Story | 22 Nov, 2016
Representatives of 54 countries met in Hanoi, Viet Nam, from 17-18 November for the Hanoi conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, the third conference of its kind after London (2014) and Kasane (2015). The goal of the conference was to eradicate illegal wildlife trade, and to ensure effective…
Story | 09 Nov, 2016
Wildlife Crime Fighting: Saving our Species through Criminal Law
29% of the 82,954 species which are listed on the IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction. This figure was announced at the IUCN World Conservation Congress which took place in Hawai’i from the 1st to the 10th of September 2016. If habitat loss and climate change partly explain the alarming…
Story | 26 Oct, 2016
Oceans, Law, and the IUCN World Conservation Congress
While the UN Preparatory Committee met in New York to discuss a new instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, on the other side of the country, in Hawai'i, the global community grappled with the same fundamental issue: how to ensure conservation of the world’s…
Story | 13 Oct, 2016
Law and the future of conservation: Perspectives from the World Conservation Congress, Hawaii
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 recent decades, in the form of new legislation…
Story | 13 Oct, 2016
Video: Key stakeholders’ perspectives on International Water Law in the Mekong
International rivers, such as the Mekong, are crucial arteries carrying the lifeblood of freshwater that sustains human existence and ecosystems around the world. It is estimated that there are 276 transboundary river basins (TRB) and 200 transboundary aquifers around the world but 60…
Story | 12 Oct, 2016
Intensive rice production is the predominant cause for the loss of biodiversity and resilience to climate change in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Today, less than 5% of the natural wetlands of the Delta remain. In order to intensively grow rice in the upper-delta deep flood zone, traditional low…
Story | 03 Oct, 2016
Blog: 'Can’t see the water for the trees?' By James Dalton et al.
Originally published in Global Water Forum, Monday 3 October 2016. To maximise downstream water quantity, you remove vegetation – all of it, including the trees. To counter rising carbon dioxide levels, you plant trees – lots of them. How should we do both?
Story | 06 Sep, 2016
Access to information and knowledge of environmental law boosted with new ECOLEX website
ECOLEX – the online gateway to environmental law – has launched a new website at the IUCN World Conservation Congress which takes place 1-10 September 2016 in Hawai’i.
This new web presence will give users greater access to information and knowledge about the growing body of law…
Story | 03 Sep, 2016
The IUCN CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (IUCN SULi), IUCN Viet Nam, the IUCN Indo-Burma Group, the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) and TRAFFIC, are holding a regional workshop for Southeast Asia with a focus on the Lower Mekong Region to…
Story | 29 Aug, 2016
IUCN Congress set to debate new global policy on biodiversity offsets
As governments and business struggle to reconcile conservation and economic goals, the IUCN World Conservation Congress will debate the first-ever global policy on biodiversity offsets -- a mechanism increasingly used to compensate for the residual negative impacts of development projects on…