In May of 2015 a Kazakh population of the saiga antelope was hit by an extreme mass mortality event, during which over 200,000 animals died.  Reporting in 2018, an international group of scientists lead by Prof. Richard Kock of the Royal Veterinary College identified the cause of death as haemorrhagic septicaemia, caused by a specific serotype (B) of the bacterium…

Conservation is challenging and often highly complex. Researchers are increasingly required to understand the motivations and drivers of a growing diversity of damaging behaviours, in order to determine how to most effectively steer the public, governments and businesses towards more sustainable behaviours. In response, conservation researchers are increasingly…

I couldn’t believe my luck: my first job after a conservation MSc involved spending a year tracking 19 radio-collared elephant families in Africa’s oldest game park. What I learnt during that first year and the next 6 months writing it all up, was fascinating. In 1981, after nearly 100 years of absence, the first elephants were reintroduced to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi region of…

The ocean is the world’s largest and arguably most important ecosystem. Oceans cover 71% of the world’s surface, produce half of the oxygen we breath and absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions. It is estimated to be home to over 1 million species, many of which are yet to be discovered and described by science.

Each year, these ocean…

Strict protectionism or ‘fortress’ has long been a popular approach towards protecting Africa’s wildlife in the face of multiple pressures, such as land-use change, or bushmeat hunting. However, from the late 1980s, conservationists began to realise that ‘fortress’ conservation does not always effectively safeguard biodiversity and can raise serious ethical issues. Loss of…

This blog was originally posted by the International Institute for Environment and Development blog found here. 

The age-old tradition of hunting wild meat has, in many cases, become unsustainable. Efforts to change local habits have had little effect. Ahead of this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity, guest blogger Stephanie Brittain argues that to protect biodiversity,…