   |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
Latest News
The National Strategy is oriented towards the prevention, control and eradication of invasive species in Mexico, providing guidance for the coordinated participation and the active and responsible cooperation of all stakeholders involved in the implementation of actions to monitor, detect, control and eradicate invasive species. Shot over a period of three years (with much of the footage captured by SEAPRE scientists in the field), ISLAND INVADERS describes
Following IUCN’s recommendations, the landscapes of France’s La Reunion Island, Russia’s Siberian Putorana Plateau and the Phoenix Islands Protected Areas of Kiribati have been added to the List of Natural World Heritage sites by UNESCO. The Committee also decided to add Danxia (China) to the List. “La Reunion contains an impressive mosaic of dramatic landscapes and very valuable ecosystems and also serves as a last refuge for the many threatened and endangered species on the entire Mascarene Archipelago,” says Tim Badman, Head of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme. “Controlling alien invasive species will be an ongoing challenge in the management of this property."
The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka and Papahanaumokuakea in Hawai’i were added to the list of World Heritage sites by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, currently meeting in Brasilia. The Committee continues its consideration of natural sites for inscription.
Following the recommendations of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), important rainforest areas in Madagascar and the Everglades National Park (USA) have been added to the List of World Heritage in Danger at the World Heritage annual meeting, currently taking place in Brasilia. The Everglades National Park, a sanctuary for birds and reptiles and home to 20 rare, endangered and threatened species, has been added to the Danger List upon request by the USA. It had previously been on this List from 1993 until 2007 because of the large amount of water diverted from the Park to nearby cities, which dried out the wetland habitats and caused a 90 percent drop in the population of wetland birds. The World Heritage Committee decided to remove the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) from the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger, despite IUCN´s recommendation to the contrary.
Representatives from amongst the 186 states that are signatories to the World Heritage Convention will meet at the World Heritage Committee’s annual meeting in Brasilia from 25 July to 3 August. The first world heritage site, the Galapagos Islands (Islands of the Tortoises) of Ecuador consists of an archipelago of 19 volcanic islands in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, 973 km off the Pacific coast of South America.
The South Georgia Habitat Restoration Project is now formally underway! Following public consultation on our plans, the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) gave consent for the Project to start fieldwork next season -February/March 2011 - and the Board of the SG Heritage Trust immediately instructed the Project Director to commence the operation.
Put together, the UK’s overseas territories are fifth in the world league table of bird extinctions, with at least ten species from the territories going to oblivion since 1500AD, partially or wholly because of the impact of non-native mammals, such as rats, feral cats, mice and pigs…
After a week of intense negotiations, governments have agreed to establish a new mechanism, which will strengthen the dialogue between the scientific community and policymakers on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The so-called 'IPBES' - the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - will be a leading body in making scientifically sound and relevant information available to support more informed decisions on how biodiversity and ecosystem services are conserved and used around the world.
Aliens: The Invasive Species Bulletin
Towards an early warning and information system for invasive alien species (IAS) threatening biodiversity in Europe
BirdLife International announces today, in an update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for birds, the extinction of Alaotra Grebe Tachybaptus rufolavatus.
The United Nations has declared 2010 as the ‘International Year of Biodiversity’. For the next 12 months we will be celebrating biological diversity – the variety of life on earth – and boosting awareness of how important it is for our lives..
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group..
A detailed analysis of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, "Wildlife in a Changing World – an analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ has just been published. The IUCN analysis is published every four years. The report analyses 44,838 species on the IUCN Red List and presents results by groups of species, geographical regions, and different habitats, such as marine, freshwater and terrestrial. Results from the report shows nearly one third of amphibians, more than one in eight birds and nearly a quarter of mammals are threatened with extinction. Overall, a minimum of 16,928 species are threatened with extinction. There are 869 recorded extinctions, with 804 species listed as Extinct and 65 listed as Extinct in the Wild:
The threat of invasive species:
more >> Visit from the Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) The work of the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) and the Pacific Invasives Initiative (PII) received attention from the Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Saturday, 6 June, 2009. Ms Julia Marton Lefevre met members of the two groups at the Tamaki Campus of The University of Auckland, to discuss New Zealand’s world-leading role in invasive species management.
The Director-General was accompanied by Taholo Kami (IUCN Regional Director, Oceania), Diane Shand (IUCN Regional Councillor, Oceania) and Andrew Bignell (Manager International Relations, Department of Conservation). Prior to her visit to Tamaki Campus, Ms Lefevre had been taken to invasive species management projects at Karori in Wellington and Tiritiri Matangi in Auckland. As a result of her experiences in New Zealand and discussions with members of the ISSG and PII staff, the Director-General acknowledged the importance of invasive species management in both biodiversity and livelihood areas and pledged IUCN support for the programmes. Ms Marton-Lefevre’s visit, her first to the region, had been highly anticipated and highlighted IUCN’s role and experiences in providing a rich platform for all stakeholders to share environmental issues in the region. Her visit also provided the opportunity for discussions to strengthen the role of IUCN in delivering its value propositions with IUCN commission members, members and potential members in the region. May 22nd 'The International Day for Biological Diversity 2009' Message from the Chair May 22nd 'The International Day for Biological Diversity 2009' was dedicated to invasive alien species. Scientific evidence indicates that biological invasions are growing at an unprecedented rate, posing increasing threats to the diversity of life, and also disrupting ecosystem functionality. Global economies, as well as water supply, food security and human health are impacted negatively. Despite the urgency to take action against invasions, public awareness on the issue is inadequate. The celebration on May 22nd hopefully made the international community realise the high costs that we are all paying to the globalization of economies, and convinced decision makers to implement the principles that were agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (http://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=7197), but never fully applied. ISSG is ready to do its bit for supporting global action toward biological invasions; our network of leading specialists provide technical advice to policy makers, and, ISSG disseminates the most current and reliable information on invasive species ecology, their impacts on biological diversity and ways to prevent and control their spread. Piero Genovesi more>> Italian Minister of Environment announces support to the Global Invasive Species Database
The Italian Ministry of Environment is committed to provide financial contributions to enhance the improvement of the GISD and, in particular, to integrate it with other information services, thus increasing support to decision makers. The commitment of the Italian Minister is a first implementation of the actions listed in the Syracuse Charter on Biodiversity, agreed at the last G8 Environment Ministers meeting, which calls for developing and strengthening actions to prevent and control the spread of invasive alien species, and support to global information systems.
|
|
Celebrating Biodiversity
To coincide with the International Year of Biodiversity and increase awareness of the huge variety of life and to raise the profile of threatened species, IUCN has launched the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ “Species of the Day”. Each day in 2010, a different species will be featured on a range of websites and through other media channels. A variety of all life on earth will be showcased, including both charismatic and obscure species. Related links: IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature SSC, Species Survival Commission Directory of SSC Specialist Groups
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Italian Minister of the Environment, Stefania Prestigiacomo, has announced financial support for the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD), the freely accessible online database of the ISSG. The GISD is acknowledged as the most authoritative and comprehensive database on alien species at the global scale. Following the appointment of Piero Genovesi as the new ISSG chair, GISD will be hosted at the Environmental Protection and Research Institute (ISPRA) in Rome, Italy.