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News articles on conservation

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Mongabay.com news articles on conservation in blog format. Updated regularly.

New extinction hotspots identified

(03/07/2006) Scientists have identified 20 potential extinction hotspots where hunting and human-caused habitat destruction are set to suffer significant declines in animal populations in coming years. In developing their map of future extinction hotspots, the researchers analyzed current and predicted IUCN Red List data on the extinction risk to almost 4,000 species of land mammals. Their roster includes areas not typically found on lists of the world's most imperiled habitats, including Greenland, the Patagonian coast of South America, and Siberian tundra.


Pictures of new species discovered in New Guinea

(02/07/2006) A team of scientists led by conservation International (CI) found dozens of new species in a survey of New Guinea's Foja Mountains. The December 2005 trip by a team of U.S., Indonesian, and Australian scientists discovered new species of frogs, butterflies, plants, and an orange-faced honeyeater, the first new bird from the island of New Guinea in more than 60 years.


Scientists discover dozens of new species in New Guinea

(02/06/2006) A team of scientists led by conservation International (CI) found dozens of new species in a survey of New Guinea's Foja Mountains. The discoveries were made under CI's Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) which deploys expert scientists to poorly understood regions in order to quickly assess the biological diversity of an area. The conservation organization makes RAP results immediately available to local and international decision makers to help support conservation action and biodiversity protection.


African carnivores under threat -- top 20 at risk listed

(02/01/2006) It may still be king of the beasts, but the African lion's kingdom is dwindling, according to a new report released by the New York-based Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) that says these emblematic big cats have disappeared from 82 percent of their historic distribution over the past several decades. The 200-page report looked at the conservation status of the 20 largest species of African carnivores and examined priorities to help ensure that they persist on the continent.


Deforestation rates jump in Uganda and Burundi, fall in Rwanda

(01/25/2006) Tropical deforestation rates have skyrocketed in Uganda and Burundi, while declining significantly in Rwanda according to mongabay.com's analysis of data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.


Parks, indian reserves slow Amazon deforestation

(01/25/2006) A new study shows that parks and indigenous reserves in the Amazon help slow deforestation.


Americans care less about the environment finds study

(01/18/2006) Public support for environmental protection in the United States as a federal government priority has dropped substantially since 2001 according to new analysis.


Madagascar establishes new park system to protect lemurs, benefit people

(01/17/2006) Madagascar has created a new agency for managing the parks of the Indian Ocean island nation. The System of Protected Areas of Madagascar, or SAPM, simplifies the legal process used to create a protected areas, while providing for flexibility for local people to earn a living from conservation activities.


Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, disappearing finds new report

(01/10/2006) Deforestation has destroyed 17 percent of the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, according to a new report from conservation International. The Pantanal, an area of flooded grassland and savanna covering 200,000 square kilometers during the rainy season, includes parts of Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia and is fed by the Rio Paraguay. The wetland is home to some 3500 species of plant and 650 species of birds. About 125 types of mammals, 180 kinds of reptiles, 41 types of amphibians, and 325 species of fish have been found in the region. The Pantanal in an important source of freshwater to neighboring farming areas and downstream urban areas.


Lemur land, Madagascar now protected

(01/08/2006) With the official establishment of the Makira Protected Area last week, the government of Madagascar has brought the total area of land and marine zones under protection to one million hectares.


1 million ha protected in Madagascar

(01/06/2006) The government of Madagascar has scored a significant victory for conservation by bringing one million hectares (more than 3,800 square miles) of wild landscapes and seascapes under protection to conserve the island nation's unique fauna and flora, according to the Wildlife conservation Society (WCS).


Marine reserves improve health of coral reefs finds study

(01/05/2006) It may be no surprise that marine reserves protect the fish that live in them, but now scientists from the University of Exeter have shown for the first time that they could also help improve the health of coral reefs.


Afghanistan developing environmental protection with UN help

(01/02/2006) Laws aimed at protecting Afghanistan's wildlife, waterways and forests, believed to be the first legal conservation tools in the country, have been developed by the Government with assistance from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the agency announced today.


