Story | 04 May, 2022
Important Shark and Ray Areas news
The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group has developed the foundations for an expert-driven innovative approach to ensure that discrete portions of habitats, critical to shark species, are delineated and used in various place-based conservation and management initiatives…
Story | 18 Mar, 2022
Interview with Joao Sousa, IUCN resident plastics expert, on the global plastic pollution treaty
The IUCN Ocean Team sat down with João recently to discuss what the UN Environment Assembly is calling, "the most significant environmental deal since the Paris accord". It is a Resolution endorsed by 175 Ministers and Heads of Member States which will create an intergovernmental committee…
Story | 03 Feb, 2022
IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) postponed
The Inaugural IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC), previously scheduled for 7-12 March 2022, has been postponed to 18-23 July 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Story | 20 Jan, 2022
The Government of Rwanda through its Ministry of Environment has unveiled three former African Heads of State as patrons for the upcoming inaugural IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC).
Story | 06 Dec, 2021
Endangered Caspian Seal Habitat Awarded Important Marine Mammal Area Status
Today, the IUCN Task Force on Marine Mammal Protected Areas, a joint task force of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the World Commission on Protected Areas, announces that Caspian seals have been awarded three Important Marine Mammal Areas, or IMMAs, as part of a tranche of 14 new IMMAs…
Publication | 2021
Leveraging the World Heritage Convention for conservation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya
The Himalaya proper is commonly defined as the rugged arc between the Tibetan Plateau and the Ganges Plain stretching from the Indus River in the northwest to the great bend of the Brahmaputra River (Yarlung Tsangpo) in the east. The natural and cultural wealth of the HKH region is as…
Story | 10 Nov, 2021
Global launch of the Great Blue Wall
Movement launched to conserve and restore marine and coastal biodiversity while unlocking the development of a regenerative sustainable blue economy
At the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow, Western Indian Ocean states and partners including International Union for Conservation of…
Story | 29 Oct, 2021
This International Black Sea Action Day, 31st October, 11 habitats of Red-List Endangered Black Sea harbour porpoises and bottlenose dolphins as well as Vulnerable Black Sea common dolphins have been formally awarded Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) status by the…
Story | 19 Oct, 2021
Marine Heatwaves: a serious threat to marine biodiversity and livelihoods
Back in 2011, extremely warm water temperatures persisting over thousands of kilometres along the coastline of Western Australia caused coral bleaching, mass die-out of marine life and wiped out kelp forests. Since then, this phenomenon of abnormally high-water temperatures has been recorded in…
Story | 13 Oct, 2021
Plankton are the superstars of the ocean and MAPMAKER is the tool that follows them
Without marine plankton our planet would be a different place. Future projections and impact metrics of plankton diversity around the world are now able to be seen graphically through the MAPMAKER tool. MAPMAKER's new visualisation tools allow data-driven decision-making on marine biodiversity…