Blogs

A variety of wild and cultivated orchids for sale. Most orchids are CITES listed on CITES Appendix II, and are important products in the domestic and international wildlife trade.

Reforms needed to the establishment of CITES trade bans

The international legal wildlife trade involves thousands of species of plants, animals and fungi. Ensuring that this trade remains sustainable is the role of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and it does so through the listing of species in one of its three Appendices, with corresponding trade…

What can the future of conservation look like? Courtesy of Rodrigo Oyanedel

Conservation and human rights abuses: why is this still happening?

In the past few weeks there has been a flood of news coverage about human rights abuses in the name of conservation. Some of these abuses may be due simply to a lack of adequate selection, training and supervision procedures for armed park guards in parts of the world where the rule of law is weak. Others, however, go deeper: they are related to the continued dominance in conservation of a…

A pinch of optimism and a spoonful of solutions journalism

As a journalism student, I used to find reading the news daily an incredibly depressing task. Having a background in conservation, I was saddened to see that deforestation, species’ extinction and a whole cloud of doom and gloom seemed to be the only allowed angle to report on the environment.

Sometimes the best ideas spring into mind when you're at…

Empowering hope through the Key Conservation app

Conservation organizations don’t have the luxury of standing still. Every day, conservationists around the globe are out fighting tough battles to save species and ecosystems. Money is scarce, so are supplies, skills and time. If an emergency arises, such as a lion being caught in a snare or a patrol vehicle getting stuck in mud, where does the additional support and…

A Call to Saiga People

How anyone can help saigas from their computer, right now, without donating any money or major amounts of time... seriously.

Working in a saiga antelope consumer country I've become increasingly aware of one small truth, most consumers of saiga horn have never even heard of the word 'saiga'. Now, this is none too…

Implementing Unmatched Count Technique in the field

Implementing UCT in the field

The Unmatched Count Technique (UCT) is increasingly used in conservation to measure the prevalence of sensitive behaviours (e.g. purchasing wild turtle meat). There is growing interest in using this technique but its design and implementation can present some challenges, so must not…