Bolivian rainforest certified to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

(12/20/2005) The Bolivian government, The Nature Conservancy and the Bolivian conservation organization Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza announced that the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project is the first conservation-based initiative in the world to be fully certified for reducing greenhouse gas emissions using internationally accepted standards.


Last wild horse species returns from brink of extinction

(12/20/2005) An international working group coordinated by ZSL's Institute of Zoology (IoZ) has made the recommendation to reclassify the Przewalski's horses from extinct to endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species.


Tsunami relief risks rainforest destruction

(12/19/2005) Today WWF warned that donor countries must include sustainably sourced building materials in their long-term aid packages to avoid a second ecological disaster stemming from deforestation. According to WWF, Indonesia's Aceh province will require at least 860,000 cubic meters of sawn timber for the construction of 200,000 homes over the next five years. The conservation organization says that only a small fraction of this additional demand can be met locally without resorting to illegal logging that would be damaging to Sumatra's biologically important rain forests.


794 species on brink of extinction find study

(12/12/2005) Protecting 595 sites around the world would help address an imminent global extinction crisis, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Conducted by scientists working with the 52 member organizations of the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), the study identifies 794 species threatened with imminent extinction by virtual of existing at only a single remaining site on Earth. The study found that just one-third of the sites are known to have legal protection, and most are surrounded by human population densities that are approximately three times the global average. Safeguarding these sites is key to saving these species from extinction say the authors of the study.


Norwegian killer whales most toxic mammals in Arctic

(12/12/2005) Initial scientific results show Norwegian killer whales are the most toxic mammals in the Arctic, says WWF, the global conservation organization. Previous research awarded this dubious honour to the polar bear, but a new study shows that killer whales have even higher levels of PCBs, pesticides and a brominated flame retardant.


UN agrees to "rainforest conservation for emissions" deal

(12/11/2005) Friday, at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Montreal, the U.N. agreed to a proposal that allows developing nations to receive financial compensation from industrialized countries for agreeing to preserve their rainforests. Environmentalists hope the deal -- set forth by ten developing countries led by Papua New Guinea -- will give developing nations a financial reason to get more involved in climate talks while safeguarding globally important ecosystems.


Mozambique Gets World Bank conservation, Tourism Project

(12/05/2005) More of Mozambique's natural ecosystems will be conserved, and thus draw more tourism to the country, thanks to a World Bank-funded project that aims to promote economic growth through sustainable use of natural resources.


Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in Coalition nations

(11/29/2005) If a coalition of developing countries has its way, there could soon be new forests sprouting up in tropical regions. The group of ten countries, led by Papua New Guinea, has proposed that wealthy countries pay them to preserve their rainforests. The Coalition for Rainforest Nations argues that all countries should pay for the benefits -- from carbon sequestration to watershed protection -- that tropical rainforests provide.


Developing countries: pay us to save rainforests

(11/27/2005) At this week's United Nations summit on climate change in Montreal a coalition of tropical developing countries plans to propose that wealthy countries pay them to preserve their rainforests. The group of 10 countries, led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, will argue that they should be compensated for the services rainforests provide the rest of the world.


Pantanal wetland in Bolivia threatened by port project says WWF

(11/20/2005) Plans for the construction of a commercial port and railway access line crossing Bolivia's Otuquis National Park -- a protected area and Ramsar site located in the heart of the world's largest wetland area, the Pantanal -- must be radically restructured so that it doesn't cause irreparable environmental damage and economic losses, warns WWF.


Mangrove forests protected areas from 2004 tsunami says new study

(11/18/2005) A study released in late October shows that areas buffered by coastal forests, like mangroves, were less damaged by the 2004 tsunami than areas without tree vegetation. Last week the FAO reported that 20% of the world's mangrove forests have disappeared since 1980.


