General Updates from the World Land Trust

General updates and new additions to the website of World Land Trust, an international conservation organisation working to preserve the world's most biologically important and threatened lands.

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006:

Conservation and Environmental News Roundup - 25th July 

Latest News Headlines

Amazon Rainforest could become "Amazon Desert"

Research conducted by scientists from the Woods Hole Research Centre, have concluded that the Amazon Rainforest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without drying out completely. The research indicates that this would have catastrophic effects on the rest of the world due to the forests huge climate regulation ability. The alarming news predicts that such an event would spread drought over the whole Northern hemisphere and massively accelerate global warming; a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable.

Read more: Climate Amazon rainforest could become "Amazon Desert" (Forest Information Portal)

Tigers habitat reduced by 40%

Research by conservation organisations show that Tigers have 40% less habitat than a decade ago largely due to the encroachment of humans into their existing range. Tigers are also in danger from international crime and economic exploitation. "We must make live tigers worth more than dead tigers, and landscapes with tigers worth more than landscapes that are missing this most beautiful cat," says John Seidensticker, a scientist at the US National Zoo and chair of the Save The Tiger Fund Council.

Read more: Tigers habitat reduced by 40% (Planet Ark)

Communities stand up for Conservation

Ashish Kothari, co-chair of IUCN's Theme on Local Communities and Protected Areas, argues that community roles in conservation are widely overlooked, although they can be effective in implementing local legislation. Others agree, such as the conservation group Forests Trend who estimates that at least 360 million hectares of forests are being managed by communities but are ignored in favour of government run protected areas.

Read more: Communities stand up for Conservation (BBC news)

 
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