Story | 10 Jul, 2017
Members of Indigenous communities living in or close to African World Heritage sites have highlighted how site conservation can be more effective when it considers human rights, last week at UNESCO’s 41st session of the World Heritage Committee, taking place in Kraków, Poland. The interventions…
Story | 06 Jul, 2017
IUCN to assess new measures protecting endangered vaquitas in Gulf of California World Heritage site
IUCN is expected to carry out a field mission with UNESCO to Mexico’s Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California, to assess the effectiveness of new measures to protect the Critically Endangered vaquita. This follows a decision by the World Heritage Committee, which meets this week in…
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 | 04 Jul, 2017
Ethiopian park comes off World Heritage ‘danger list’ but challenges remain
Simien National Park in Ethiopia has been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger at the 41st World Heritage Committee meeting, taking place this week in Kraków, Poland. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Committee’s advisory body on nature, highlights that…
Press release | 04 Jul, 2017
African national park taken off World Heritage ‘danger list’ following IUCN advice
Comoé National Park in Côte d’Ivoire has come off the List of World Heritage in Danger today, as its wildlife recovers from impacts of civil unrest. The decision follows a recommendation from IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature – the official advisory body to UNESCO’s World…
Press release | 30 Jun, 2017
Gland, Switzerland, 30 June 2017 (IUCN) – Illegal fishing, logging and poaching are impacting two-thirds of the 57 natural World Heritage sites monitored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this year, putting some of the world’s most precious and unique ecosystems and…
Story | 30 Jun, 2017
Advancing Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction into Sustainable Development
Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Community (EPIC), funded by the German government’s BMU’s International Climate Initiative (ICI), aims to document the role of – and improve – ecosystem management for disaster risk reduction (DRR). This concept is also referred to as Ecosystem-based…
Story | 26 Jun, 2017
New tools to assess vulnerability of wetlands in the Mekong
From June 19 to 21, IUCN staff, partners, and local officials from the Xe Champhone and Beung Kiat Ngong Ramsar sites in Lao PDR gathered in Champhone District for a training on the use of a new series of tools to assess the vulnerability of the areas’ wetlands. The…
Story | 26 Jun, 2017
Wilderness areas are fast declining and World Heritage can protect them, says IUCN report
New guidance launched today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) urges the World Heritage Convention to better conserve wilderness areas, and large landscapes and seascapes, as they are increasingly threatened, including by climate change. It explains how this can be…
Blog | 09 Jun, 2017
Blog: Connecting to people connected to nature
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to find a new message: I was out of service and increased data charges would apply. For the next six days, contact with the outside world would be limited to late evenings in the guest house: freedom.