Asia News
Working with fisherwomen in Xuan Thuy National Park
Every day, hundreds of local fisherwomen enter the mangrove forest in Xuan Thuy National Park to collect shells, mollusks, crabs, and other aquatic products. Although the law prohibits any kind of resource extraction in the core zone, the poor women who depend on these natural resources have no other choice. Up to six hours a day, they wade through the mud and water and end up earning less than US$3 a day. The overexploitation of aquatic products has resulted in increased scarcity and growing competition between the fisherwomen. …
26 Apr 2013 | Article
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Where have the sea turtles gone?
“Sea turtles don’t come to nest on our beach anymore!” said Mr. Minh, a member of Sea Turtle Nesting Beach Protection, a volunteer network in Quang Tri Province. Despite the participation of nearly 3,500 local residents and school children in beach protection, a recent survey found that, since 2007, no marine turtle nests have been recorded in Quang Tri, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai Provinces and the very few nests that remain in Binh Dinh Province are on off-shore islands. Meanwhile, according to a 2009 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 1,000 mature turtles a year are killed accidentally by fishermen as “by-catch”. …
26 Apr 2013 | Article
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New publication from IUCN Lao PDR : “Review of Statutory and Customary Law in the Xe Champhone Ramsar Site, Lao PDR - Implications for a rights-based approach to conservation”
IUCN’s research into rights-based approaches (RBAs) to reduce poverty and benefit conservation has been focused on the development of tools to better inform conservation strategies. …
26 Apr 2013 | Downloads - publication
Soc Trang community prepares to adapt to climate change
The Mekong Delta is one of the parts of the world projected to be most impacted by sea level rise. And within the delta, the coastal districts of Soc Trang Province are considered particularly vulnerable because of the very flat topography. Local people are already observing higher high tides and stronger wave action that break the unconsolidated earth dike that protects them from the sea. The EU-funded project Building Coastal Resilience (BCR) is working in Mo O, a small village in Trung Binh Commune to build local capacity to address this threat. …
25 Apr 2013 | Article
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IIED publishes CEC member's research on media portrayals of pastoralists
Mike Shanahan of IIED shares a link to his report on media portrayals of pastoralists in Kenya, China and India, plus a link to weekly online IIED content. …
22 Apr 2013 | News story
Good news on Earth Day! New report highlights growing biodiversity awareness worldwide
For IUCN, whose core business is saving biodiversity, there is some very welcome news that awareness of biodiversity is growing worldwide. …
22 Apr 2013 | News story
Members of the IUCN National Committee express their concern about the Impacts of Coal Mining in Tharparkar and Zulfikarabad city project and the proposed Development Project on the Bundal and Buddo islands
A meeting of the IUCN Members’ National Committee held at a local hotel in Islamabad on April 18, 2013. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Shahid Sayeed Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Indus Earth Trust. …
20 Apr 2013 | Article
A Step towards easing Pakistan’s water woes – National Consultative Workshop on Water
IUCN Pakistan organized a National consultative workshop on ‘Pakistan Water Programme’ in collaboration with Oxfam-Novib at a local hotel in Islamabad. The objective of the consultative workshop was to discuss the key issues Pakistan is facing in terms of depleting water resources. …
18 Apr 2013 | International news release
Revisiting the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty
Hamid Sarfraz*
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Islamabad, Pakistan
This article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in light of the UN Watercourses Convention. The IWT is, to a large extent, still relevant but must incorporate contemporary environmental standards and the social realities that are impacting water resources. Proposals for improving the IWT include the incorporation of provisions related to joint research initiatives, optimal use of available resources through mutually negotiated trade-offs, a joint climate change adaptation strategy, consideration of environmental flow needs, and joint water development and energy generation. …
10 Apr 2013 | Article
Against All Odds
Daily news reports of poaching to fuel the international trade in rhino horn seem to paint a bleak future for many of the five rhinoceros species all listed as threatened by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It seems the pressure of hunting could crush this pachyderm’s prospects for survival. But there is hope and SOS is proud to be part of the solution that can deliver meaningful and measurable conservation impacts on the ground. …
10 Apr 2013 | News story
