In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
Mining officers have been entrusted with the responsibility of identifying illegal routes leading to riverbeds for carrying out illegal mining activities. The decision was taken while chalking out action plan to be implemented in compliance with previous directions issued by the court and the state to effectively curb illegal mining …
Legalizing the ivory trade could more quickly make elephants extinct, a study released September 15 suggests. It finds that the demand for ivory is far greater than the amount of ivory that can be harvested sustainably. This contradicts an earlier proposition by ivory trade supporters that a sustainable trade that …
Indonesia will in November become the first country in the world to export wood products to the European Union meeting new environmental standards in a move aimed at bolstering transparency and curbing illicit logging. Officials from both parties unveiled measures on Thursday to ensure timber exports to the trade bloc, …
The notice, issued on August 30, stems from an investigation by the Brazilian Federal Police that uncovered a technique employed by illegal timber traders in the country. The method in question involves obtaining fraudulent forest management plans that declare a higher density of a high-value timber species within a timber …
Police in Namibia have recovered 57 elephant tusks and arrested 16 people for poaching since March this year. Namibian Police Deputy Inspector General for Operations James Tjivikua told media Tuesday that 32 elephant carcasses were found during the period, of which 11 were said to have been killed by poachers. …
The National Green Tribunal has sought a detailed list of persons allegedly involved in illegal mining along Betwa River bank in Jalaun and Hamirpur districts of Uttar Pradesh. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the district magistrates of both the districts to place the list of …
Three miners who have been trapped in an abandoned gold mine in the South African city of Johannesburg since Wednesday have emerged alive. The men fled the scene as soon as they came out fearing they would be arrested for illegal mining, police said. Others though remain trapped. It is …
Myanmar is home to almost 5,000 captive elephants, many who work alongside humans in the logging industry. A 2015 forestry assessment done by the UN found Myanmar had the third highest rate of annual forest reduction in the world. Lost habitat and a ban have left elephants with less habitat …
Dozens of African rangers are killed each year by increasingly well-armed and -organized poachers in a bloody conflict over the continent’s wildlife. Due to skyrocketing consumer demand, particularly from Asia, today’s wildlife traffickers have the resources to outfit their henchmen with weaponry and equipment that often outmatches that of the …
As talks about a complete ban on both the international and domestic markets heat up, the Swaziland government accuses western NGOs of being ‘armchair preservationists’ Black rhinos, one of the world’s endangered animals, in the north west province of South Africa. The government of Swaziland has called the destruction of …
Nations and environmental groups have agreed to shut down the domestic ivory trade, despite the resolution nearly being derailed by objections from countries including Japan and South Africa. Following three days of political maneuvering, disagreements and walkouts, delegates at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) congress in Hawaii …
In 2015, at least 50 rhinos were killed in Zimbabwe by poachers. Zimbabwe has been using dehorning as a policy to protect its rhinos against poaching since the 1990s. Dehorning, used in conjunction with intensive paramilitary protection, can help curb poaching, conservationist says. In 2015, at least 1,338 rhinos were …
The motion was proposed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), with 18 co-sponsors, and adopted with a majority of IUCN members. Governments and NGOs are pushing to ban the commercial trade in pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammal. They passed a motion last week at the IUCN World Conservation …
After the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banning the unscientific rat hole mining and transportation of coal in Meghalaya, East Jaintia Hills District police have so far seized around 319 coal laden trucks and arrested as many as 544 persons who were allegedly involved in coal mining activities defying green tribunal …
The latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reports that species like the Giant Panda, Tibetan Antelope, the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby, and the Greater Stick-nest rate have improved in their conservation status thanks to effective conservation efforts. However, over-hunting is wiping out many mammals such as the …
LAIKIPIA, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Deep within the Mukogodo forest in central Kenya, a community of traditional hunter gatherers are working with the government to help expand forests and crack down on illegal logging and poaching using ancient conservation techniques. The Yiaaku are hailed a model of collaboration with …
The anti-poaching campaign has gained momentum after the Arusha Resident Magistrate's Court sentenced two poachers, Damas Komba and Jamal Athuman, to total of 40 years imprisonment or pay a fine of over 970m/- for illegal possession of government trophies. Resident Magistrate Chrisanta Chitanda convicted the two accused persons last Friday …
Elephants are known for their gentle nature and impeccable memory. However, these gentle giants own amazing ivory tusks that make them target to poachers and hunters when left in the wild. With their 22-month gestation period, it takes a while for them to maintain their population, let alone increase them …
Before the morning mists had broken over Ivory Coast's Mont Peko National Park, thousands of newly homeless cocoa farmers and their families began to stir, fetching water and lighting cooking fires outside Sylvain Zongo's church at the forest edge. "I don't know what I am going to do. All I …
In the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya, when the fierce heat of the sun has softened into a gentle evening glow, David Daballen and I climb into a jeep to find some elephants. As we drive through the savannah, Daballen, a conservationist at Save the Elephants, points out family …
