Biodiversity

Microsensor-Fitted Locust Swarms? Sci-fi Meets Conservation

By Manipadma Jena
Every November, India’s Gahirmatha beach in the Indian Ocean region develops a brownish-grey rash for 60 to 80 days. Half-a-million female Olive Ridley turtles emerge out of the waves to lay their eggs, over a hundred each. For the sheer numbers, this arrival is hard to miss.

Corruption and Wildlife Trafficking: the Elephant in the Room

By Aled Williams and Rob Parry-Jones
Wildlife trafficking is high on conservation and political agendas. It is also increasingly high on the global crime agenda. Rightly so: corruption was identified recently by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime as the main enabler of wildlife trafficking – one of the largest transnational criminal activities in the world.

Militarised Conservation Threatens DRC’s Indigenous People – Part 1

By Zahra Moloo
It is late afternoon when a light drizzle begins to fall over a group of young men seated together in Mudja, a village that lies approximately 20 kilometres north of Goma on the outskirts of the Virunga National Park. Mudja is home to a community of around 40 families of indigenous Bambuti, also known as ‘pygmies.’*

Making African Palm Oil Production Sustainable

By Emilio Godoy
“In San Lorenzo they cut down the jungle to plant African oil palms. The only reason they didn’t expand more was that indigenous people managed to curb the spread,” Ecuadorean activist Santiago Levy said during the World Conservation Congress.

Conservation Congress Votes to Ban All Domestic Trade in Elephant Ivory

By Guy Dinmore
The international conservation community has taken an important step towards saving African elephants from mass slaughter by voting at a major congress to call on all governments to ban their domestic trade in ivory.

Conservation Congress Sets Ambitious Target to Protect Oceans

By Guy Dinmore
A major environmental conference of governments and NGOs has called on nations to set aside at least 30 percent of the world’s oceans as “highly protected” areas by 2030, but delegates said opposition from China, Japan and South Africa had seriously undermined chances of success.

Japan and South Africa Try to Block Proposed Ban on Domestic Ivory Trade

By Guy Dinmore
Japan and South Africa have ignited a furore at a major conservation congress by coming out against a proposed appeal to all governments to ban domestic trade in elephant ivory.

When It Comes to Conservation, Size Matters

By Emilio Godoy
When the communities living in the Tatamá y Serranía de los Paraguas Natural National Park in the west of Colombia organised in 1996 to defend their land and preserve the ecosystem, they were fighting deforestation, soil degradation and poaching.

Without Indigenous People, Conservation Is a Halfway Measure

By Emilio Godoy
“You don't convert your own house in a tourist site,” said Oussou Lio Appolinaire, an activist from Benin, wearing a traditional outfit in vivid yellows and greens. He was referring to opening up to tourists places that are sacred to indigenous people.

Big Oil and Activists Unite to Protect Endangered Whales

By Guy Dinmore
A rare case of intensive and decade-long collaboration between Big Oil, scientists and environmental activists has been hailed as a success story in protecting an endangered species of whale from extinction.

Eastern Gorilla, Our ‘Closest Cousin’, Added to Endangered Species List

By Guy Dinmore
Our closest cousin in the animal world, the Eastern Gorilla, is sliding towards extinction because of illegal hunting, the IUCN announced today in the latest update of its Red List of Threatened Species.

Elephant Census Ramps Up Pressure to Stop Domestic Trade in Ivory

By Guy Dinmore
A dramatic decline in Africa’s savanna elephant populations caused by poaching - as exposed by the results of a three-year aerial survey released this week - has piled pressure on reluctant governments to back proposals that would lead to bans on domestic trade in ivory.

Dire Warnings But Also Hope as IUCN Environmental Congress Opens

By Guy Dinmore
A congress billed as the world’s largest ever to focus on the environment has opened to warnings that our planet is at a “tipping point” but also with expressions of hope that governments, civil society and big business are learning to work together.

Obama Stresses Climate Change Urgency Ahead of IUCN Congress

By Guy Dinmore
U.S. President Barack Obama has stressed the urgency of tackling climate change in a speech to Pacific leaders in his home state of Hawaii.

Ships Bring Your Coffee, Snack and TV Set, But Also Pests and Diseases

By Baher Kamal
“Every evening, millions of people all over the world will settle into their armchairs to watch some TV after a hard day at work. Many will have a snack or something to drink…
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