China Considering Creating World’s Biggest National Park on Tibetan Plateau

China is considering creating a huge new national park on the territory of the entire Tibetan plateau in order to secure “the last piece of pure land.”

Severe drought forces Zimbabwe to offer its wild animals for sale

Drought-hit Zimbabwe has invited local farmers and private game rangers to buy wild animals as it destocks national game reserves to save fauna from starvation, the wildlife authority said Wednesday.

Suspicious stain spotted after dam incidents in Brazil

For the second time in a week, suspicious stains were seen in the sea near the Abrolhos Marine National Park area a couple of months after two dams at an iron ore mine breached in Brazil.

The impact of tourism on nature

Wildlife tourism generates billions of dollars in revenue every year - boosting local economies and creating employment. But what is the cost to the animals that become the star attractions? 

Russie: un parc national créé en mer d'Okhotsk

Le gouvernement russe a créé un parc national baptisé "Îles Chantar" dans le territoire de Khabarovsk pour protéger les écosystèmes uniques de la mer d'Okhotsk, a annoncé lundi le ministère russe des Ressources naturelles.

"Le premier ministre russe Dmitri Medvedev a signé l'arrêté N°1304 instituant le parc national "Îles Chantar" d'une superficie totale de 515.500 hectares sur les îles du même nom. Le parc s'étend sur 241.200 hectares de forêts et 274.300 hectares en mer d'Okhotsk", a indiqué le ministère dans un communiqué.

The battle for Tasmania's wilderness

Could the government have the 2013 addition to the Tasmanian World Heritage Area revoked, asks John Pickrell.  
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AUSTRALIA’S WORLD HERITAGE areas are having a tough time. In 2013 it was revealed that the Great Barrier Reef had lost half its coral cover since the 1980s. Now, due to a series of port developments for coal and gas exports, it is hanging under the threat of ending up on the “List of World Heritage in Danger”, the precursor to World Heritage status being removed.

It would be embarrassing for this to happen in one of the world’s wealthiest nations, one that holds under its guardianship perhaps the most famous natural World Heritage Area (WHA) on the planet. 

Bansko Residents Rally again for Resort Expansion

Residents of the Bulgarian mountain resort town of Bansko are staging Monday a new protest rally with demands to have permits to build a new ski lift and to expand the ski tracks.
The initiative committee vows to "be on the barricades in order to remind those in power they are expecting a quick solution to the problem with the ski area" in the mountain near their town.
The demonstrators stress the winter holidays are over, but the problems persist, adding the lines for the ski lifts were unprecedented once again during the last weekend. They insist for the very first time their resort is the leader in the sad statistics of having the longest lines of people trying to use the ski lifts and threaten to move the protests to the capital Sofia.
The initiative committee is accusing Bulgarian eco activists of lies and provocations.
The protest Monday is closing once again the road between the town of Razlog and Bansko.

Bulgaria Top Cop Blocks Road to Main Winter Resort Bansko

Bulgarian Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov participated Sunday in a protest that blocked the entrance to Bulgaria's top winter resort, Bansko.
Tsvetanov expressed support for Bansko residents, who for a thrid day in a row have come out to request an expansion of ski facilities in the resort.
The action of Bulgaria's top cop and Vice-PM is a culmination of a string of high-ranking visits to the protests, which saw Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva and vice minister for tourism Ivo Marinov also showing up.
"I am convinced that in a very short time, protesters' demands will be satisfied. Their requests will be heard at the very first cabinet sitting in 2013," stated Tsvetanov.
8,000 Bansko residents, organized by mayor Georgi Ikonomov, have submitted to Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev a petition requesting for expansion of facilities in the resort.