Story | 17 Jun, 2015
A step forward for the most recognised areas on the planet
Imagine you were awarded an Olympic medal for your athletic performance, a Michelin star for your cooking skills and the John C. Phillips Memorial Medal for your conservation work, would you be able to keep all three skills up to the highest standard? Now imagine a natural area that is partly…
Press release | 16 Jun, 2015
Synergies between climate mitigation and adaptation in forest landscape restoration.
The two responses to climate change - mitigating emissions and adapting to impacts - are often pursued as separate actions. But some ecosystem-based responses, like forest landscape restoration, can serve as both mitigation and adaptation tools. A new report from IUCN examines where and how…
Story | 11 Jun, 2015
West and Central Africa’s wildlife in trouble, shows new IUCN report
A new IUCN report released today evaluates the state of West and Central Africa’s terrestrial and freshwater fauna and highlights the inadequacy of responses to rapid wildlife decline in the region. Improved legislation and much more effective protection is urgently required to meet…
Story | 09 Jun, 2015
First intact fossil of prehistoric whale discovered in Wadi Al-Hitan
The world’s only intact fossil of an early whale – the Basilosaurus dating about 40 million years ago – has been uncovered during a new excavation at Wadi Al-Hitan, a natural World Heritage site in Egypt. The discovery reveals for the first time the creature’s complete skeleton and includes…
Story | 09 Jun, 2015
Call for Contributions to the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 now open
The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 will bring together several thousand leaders and decision-makers from government, civil society, business, and academia with the goal of conserving the environment and harnessing the solutions nature offers to global challenges. This is an opportunity…
Story | 08 Jun, 2015
To have healthy oceans we need healthy marine wildlife
According to the United Nations, World Oceans Day is about a healthy planet being based on healthy oceans – so true and in so many ways! The ecological pressures on Earth’s oceans are as diverse and daunting as the storms that can roll across its blue horizons. But there is hope rolling in the…
Story | 05 Jun, 2015
On Valuing Nature’s Water Infrastructure
Blog by Mark Smith, Director IUCN Water Programme. Posted originally on the Economist Insight for World Environment Day 2015.
Story | 02 Jun, 2015
Safeguarding the world’s wetlands – let’s be bold, brave and ambitious
“We have to make the Ramsar Convention a catalyst for change – and change on a scale massive enough to stop and reverse a terrible history of wetland loss and destruction.”
Story | 28 May, 2015
IUCN issues second round of recommendations on natural World Heritage
IUCN’s recommendations to the World Heritage Committee are now all available online, following a second release of reports on 29 May. IUCN recommends ‘in danger’ status for Brazil’s Cerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks. IUCN also recommends changes to Russia…
Story | 27 May, 2015
Rare albino turtles hatch on Vamizi Island
Even after long years of nesting monitoring, there are still things that surprise us all. For the first time on Vamizi Island in Mozambique, on the turtle monitoring project that started over 10 years ago, four albino green turtle hatchlings were found on the island's most successful nesting…