News

A new conservation guide launched to protect European seabirds at risk from climate change, by the CRI's Silviu Petrovan, Bill Sutherland and Nigel Taylor, in collaboration with the ZSL (The Zoological Society of London). This is a first-of-its-kind conservation guide to protecting the 47 species that breed along the Atlantic coastline; offering ho…

Study of farmer preferences shows that turning whole areas of farmland into habitats comes with half the price tag of integrating nature into productive farmland, if biodiversity and carbon targets are to be met. Incentivising farmers to restore some land as habitats for nature could deliver UK climate and biodiversity targets at half the taxpayer …

Brett Wilson's love of wild tulips has taken him to some of the most spectacular places in Central Asia, where he discovered a new species in Toktogul, Kyrgyzstan. His work has helped to uncover the plight of 53 tulips which have been added to the 'Red List' of threatened species.The tulip hunter of Toktogul (cam.ac.uk)

We are delighted to share our newly released open access book: Transforming Conservation: A practical Guide to Evidence and Decision Making, Edited by William SutherlandDownload for free: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0321Find out more here:Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js9liVXdh20Blog: https://conservationevidencebl…

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat and the University of Cambridge signed a Memorandum of Understanding on day two of COP15, which recognises that the CCI Masters in Conservation Leadership course hosted by the Department of Geography plays a crucial role in conservation capacity building.COP15: UN and Cambridge sign agreement to…

The University of Cambridge has signed a nature positive pledge as a founding member of the global Nature Positive Universities network formed in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The CRI's Prof. Chris Sandbrook, Director of the Masters in Conservation Leadership, has played a key role in this exciting development.Ca…

Ecologists at the Conservation Research Institute have developed a new method of mapping early successional species in tropical forests using Unoccupied Ariel Vehicles (UAVs) to generate reference crown images with attached GPS, a system that will enable practitioners to construct reference data sets for forest restoration projects more efficiently…

CCI Conservation Seminar Series - check out our updated programme for Autumn 2022/Spring 2023.

A new grant from the EU’s ‘Starting Grants’ scheme awarded to Adam Pelligrini, will fund studies to improve carbon credit schemes in dryland areas by boosting our grasp of the effects of periodic fire events on carbon capture and storage.The project is one of over 400 to have been awarded funding under the European Research Council (ERC) Starting G…

New evidence suggests that REDD+ projects in the tropics have helped reduce deforestation, particularly in regions of rapid land use changeTropical deforestation and degradation are significant contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. Projects aimed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in exchange for carb…

Plant hunters have discovered a new and unusual species of tulip during an expedition to Kyrgyzstan.DNA testing at a Cambridge University laboratory has established it was "something completely different". Tulipa toktogulica was found by scientists from the university's botanic garden, Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and local teams. Cambridge …

Jair Bolsonaro has been toppled from government in Brazil, which has led to the rejoicing of environmentalists and scientists in South America and beyond. In the Conversation, the UCCRI's Prof. Rachael Garrett explores what Lula's election means for deforestation in Brazil.https://theconversation.com/zero-deforestation-in-the-amazon-is-now-possible…

By scrutinising over a century’s worth of photos, University of Cambridge researchers have made the first ever measurements that show rhinoceros horns have gradually decreased in size over time. The research was done by Oscar Wilson, formerly a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology, and Edgar Turner, of the Department of…

More companies must make and implement zero-deforestation supply chain commitments in order to significantly reduce deforestation and protect diverse ecosystems, say researchers.Zero-deforestation pledges are a great first step, but they need to be implemented to have an effect on forests.Rachael GarrettCorporate pledges not to buy soybeans produce…

A Cambridge team frustrated by the apathetic response to biodiversity loss has developed a dramatic new way to highlight the demise of nature – and people are listening.Driven by the observation that human activities are silencing nature, the UCCRI's Dr Matthew Agarwala is using sound to convey the enormity of biodiversity loss - and help draw atte…