November 2012

I hope you will be able to join us for some of our upcoming events, details of which can be found below.

Tickets for our event 'Surviving the century: a key species debate' have now sold out, and are only available on a returns basis. Please contact me at the email address below to be added to the reserve list.

MIND THE GAP... IN OUR KNOWLEDGE: ADDRESSING INFORMATION BIAS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE

The total world population of mountain gorillas has risen to 880, according to census data released today by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The number of mountain gorillas has increased from the 2010 estimate of 786 after a count in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The critically endangered animals live only in two locations, Bwindi and the Virunga Massif area, which spans parts of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda.

A total of 400 mountain gorillas have been confirmed to be living in Bwindi and 480 were counted in the Virunga Massif in 2010. Both populations have had positive trends in population growth over the last decade.

Hi,

I am currently working on a low budget film for an NGO in Sierra Leone called The Revenue Development Foundation. We are producing a video about the new systems they have put in place to track forestry licences and concessions. Unfortunately the budget doesn't allow us to
spend time in the forests of Sierra Leone gathering B-Roll - it is also a difficult time to travel upcountry here as the elections are fast approaching.

Badger cull: Government to delay scheme until next year

Owen Paterson: Need to ensure "the cull will conform to the scientific criteria and the evidence base"

The government has announced it will delay a planned cull of badgers in England until next summer, after widespread protests against the scheme.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said this was necessary to "get it right" and the "optimal time" for this year had passed.

David Attenborough, one of the world's leading naturalists, has accused US politicians of ducking the issue of climate change because of the economic cost of tackling it and warned that it would take a terrible example of extreme weather to wake people up to the dangers of global warming.

Speaking just days after the subject of climate change failed to get a mention in the US presidential debates for the first time in 24 years, Sir David Attenborough told the Guardian: "[It] does worry me that most powerful nation in the world, North America, denies what the rest of us can see very clearly [on climate change]. I don't know what you do about that. It's easier to deny."

Dear All,

I hope you will be able to join us for some of our upcoming events, details of which can be found below.

We also have an exciting collaboration with the Wellcome Collection in November - tickets will be free but booking will be essential, so please visit our website on the link to the right hand side to secure tickets.

PROTECTED AREAS: ARE THEY SAFEGUARDING BIODIVERSITY?" - Thursday 8 and Friday 9 November 2012 -  ZSL Symposium

Organised by Lucas Joppa, (Microsoft Research), John Robinson (Wildlife Conservation Society) and Jonathan Baillie (Zoological Society of London)

Watch the video below to hear Sir David Attenborough, Simon King, Mark Carwardine and George Monbiot stalwartly refute Government policy. If you don't want to see more badgers killed, please sign the petition. Independent scientific studies have shown that culling would be of little help in reducing bovine TB, and even suggest that it could make things worse in some areas.