Many marine fish species – including the Madeiran sardine – are in danger of global extinction due to overfishing along the coast of western and central Africa, threatening food security in the region, according to the Eastern Central Atlantic Red List of...
IUCN is deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Wolfgang E. Burhenne, a pioneer of environmental law and key architect of the modern environmental movement. Dr Burhenne passed away on 6 January, 2017 at the age of 92.
The extinction threat to wild cereals, fruit-bearing plants and other ‘wild crop relative’ species was assessed for the first time for the latest IUCN Red List update, as part of a partnership between IUCN and Toyota Motor Corporation. The partnership, which...
With less than four years remaining to implement the biodiversity plan agreed by world governments in 2010, IUCN calls for continued efforts to achieve the Aichi biodiversity conservation targets, as the UN biodiversity conference closes in Cancún, Mexico....
Cancun, Mexico, 8 December 2016 (IUCN) – Over 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, and 11% of them are threatened with extinction. The update also reveals a devastating...
IUCN welcomes the recent declaration by the President of Mexico, His Excellency Mr Enrique Peña Nieto, of the establishment of four new protected areas in Mexico. This step will significantly accelerate global progress towards the global Convention...
Today, the government of Brazil committed to restoring 12 million hectares of deforested land under the Bonn Challenge, joining 38 other countries, associations and companies in the global restoration effort. The announcement was made by Brazil’s...
A new global initiative to reduce the impacts of invasive alien species – the Honolulu Challenge - has been launched today by 33 organizations and institutions. The launch follows a call for urgent action on invasive alien species made by experts, governments...
We meet at a historic moment in time. The rapid entry-into-force of the Paris Agreement, and the convening of CMA1 in Marrakech, heralds the beginning of a new era for achieving concerted global action on climate change.
Gland, Switzerland, 10 November, 2016 (IUCN) – Global changes in temperature have already impacted every aspect of life on Earth from genes to entire ecosystems, with increasingly worrying consequences for humans – according to a new study co-authored by the...
The Ross Sea, considered by many scientists as the last intact marine ecosystem on the planet, is the first protected area in Antarctica, and home to most of the world’s penguins and many species of whale.
A significant donation from a private Geneva-based foundation will boost efforts to protect Madagascar’s endemic lemurs, 94% of which are threatened with extinction – as announced by IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, ahead of World Lemur...
Paris, 26 October 2016 – Extractives and large dams are among the biggest threats to natural World Heritage sites, including iconic places such as Virunga National Park, Iguaçu and the Sundarbans. This is a conclusion of the World Heritage Committee meeting,...
A mission report making a set of 10 recommendations for action to secure the long-term protection of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh has just been published. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) carried out a field mission to the site in...
We have lost one of the great architects of protected areas world-wide. After a short illness, Larry Hamilton died on 6 October near his home in Vermont. His beloved wife, Linda, was with him. By Adrian Phillips.*
Leaders from international organisations, business and civil society have rallied around a new effort to safeguard the global commons on which all life depends.
Pangolins gained the highest levels of protection under CITES with the decision to bring in a ban on international trade. Dan Challender from IUCN’s Global Species Programme and Co-Chair of IUCN’s SSC Pangolin Specialist Group looks at what this means for the...
At the World Conservation Congress in early September, thousands gathered to discuss the future of conservation. These included scientists, explorers, economists, and activists, as well as judges and lawyers. Environmental law has proliferated in...
At the 17th Congress of Parties of the Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species (CITES CoP17) in Johannesburg, a side event reinforced the fact that leopards (Panthera pardus) need to stay in the spotlight and remain a conservation priority.
This article was also published in The Huffington Post
At the recently concluded 17th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP17) – the largest meeting of its kind ever...
Governments from around the world took solid steps toward ray and shark conservation at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Johannesburg, South Africa when they included...
African rhino conservation has seen a major boost this week with the launch of the continent-wide African Rhino Conservation Plan, led by South Africa and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s African Rhino...
Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of seahorses, decided on Friday to end seahorse exports until it can address the threats they pose to wild populations. The decision followed 22 years of work on the issue by IUCN SSC’s Seahorse, Pipefish and Stickleback...
Three new reports published today by the Python Conservation Partnership (PCP), a partnership between Kering, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Species Survival Commission Boa and Python Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation...
Africa’s overall elephant population has seen the worst declines in 25 years, mainly due to poaching over the past ten years – according to IUCN’s African Elephant Status Report launched today at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES,...