Top news

France to host IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020
18.05.2018

Marseille, France – The French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition and IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, today signed an agreement to jointly organise the next IUCN World Conservation Congress, to be held in 2020 in...

IUCN recommends two vast indigenous peoples’ territories for World Heritage listing
14.05.2018

Two very large areas in Canada and Colombia are recommended for inscription on the World Heritage List by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the official advisor on natural World Heritage. Both places highlight the important role of...

Ocean risks a wake-up call for policymakers – IUCN report
08.05.2018

Southampton, Bermuda, 08 May 2018 (XL Catlin/IUCN): A new report by IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, commissioned by the global (re)insurance company XL Catlin, warns of unprecedented changes occurring in the ocean and points to the...

Action needed to reduce toxic contamination from ocean plastics – IUCN
04.05.2018

The ‘plastic soup’ polluting our oceans contains toxic chemicals, which could be posing risks to marine species and humans. Changes in the ways we produce and consume plastic are urgently needed to reduce the levels of contamination caused by ocean plastics,...

Livelihoods at risk as freshwater species in Africa’s largest lake face extinction – IUCN Report
30.04.2018

Seventy-six percent of freshwater species endemic to the Lake Victoria Basin, including many species important to local livelihoods, are threatened with extinction, a new IUCN-led report has found. 

An indigenous-led strategy for conservation in IUCN
22.04.2018

IUCN Indigenous Peoples Member Organisation representative Yeshing Juliana Upún Yos delivered the following statement to the Seventeenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York City last week.

Business in Key Biodiversity Areas: minimising the risk to nature
17.04.2018

Gland, Switzerland, 17 April 2018 (IUCN) – A roadmap for businesses operating in some of the most biologically significant places on the planet has been issued today by the Key Biodiversity Area Partnership involving 12 of the world’s leading conservation...

New IUCN guide highlights how sports industry can contribute to biodiversity conservation
09.04.2018

Gland, Switzerland, 9 April 2018 (IUCN) – A new guide designed to help the sports industry understand its potential impacts on nature and options for mitigating them, as well as identify new opportunities for sport to enhance conservation, was released today...

Latin American and Caribbean countries threatened by rising ocean acidity, experts warn
03.04.2018

Latin American and Caribbean countries are at the forefront of the first effects of ocean acidification on people’s lives, according to experts who gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia to address the threat of acidification to the region at an event co-organised...

Ministers commit to protecting the world’s largest tropical peatland
26.03.2018

Commitments to conserve peatlands in the Congo basin were announced on Friday, 23 March 2018 as the Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia signed the Brazzaville Declaration at the third meeting of the Global Peatland Initiative,...

IUCN Director General's statement on World Water Day 2018
22.03.2018

From Cape Town to Bangalore, water shortages are a growing global menace, driven by rising demand worldwide and a warming climate. As the search for practical, cost-effective solutions intensifies, we cannot afford to ignore the important contribution nature...

IUCN dismayed as Philippines seeks to declare UN Special Rapporteur a ‘terrorist’
10.03.2018

The International Union for Conservation of Nature expresses its strong condemnation and grave concern at reports that UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, has been targeted by her Government and tagged as a “...

IUCN Director General's statement on International Women's Day 2018
08.03.2018

This year, Women’s Day takes on new significance, as a wave of women step forward demanding their rights, equal treatment and an end to denigrating and discriminatory behaviour, sexual harassment and violence. We are seeing, for the first time, at a global...

Loss of old trees threatens survival of wood-dependent beetles – IUCN Red List
05.03.2018

Brussels, 5 March 2018 (IUCN) – Almost a fifth (18%) of European saproxylic beetles assessed so far are at risk of extinction due to ongoing decline in large veteran trees across Europe, a new IUCN report has found.

IUCN Director General's Statement on World Wildlife Day
01.03.2018

World Wildlife Day provides a poignant opportunity to reflect on how to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife – including the world’s most charismatic predators.

Lacoste and IUCN join forces to champion the cause of threatened species
28.02.2018

Global fashion designer Lacoste announces partnership with IUCN’s SOS – Save Our Species Programme at Paris fashion show.

IUCN at 70: knowledge and experience for today’s challenges
22.02.2018

IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, IUCN has launched a new blog, where IUCN Members and partners will debate topical conservation issues, alongside a series of events to...

Indonesia’s last frontier: indigenous peoples’ rights key to forest preservation
19.02.2018

The forests of Papua in Indonesia have been referred to as a last frontier, and those that live in and around them are instrumental in their future. Clarifying and codifying rights to tenure and management may be the key to keeping these forests...

New research reveals a global rise in emerging invasive alien species
05.02.2018

IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) has contributed to research published today in the journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, which highlights the urgent need for governments to develop measures to control the spread of...

IUCN welcomes first-of-kind World Rowing pledge to avoid impacts on natural World Heritage
25.01.2018

The World Rowing Federation FISA today became the first sporting body to announce its commitment to ensuring that activities under its control will not damage natural World Heritage sites, which IUCN monitors as the official advisory body on nature to the...

An economist's view of forest landscape restoration
17.01.2018

The Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology has proven effective for countries in planning their restoration actions. A large part of this process consists of comparing the costs and benefits of different restoration options, the...

Achieving successful conservation plans: revised Guidelines for Species Conservation Planning
05.01.2018

The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) has released its revised Guidelines for Species Conservation Planning, which aim to ensure conservationists can develop appropriate and realistic conservation plans for species in the current era of profound...

IUCN Statement to UN Environment Assembly, 2017
06.12.2017

On 6 December, during the third session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, IUCN Director General Inger Andersen delivered IUCN’s official statement on how addressing pollution is essential to achieving the...

Unsustainable food systems threaten wild crop and dolphin species – IUCN Red List
05.12.2017

Tokyo, Japan, 5 December 2017 (IUCN) – Species of wild rice, wheat and yam are threatened by overly intensive agricultural production and urban expansion, whilst poor fishing practices have caused steep declines in the Irrawaddy Dolphin and Finless Porpoise,...

Protected areas across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific boosted with €60 million investment
28.11.2017

The European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States have invested €60 million in the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) Programme over the next six years – making it one of the largest EU biodiversity...