Institute of Biodiversity Conservation

International targets set for reducing biodiversity loss may still be achieved with the help of a new online conservation tool. The new initiative led by the Zoological Society of London brings together information on the world’s threatened species and demonstrates that we know the least about the status of animals and plants in areas where diversity is greatest. This means that in parts of the world where conservation planning may be most critical, we lack information to effectively prioritize and manage species.

cranesThe Kafta-Sheraro National Park, northwest Ethiopia supports the remnant elephant population in the expense of the Tekeze Valley, and it is home to many ungulates, predators and a variety of birds. An expedition to the National Park was carried out to assess the faunal diversity of the Park and learn the impacts of the major threats. In this expedition, more than 21,500 Demoiselle cranes (Anthropoides virgo), about 9% of the world population, were recorded which can qualify the criterion for the Ramsar Convention. cranesThe Kafta-Sheraro National Park, northwest Ethiopia supports the remnant elephant population in the expense of the Tekeze Valley, and it is home to many ungulates, predators and a variety of birds. An expedition to the National Park was carried out to assess the faunal diversity of the Park and learn the impacts of the major threats. In this expedition, more than 21,500 Demoiselle cranes (Anthropoides virgo), about 9% of the world population, were recorded which can qualify the criterion for the Ramsar Convention.

The 2009 World Food Prize will be awarded to Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia, whose sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed have dramatically increased the production and availability of one of the world’s five principal grains and enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Upon completing his graduate degree, Dr. Ejeta accepted a position as a sorghum researcher at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) office in Sudan. During his time at ICRISAT, Dr. Ejeta developed the first hybrid sorghum varieties for Africa, which were drought-tolerant and high-yielding.

The bacterial banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease will endanger the livelihoods of millions of East African farmers if left uncontrolled, according to specialists. First reported about 40 years ago in Ethiopia, BXW is endemic in most of Uganda, and has been reported in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya and Rwanda.

It has been very interesting to see a renewed and invigorated debate recently over biofuels. But that debate has been interestingly couched in terms of the growing debate around so-called climate colonialism. The argument is based around the idea that large tracts of land in developing are being converted to monoculture for biofuels in order to feed the demand for energy in the developed world. Moreover, it is argued that the costs of such an energy transfer from South to North is related to massive loss of biodiversity, huge water impacts and the continuation of poverty.

Montreal, 3 June 2009 – At the closure of the high-level segment of the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Mr. Sigmar Gabriel, Minister of the Environment of Germany, presented the “Bonn Agenda on Global Biodiversity”, which includes the mobilization of financial resources “including new and innovative funding mechanisms on all levels”. Accordingly, the First Global Private Donor Forum on Biodiversity was convened in Berlin on 3 June 2009.