All Wild Species

The following statement was released today by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Asia Executive Director Aili Kang: “China has announced today that it will close its domestic commercial elephant ivory trade in 2017.  President Xi Jinping announced last year that China would take this action and now we have a timeline.

According to World Wildlife Fund, the rapid loss of wildlife species today is estimated to be up to 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. We are watching them disappear on a daily basis. It is astounding.

The North Eastern (NE) region of the India is a biodiversity hotspot and represents one of the highest avian biodiversity of the Indian subcontinent. The region is ecologically represented by the Eastern Himalayan biome and is rich in a number of endemic flora and fauna. Several avian species inhabiting this unique ecosystem are not found or reported anywhere else in the world.

The Jeypore-Dehing Landscape is located in eastern or Upper Assam. It comprises three large blocks of forest (Jeypore, Upper Dehing West Block and Upper Dehing East Block) and several forest fragments. The reserve forests lie within a mosaic of oil and coal mining grants, tea plantations, agriculture and settlements. The forest type is lowland Assam Valley Tropical Wet Evergreen forest (Dipterocarpus-Mesua) and together stretch over roughly 600 sq km.

In a career spanning the last 20 years, Mr. Jigme Dorji joined the Bhutan Forest Service Department as a Range Officer and now serves as Head, Communities, Recreation and Development Section, Park Headquarter, Royal Manas National Park. Apart from carrying his official activities in an impeccable manner, Mr. Dorji have made a mark as a forest officer who has worked closely with the local communities and has advocated science-based conservation research and action.

Formed in 2004-2005, the Miksak Apal Natural Resource Management Group (NaRMG) trains the village community of Selbalgre in natural resource, organisation and financial management with an emphasis on the restoration of the environment along with improvement of livelihoods. Under their aegis, community members have taken over the conservation and management of the 35-hecatre Selbalgre Village Reserve Forest.

Using a combination of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) and litigation before the National Green Tribunal, Mr. Rohit Choudhury has highlighted several violations of law with respect to environmental issues in Assam before the courts over the past decade.

Conservation groups worldwide were astonished to hear of the recent,unprecedented decision to destroy 70% of the Norway’s tiny and endangered population of 68 wolves, the biggest cull for almost a century.But not everyone in Norway is behind the plan. The wildlife protection group Predator Alliance Norway, for example, has campaign posters that talk of wolves as essential for nature, and a tourist attraction for Norway.