morale is high despite heavy rain, ‘horrible’ water, mosquitoes and a missing drone, as adventurers climb and swim around Hong Kong Island. Here is our first #RoundtheIslandHK update

Scrambling and swimming, Paul Niel and Esther Röling will make a complete circuit of the Hong Kong Island shore, taking water samples as they go to map water quality and biodiversity

Junks will feel such old hat once you’ve bounced across the waves in a high-speed rigid inflatable boat on a tour to Hong Kong’s Geopark, the Ninepin Islands or Ping Chau

Veterinary manager and mother of two talks about taking part in a women-only 10km race in Iran, her first event since overcoming tuberculosis after a two-year battle

Baby elephant’s trunk had been nearly severed in a snare poachers had set to catch bushmeat. Helicopter-borne rescuers swoop in to take the injured animal for surgery

Tourists are vital to the protection of elephants and other wildlife in East Africa because they support local livelihoods, say conservationists in front line of battle against ivory poachers and impatient for Hong Kong to end ivory trade

Simpson, who is giving a talk, Helicoptering Africa, hosted by the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong, describes the former US president as ‘sharp and funny’ and how he was serenaded by Paul Simon around the campfire

Drawing on his broad experience and knowledge, author David T.K. Wong takes us on a vivid tour through Hong Kong’s back alleys, and abroad, in this eye-opening and varied collection written over 30 years

Frontline Red Cross worker Jason Yip has helped victims of Sichuan’s earthquake and the wars in Afghanistan and Syria. He explains why it’s hard to get used to Hong Kong each time he returns from the field

Dim sum delights, classic Hong Kong tea cafe fare, posh burgers, the finest of fine dining - see the pick of city’s 14,000 restaurants

Heavy metal legends Metallica, dancing zombie frogs and a psycho thriller on this week’s list

See an aerial perspective of Hong Kong, sample some killer hot pot, ponder an alien visit and more this week

Australian Dave Hughes will have you laughing at life’s annoyances, Nordic chef Bjorn Frantzen will have you savouring his creative combinations

The Pritzker Prize winner, who is the subject of a retrospective in Hong Kong, says the only goal left for him is to make our lives better

From haunted-flat bargains to nude hikers, daredevil Russian model to Hong Kong’s best local snacks: we round up some of our favourite lifestyle stories of the year, and the ones you liked most