The International Whaling Commission may be shifting towards a more conservation-oriented role after this week backing an ambitious Australian plan for non-lethal whale research. "It's part of a move by the IWC from being a whalers' club to being a whale conservation body," says Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "There's a bit of a sea change going on at the commission." Presented by Australian environment minister Peter Garrett, the AU$1.5-million ($1.2 million) plan aims to demonstrate the value of non-lethal methods for tracking and researching whales.

By Andy Coghlan - New Scientist , June 26, 2009

Benjamin Sovacool agrees that wind turbines kill birds and bats, but this University of Singapore public policy professor makes a convincing case that this fact desperately needs context. Reviewing avian mortality from power generation in the June issue of Energy Policy, Sovacool shows that -- gigawatt-hour for gigawatt-hour -- it is fossil-fired power by a longshot that will ground winged creatures.

By Peter Fairley - Spectrum Online , May 28, 2009

Populations of major wild grazing animals that are the heart and soul of Kenya's cherished and heavily visited Masai Mara National Reserve—including giraffes, hartebeest, impala, and warthogs—have "decreased substantially" in only 15 years as they compete for survival with a growing concentration of human settlements in the region, according to a new study published April 22 in the May 2009 issue of the British Journal of Zoology.

ScienceDaily.com , April 29, 2009

Cameroon, with one of Africa’s highest rates of deforestation, has set up a new national park to protect gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and a rare type of antelope called bongo. Deng Deng National Park extends 580 square kilometres (224 square miles), an area about the size of Chicago, and will help conserve some 600 western lowland gorillas, one of four sub- species of the great ape, said the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which helped in the park’s creation.

By Alex Morales - Bloomberg News , February 20, 2009

Researchers have discovered that as many as 235 species live in cold waters at both poles of the Earth, thousands of kilometers apart. A new survey shows the Arctic and Antarctic are much more alike than scientists previously thought. Scientists had been aware of gray whales and a handful of other species living near both poles.

By VOA News , February 16, 2009

With arctic sea ice melting like ice cubes in soda, scientists want to protect a region they say will someday be the sole remaining frozen bastion of a disappearing world. Spanning the northern Canadian archipelago and western Greenland, it would be the first area formally protected in response to climate change, and a last-ditch effort to save polar bears and other animals. "All the indications are of huge change, and a huge response is needed if you want to have polar bears beyond 2050," said Peter Ewins, the World Wildlife Fund's Director of Species Conservation.

By Brandon Keim - Wired.com , February 09, 2009

The Sea Shepherd whale conservation ship Steve Irwin collided with the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No.2 this morning in the Ross Sea after spending five hours Thursday in a battle with the Japanese, who used a sonic weapon, fouling lines and their ships to attack the conservation vessel. Captain Paul Watson, founder and leader of the international marine mammal conservation organization Sea Shepherd, says the collision occurred as the Japanese harpoon vessel moved in to block the Steve Irwin's attempt to prevent the transfer of a dead whale up the slipway of the factory ship Nisshin Maru.

Environmental New Service | On Board The Steve Irwin , February 07, 2009

Once you look beyond the parochial culinary habits of most Americans you discover that wildness, and the tastes associated with it, have a talismanic power that is very hard to eradicate. It is what keeps the Japanese whaling and keeps some Africans eating bush meat. And it is one of the things that helps explain the voracious and utterly destructive Chinese appetite for turtles.

Editorial - The New York Times , January 26, 2009

A coalition of conservation groups has notified the National Marine Fisheries Service of its intent to file a lawsuit as early as March if the agency does not act immediately to protect imperiled sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. The action comes after fisheries observer data showed that the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery, which harvests reef fish like grouper and tilefish, resulted in the capture of nearly 1,000 threatened and endangered sea turtles between July 2006 and the end of 2007.

Environmental News Service | Gainsville, FL , January 23, 2009

An international team of scientists wants to ban the catching of eight species of Atlantic Ocean sharks and put a strict limit on the catch of two others to try to prevent population crashes.

Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent - Planet Ark , October 29,2008