The new issue of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Transboundary eNews highlights TIHPA, the first marine transboundary protected area established globally, and CMS's work to implement the mandate to establish and maintain ecological networks.
It also highlights the Cycling Silk expedition, and transboundary projects in North America, Africa and Europe.
May 2012: In its latest issue, the newsletter of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group (IUCN TBC SG) highlights: the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area, a transboundary bicycle expedition, and transboundary conservation in North America, Europe and Africa.
The Newsletter features an article on the agreement establishing the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA), the first marine transboundary protected area established globally. This initiative is now placed under the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion initiative and the Coral Triangle Initiative. The author notes some areas of concern for TIHPA, which include: collection of turtle eggs by the local population; high incidence of intrusion in the vicinity of the Taganak Island; and illegal fishing.
Christiane Roettger, Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), writes of CMS’s work to implement the 10th Conference of the Parties’ (COP 10) mandate to establish and maintain ecological networks, and to reinforce transboundary conservation of migratory species. Current projects include a case study on the White-eared kob migration between Ethiopia and South Sudan, to help maintain “the spectacular transboundary migration of almost 1 million kobs.”
The Newsletter also highlights Kate Harris and Melissa Yule’s 10-month, 10-country, 10,000-kilometer field expedition called Cycling Silk, which stretched from Turkey to India. The aim of the expedition was to understand the science, conservation, and geopolitics of borderlands, taking the remote alpine deserts of the Silk Road as case studies, and using a bicycle to reach them.
Among other articles, the Newsletter reports that, in August 2011, the Governments of Cameroon and Chad signed an agreement for the cooperative establishment and management of the Bouba N’djida and Seno Oura transboundary complex, noting that the recent massacre of more than 100 elephants in the Bouba Ndjda National Park in Cameroon demonstrated the urgent need for this agreement and its implementation. [Publication: TB eNews 5]