As a journalism student, I used to find reading the news daily an incredibly depressing task. Having a background in conservation, I was saddened to see that deforestation, species’ extinction and a whole cloud of doom and gloom seemed to be the only allowed angle to report on the environment.

Conservation organizations don’t have the luxury of standing still. Every day, conservationists around the globe are out fighting tough battles to save species and ecosystems. Money is scarce, so are supplies, skills and time. If an emergency arises, such as a lion being caught in a snare or a patrol vehicle getting stuck in mud, where does the additional support and…

How anyone can help saigas from their computer, right now, without donating any money or major amounts of time... seriously.

Working in a saiga antelope consumer country I've become increasingly aware of one small truth, most consumers of saiga horn have never even heard of the word 'saiga'. Now, this is none too…

Implementing UCT in the field

The Unmatched Count Technique (UCT) is increasingly used in conservation to measure the prevalence of sensitive behaviours (e.g. purchasing wild turtle meat). There is growing interest in using this technique but its design and implementation can present some challenges, so must not…

A new conservation toolbox

It is widely accepted that many conservation challenges are directly related to human behaviour. Whether it is the over-collection of a rare orchid by harvesters in Southeast Asia, or the decisions by collectors in Europe to buy and smuggle these orchids home, understanding the extent and nature…

This piece gives voice to “Local Conservation Champions”, people that are incredibly passionate and motivated to conserve their natural spaces and species, but may not, due to various reasons, be in the “mainstream” of research and conservation. Munib Khanyari writes from their perspective, helping us understand the myriad…