Conservation

Key decisions on nature conservation and sustainable development are expected at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress 2016 in September, after the motions to be debated and voted upon were published. Held every four years, the 2016 IUCN Congress will be the largest gathering of environmental policy makers since the Paris Climate Agreement and the adoption ...

Plumes of smoke filled the air of a muddy Nairobi National Park last Saturday as Kenya’s President Kenyatta presided over the burning of 105 tons of elephant ivory and 1.35 tons of rhino horns to send a message to the world that ivory is worth more on an elephant than it is in the market. The torching of this stockpile ...

The Grauer’s gorilla, the world’s largest primate, has been a source of continual worry for conservationists for more than two decades. Longstanding conflict in the deep jungles of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left experts with no choice but to guess at how that gorilla subspecies may be faring. Now, with tensions abating somewhat, researchers finally have an updated gorilla head count — one ...

More than 300 whales including 200 pregnant females have been slaughtered in Japan’s latest whaling mission in the Southern Ocean. Japan confirmed the kill as its ships returned from their “scientific” expedition in the Antarctic region on Thursday. Its actions are in defiance of international criticism and despite a 2014 UN legal decision that ruled so-called scientific whaling activity in ...

Bonobos, orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas are facing extinction. The Rainforest Rescue’s Great Ape Project is calling on UNESCO to recognise man’s closest relatives as a Living World Heritage before it’s too late. The Great Ape Project campaign, a project of Rainforest Rescue, is calling on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to officially recognise orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees ...

The number of African rhinos killed by poachers has increased for the sixth year in a row with at least 1,338 rhinos killed by poachers across Africa in 2015, according to new data compiled by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG). The IUCN on Wednesday described the development as the highest level ...

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world in marking the 2016 World Wildlife Day, Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, has disclosed that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has lifted the suspension on trade between Nigeria and other countries in all endangered plants and animal species as well as related products. The Minister has also asked Nigerians to do everything ...

A growing number of pollinator species worldwide are being driven toward extinction by diverse pressures, many of them human-made, threatening millions of livelihoods and hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of food supplies, according to the first global assessment of pollinators. Pollination is needed for plants to reproduce, and so many plants depend on bees or other insects as pollinators. However, the assessment, a ...

The Ogun State Government has solicited the support of stakeholders in the state’s forestry sector to join its efforts in curbing illegal felling of trees in government owned forest reserves in order to enhance its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Commissioner for Forestry, Kolawole Lawal, gave the charge while addressing the Timber Contractors Association, Ogun Waterside Chapter, during a working visit ...

The Ogun State Government has unveiled plans to embark on a Agro-Forestry and Forest Landscape Restoration Project with the aim of creating employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths. Commissioner for Forestry, Mr. Kolawole Lawal, who made the disclosure recently in Abeokuta at a parley with the project consultant, Mr Pierre Decroix, pointed out plans were in top gear for ...