The future of the International Whaling Commission is tenuous. A ‘whale conservation market’ might rescue it, say Christopher Costello, Leah R. Gerber and Steven Gaines.

A quota-trading scheme could end conflict between whalers and conservationists. (Editorial)

Recent studies indicate that trophy hunting is impacting negatively on some lion populations, notably in Tanzania. In 2004 there was a proposal to list lions on CITES Appendix and in 2011 animal-welfare groups petitioned the United States government to list lions as endangered under their Endangered Species Act. Such listings would likely curtail the trophy hunting of lions by limiting the import of lion trophies. Concurrent efforts are underway to encourage the European Union to ban lion trophy imports.

As timber concessions in Central Africa open remote areas to hunting activities, methods for monitoring and measuring wildlife populations bear review.

Elephant poaching and the ivory trade remain high on the agenda at meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Well-informed debates require robust estimates of trends, the spatial distribution of poaching, and drivers of poaching. We present an analysis of trends and drivers of an indicator of elephant poaching of all elephant species.

Original Source

Activists question allowing China to participate in ivory trade, with estimates that as much as 90 per cent of retail items in the country are illegal.