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News articles on Conservation

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Mongabay.com news articles on conservation in blog format. Updated regularly.

The real story of Madagascar; new information site explores the island
(5/31/2005) Mongabay.com today announced the official launch of WildMadagascar.org, an information site on the island country of Madagascar. The site features more than 3000 photos from across Madagsacar in addition to information on the country's unique flora and fauna, national park profiles, and a wealth of other resources including maps, a travel forum, and news updates.


Dancing lemur attracts tourists to island of Madagascar
(5/30/2005) In the dry deciduous forests of south western Madagascar there lives a lemur that loudly cusses but "dances" like a ballet performer. Verreaux's sifaka is among the most popular of lemur species, a group of primates endemic to islands off the southeastern coast of Africa. While threatened, Verreaux's sifaka is easily spotted is several of Madagascar's more accessible parks.


New monkey discovered in Tanzania
(5/19/2005) Africa's first new species of monkey for over 20 years has been discovered in remote mountains in the southern Tanzania. The Highland Mangabey was first discovered by biologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in a remote highland forest.


Farming the world's largest fish - an alternative to deforestation
(5/19/2005) Integrated aquaculture offers great potential for sustainable poverty allievation in the Amazon region. It reduces the need to clear land for subsistence agriculture while generating significant economic and nutritional benefits for poor Amazonian colonists.


Should environmentalists fear logging or learn to understand its impact?
(5/18/2005) Environmentalists usually oppose logging, associating it with deforestation and biodiversity loss. A new report, Life after logging: reconciling wildlife conservation and production forestry in Indonesian Borneo, from CIFOR suggests that in reality, many logging operations have a lesser impact than than generally believed by conservationists. Further, since more forests in Borneo -- the area of study -- are allocated for logging than for protected areas it is imperative that we have a better understanding of how biological diversity and ecological services can be maintained in such areas and how they can be integrated with protected areas into "multi-functional conservation landscapes." Conservationists, loggers, and policy-makers alike need to recognize that logged-over forests have conservation value and work to ensure that these areas are indeed used for this purpose especially when other options for biodiversity conservation are not available.


Rebuilding tsunami-ravaged Indonesia without further deforestation
(5/12/2005) American Forest & Paper Association joins World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International in seeking donated timber for Indonesia.


Bizarre rodent discovered in Southeast Asia; Oddity new to science
(5/11/2005) A team of scientists working in Southeast Asia have discovered a long-whiskered rodent with stubby legs and a tail covered in dense hair. But don't call it a squirrel. Or a rat. Because it's actually more like a guinea pig or chinchilla. But not quite. In fact the new species, found in Laos by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other groups, is so unique it represents an entire new family of wildlife.


New fox species discovered in jungle of Borneo
(5/10/2005) Scientists may have discovered a new species of fox-like mammal in the rainforests of Borneo. The animal was caught on film by an automatic infra-red camera positioned in the forest of the Kayam Menterong National Park in the Indonesian section of the island during a survey by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Scientists say the animal is has a reddish-colored coat, a bushy tail, and slightly extended back legs, suggesting that it may be partly arboreal. Local hunters failed to recognize the creature from the pictures.


Environmentalists hope new film will help conservation efforts in Madagascar
(5/6/2005) Environmentalists hope new film will help conservation efforts in Madagascar.


Ethnologists attempt to show forest dwellers perils of leaving the rain forest
(5/5/2005) A team of experts has spent months comparing the lives of the Punan people, who still live as hunter-gatherers in the forest of Indonesian Borneo, with those of tribe members who have been lured away by civilisation.


For What It's Worth: Ecological Services and Conservation
(5/4/2005) For a long time, preserving natural spaces was considered to be a favor to the environment without a true, measurable benefit to businesses, industrial production and productivity. In recent years however, scientists are increasingly producing substantial evidence to support the notion that the natural environment supplies a diverse range of renewable economic benefits beyond timber and fish. These benefits are termed “ecological services” and provide such valuable functions as water treatment, pollination and sediment capture, simply by remaining intact.


Circumventing Washington: Corporate America and activists bypass the White House
(4/27/2005) Corporate America, Activists & Circumventing Washington: A New Approach to Environmental Lobbying. Green groups partner with corporate interests to bring changes in business practices.


Freshwater aquarium fish under threat in the wild
(4/22/2005) Some of those fish you see swimming around the tanks at your local fish store are rarer than you might think. The natural habitats of tropical freshwater fish are increasingly threatened by human activities, and while at times the hobby has been been at odds with conservation, the role of aquariasts in preserving species is growing in importance.


Honduran priest recognized as environmental hero with $125,000 award
(4/22/2005) On April 18th, 2005, Father José Andrés Tamayo Cortez was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to preserve and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Each winner receives an award of $125,000, the largest of its kind.


Okapi, other wildlife saved in the Congo by forest protector
(4/21/2005) Corneille Ewango of the Wildlife Conservation Society today received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for risking his life helping to protect one of Africa's environmental gems—the Okapi Faunal Reserve—from the depredations of rebel militias in the wartorn region of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.


Another look at global rainforest conservation
(4/19/2005) With Earth Day approaching it is appropriate to take another look at conservation efforts in the world's tropical rainforests, which today are disappearing from the face of the globe. Despite growing international concern, rainforests continue to be destroyed at a pace exceeding 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) per day. So, what should be done?