Logging threatens Mayan ruin, forest in Guatemala

(11/13/2005) In the tropical forests of Guatemala, poor rural farmers and loggers are battling environmentalists, archaeologists, and Mel Gibson over the establishment of a 525,000-acre Mayan national park.


conservation groups sue Bush administration over endangered species delays

(11/09/2005) A coalition of conservation groups filed a complaint late yesterday against the Bush Administration for delaying protection of hundreds of wildlife species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, leaving 283 plants and animals on a perpetual candidate waiting list. Since passage of the Act, at least 24 candidate species have gone extinct waiting for protection.


Mauritius PM blocks road threatening endangered forest

(11/07/2005) Work started last year to build a highway through Ferney Valley, primarily to service the island's lucrative tourism industry, but environmentalists say it would wipe out flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world.


Papua New Guinea adds 12 new protected areas

(11/04/2005) The government of Papua New Guinea announced that it will gazette 12 new protected areas covering some of the country's most biologically diverse forests, wetlands and coral reefs.


Avian flu vaccine under development with help of WCS

(11/03/2005) Avian influenza virus samples collected from wild birds in Mongolia by field veterinarians from the New York City-based Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) have been selected by the World Health Organization to be part of a new human pandemic influenza vaccine currently in development. The samples, collected in the midst of an outbreak in August killing wild ducks, geese and swans in northern Mongolia have unique genetic characteristics which make them a valuable addition to a human vaccine based on a variety of strains of influenza.


Rainforest conservation worth the cost shows new study

(11/02/2005) The economic benefits of protecting a rainforest reserve outweigh the costs of preserving it, says University of Alberta research--the first of its kind to have conducted a cost-benefit analysis on the conservation of species diversity. "The traditional moral and aesthetic arguments have been made about why we should conserve the biodiversity in rainforests, but little has been done that looks at whether it makes pure economic sense to do so," said Dr. Robin Naidoo, who did his PhD at the U of A in biological sciences and rural economy. "We provide some good evidence from a strict economic side, that yes, it does."


Congo's Kabila calls for rainforest protection

(10/30/2005) The world's second largest rainforest stands a greater chance of being protected after Congo's president finally backed a largely ignored ban on new logging, conservation group Greenpeace said on Friday.


Wildlife conservation can be a 'win win' choice of land use -- new book

(10/12/2005) Experts from East and Southern Africa have some grass roots ideas for tackling the immense challenges Africa faces at the wildlife / domestic animal / human health interface-- and they hope the West is listening.


Great White Shark swims 12,400 miles, shocks scientists

(10/06/2005) A female great white shark tagged in waters off South Africa has completed the first known transoceanic trip for an individual shark, traveling farther than any other shark known, more than 12,400 miles (more than 20,000 kilometers) to the coast of Australia and back again, according to the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations in the most recent edition of the journal Science.


Python explodes after swallowing 6-foot alligator in Florida Everglades

(10/05/2005) The National Park Service released photos that show the carcass of an American alligator that was almost swallowed by a Burmese python.


conservation agriculture holds promise for food production in Africa

(10/04/2005) conservation agriculture holds considerable promise for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa because it can control soil erosion, reverse land degradation, give more stable yields and reduce labour and fuel needs, FAO said today on the eve of the Third World Congress on conservation Agriculture in Nairobi .


Gorillas use tools - photo documentation

(09/29/2005) For the first time ever, scientists have observed and photographed wild gorillas using tools, in one instance employing a stick to test the depth of a pool before wading into it, according to a study by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations. Up to this point, all other species of great apes, including chimpanzees and orangutans, have been observed using tools in the wild, but never gorillas.


Cocaine destroying rainforest parks in Colombia

(09/28/2005) Cocaine is killing the great nature parks of Colombia. Government spraying of coca plant killer is driving growers and traffickers out of their usual territory into national parks where spraying is banned. Here they are burning thousands of acres of virgin rain forest and poisoning rivers with chemicals.


Gabon sets aside 10 percent of country as protected parks

(09/24/2005) In a move that sets a new standard in African conservation, the nation of Gabon, which contains some of the most pristine tropical rainforests on earth, announced today that it will set aside 10 percent of its land mass for a system of national parks. Up to this point, Gabon had no national park system. The Gabonese government has been working closely with The Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) on conservation issues for the past ten years. The announcement is a major victory for Africa's wildlife.


