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Sharks and rays of the Samoan archipelago: a review of their biological diversity, social and cultural values, and conservation status

Data on chondrichthyan (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) populations is largely lacking for many countries and territories in the Indo-Pacific. Aims. This study aims to provide a desktop review and information synthesis of the biodiversity, threats, and conservation of chondrichthyans in the Samoan archipelago (Samoa and American Samoa), focusing on their interactions with fisheries and exploring their social, cultural, and economic values. Methods.

Status of monitoring and evaluation of Tonga’s Special Management Area program

Tonga’s Special Management Areas (SMAs) have been widely supported by the people of Tonga as a successful approach to the comanagement of their fisheries and marine resources. However, due to the dominant focus on expansion of the program over recent years, challenges remain for theeffective and consistent monitoring and evaluation needed to understand program impacts. This review compiles all known ecological, fisheries, and socio-economic monitoring and evaluation reports related to Tonga’s Special Management Areas from 2010 onwards.

Barriers to volunteering and other challenges facing community-based conservation in Aotearoa New Zealand

In many countries, community-based conservation plays an important role in protecting natural ecosystems and preserving biodiversity. However, community-based conservation groups face a variety of challenges including recruiting and retaining volunteers, maintaining relationships with stakeholders and monitoring progress towards achieving conservation objectives. In order to address these challenges, it is important to understand the barriers to volunteering, and ways to assess and improve effectiveness. Methods.

Principles for Ecosystem Restoration to Guide the United Nations Decade 2021-2030

Aware of the critical need to halt, prevent and reverse ecosystem degradation, and to effectively restore degraded terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems across the globe, through Resolution 73/284, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2021–2030 as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (hereafter the “UN Decade”).

30×30 Progress Tracker

In partnership with Bloomberg Ocean Initiative, SkyTruth is developing an entry point for 30x30 stakeholders. The tools below enable you to track the world’s progress toward 30x30, draw new protected areas, and find additional tools and organizations fighting for the protection of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

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Mapping the patriarchy in conservation

It is essential to ensure the effectiveness of current conservation efforts to meet the interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, and climate change. In this article, we discuss one aspect that undermines conservation’s effectiveness while at the same time being underexplored in the academic and political discourse on conservation: patriarchal norms and structures. We argue that these norms and structures, which promote male supremacy and inequality, are central to driving environmental destruction.

Global Biodiversity Standard

The Global Biodiversity Standard is the world’s most scientifically rigorous biodiversity certification that recognises and promotes the protection, restoration, and enhancement of biodiversity.
It provides assurance that land management interventions such as tree planting, habitat restoration and agroforestry practices undertaken by organisations and governments are protecting, safeguarding, and restoring biodiversity, rather than inadvertently causing harm.

GlobalUsefulNativeTrees (GlobUNT)

The GlobalUsefulNativeTrees species selection App combines species data from the Botanic Gardens Conservation International GlobalTreeSearch database (GTS) ( website ; Beech et al. 2017 ) with data available from the World Checklist of Useful Plant Species (WCUPS) ( Diazgranados et al. 2020 ). GTS documents the native country distribution of close to 60,000 tree species, whereas the WCUPS contains 40,283 plant species names from the Plantae kingdom, documenting human usage across 10 categories of usage that was modified from the Economic Botany Data Collections Standard.