Story | 27 Feb, 2020
Report: Building ambition and planning ahead for the High Seas treaty
A new IUCN report gives a series of recommendations to build ambition for the new agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) under UNCLOS.
…Story | 25 Feb, 2020
"Plastic Waste-Free Islands" sounds like a dream, but a project works to bring it to reality
The Plastic Waste-Free Islands (PWFI) project has started its work: assist several island nations in the Pacific and Caribbean region to reduce plastic waste generation and eliminate leakage to the ocean on which they depend.
In this article we overview the PWFI project and cover the…
Story | 02 Feb, 2020
Cold Winter Deserts of Central Asia among potential World Heritage sites, new IUCN report finds
Cold Winter Deserts in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are among six globally significant biodiversity sites in Central Asia that could potentially qualify for World Heritage status, according to a new report launched today by IUCN, the official advisor on natural World Heritage.
Story | 05 Dec, 2019
IUCN-outsourced paper finds no proof Rufiji dam project can meet Tanzania’s development needs
A strategic environmental assessment meant to guide decisions on the Rufiji hydropower project in Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve World Heritage site is completely inadequate, according to an independent technical review commissioned and issued today by IUCN. The document does not assess the…
Story | 28 Nov, 2019
Experts call attention to the key role of World Heritage in meeting biodiversity objectives
Experts convened by IUCN have issued a statement on how World Heritage contributes to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. This includes recommendations specific to World Heritage and its relevance to biodiversity. Negotiations to develop the framework, which will be adopted by the…
Story | 23 Sep, 2019
Youssouph Diedhiou, quiet achiever, making a protected area a vital community neighbour
He wanted to help make the communities skirting Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal become a part in the mechanism of protection by bringing the protected area management services to the lives of those communities' members. Here's what Youssouph did and how it worked.
Story | 15 Jul, 2019
UNESCO’s annual World Heritage Committee meeting concluded on 10 July. After gathering input from the IUCN delegation he headed at the Committee, Peter Shadie, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme, captures some take-home messages from the meeting.
Story | 04 Jul, 2019
Hundreds of assessors and reviewers to take part in the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is gathering input from experts around the globe to complete a new cycle of assessments for the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3. This flagship IUCN report on natural World Heritage will be published in 2020, together with assessments for…
Press release | 03 Jul, 2019
The looming extinction of the vaquita puts Gulf of California on World Heritage danger list
The World Heritage Committee today followed IUCN’s advice to list Mexico’s Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California as a World Heritage site in danger. The site’s population of vaquitas – the world’s smallest and most endangered species of porpoise – has been decimated due to the…
Story | 01 Jul, 2019
IUCN report makes new proposals for listing World Heritage volcanoes
Eighteen volcanic landscapes around the globe are the most likely candidates for future inscription on the World Heritage List, according to a new IUCN study launched today at UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee meeting in Azerbaijan.