Conservation

The wait is over. As of today, international trade in silky and thresher sharks will be regulated through strict the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) trade controls. As such, any trade in these species from this day forward requires a science-backed finding that the levels of trade will not jeopardise their survival in the ...

As reported cases of animals facing the threat of extinction daily make the rounds, a contrary scenario is however emerging in certain parts of Nigeria, where wildlife still has a fighting chance of survival. Conservation of fauna, spurred by socio-cultural beliefs, has become the hallmark of some indigenous communities in the biological diversity-rich Niger Delta region, where animals are revered. ...

The 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CMS COP12) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), scheduled to hold from October 23 to 28, 2017 in Manila, Philippines, will address links between sustainable development and the conservation of wildlife. The first to be held in Asia, the CMS COP12 is touted to ...

The Government of Zimbabwe has defended plans to open a donkey abattoir to provide body parts for the Chinese medicine market, amidst criticisms from Animal Welfare Groups. Zimbabwe would join several other African nations that are cashing in on the Chinese belief that the gelatin in donkey skins has healing properties and works as an aphrodisiac. “We have previously turned ...

Hard choices have to be made in the US very soon: is it the gold in the ground or gold in another form in the waters? Scenario A: Tens of millions of salmon surge through the state of Alaska’s Bristol Bay and about half the amount are caught to feed half of the world’s demand. Scenario B: Near the headwaters ...

The call by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) for the restoration of the nation’s forest cover to at least 25% through the Green Recovery Nigeria (GRN) appears to be gaining momentum and support from both the public and private sectors in the country. In an apparent bid to nip the gloomy but probable prediction that Nigeria’s landscape may wear a ...

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, has revised its board structure and appointed new trustees in the bid to effectively combat wildlife crime and promote sustainable wildlife trade. Consequently, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) has been congratulated by the the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the recent development. TRAFFIC works globally on the ...

One hundred and seventy-seven whales have been killed by Japanese whalers in the north-west Pacific Ocean as part of an annual hunt, Japan’s Fisheries Ministry said on Tuesday, September 26, 2017. The number of whales killed had been previously stipulated for the hunt, which Japan says is carried out in the name of scientific research. This year, 43 minke whales ...

As the world marked the 2017 World Rhino Day on Friday, September 22, obsevers hoped that a landmark diplomatic achievement made about a year ago would be further built upon. At the 71st Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 71) in September 2016, world leaders agreed on a resolution at the close of the global confab to save the animals. A couple of ...

Limiting global warming to below 2°C in line with the Paris Agreement provides the only chance for the survival of coral reefs, warns David Obura, Chair of the International Union for Conservation of  Nature (IUCN)’s Coral Reef Specialist Group, in a recent article in the journal Science. Latest data show that globally reefs have a chance of long-term survival if warming ...