Op-Eds and Blogs

If the EU is serious about fighting elephant poaching, it must completely close its domestic ivory market and ban all ivory imports and re-exports, argue EU Parliament Member Frédérique Ries and WCS's Arnaud Goessens.

With a snout lined with sharp teeth that makes them vulnerable to getting entangled in fishing gear, these unique fish are Critically Endangered and have vanished from many parts of the ocean.

This week’s United Nations Summit on Biodiversity highlights in particular the urgent need for commitments and action to retain and protect the world’s last remaining highly intact ecosystems, while respecting and honoring the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

If we are to reduce the likelihood of future pandemics like COVID-19, we must adopt a comprehensive approach for which the U.S. government has a critical role to play.

Wise stewardship of natural resources by Indigenous Peoples within their traditional territories has had a profoundly positive impact on the conservation of species on land and in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.

To prevent future pandemics like COVID-19, the pragmatic, most cost-effective action governments can take with immediate effect is to ban the commercial trade of wild birds and mammals for consumption.

As the US government prepares to auction leases for drilling in the Arctic Refuge, Martin Robards and George Schaller argue that if we cannot afford a plan to fully clean up and restore an area, we cannot afford to drill new wells.

The Cambodia Vulture Working Group—comprised of NGOs, government bodies, and academic institutes—seeks to prevent the extinction of vultures in Cambodia. The CVWG joined other vulture conservationists on International Vulture Awareness Day to celebrate these special birds.

Palca is an Andean condor — the first in Bolivia to provide data on the movements of a species renowned for its huge wingspan, prodigious soaring ability and wide-ranging behavior.

Usually at this time of year, scientists with WCS Canada would be deep into their field seasons: monitoring bird migrations, tracking sturgeon, and listening to whales in the Arctic. Current circumstances have required a change in routine.

There are widespread concerns about opening the original text of CITES to address the risk zoonotic disease spillover. The best way to adapt CITES is through an addendum to the treaty itself: additive text covering zoonotic diseases and international trade.

While the mystery as to whether sawfish and rhino ray populations are alive and well in PNG has largely been solved, they are still rare and in need of additional conservation efforts if we are to make sure they don’t become mythical creatures of the past.

In the past, notes WCS's Lauren Oakes in a new commentary for Anthropocene magazine, forest restoration could be informed by what once was. Now we have to make hard decisions about what we’re working toward.

A new collaboration provides hope for the conservation of wedgefish and giant guitarfish in the Java Sea and Indonesia. While the high catches of these Critically Endangered species are worrying, they also indicate healthy and abundant populations

In a commentary at The Revelator prepared for Shark Week, Rhett Bennett, Dave van Beuningen and Mike Markovina argue that subsistence, artisanal and small-scale fisheries represent a previously unrecognized threat to many protected shark and ray species.

In Bangladesh, Ocean Guardians are paving the way to save threatened sharks and rays through improved knowledge and positive action, write Jamia Rahman Khan and Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur in a blog for Shark Week.