Palm oil plantations decimating orang-utans says report

(09/23/2005) UK company demand for palm oil, a vegetable oil found in one in ten products on supermarket shelves, is driving the orang-utan towards extinction, new research reveals. The `Oil for Ape Scandal', published today by Friends of the Earth and the world's leading orang-utan conservation groups, concludes that without urgent intervention the palm oil trade could cause the extinction of Asia's only great ape within 12 years.


Climate change could have significant impact on health of Australians

(09/22/2005) The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australian conservation Foundation (ACF) are calling for a national response to one of the world's most significant environmental threats -- climate change and its effect on human health.


New York City to dim lights to protect migrating birds

(09/21/2005) New York civic leaders on Tuesday said the lights of buildings above the 40th floor will be turned off after midnight in the fall and spring migration seasons to save birds. Since 1997, more than 4,000 migratory birds have been killed or injured from colliding into skyscrapers, bird experts said.


Builder of rainforest canopy walkways believes conservation can be profitable

(09/20/2005) This month's issue of The Ecological Finance Review details Greenheart conservation Company, a for-profit company that designs, builds and operates conservation based canopy walkways (canopy trails) and other nature-based attractions around the world. Operating on the premise that conservation can be economically viable, Greenheart believes that is has already become a "model of how to shift gears from an industrial to a green economy." Greenheart has developed or is developing canopy walkways in Peru, Nigeria, Madagascar, Ghana, Brazil, Guyana, the United Kingdon, and Canada.


conservation scientists want $404 million to save disappearing amphibians

(09/20/2005) Yesterday conservation scientists proposed a $404 million effort to preserve declining global amphibian poplations. The strategy would call for funding from governments, private institutions and individual donors to finance long-term research, protect critical habitats, reduce the trade in amphibians for food and pets, and establish captive breeding programs.


WCS supports new primate protection agreement

(09/14/2005) The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) announced today that a new international agreement signed last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo will play a key role in safeguarding and improving populations of the world's great apes, including gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans.


Virunga hippo population falling rapidly from poaching

(09/12/2005) A new aerial survey shows that the hippo population in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo will soon be extinct due to rampant poaching for hippo teeth and meat, WWF warned today.


Chernobyl environment and people recovering

(09/06/2005) Chernobyl's ecosystems seem to be recovering just 19 years after the region was badly contaminated with radiation from a nuclear meltdown according to a report backed by the United Nations.


Poverty decimates great apes

(09/05/2005) Fewer than 250 wild Sumatran orangutans may exist in fifty years, their habitat is disappearing and the devastation of the Asian tsunami has accelerated the rate of destruction. This is among the findings being announced at the launch of the first World Atlas of Great Apes and their conservation by the UNEP World conservation Monitoring Centre, which reveals that it is not just humans that will benefit from a campaign to 'make poverty history'. For the other 6 species of great ape -- the eastern and western gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo, Sumatran and Bornean orangutan -- it could literally save them from the cooking pot.


Rare asiatic cheetahs pictured in Iran

(08/30/2005) Researchers working in Iran made a suprising discovery that had nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) scientists, working in conjunction with Iran's Department of Environment (DOE) recently discovered that a remote camera set out to survey wildlife had photographed an entire family of extremely rare Asiatic cheetahs in an isolated region in the Dar-e Anjir Wildlife Refuge. The pictures show an adult female and her four youngsters resting in the shade of a tree, marking the largest-known group of these rare cats ever photographed in Asia.


Two big conservation annoucements expected at upcoming wilderness conference

(08/24/2005) The 8th World Wilderness Congress (WWC), convening from September 30 -- October 6, 2005 at the Egan Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska, is a public forum expected to attract more than 1,000 conservationists and experts from 40 countries. Reporters are welcome to attend.


Plan to move African wildlife to America would undermine ecotourism and African economies

(08/23/2005) A proposal to create a refuge for African wildlife in North America has come under harsh criticism from African conservationists according to a report from Sapa-AFP.



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