WILD

REDD+: Conservation’s Role in the Fight Against Climate Change

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing is moving towards including tropical forest conservation in addition to sustainable forestry practices in its Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation mechanism. Including conservation in REDD - making REDD into REDD+ - draws attention to the huge potential of carbon sequestration through wilderness protection. Wild nature and wilderness areas - on land and sea - are critically important from a climate change perspective: they keep large amounts of carbon locked up, they absorb carbon out of the atmosphere, and they help ... Read More

Ian Player Perspective – The Horn

I remember very clearly my first encounter with the White Rhino, in the Imfolozi Game Reserve, which I have described in some detail in my book ‘The White Rhino Saga.' But some years after that experience I was talking with the renowned South African ecologist Jim Feely (living in Australia now for many years), and he mentioned that the largest horn of a White Rhino had come from what is today Namibia. I then acquired a copy of Rowland Ward's ‘Record of Big Game - Fourth Edition' and I started to look for the record of the size of the ... Read More

Ian Player Perspective – Lake St. Lucia

The current crisis on Lake St Lucia, the pearl of iSimangaliso Wetland Park (a UN World Heritage Area) as it is now known, began a long time ago, probably when the great Zulu king Shaka rose to power in the 1800's and began increasing the cattle herds in the Imfolozi catchments. The concomitant soil erosion apart from the natural erosion with the great floods of that period led to a gradual silting of the Lake. However, when I first visited Imfolozi Game Reserve in 1952 the White Imfolozi River was dry, but there were pools 20 feet deep in ... Read More

Ecotourism in the Gourma

I've been studying for the GMAT over the last month so you must excuse the structure of this blog post; I used it to practice my analysis of an issue analytical writing assignment, (short for can you compose sentences in English). Eco-tourism as a tool for development really is an important topic to debate and one I've gone back and forth on in my time here for and against. As of now, I'm pro but I'd love to hear others opinions on the subject. Some abbreviated thoughts... The use of eco-tourism as a tool for development and conservation of ... Read More

First Robust Indicator How Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity

We all know that our climate is changing, rapidly. We also know that the impact of our changing climate is and will continue to affect humans, plants, weather, animals, oceans --- entire ecosystems. Now there is a robust tool to measure and monitor the impacts of climate change on biodiversity - the first of its kind. This indicator is a major milestone, and is already being used by the European Commission to assess progress toward the target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.  Significant biodiversity loss of will create havoc....globally. [caption id="attachment_3746" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="The Common Snipe, ... Read More

Wilderness Conference in Prague

From May 27-28, 2009, policy makers, academics, governments and experts in the field of wilderness will gather in Prague for the Conference on Wilderness and Large Natural Habitat. Jointly hosted by the Czech Presidency of the EU and the European Commission, this invitation only conference will focus heavily on policy efforts to better define, assess and protect wild areas in Europe.  It will, for the first time, provide a platform for politicians, academics, environmentalists and other interested groups with the aim of developing a coordinated strategy for protection and restoration of wilderness and the wild areas in Europe.  The timing ... Read More

The Tug of War Over the Olympic Games and Nature Protection in the Caucaus

Vladimir Putin is working very hard to maintain a squeaky clean image of the upcoming 2014 Olympic Games to take place near Sochi in the Caucasus region of Russia. Organizers are vowing it will be carbon neutral, the "greenest" Olympic games ever (after a high bar was set in Bejing), and respectful of the nearby nature reserves. The wild areas in question include the Western Caucasus reserve and Sochi National Park. What has complicated matters for the Russian government is (1) the status of the Western Caucasus reserve as a UNESCO World Heritage site (2) the Sport ... Read More

Where are we? Perspective on where we stand on climate change…

The latest round of United Nations climate negotiations recently concluded - this time the meetings were held in Poznan, Poland in December, 2008 - and unfortunately, the results were less than conclusive. Wilderness protection - including non-forested areas such as wetlands or areas with carbon rich soils - can and should be a major component of any global response to climate change, but we will have to wait a little longer to see whether this critical message is being heard. If you tend to view the glass as half empty, there are plenty of reasons to view these talks as a ... Read More

A “New Wave” of Protection for Marine Wilderness Areas

In 2006 the Government of Kiribati established the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, a marine protected area covering almost 160,000 square miles (an area the size of California) - almost 12% of the Micronesian country's waters - and safeguarding an area of immense biological richness. Also in 2006, the Bush Administration established the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, protecting the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: at almost 140,000 square miles, this area is larger than all of the United States' national parks combined. Finally, this year, one of the final acts of the Bush Administration was to add the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, ... Read More

A Dramatic Rise in Rhino Poaching in South Africa…

...with reports for 2008 ranging from 71 to100 illegal killings.  Having just concluded a series of meetings with senior political, scientific and conservation experts during the last two weeks, I can sadly but confidently confirm that the number of rhinos poached for their horn is at least in the mid- 90s. WILD has a personal and organizational history with this special, prehistoric-looking animal which exists in Africa as (generally) either the White or Black Rhino.   Ian Player, WILDs founder and patron, is 80 years old now but still plugged into the national conservation scene from his many years as a game ... Read More