International Conservation & Development

Fellow Story

O'Leary on Using Science to Empower Communities and Improve Marine Protected Areas in East Africa

When you think about East Africa, probably the first images that emerge are of large terrestrial animals like elephants and lions. Many people don’t know that East Africa has vibrant marine fishing communities and hundreds of miles of coral reefs. In a typical morning, you watch the sun rise over the Western Indian Ocean, sip spicy tea, hear morning calls to prayer from the mosque, and see fishers heading out to the sea. These fishers work from small canoes, or even broken surfboards, to support families.
February 25, 2015
Fellow Story

Coleman quoted on relations between US and India, global warming

Trying to predict where India will swerve on climate policy seems as hard as predicting which way an auto-rickshaw driver will swerve in a Kolkata traffic jam. “Overall, we’re still holding our breath, waiting to see what Modi and India are going to do on greenhouse gas emissions and climate,” Heather Coleman, Oxfam America’s climate policy leader, said. “I don’t think this announcement sheds more light on that.” Read more
February 25, 2015
Fellow Story

McElwee quoted on Vietnam's decision not to build cable car in world's largest cave

The Vietnamese government seems to have backed off from its proposal to build a gondola lift in Son Doong, the world’s largest cave, after it came into stiff opposition from civil society, conservation groups and tourists. Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai signed off February 8 on a master plan for the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, home to Son Doong Cave, in Quang Binh Province. The document does not mention construction of the cable car that envisaged opening up Son Doong to mass tourism, ferrying 1,000 visitors an hour to the cave.
February 18, 2015
Fellow Story

Hsu on hurdles to getting data and science into UN Sustainable Development Goals

Rigorous integration will ensure the goals inspire rather than deter commitment, say Angel Hsu and Alisa Zomer. Sustainable development is an elusive concept, one that is open to interpretation and difficult to define, let alone measure. UN negotiators therefore have a challenging task: how to specify a clear set of indicators to track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before they are finalised in September.
February 17, 2015
Fellow Story

Milakovsky working with Russian federal security service to combat illegal loggers

Brian Milakovsky, a forest projects coordinator with WWF-Russia based in Vladivostok, described how the FSB steps in to handle corruption in the region. “They have a division for fighting corruption and they view forest crimes correctly as some of the most linked to corruption,” he told RTCC.
February 16, 2015
Fellow Story

Fellows' Thoughts on COP20 in Lima, Peru

In December 2014, several Switzer Fellows attended the COP20 events in Lima, Peru, and we are proud to feature Sarah Lupberger's and Dave Kramer's thoughts on the event.
January 24, 2015
Fellow Story

Killing big animals allows rodents (and their fleas) to flourish, Young finds

Biologists have long thought that when large mammals, such as elephants and gazelles, are driven to extinction, small critters will inherit the earth. As those critters (think rodents) multiply, so will the number of disease-carrying fleas. Scientists have now experimentally confirmed this scenario, which is troubling because it could lead to a rise in human infection by diseases that can be transferred between animals and people.
January 20, 2015
Fellow Story

Hsu says soil pollution in China still a state secret

On March 17, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources released the first-ever results of a nationwide soil pollution survey that took place from 2005 to 2013. International media have commended the release, which revealed startling statistics such as one-fifth of arable land is polluted and contaminated with inorganic chemicals like cadmium, nickel and arsenic. On the surface, it seems, soil pollution, which was once a “state secret,” is no longer.
January 14, 2015
Fellow Story

Hamilton says blue jellyfish will remain on Australia's Gold Coast

They're the blue blobs ­unnerving swimmers on [Australia's] Gold Coast beaches. The catostylus mosaics jellyfish, which have been spotted washed up on local beaches and floating in ­waterways over the past two weeks, aren’t new to the Coast and there’s little risk of harm. ... American biodiversity scientist Dr Healy Hamilton had to battle through the jellies to do research in the Broadwater for the past week. “It was like we had to swim through clouds of ­jellyfish to find seahorses and pipefish,” she said.
January 7, 2015
Fellow Story

Jones says impact of U.S.-China climate pact limited

Don’t expect the landmark U.S.-China climate change agreement to nudge the world’s rising thermostat downward much on its own, scientists say. While they hail it as a start, experts who study heat-trapping carbon dioxide don’t see the deal, announced Wednesday in Beijing, making significant progress without other countries joining in. ...
January 7, 2015