New species of monkey discovered

Scientists have discovered what they believe to be a new species of monkey living in the northern eastern Myanmar region of Burma. The monkeys are distinctive in appearance due to their strange, upturned nostrils. The total population of this new species is estimated to be just 300 individuals and they are critically endangered. The new species has been named the Burmese snub-nosed monkey [read more]

African conservationists resort to 'shoot to kill’ to stop poaching

Rhino horns command a very high price in some parts of Asia where they are used in dubious medicines, which fuels poaching and puts already endangered species at further risk. Some poachers are heavily armed professionals, who will shoot people as well as animals in their quest for money.

In contrast, the development of nature tourism has generated a great deal of international pressure to save high-profile species. This has been to such an extent that some conservation groups regard the protection of the gorilla, rhino and other endangered species as more important than human life.

Professor Rosaleen Duffy has conducted research in this field and discovered that private security firms and mercenaries are now being used to train game rangers.

Sea eagle numbers increasing in Scotland

The RSPB has reported that pairs of white-tailed sea eagles in Scotland produced more young during 2010 than in any other year since they were reintroduced 35 years ago. The UK's largest bird of prey was hunted to extinction over the 19th and 20th Centuries and new birds had to be taken from countries such as Norway for re-introduction back to Scotland. Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham has said that the record increase in numbers is ‘fantastic’.

'Ten years' to solve nature crisis

The UN biodiversity convention meeting has opened with warnings that the ongoing loss of nature is hurting human societies as well as the natural world. Much hope is being pinned on economic analyses showing the loss of species and ecosystems is costing the global economy trillions of dollars each year.

Buddhist scholar Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki said 'the problem of nature is the problem of human life'. Today, unfortunately, human life is a problem for nature," he told delegates in his opening speech.

Concern over Serengeti road plans

A group of scientists writing in the journal Nature has appealed against a road planned in the Serengeti National Park, saying it would cause an environmental disaster and curtail wildebeest migration. The migration of the wildebeest was the "largest remaining migratory system on Earth", they said.

Instead, the scientists have proposed an alternative road running to the south of the park. However, there has been pressure to start building the 50km stretch of road through the north of the Serengeti due to increasing economic interest in central African mineral wealth. The planned road would form part of a link between Tanzania's coast and Lake Victoria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The proposed road could lead to the collapse of the largest remaining migratory system on Earth - a system that drives Tanzania's tourism trade and supports thousands of people," the appeal said.

Buying pieces of rainforest through organisations such as the World Land Trust is one way of helping to protect rainforests and wildlife habitats threatened by so-called ‘economic development’.