Living Buna project partners are calling interested residents of the Buna River Velipoja Protected Landscape in Albania to apply for funding for projects that would benefit socio-economic development and ecosystem restoration of the area. Call closes on 23 September 2019. Read more

More than 320 participants discussed Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework and the pressing challenges of our time as well as the proposed IUCN Programme for 2021-2024 and the regional priorities for the coming years. More information

Mobilising IUCN in Europe, North and Central Asia

En Route to Marseille

Overfishing has pushed two families of rays to the brink of extinction, while hunting for bushmeat and habitat loss have led to the decline of seven primate species, according to the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Read more

The oldest and one of the most biodiversity rich lakes in Europe is now recognised as World Heritage in its entirety. The already inscribed part of the Ohrid region, located in North Macedonia, was extended at the 2019 World Heritage Committee meeting held in July in Baku to include the remaining one-third of the lake in Albania. Read more

Environmental activists and bird lovers around the world are celebrating - Ulcinj Salina has been protected by the local municipality and proposed for the inclusion on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The next steps would be the restart of salt production and regulation of other ecosystem services to secure area's sustainable future. Read more 

Through its SOS Central Asia initiative, IUCN will provide small to medium-sized grants to civil society organisations working on the conservation of Goitered Gazelle and Snow Leopard and their habitats in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Call for proposals closed. The The Technical Advisory Group is reviewing submitted projects, and we look forward to announce the exciting news sometime in late 2019. Meanwhile learn more about our initiative.

By regularly researching and monitoring plant species, National Parks of Montenegro and the scientific institutions are maintaining the cartographic representation and defining pressures on ecosystems, habitats and types and measures for their protection. Emphasis is also placed on the compilation and systematization of data entered into the floristic database, so the National Parksʼ Database stays updated and relevant.

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According to the research of WWF-Russia, human caused fires are among the main threats to intact forests landscapes (IFL) in Russia. Almost 60% of this habitat, home to rare species of animals and plants, is lost due to human caused fires. Logging is confirmed to cause the loss of 23% of intact forests in Russia and mining 17%. Read more

CITES CoP18 in August 2019 discussed a proposal from Mongolia to move the Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) from Appendix I to Appendix II. The arguments included ensuring that wild specimens are not internationally traded, giving the populations a chance to recover from recent die offs, and ensuring adequate time to study the mass losses. Opposition to the proposal based arguments on growing numbers of the species in some regions and existing national moratoria on hunting. The CoP decided to leave Saiga on Appendix II, but include a zero-export quota on all Saiga species, effectively extending already existing national moratoriums. The saiga is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Read more

With the support of the Caucasus Nature Fund and WWF, NACRES initiated an innovative Tur monitoring program in Georgia to track the migratory patterns of the Tur (Capra caucasica cylindricornis) in order to better understand the habits and habitats of this wild ungulate – and to protect it better. Read more

Aiming to provide a model for local stakeholders, INCA is implementing a project that is providing solar power to protected areas visitor centers. Photovoltaic panels are already installed in three National Parks (Llogara, Divjaka-Karavasta and Thethi). The project is funded by the GEF Small Grant Program whit additional contributions from CELIM (Italian NGO) and INCA. Technical assistance is provided by the EuroElektra Company. Read more

The economies of South-East Europe (SEE) have confirmed their commitment to foster regional cooperation on biodiversity related issues and jointly progress towards achieving international commitments, including the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets adopted under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Read more

A major win for Albania's free-flowing rivers! Prime minister Edi Rama said the government will never again permit small hydropower project negatively affecting people and important natural areas. Furthermore, he said that no hydropower plant under 2 MW will be built, even those with issued permits, recognising that they are „useless and harmful“. Big win for all fighting to preserve Albania’s rivers! Read more

IUCN’s Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel is concerned that waters immediately outside the mouth of Piltun Lagoon in the Russian Far East may be losing their ability to support the recovery of Endangered western gray whales. Read more

Several authors have recognized the potential of Earth Observation for Environmental Law enforcement since the late 90s. As the technical capabilities have improved and costs have fallen in the past 20+ years, they mostly agree that what we need now increased awareness of the legal community and cooperation. Read more

The Agreement on cooperation in Environment Conservation was signed during the First Caspian Economic Forum, held in the city of Turkmenbashi on 11-12 August. Befor the year ends, experts from both sides will develop a plan for the implementation of possible projects and activities. Read more

Innovative solutions and technologies, such as Earth Observation tools, can fill critical data and information gaps, especially where human and financial resources are scarce. Uniting Earth Observation tools with the environmental law and legal domain provides novel and unique types of services that enable a number of actors to promote and advocate for legal compliance.  Read more

Recognizing that food waste is a major challenge today, WWF Adria began its work on reducing it through collaboration with the hotels in Zagreb and Belgrade which strive for sustainable development. Together they are moving towards the zero waste strategy. Read more

Population growth, regional socio-economic development, climate change as well as changing consumption patterns contribute to increased demand for water, energy and food in Central Asia. Multi-sectoral cooperation and planning, both national and regional, would help address these challenges in a sustainable manner. This could be achieved through the nexus approach. Read more

Central Asia has become increasingly vulnerable to drivers of global change resulting amongst others in increased disasters and extreme events, fluid markets and a changing political landscape. Strong institutions, capacities and broad investments in innovative solutions that address the interdependencies between water, energy and food security could help tackle these challenges. Read more

Are you running a project in a Natura 2000 site? You can now apply for the Natura 2000 Awards. How to apply? It’s simple: go to the award website and fill in your application form before the 30 September 2019. Read more

The Klaus Toepfer Fellowship Programme aims to promote excellence and leadership among emerging nature conservation leaders from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It catalyzes personal capacity development through training on international best conservation practice and policy, management training, and personal network development. Read more

MAVA Leaders for Nature Academy is a leadership development programme for professionals from partner organizations of the MAVA. It brings together two generations of leaders – senior and young professionals, aiming to enpower leaders who can bring about positive change both within and across partner organizations to increase their sustainability and impact. Read more

As part of their efforts to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many countries are taking steps towards protecting, sustainably managing and restoring degraded land by committing to national and global initiatives. The achievement of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), a target of SDG Goal 15, and the Bonn Challenge, a voluntary global effort to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land, are two such examples. 

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Read about hydropower plants plans in the Balkans and the extraordinary environmental values of 5000 metre mountains of the Yagnob National Park in Tajikistan. 

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From 24 to 27 September, the Kemeri National Park in Latvia will host the 2019 EUROPARC Conference, the key event of the year for those working in Europe’s Protected Areas. The conference will focus on the role of nature in human health, but also explore how nature relates to politics, arts or landscape planning. More information

Coast Day celebrations at the visitor center of the Buna River Velipoje Protected Landscape, Albania

World Animal Day

World Habitat Day

Launch of IUCN's “World Heritage Thematic Study for Central Asia” and presentation of the Russian translation of UNESCO's "Managing Natural World Heritage Manual"  

World Heritage in Central Asia project

The six Commissions unite 13,000 volunteer experts that assess the state of the world’s natural resources and provide the Union with sound know-how and policy advice on conservation issues. Joining one of them you are entering a committed team of experts dealing with issues related to conservation and environmental protection. Learn more

Being a Member of IUCN enables you to both advance your own cause and to strengthen common action in overcoming barriers to a sustainable future. Through IUCN, members become part of a collective and global voice on important issues of our age. Learn more