December 2003

Conservation Stewardship in South Africa: Landowners to Lead the Way

Under threat from invasive plants, unsustainable burning, overgrazing, human encroachment and illegal flower collection, renosterveld is the focus of conservation efforts in the Cape Floristic hotspot. And now private landowners are emerging as the potential heroes to preserve this species-rich ecosystem.

November 2003

Patrols Protect Corcovado and Piedras Blanca National Parks

In the first partnership effort of its kind in Costa Rica, the local Corcovado Foundation and the government ministries of environment and security are consolidating their resources to strengthen protection and control of two of Costa Rica's national parks under serious threat from illegal logging and hunting.

October 2003

Building the Next Generation of Malagasy Biologists

A new generation of conservation biologists is emerging in Madagascar thanks to a partnership project between Malagasy universities and WWF-Madagascar that has seen 30 carefully selected students move into the conservation arena. As part of the program, CEPF support is enabling three students to finish their doctorate degrees and at least 25 others to participate in special field schools.

September 2003

Saving Polylepis Forests in Peru

The American Bird Conservancy and the Peruvian Association for the Conservation of Andean Ecosystems have teamed up with three villages in southern Peru to protect polylepis forests, sometimes called "enchanted forests" and home to three of South America's endangered birds: the royal cinclodes, the ash-breasted tit-tyrant and the white-browed tit-spinetail.

August 2003

Students Get Off to Strong Start for Conservation Education

Amid the diverse student population of Kent University in England, a multinational team is nearing the end of an intensive 10 weeks of specialized training to become community educators with a single mission: to promote local pride in the environment in some of the planet's most threatened ecosystems.

July 2003

Ecotourism Exchange in the Amazon Advances Community-Based Ecotourism

In the midst of the Amazon a unique ecotourism exchange program is giving community-based ecotourism stakeholders the boost they need to better conserve local cultures and environments, improve local economies and potentially reach tourist markets around the world. The project involves members of indigenous communities, private industry and conservation organizations.

June 2003

21st Century "Noah's Ark"

A multi-million dollar online resource launched in May to enable global access to photographs, footage and sound recordings of the world's endangered plant and animal species. The project, known as ARKive, is being hailed as the Noah's Ark of the 21st Century.

May 2003

Monitoring for Conservation

Biodiversity monitoring need not be complicated. "It's very easy to get bogged down in the detail, but the key is to keep it simple," says Leon Bennun, Director of Science and Policy at BirdLife International. Get Bennun's tips for four essential stages of monitoring.

April 2003

New Program to Save Species In the Philippines

The Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources has launched a comprehensive program to arrest species loss in the Philippines biodiversity hotspot. The program, made possible by a CEPF grant, includes support for site-based action by nongovernmental organizations and for conservation research grants and training courses.

March 2003

Eavesdropping on Elephants

Katharine Payne discovered that elephants, like the great blue and fin whales, use sounds below the range of human hearing. Now Payne and her colleagues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are designing a new way to capture this infrasonic communication and use it to monitor the size and well being of Africa's elusive forest elephants.

February 2003

Environmental Foundation for Africa, Communities Restore Tiwai Island

While peace has arrived in Sierra Leone, reconstruction poses new challenges to a country already ravaged by civil war. Less obvious is the need to guard against further environmental damage as individuals, families and the country rebuild. One project could become a model.

January 2003

Groups Intensify Anti-Poaching Patrols in Sumatra

Anti-poaching patrols in Sumatra's prized Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park will continue and expand as part of long-term efforts by the Indonesia Rhino Conservation Program to reinforce the management and protection of the park.