Official IUCN publications

The African Elephant Database is a spatial database used to store, manage, analyze and disseminate information on the distribution and abundance of elephant populations on the African continent, in order to provide a current and accurate picture of the status African elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals, and their potential impact on their habitats raises important management issues both for protected areas and unprotected land.

The Lao People's Democratic Republic lies at the heart the Mekong River basin. It has an abundance of natural resources including water, wetlands, forests and biodiversity. Managing these rich resources in a sustainable manner is essential to the efforts to meet its development objectives of reducing poverty while promoting economic growth.

This report presents the results of an economic study of the willingness to pay (WTP) of recreational visitors to the Djoudj National Bird Park in northern Senegal, based on interviews with 647 visitors to the park conducted in early 2003. The study forms part of a broader economic analysis of the costs and benefits of the park.

These guidelines were drafted by the Re-introduction Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission, and approved by the 41st Meeting of IUCN Council in May 1995. The definition of "re-introduction" is "an attempt to establish a species in an area which was once part of its historical range, but from which it has been extirpated or become extinct".

Understanding and managing the concerns of local people is essential for the success of most, if not all, conservation initiatives. These two volumes are a resource set designed to help professionals employed in conservation initiatives to identify the social concerns that are relevant for their work, assess options for action and implement them. The first volume is a companion to a process and may be used to assist in planning, evaluating or redesigning a conservation initiative.

Sometimes boundaries make geographical sense. Other times they are straight lines, imposed by colonial powers centuries ago. Today, territorial integrity is a foundation principle of the relations between governments, but even so, boundary conflicts are still unresolved in many parts of the world. This book demonstrates how transboundary conservation initiatives can help to defuse boundary conflicts, and sometimes even solve them.