Is the World About to Take Wildlife Trafficking Seriously?

This year could be a defining moment for the protection of biodiversity and the illegal trade in wildlife. Earlier in the year saw the environment – climate change and wildlife trafficking – being raised at the UN Security Council for the first time as a threat to stable and democratic governments. And yesterday saw Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State , […]

Is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil heading for failure?

We’ve just seen the 10th meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil take place in Singapore. This meeting of producers and consumers of palm oil was set up to try to address the many conflicts that the growth in palm oil has produced. From loss of habitat and wildlife to human rights abuses and land grabs the rush for palm oil has not been […]

The Forgotten Plight of the Lion

The lion is an iconic part of the landscape in Africa. It’s one of the Big Five and draws in tourists. But has the plight of the lion been overshadowed by conservation concerns of other species. could it be that the lion is so iconic that we forget that it is in a pretty precarious position. Mention the rhino and […]

Whitetip Shark Populations Declining by 17% a Year

New research released today by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)  in New Caledonia demonstrates the frightening impact on shark populations that shark fin soup is having. The results of a study of 15 years of landing catches published in Conservation Biology shows that the worst affected shark species the white-tip shark has declined by an average of 17% […]