Official IUCN publications

The West Indian Iguanas form a unique group of species inhabiting tropical dry forests throughout the Bahanas and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. They are among the most endangered of the world's lizards, primarily because much of their fragile island habitat has been eliminated by human developemnt or severely degraded by exotic species. The Jamaican iguana, considered by some to be the rarest lizard in the world, may number no more than 100 adults.

Grouse have long attracted and fascinated people. Their display behaviour, and their traditional communal mating grounds or "leks", have inspired poetry and folklore as well as scientific theories on sexual selection and mating systems. Im many parts of their range, hunting plays a major role in the culture, economy, and subsistence of local communities.

The theme of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Session of the GBF was “Using Biodiversity to Strengthen Livelihoods”. The Forum explored ways and means of integrating poverty alleviation considerations into local, national and regional actions aimed at conserving, using sustainably and sharing equitably the benefits of biodiversity.

Cooperation at the scale of entire mountain ranges, whether through formal agreements or regional institutions, is widely acknowledged to be desirable. The Caucasus, generally better known for conflict than cooperation, is a major centre of biological, landscape, and cultural diversity.

There is international consensus that many of the world's commercial fisheries are in distress. Eco-labelling schemes are increasingly perceived as a way to simultaneously maintain the productivity and economic value of fisheries while providing incentives for improved fisheries management and the conservation of marine biodiversity.

The attention given to landscape in environmental law is new and the subject raises a series of interesting problems, which were highlighted at a Colloquium. Its central theme was the draft European Landscape Convention prepared by the Council of Europe, the first of its kind. Since 1998, the draft has evolved, and has reached its almost final form; it is expected to be adopted during 2000.

This compilation brings together current information on the status of Asian freshwater cetacean populations, the factors that have caused their recent declines, and what can be done to improve their chances for survival. All of the species or populations in quesion are classified as endangered or critically endangered in the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.

One threat to parrot arises from their attractiveness as "talking" companions to humans, leading to a high demand for trade that involves hundreds of thousands of birds annually on a global basis, and gives parrots a high monetary value. There is an urgent need to change the attitudes of both the many millions who keep parrots, and those who make billions of dollars in trading them.

The family Cracidae is made up of 50 species of guans, curassows and chachalacas - large gregarious game birds, many of which have striking colours. They are important as seed dispersers, biological indicators of the environment, a major protein source for indigenous people, and for ecotourism. Nearly half the species in the family are threatened and several have been pushed to near extinction by wide-spread destruction of tropical forets and over-harvesting.