The World Conservation Union today releases an action plan to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals through improved environmental management. “We propose a set of concrete actions that will lay the foundation for a future where we do not fight poverty by destroying nature, but by using nature’s tremendous generosity that keeps all of us alive with food, air and water,” says author Dr Sue Mainka of the World Conservation Union.

Environmental conservation can and must contribute more actively to poverty reduction, and development agencies should pay more attention to the role of natural resources in livelihoods, concludes a new book entitled Poverty and Conservation.

The number of savannah elephants in major populations in Eastern and Southern Africa has increased substantially in recent years, according to a study published this week by the African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Investing more aid in the environment will help achieve all the Millennium Development Goals - that was the main message of the statement the World Conservation Union delivered today to the UN High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development on "The Monterrey Consensus: Status of implementation and tasks ahead".

250 participants from the countries and territories of the East Asia region have just concluded the Fifth Conference of Protected Areas of East Asia. This conference was held in Hong Kong and is convened every three years by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.

The Poverty-Environment Partnership (PEP) today releases the first findings of an economic study on the role of environmental management in poverty reduction, and concludes: "the bottom line is that investing in the environment makes economic sense, especially for the poor".

Donor agencies and governments last week reluctantly filed out of the charming Italian town of Montecatini. They left in the wake of some 500 delegates who attended a meeting on protected areas for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Integrate! Participate! Cooperate! are some of the buzz words of this year’s International Waters (IW) Conference, hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Salvador da Bahia/Brazil from 20 to 25 June 2005. The World Conservation Union is coordinating two thematic tracks on Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) and River Basins.

The Uruguayan Minister for Environment, Housing, and Territorial Planning, Mariano Arana, today visited World Conservation Union (IUCN) Headquarters to strengthen links between the environment and development. The talks involved many topics including forestry restoration, protected area management, and environmental law.

What are sustainable plantations? The answer is full of controversy - indeed some groups argue that plantations ought not to be considered as forests. To encourage constructive dialogue on this issue, the World Conservation Union hosted 22 global forest sector leaders at a meeting convened by The Forests Dialogue (TFD) on 21-22 June 2005.

More than 1,000 fish species, or 25% of coral reef fishes are highly susceptible to extinction, according to the preliminary results of a technical workshop held in Norwich, UK. Using the Extinction Susceptibility Matrix developed by the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the World Conservation Union, the workshop evaluated the vulnerability to extinction of the world’s coral reef fishes.

For the first time, dolphin and porpoise populations around the world which are severely threatened by entanglement in fishing gear have been assessed by leading marine scientists of the Species Survival Commission’s (SSC) Cetacean Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union. They have recommended nine urgent priorities for action in a report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The French firm "Ateliers Lion Architectes Urbanistes" has been awarded the first prize for its design of the extension of IUCN's Headquarters in Gland by an international jury, constituted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Fondation des Immeubles Pour Les Organisations Internationales (FIPOI).