Story | 03 Sep, 2018
Decisions have consequences: Contrasting stories of shea butter & community conservation in Ghana
At first glance, they seem identical – Two neighbouring communities, Murugu and Kaden, bordering Mole National Park in Ghana. Both are surrounded by savannah with scattered trees in farmed and fallow lands, where women collect shea nuts. It is the shea nuts, which…
Story | 28 Aug, 2018
Scoring the restoring: An assessment of contributions to forest landscape restoration in Uganda
Uganda's forest landscapes are precious in so many ways, but the country continues to lose its important forest assets at an unprecedented rate. In recent years, forest landscape restoration has been in place to help reverse that trend. So how is it going?
Story | 12 Jan, 2018
The conservation and livelihoods power of a community fund in Uganda
The Community Environment Conservation Fund (CECF) is a conservation benefits sharing model developed and implemented by IUCN to address immediate community livelihood needs through a credit scheme. This in turn motivates and empowers communities to responsibly utilise and manage natural…
Story | 28 Nov, 2017
Transforming business engagement in Ghana
Businesses rely on natural resources to operate, which can create impacts and risks as well as opportunities and benefits. A recent training workshop in Ghana explored how civil society organisations (CSOs) can engage companies to ensure the sustainable use of these…
Story | 21 Nov, 2017
EU Court orders Poland to stop Białowieża logging or face €100,000 daily fine
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ordered Poland to cease logging in the ancient Białowieża forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, or face a possible fine of at least €100,000 per day. The Polish Ministry of the Environment has argued that the logging is necessary to counter a…
Story | 29 Aug, 2017
IUCN’s work on World Heritage benefits and ecosystem services to help sustainability action
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is undertaking pilot assessments of ecosystem services in two natural World Heritage sites in Uganda and Sri Lanka, as part of its Benefits of Natural World Heritage project. The aim is to test practical tools and methods which can be…
Story | 28 Jul, 2017
New IUCN training focuses on engaging business to safeguard international public goods
All over the world, businesses make use of natural capital. Companies therefore benefit from healthy ecosystems. But how can nature conservation organizations engage companies to contribute to the maintenance of ecosystem services? That question was central to the international business…
Press release | 05 Jul, 2017
Kraków, Poland, 05 July 2017 (IUCN) – The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has adopted a decision today urging Poland to immediately halt all logging and wood extraction in the old-growth forests of Białowieża. The decision follows the advice of the International Union for Conservation of Nature…
Story | 15 May, 2017
During the weekend of Earth Day 2017 celebrations, over 80 individuals gathered in a four-day Forum and launched the BalkaNatureNet, set up to become a transnational meeting point for all individuals working in the fields of nature conservation and education for sustainable development (ESD) in…
Story | 14 Feb, 2017
Blog: Measuring livelihood dependency on river flow - an interdisciplinary approach
Blog by Laetitia Pettinotti, Researcher at BC3 - Basque Centre for Climate Change.
"Last September the 'WISE-UP to Climate' team visited the dry Northern region of Ghana, destination: the communities of Arigu, Bisigu, and Pwalugu which line the White Volta River. It was my second trip…