The WWF’s new Living Planet report highlights a 58% decline in the abundance of 3,706 animal species since 1970, reinforcing the fear that humanity is bringing about a sixth mass extinction. The roots of this fear stretch back more than a century, when a series of well-publicised extinctions provided incontrovertible evidence that human actions could
A slightly edited version of this article was publish by Geographical Magazine on 26 Oct 2016. It was a bit of a hit and its nice to know that so many people are interested to read about birdwatching. The face of British bird watching is undergoing a transformation: in the last decade telescope carrying birders
Photo: Paul Jepson This is the text of a lecture I delivered in the Valuing Nature Keynote lecture series in London on 22 September 2016 ---------------------------------------------------- Helen Meach, CEO of Rewilding Britain started a recent article in Ecos with the statement: “Britain is one of the most ecologically depleted nations on Earth”. Given
To coincide with the Rio Olympics we have posted a short series of blogs to reflect on and discuss the future of Rio State's fabulous state parks. Photo: Susanne F. Schmitt Nature, wildlife and parks are central to Rio's identity internationally and within Brazil: the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer watches over
In the last 30 years Brazil has significantly expanded its network of protected areas (PAs) : nowadays over 17% of terrestrial land and inland waters and 1.5% of coastal and marine areas are protected. The Brazilian protected area system is the largest in the world. Brazil is recognised internationally for its leadership in biodiversity conservation
By Paul Jepson, Richard J. Ladle and Susanne F. Schmitt. Photo; Richard J. Ladle When we were started out in conservation in the 1980s the Golden Lion Tamarin (hereafter GLT) was the poster child for species conservation. The species is restricted to the Atlantic rainforests of southeast Brazil (Rio de Janeiro State) and in
By Paul Jepson and Richard Ladle Ilha Grande is a prize asset within Rio State’s protected area portfolio. This former leper colony and political prison has exceptional scenic beauty – rainforest clad mountains meet sandy coves and azure seas. We visited the island to test and develop our Protected Asset Framework. There are no roads and
Ten years ago Rio State invested in the creation of a portfolio of state parks. Over Easter we visited Tres Picos, located 100k m outside Rio de Janerio, to field test our protected area asset framework. The biophysical assets associated with Tres Picos are outstanding: scenic rock massifs rise out of rainforest clad mountains which
Originally published on the Freshwaterblog on 24 June 2016 Back in May I presented a policy brief authored by Frans Schepers of Rewiding Europe and myself to aRewilding Dorset meeting organised by Adrian Newton and Arjan Gosal of the University of Bournemouth. The county of Dorset is located on the South coast of Britain and
I was a founding member of the OBC, its first joint conservation officer and second chairman. I have resigned my membership and this is why. For me the founding of OBC in 1985 was a manifestation of a new birding movement: a coming together of action-minded birders who wanted to make something happen. I recall
