Story | 12 Oct, 2017
Three priorities for China's national park programme
With the introduction on 26 September of its comprehensive programme, China’s national park system enters its implementation phase. This raises questions about what kind of park is being established, who will manage it and how ordinary people will benefit.
Story | 11 Sep, 2017
New farming methods secure livelihoods of communities in India
Pampa Dolui is from Udayan, a small village among the mangroves of Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha, India. Her early childhood memories are of her family’s rice paddy fields and clear water ponds. As a 15-year-old, Pampa also experienced the devastation of the 1999 Odisha cyclone – reckoned…
Story | 08 Sep, 2017
Marriott Merlin Butterfly Sanctuary
IUCN, in collaboration with the Phuket Marriott Resort and Spa, Merlin Beach has established a unique conservation-oriented Butterfly Sanctuary on the resort property. Butterflies are essential pollinators for a wide variety of decorative and wild flowering plants, cross-pollinating flowers that…
Story | 28 Aug, 2017
Nature Lovers return mangroves to Pulau Dua
Well-known for its importance as a breeding site for water birds, Pulau Dua was established as a nature reserve in 1937. Unfortunately, in recent decades, much of Pulau Dua’s mangroves were cleared for shrimp farms. With coasts deteriorated, fish that had previously used the mangroves as…
Story | 31 Jul, 2017
How mangroves got their roots back in East Java
Clean air and food on the table. For World Mangroves Day, we're highlighting the ways mangroves offer sustainable solutions to those communities whose livelihoods depend on the resources provided by a resilient coast.
Story | 23 Jun, 2017
TROSA: New trans-boundary water governance initiative aims to enhance regional cooperation
Over the last decade, IUCN has been working with governments, civil societies and academics in Asia on trans-boundary hydro-diplomacy through its initiatives in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) and Mekong river basins. Based on IUCN’s experiences and its long-term experience in the Mekong…
Story | 15 Jun, 2017
More effective waste management through engaged communities
To most, it’s just a giant landfill – holding approximately 60,000 tonnes of waste. But to some of the locals of Trat province, the Had Ploy Dang dumping ground, which is located in the Mairood Sub-district is known as the ‘golden mountain’. Why? Because, according to Mr Surasak Intaraprasert,…
Story | 30 May, 2017
Tanguar Haor: A wetland in the hands of the people
After almost a century of exclusive ownership by wealthy elites, Tanguar Haor is finally back in the hands of the people who rely on it. A 10-year initiative of the government of Bangladesh, supported by IUCN and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, has recently drawn to a close.…
Story | 25 May, 2017
International Day for Biodiversity: Nature-based tourism integrated plan needed for Bangladesh
A well-managed ecosystem provides an important foundation for many aspects of tourism. Tourism revenue, in turn, can contribute to the maintenance, protection and conservation of key wildlife populations – which is why the theme of this year’s International Day of Biodiversity (IDB), announced…
Story | 22 May, 2017
Cacao tourism and an unexpected partner in forest landscape restoration in Guatemala
Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is simultaneously boosting tourism, creating jobs and enhancing biological connectivity in the Guatemalan highlands with the help of the diverse membership of the national FLR roundtable.