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convention on biological diversitylatest news & developments
The theme for World Wildlife Day on 3 March is ‘Connecting people and planet: Exploring digital innovation in wildlife conservation’. (Photo by: Mark Conlin/VW PICS/UIG via Getty Image)
AFRICAN WILDLIFE ECONOMY INSTITUTE

Use of wild species should benefit people but how to achieve sustainable, safe and legal use is unclear

The theme for World Wildlife Day on 3 March is ‘Connecting people and planet: Exploring digital innovation in wildlife conservation’

  • Francis Vorhies
  • Wiseman Ndlovu
6 min read
Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. (Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
BARBARA CREECY

SA will push for conservation funds at UN biodiversity summit – Creecy

As a mega-biodiverse country, South Africa has ‘special role’ to play in the negotiations

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
Workers replant mangrove trees at the site of a state-sponsored mangrove reforestation project in the Hamata area south of Marsa Alam along Egypt’s southern Red Sea coast on September 16, 2022. Photo: Getty Images
AFRICA

Invest in biodiversity: Inaction is no longer a choice

Effective action needs to understand the linkages between biodiversity loss, climate change, economic development and the need for a conservation approach that is integrated and…

  • Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya
5 min read
Defenders: The Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has more than 680 rangers from local villages. They are employed by the Congolese National Park Authority to protect it from poachers and logging but militia groups have killed more than 200 rangers since 1925. Photo: Alexis Huguet/AFP
AFRICA

Save Africa from conservationists

Indigenous peoples know how to conserve biodiversity far better than any so-called experts in the capitalist Global North

  • Aby L Sène
6 min read
Rethink: Large subsidies are spent on industries harmful to nature, such as commercial fishing. (Nathan Laine/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
BIODIVERSITY

Rethink needed on subsidies harmful to nature

The COP15 biodiversity summit in China will assess subsidies that promote unsustainable levels of production such as in the fossil fuel, fishing and agriculture sectors

  • Laure Fillon
3 min read
Netters try to catch sardines at the Amanzimtoti beach, south of Durban on July 3, 2019. – Like the running of the bulls in Spain, the migration of the wild-beast across Kenya, the sardine run along South Africa’s East Coast is an annual event attracting thousands of locals and tourists. Each year massive shoals of sardines stretching hundreds of miles draw thousands of sharks, dolphins and gannets hovering above the fish. Masses of fishermen, locals line the shores to watch, catch and some sell them. (RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP)
ALBI MODISE

Call for SA to join 30% conservation target to stem nature loss, climate change

But others argue that the conservation plan will amount to the ‘biggest land grab in history’

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Despite the country’s globally significant biodiversity, ecosystems across terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine environments are under escalating pressure.
30X30 PLAN

Kunming Declaration on biodiversity: A show of political will that lacks targets

More than 100 countries pledged to better protect nature at UN biodiversity talks last week

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
Rural people are dispossessed and displaced by companies that collect awards for ESG credentials, corporate social investment and sector excellence. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
BIODIVERSITY

Human rights must be at the heart of global biodiversity framework

The UN special rapporteur on human rights and environment says conservation doesn’t mean ‘pristine wilderness’, free from human inhabitants

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read
A landmark report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in May last year painted a bleak picture of our planet’s health.
BIODIVERSITY

A healthy Earth needs its indigenous people

They have played a crucial role in protecting biodiversity on their land but are largely relegated to the back seats in discussions at the local and international levels that aim…

  • Terry Teegee
6 min read