News Releases

WASHINGTON, DC | March 22, 2023

WCS Applauds Biden Administration Announcement to Protect Pacific Remote Islands and Release of First-Ever Ocean Climate Action Plan

The following statement is by John Calvelli, WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs on the Biden Administration's announcent to to start the process to designate the Pacific Remote Islands and their surrounding waters as a National Marine Sanctuary as well as the release of the first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan

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SUVA, Fiji | January 26, 2022

STUDY: Traditional Food Production Sharing Practices Help Rural Pacific Island Communities Weather COVID-19 Impacts

A newly published, seven-country study found that rural Pacific Island communities that maintained traditional practices around food production were better able to weather the initial impacts of COVID-19.

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SUVA, Fiji | March 29, 2021

New Paper Addresses Impacts of COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold on Indo-Fijians Engaged in Small Scale Fisheries

A new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy addresses the impacts of COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold on Indo-Fijians engaged in small scale fisheries.

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NEW YORK, NY | March 11, 2021

COVID-19’s Impacts on Global Conservation Efforts Laid Bare in Latest PARKS Issue

A new special issue of PARKS, the journal of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, published today reveals massive impacts on global conservation efforts seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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SUVA, Fiji | March 03, 2021

Women Fishers Must Be Counted

A new study highlights that women fishers’ contributions to small scale fisheries have been undercounted leading to uninformed small-scale fisheries (SSF) policies and management.

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SUVA, Fiji | November 13, 2020

New Study Addresses Gender Inequality in Fisheries

A new study co-led by Sangeeta Mangubhai, Director of WCS’s Fiji Program, examines an emerging issue in fisheries management: gender inclusion and equality.

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SUVA, Fiji | October 09, 2020

Research Expedition to Assess Coral Reef Health and Recovery from Tropical Cyclone Winston

A recent expedition to Fiji’s largest two community protected areas, Namena Marine Reserve (88 km²) and Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park (110.5 km²), shows that they are making an incredible recovery from the impact of a tropical cyclone in 2016.

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Suva, Fiji | May 15, 2020

Strong Sharing Networks Can Help Communities Rebound From Crises

Of the top five countries in the world most at risk to disasters, three are Pacific Island nations. Yet time and time again, Pacific Islanders exhibit marked abilities to quickly recover. Part of the reason may be due to strong social networks that help to distribute resources to those most in need, say marine scientists from the University of Hawaiʿi, National Geographic Society and WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) in a new study.

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New York, NY | December 19, 2019

Integrating Social and Ecological Science For Effective Coral Reef Conservation

While many conservation plans focus on only environmental indicators for success, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)’s coral reef program is trying a relatively new approach: focusing on both social and ecological processes and outcomes to ensure a long-term future for coral reef systems, according to a newly published study.

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New York, NY | October 02, 2019

Besides Hot Water, Coral Bleaching Also About Location, Location, Location

As conservationists grapple with unprecedented levels of coral reef bleaching in the world’s warming oceans, scientists in the Indian and Pacific Oceans used the most recent El Nino of 2016 (the warmest year on record) to evaluate the role of excess heat as the leading driver of coral bleaching.

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