News
Feature
Story
September 01,
2003
CAUGHT ON CAMERA – ELUSIVE BAY
CAT REAPPEARS IN ASIAN TRANSBOUNDARY PARK
Many
have raved about the contribution of transboundary protected
areas to peace and cooperation but little has been said about
the skill of these areas in reviving seemingly extinct animals.
This summer, the Bentuang Karimun National Park shared by
Indonesia and Malaysia revealed one of its many jewels: the
bay cat. No ordinary cat, this feline was thought to be extinct
in that part of the region and was not known to live in the
park. Thanks to a well-placed camera, scientists supported
by IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist
Group and the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Cat Action Treasury
were able to capture the animal on film. Pictures revealed
a two-coloured species with an extra long tail. With pale
flash marks on the inside of each eye and a faint dark-coloured
stripe on the top of the head and cheeks, the animal was a
stunning sight. (...)
Full
feature story // IUCN
SSC Cat SG
back to top
Feature
Story
August 01,
2003
THE
GREAT BARRIER REEF POISED TO RESPOND TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Paul
Marshall reveals plans to address growing threats to the world’s
coral cornucopia The first signs of the catastrophe to come
were already evident in January 2002. In northern
Queensland the unusually hot and still Australian summer caused
the sea to warm to 1.5-2°C above the long-term seasonal
average at several locations. By April of the same year, aerial
surveys confirmed what many had feared: almost 60% of the
Great Barrier coral reefs were affected by bleaching. At some
of the inshore reefs surveyed, up to 90% of the corals were
dead. The Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
since 1981, experienced the worst ever recorded mass bleaching
event – only four years after the previous massive bleaching.
Full
feature story // IUCN
Global Marine Programme // IUCN
Climate Change // Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority // WWF
Great Barrier Reef Campaign
back to top
Feature
Story
July 22,
2003
WILL
NIGER’S AÏR AND TÉNÉRÉ NATURAL
RESERVES BE ABANDONED?
The
Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves
in Niger are in danger of becoming orphans. For over a decade,
during the 1991-1997 armed conflict between the Tuaregs and
the government of Niger and ongoing unrest since then, the
park has had no authority in place to stop poachers from hunting
the last remaining populations of several endangered antelope
species such as the Addax and Oryx. ‘If we don’t
act now, we are putting the reserves in jeopardy,’ warns
Elhadji Gagéré, Secretary General of the local
NGO GAGE. Aïr and Ténéré protected
area was established in 1975 with the help of IUCN –
The World Conservation Union and WWF. It is one of the biggest
in Western Africa, covering an area of 7.7 million ha and
boasting the volcanic rock mass of the Aïr, a small Sahelian
pocket, and the Saharan desert of Ténéré.
Full
story // IUCN
in Africa
back to top
Features
Story
June 20,
2003
A FIELD OF FLAMINGOES OR A GAGGLE OF GREYLAGS?
20 June 2003 (IUCN)
Ichkeul Lake, Tunisia, - The numbers of salt-loving flamingos
gathering in Lake Ichkeul in northern Tunisia are increasing,
while the populations of greylag geese are in decline. Thousands
of geese from Central Europe once wintered in the area, but
today, like other birds, they have to find different places
to forage. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980 for
its outstanding universal natural values, Ichkeul was classed
as endangered in 1996. In an effort to restore the attributes
that motivated the inscription of the site onto the prestigious
List in the first place, the Tunisian Agency for Environmental
Protection has asked IUCN to provide technical advice in the
implementation and monitoring of a restoration programme for
the area. (...)
Full
Story
back to top
Features
Story
June 2,
2003
MEETING
THE FAMOUS WHITE LADY OF AFRICA
Gland,
Switzerland, (UICN) - When
the tin mine in the Namibian town Uis closed down in 1991,
it left more than 1000 men unemployed. Uis was in danger of
becoming a ghost town: shops closed, houses were abandoned,
and the streets became empty. But then Karel Naibab, Ou Henrik
and some other men from Uis had a big idea; they decided to
pull their town out of decline by working as local guides
at the famous Brandberg – the Burning Mountain. They
set out to establish an ecotourism business, to attract tourism
to the region and create a new sustainable income for their
community. The Brandberg is Namibia’s highest mountain,
famous both for its unique rock art, and irreplaceable flora
(4800 species in Namibia are found nowhere else in the world).
Recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Burning
Mountain is home to over 45 000 rock art paintings, amongst
them the Mona Lisa of this collection, the famous White Lady
of Africa, left by a prehistoric folk more than 500,000 years
ago. (...)
Full
story
back to top
FEATURE
STORY
- May 15,
2003
WWW.SNEZNIK.ORG
STRUGGLES TO WIN HEARTS ON THE GROUND
Gland,
Switzerland, (IUCN) - In
our wired and mobile world, speckled with new technologies,
visiting a protected area anywhere on earth could not be easier;
a click of the mouse will take you right there. Sometimes
however protected areas get trapped in cyberspace and never
cross the virtual threshold into the real world. Here’s
the story of Snežnik Park in Slovenia, a protected area
trying to do just that. The story of the park takes us back
some 35 years, to when the idea of setting aside 1000 km2
in the least populated and mainly industrial part of the country
was launched. In those days, mega-development projects were
coming up like mushrooms and local residents were pleasantly
surprised by the idea of a nature park. Asked to choose between
a protected area and a hydropower plant that was likely to
flood some unique karstic fields in the Ljubljanica river
basin, they were unanimous.
Full
Feature story -
PDF Document - 144KB
www.sneznik.org
back to top
Gland,
Switzerland, 16 April 2003 (IUCN) - We are in one of
the most beautiful and untouched areas of mountain wilderness
in Europe, surrounded by unique rocky passes, meadows, pinewoods,
distinct wildlife such as birds of prey and increasingly threatened
brown bears, and also – sometimes – minefields.
We are in the Alps of northern Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo/a,
a meeting point for three different cultures, religions and
ethnicities, a region which has suffered from wars and feuding
throughout centuries, and the future site of a transboundary
protected area. Since 1999, an array of international and
local organizations and individuals, has been working to establish
a “Balkans Peace Park”, which aims to protect nature,
promote peace, stability and provide employment for local
communities. The concept of transboundary protected areas
– those spanning international borders – is not
exactly new. The idea was first tested between Norway and
Sweden in 1914 with the establishment of the Morikulien Peace
Monument, which commemorates the peaceful solution of Norway’s
demand for independence. 
Gland,
Switzerland, 10 April 2003 (IUCN) - At
the heart of the ancient Inca Empire, seven Quechua communities
are planning to establish a 'Potato Park', a community-based,
agri-biodiversity focused conservation area, to ensure the
survival of the genetic heritage of the Andes.
