Recent posts

Read the story about Global Ocean Refuges in SEVENSEAS

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Read the January edition of the SEVENSEAS marine conservation and travel magazine. The story of the Marine Conservation Institute Awarding Seven Blue Parks Global Ocean Refuges for the Most Effective Conservation of Marine Life is very worth reading, as it is related to the mission of LT&C. SEVENSEAS, as a partner of LT&C, works with minimal operating costs to produce this highly relevant and valuable marine conservation and travel communication channel.

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Plans for 2019? Pioneering Study Tour Fair Isle/Shetlands – Jan Mayen – Ice Edge – Spitzbergen

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If you make plans for 2019, have compensated your climate footprint in 2018, and once want to see the famous bird island Fair Isle, reach out from there via a visit of the very remote island Jan Mayen and then travel along the whale-rich sea ice-edge to LT&C-Example Svalbard, you should not miss out this study tour. At this pioneering tour, we will test also the brand new and green requirements meeting ship m/v Hondius of our LT&C-founding member Oceanwide Expeditions. More information on this and other LT&C-Study tours you may have at look yourself.

Before closing for the year: do at least something to compensate for your climate footprint! Then plan with better conscious for 2019

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If you care for our future climate you should think twice before traveling, particular if far distance. And the minimum you should do for the CO2-emissions you have caused through traveling this year, you should offset by investing into a reliable project you understand: Go to the website of South Pole, get registered and your emissions calculated and invest into the Kariba REDD+ project (see further explanations below). After you have done that you may plan for 2019, look out for LT&C-Events or subscribe to our LT&C-Calendar. For example note down the dates for our 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM and workshop): May 31 in Ramberg, Lofoten Norway.  Continue reading →

Can the turtle coast of Grand Béréby become an LT&C-Example and then blueprint for other marine protected areas in Côte d’Ivoire?

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Egg-laying leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at Grand Béréby beach. Photo: Wolf Wichmann

One week of a “linking”-mission to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) made obvious that the country in West-Africa has both challenges but the potential to create a series of marine protected areas (MPAs). The vision of former Minister of Environment, Rémi Allah-Kouadio, once formulated, could become reality and would be an important contribution to the global goal  (CBD-Aichi target 11) to get 10% of the world’s marine ecosystems and habitats protected. 5 new MPAs are in planning and the Secretariat of the UN Abidjan Convention (ABC) has the mandate of the Government to facilitate the implementation of that plan. When LT&C met last week with ABC, Grand Béréby, where LT&C- and CEM- member Olaf Grell and his team have for several years studied and assessed the marine biodiversity and worked closely together with the local people for protecting the turtle coast, came out as the pioneering case and candidate for the first MPA to be established likely already in 2019. Continue reading →

How successful was the UN Biodiversity Summit?

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Foto ©Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

When last Thursday the Conference President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, gaveled the two-weeks UN Biodiversity Summit (COP14) in Sharm e-Sheikh, she was sure “marvelous work was done”. According to IISD, also CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer outlined the successes of the meeting, including, among others: committing to an inclusive and flexible preparatory process for the post-2020 framework; calling for a UN decade on ecosystem restoration; and committing to the final “two-year sprint towards the Aichi finish line.” The new goals of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for the next decade will be decided on the 2020 Conference, to be held in Beijing, China. A summary of the UN Biodiversity Summit has been made available by IISD in their Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Continue reading →

IUCN Guidelines on Tourism and Visitor Management in Protected Areas finally published

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What LT&C had announced already earlier this year, has now finally been launched at the CBD COP14 in Sharm el-Sheikh: IUCN, the world ’s most authoritative organisation defining nature conservation, made up of government and non-government members, has shed new light on the complex relationship between tourism and protected areas. Their new “Guidelines on Tourism and Visitor Management in Protected Areas” is a MUST-READ and an important resource for anyone interested in linking tourism and conservation. Continue reading →

IUCN Green List: 15 new sites as world’s best protected areas listed

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has admitted 15 new natural sites to the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas – the first global standard recognising best practice in protected areas. Sites in Egypt, France, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Peru and the United Arab Emirates received the certification last Saturday, 24 November 2018, at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Egypt, bringing the total number of sites on the IUCN Green List to 40. The IUCN Green List is the first global standard of best practice for area-based conservation. It is a programme of certification for protected and conserved areas – national parks, natural World Heritage sites, community conserved areas, nature reserves and so on – that are effectively managed and fairly governed. Continue reading →

LT&C organises Side Event for Island States at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP14)

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At the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 14), which will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 17 to 29 November 2018, LT&C is organising a side event, where Island-States will present their examples of tourism supporting conservation of nature: Invitation Side Event COP14 Continue reading →

Privately Protected Areas – new guidelines answer your questions about

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Yesterday, at the present COP14 of the UN Biodiversity Convention Guidelines for Privately Protected Areas have been published. These guidelines address planning and management of privately protected areas (or PPAs) and the guidance is aimed principally at practitioners and policymakers, who are or may be involved with PPAs. Guidance is given on all aspects of PPA establishment, management and reporting, and information is provided on principles and best practices, with examples drawn from many different parts of the world. The aim of these guidelines is to shape the application of IUCN policy and principles towards enhanced effectiveness and conservation outcomes, focused on PPA managers and administrators. Continue reading →

Protected Planet Report 2018 out for present UN Biodiversity COP in Egypt

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THE report, the Protected Planet Report 2018, which informs about the actual status of the world’s protected areas, is available in digital format for the present COP14 of the UN Convention Biological Diversity (CBD). It is the most important document for the CBD to judge at the present meeting, whether the so-called Aichi target 11, a complete, representative and well-managed global network of protected areas (10% of the oceans, and 17% of the land) to be reached by 2020, will actually be met, A discussion about the future biodiversity targets, to be agreed in 2020, is starting already now at the COP14, which presently takes place in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

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