Conservation

Climate change and large dam projects are putting natural World Heritage sites at risk, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the official advisory body on nature to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. This year, for the first time in many years, climate change will be brought to the attention of the World Heritage Committee as a major threat affecting ...

Members of the fisheries commission for the eastern Pacific assembling in Guayaquil, Ecuador need to prioritise initiating a rigorous recovery plan to address the collapse of Pacific Bluefin Tuna stocks and stabilising overall tuna fishing capacity that currently exceeds the optimal scientifically recommended level by at least 50%. “Tuna management in the Pacific is currently totally inadequate to preserve the ...

Successful conservation action has boosted the populations of the Iberian Lynx and the Guadalupe Fur Seal, while the African Golden Cat, the New Zealand Sea Lion and the Lion are facing increasing threats to their survival, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Ninety-nine percent of tropical Asian slipper orchids – some of the ...

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) last week approved a $90 million grant programme for a global partnership to promote investments in biodiversity conservation, preserve wildlife and encourage sustainable livelihoods in Africa and Asia. The new Global Partnership on Wildlife Conservation and Crime Prevention for Sustainable Development builds on the urgent need to address wildlife poaching and illegal trade as a development issue ...

Conservative Environmental Growth and Development Centre (CEGDEC) commemorated World Environment Day 2015 on Wednesday, June 3 with the pupils of Oke-Afa Junior and Senior Comprehensive College, Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos. The yearly event, an initiative of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 1972, was held to raise global awareness of the need to take positive environmental action. The environmental ...

There has been a catastrophic decline of elephant populations in Tanzania over the past decade, the country’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Lazaro Nyalandu, has disclosed. According to him, the latest estimates of elephant populations have seen numbers plummeting from an estimated 109,051 in 2009 to 43,330 in 2014. Government officials said that it was highly likely that the ...

The Lagos-based Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has opened a policy and campaign office in the nation’s capital, Abuja, to ensure that environmental and conservation issues are effectively positioned within the context of high level national development strategies. The office is supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and will engage key stakeholders in the environment sector; ...

Heads of State, ministers and officials from 31 governments who met on Wednesday in Kasane, Botswana reaffirmed their determination to scale up their response to the global poaching crisis, and adopted crucial new measures to help tackle the unprecedented surge in illegal wildlife trade. During the one-day meeting, governments reported on their progress since the London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade ...

Nigeria and two other countries have been placed on a trade ban list for failing to meet their obligations to protect elephants and deal with the rampant illegal ivory trade. Notices were issued recently by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), recommending that signatories no longer permit trade with Nigeria, Laos and ...

Almost a quarter of the world trade in agricultural goods produced on land illegally cleared of forest is destined for the EU; the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France and the UK dominate these imports   During 2000-12, an average of one football pitch of forest was illegally cleared every two minutes to supply the EU with beef, leather, palm oil and soy used ...