Seeking the world's strangest primate on a tropical island paradise
(4/17/2005) Seeking the world's strangest primate on a tropical island paradise


Poachers kill flagship tiger for conservation efforts in Russia
(4/4/2005) Poachers kill flagship tiger for conservation efforts in Russia


Organization of Rainforest Conservation Efforts
(3/1/2005) To best meet the complex requirements for rainforest conservation, it is imperative that we balance conservation efforts between the local, national, and international sectors. Empowerment over forests and their resources should begin on the local level of individual communities with municipal governments overseeing parks. State agencies--with guidance and assistance from intergovernmental institutions and non-government organizations (NGOs)-- need to help formulate broader conservation strategies and provide expertise in protecting and managing protected areas. Partnerships between participants are necessary to fuse scientific, economic, and social information and formulate an overall plan for the use and conservation of tropical rainforests..


Determining Rainforest Reserve Placement
(3/1/2005) After taking note of high-diversity areas and species at greatest risk of extinction, park designers must consider other factors before designating a protected area. It is always important to monitor human use of forest lands before the designation of a national park. The presence of trails, the location of current and predicted human settlement, and land and resource use are all consequential in determining whether the forest land is suitable for protection. If local people are unhappy with restricted access to parklands, chances are they will not respect park boundaries. Along these same lines, planners generally attempt to measure the economic potential of natural forest management of the area as an alternative to deforestation. Also of great importance is the spatial distribution and quality of habitat, Clearly, when given a choice between degraded and natural habitat, it is better to protect the higher-quality area. Researchers also look at species distributions when determining what areas to declare off-limits.


Reserve Size - Rainforests
(3/1/2005) As forests are set aside as reserves, usually in the regions of the highest diversity, the question of reserve size comes into play. Obviously as much land as possible should be protected to some degree, but whether to keep a single large reservoir or several small reserves has been a controversial issue in conservation biology over the past two decades. Bitter fighting between the two camps in the SLOSS debate (single large or several small) has resulted in squandered time, money, resources, and credibility, and has divided groups that should be united in saving the planet's environment. A single large reserve is advantageous because it possesses larger populations of each species and a more stable environment. On the other hand, a single large reserve is subject to devastation by a single catastrophic event like a fire, flood, or disease. Breaking the reserve into separate pieces reduces the risk of complete population loss by a single event, but diminishes the size of the species populations and puts them at a higher risk of extinction. In addition, if the reserve is too small it may experience system decay resulting in the loss of many species. Small reserves are particularly affected by the invasion of alien species. Studies have shown that domestic mammals will venture up to three miles (5 km) into the rainforest, not only introducing disease and alien plant seeds, but also eating eggs, destroying nests, and crushing seedlings. Finally many species require a certain threshold-population size or range to persist..


How to Save Tropical Rainforests - Introduction
(3/1/2005) Today tropical rainforests are disappearing from the face of the globe. Despite growing international concern, rainforests continue to be destroyed at a pace exceeding 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) per day. World rainforest cover now stands at around 2.5 million square miles (6 million square kilometers), an area about the size of the contiguous 48 United States or Australia and representing around 5 percent of the world's land surface. Much of this remaining area has been impacted by human activities and no longer retains its full original biodiversity..


Saving What Rainforest Remains
(3/1/2005) The third part to resolving the deforestation problem is setting aside land for conservation. As this site has tried to make clear, conservation will not work without consideration for economic realities. The fate of parks and reserves rests largely in the hands of local people and only by improving their living conditions can saving rainforests through any sort of protected-areas system be addressed. Studies have shown that deforestation and encroachment on parklands generally diminish as the quality of life improves. The previous sections have discussed the means by which we can hope to accomplish such an elevation of living conditions from local people. This final section focuses on the mechanisms through which we can preserve some remaining areas of forest. There are two main components: prioritizing, through research and valuation, what areas to conserve, and organizing the conservation effort..


International Conservation Organizations
(3/1/2005) Today international conservation organizations serve as environmental consultants for governments and large corporations interested in reducing pollution, setting aside protected areas, and conserving biodiversity. Organizations like the International Conservation Union (IUCN), Conservation International (CI), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) act as mediators between various development interests, policy makers, local peoples, scientists, and activist groups in promoting conservation. These organizations initiate and support a broad range of conservation-related activities, from arranging international conferences to establishing community-based conservation projects to maintaining parks and reserves. Keeping attuned to economic realities, they work to integrate the latest scientific findings into preservation efforts.


Saving Tropical Rainforests
(3/1/2005) Simply banning the timber trade or establishing reserves will not be enough to salvage the world's remaining tropical rainforests. In order for the forests to be preserved, the underlying social, economic, and political reasons for deforestation must be recognized and addressed. Once the issues are brought into the light, the decision can be made about what should be done. If it is decided that rainforests must be saved, then the creation of multi-use reserves that promote sustainable development and education of local peoples would be a good place to start. Currently about 6 percent of the world's remaining forests are protected, meaning that over 90 percent are still open for the taking. However, even this 6 percent is not safe if the proper steps towards sustainable development are not taken. Where possible, reforestation and restoration projects should be encouraged if we, humanity, hope to emerge from the current environmental situation without serious, long-term consequences..


Funding Tropical Rainforest Conservation
(3/1/2005) Now that we have prioritized what forest areas should be set aside for reserves, we must focus on implementation and management of these protected areas. Clearly all three steps will require a broad spectrum of participants, from local farmers to CEOs of multinational corporations to high-ranking government officials. Without cooperation, any protected-areas system is destined to fail..



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