IUCN launches a new IUCN book on the agricultural development and natural resource management in the Lower Mekong Basin in the early days of the region’s development. Why is it still relevant today? “Many of the basic ideas developed several decades ago under the Mekong Committee's Agriculture Programme remain very topical today,” said Jeff McNeely, IUCN Chief Scientist.

Conservation and fisheries communities must join forces in order to improve the state of the world’s oceans. This is the main message emerging from the first International Marine Protected Areas Congress which closed in Geelong, Australia today. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) co-organized the event together with Australian governmental and institutional partners.

Le Gouvernement mauritanien vient de publier un rapport sur la bonne gouvernance qui accorde une place de choix à l’environnement, grâce à l’appui de l’Union Mondiale pour la Nature (UICN). Ce programme constitue la clé de voûte du plan d’action du nouveau régime mauritanien.

The Volvo Environment Prize for 2005 is awarded to two outstanding conservationists from the southern hemisphere: Professor Aila Keto whose work led to the protection of more than 1.5 million hectares of Queensland’s rainforest in Australia, and Dr Mary Kalin Arroyo who succeeded in establishing a 68,000 hectares protected area in the Condor River drainage in Chile. IUCN is a member of the Prize Committee.

Increasing encroachment on the livelihoods of pastoralists, as a result of the rapid conversion of rangelands to crops and other uses, and the rapid decline of natural resources such as food, forage, fuel wood and fresh water in drylands, require urgent measures from governments.

Up to half of the world’s coral reefs may be lost within the next 40 years unless urgent measures are taken to protect them against the paramount threat of climate change, warns a new report “Coral Reef Resilience and Resistance to Bleaching” released by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Nations across the world need to scale up their efforts in protecting the world’s vast and increasingly vulnerable marine environment from climate change, pollution, resource depletion and other threats, urged the World Conservation Union (IUCN) at the opening of the First International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC1), held in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Invasive weeds and pests were top on the agenda during the first visit of Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General to New Zealand from 19-21 October 2005. During his ongoing tour of the region to launch the new IUCN Programme for Oceania, Steiner met representatives of New Zealand’s government and civil society leaders as well as regional members of IUCN.

Ten months after the tsunami, IUCN wins recognition from the President of Sri Lanka for its long-lasting environmental policy support and recent work on marine and coastal zone rehabilitation. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) today has been awarded the Excellent Environmental Service Award 2004 of Sri Lanka for the non-government sector.

The multimedia project “Tales of Water”, coordinated by the IUCN Water Programme, recently completed its film and photography work in West Africa. “Tales of Water” aims to draw attention to global water issues seen through the eyes of local children and will feature prominently at the forthcoming World Water Forum in Mexico, 2006.

The contribution of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) to transboundary conservation was featured throughout the 8th World Wilderness Congress (WWC) held in Alaska. The expertise of WCPA’s Task Force on Transboundary Protected Areas was highlighted through presentations and the valuable contribution to the new Transboundary Conservation book launched at the congress.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the world’s largest environmental organization, is opening a new chapter in its long history of collaboration with environmental institutions in the South Pacific with the establishment of its Oceania Programme, to be announced in Suva, Fiji today.

Tropical Storm Stan reminds us of the devastating impact natural disasters have on poor people. It also highlights the uncertainty over the role that forests may play in mitigating the impacts of such disasters. Is there a link between forests and floods? IUCN’s Forest and Water Programmes are jointly working to improve such understanding.

Valli Moosa, President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) gave a speech outlining a conservation strategy for Africa at the Trapnell lecture at Oxford University on 11 October 2005. Some 250 people, including IUCN members and commission members, special invited guests and students from Oxford University attended the lecture and engaged in a lively discussion afterwards.

Around the world, domestic and wild animals are coming into ever-more intimate contact. The consequences like transmission of diseases can be detrimental on both sides of the proverbial fence. A new book, Conservation and Development Interventions at the Wildlife/Livestock Interface: Implications for Wildlife, Livestock and Human Health, deals with the importance of animal health in both conservation and economic development.

Preliminary reports of the impact of Hurricane Stan indicate 3.5 million people have been affected in Guatemala alone, stated Guatemala’s vice president Eduardo Stein on 10 October. He expressed his deep concern about the catastrophe in the most densely populated departments of Guatemala.

Alcoa today announced that the World Conservation Union (IUCN) will be one of three Sustainability Institutes in Alcoa Foundation’s $8.6 million Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship program that will support the study of global conservation and sustainability issues. Alcoa Foundation’s program includes the funding of research by 60 Practitioner Fellows from around the world.

Last minute help for the critically endangered Anegada iguana, which has suffered from an 80% population crash since the late 1960s: A grant from the Sir Peter Scott Fund for Conservation Action of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission (SSC) is helping to continue the early conservation successes in the fight to save the impressive one metre long vegetarian.

Valli Moosa, President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and former South African Minister for Environment and Tourism will speak about African views on poverty, development and the role of the environment in his speech "Developing a Conservation Strategy for Africa" at the University of Oxford on 11 October 2005.

The UK's commitment to stopping the loss of nature and the support for the Countdown 2010 initiative was the key message of the opening address of Jim Knight, UK Minister for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity (Defra), at the EU Directors Meeting in Aviemore, Scotland.

IUCN’s latest publication Forests in Landscapes examines recent changes in practical forest management. It focuses on how ecosystem approaches and sustainable forest management are being implemented, often in conjunction with one another. It shows that the stereotype of conservative forestry concerned solely with timber production is becoming a thing of the past.

« Water is life but it can also be a source of conflict if the two partners sharing the resource are not collaborating». As a response to these opening words at the first White Volta Basin Community Consultative Forum, the Forum delegates agreed to set up a joint transboundary committee of water management associations.

New challenges in environmental, economic and social accountability continue to arise in business, governments and civil society organizations. Achim Steiner, Director General of the World Conservation Union, will be discussing these challenges and exploring solutions in his address to the annual conference of AccountAbility in London today.