Latest News

The giraffe has been announced as ‘Vulnerable’ in the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, released today at the UN biodiversity conference in Cancun, Mexico. The global giraffe population has plummeted by up to 40% over the last 30 years, driven by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting, with less than 100,000 now remaining.  The giraffe Red List assessment process has been a major collaborative effort, compiling data on all nine subspecies from a large number of IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group members working across the range.  Read the IUCN press release here and the Red List assessment here, and join us in spreading the word and supporting efforts to conserve the most threatened populations of giraffe.

Join us in celebrating the inaugural World Okapi Day, spearheaded by the Okapi Conservation Project and zoos around the world to raise awareness of this amazing animal as well as support for okapi conservation efforts in the wild!  Learn more here.

At the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii today, the Director General of ICCN, Dr Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, joined Dr Noëlle Kümpel from the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group to hold an event on ‘Conserving the elusive forest giraffe’.  This highlighted the decline of okapi in the wild and international, collaborative efforts to counter this, such as the new Lomami National Park, World Okapi Day and the ten-year IUCN/ICCN Okapi Conservation Strategy.  Find out more here.

Ahead of the IUCN World Conservation Congress to be held in Hawaii, 1-10 September 2016, IUCN Members have voted comprehensively to endorse Motion 008 on ‘Giraffids: reversing the decline of Africa’s iconic megafauna’.  This was led and supported by a number of GOSG members and co-sponsored by organisations including ICCN, representing DRC, the only country in the world where both giraffe and okapi are found.  Join us in helping to raise awareness and support conservation efforts to tackle the plight of both giraffe and okapi in the wild. Read the motion here.

On 7 July the DRC government formally decreed the 9000 square kilometre Lomami National Park, granting protection to a remote, relatively unscathed area home to an abundance of wildlife, much of it rare and endemic, including okapi.  This is the first Congolese protected area to be set up in a participatory manner, involving all levels of the community and administration, from village to province to national entity, thanks to the coordination of the TL2 project and the strong support of ICCN.  Learn more here.

If you are in the UK, tune in at 8pm tonight to watch a truly inspiring BBC Natural World documentary, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, on ‘Giraffes: Africa’s Gentle Giants’ programme, following IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group co-chair Julian Fennessy and his family on several giraffe field conservation projects around Africa, including pioneering efforts to translocate around 20 Rothschild’s giraffes by boat across the Nile river in Uganda: Watch the trailer and full film here.

Join us in supporting World Giraffe Day, an exciting annual event initiated by co-hosts of the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, to celebrate the longest-necked animal on the longest day or night (depending on which hemisphere you live!) of the year – 21 June – every year!  Find out more here.

We are excited to announce that the IUCN/ICCN Okapi Conservation Strategy and Status Review, produced with the support of the IUCN SSC Giraffid and Okapi Specialist Group and a huge number of partners and donors, has now been officially published and printed in English and French!  This is the first-ever coordinated global strategy focused on this unique and elusive species, highlighting that while we still have much to learn in terms of its ecology and conservation status, it is severely threatened by habitat loss, poaching, armed conflict and increasingly the destruction of its forests by extractives activities.  Among other things, the strategy calls for urgent government and international commitment to support the integrity of key Congolese protected areas from armed militia and illegal extractives activities.  You can download the strategy here.

It is now time for ‘Sticking our Necks out for Giraffe Conservation in Africa’ – Giraffe Indaba III will be held in South Africa at the Southern African Wildlife College (Hoedspruit) between 23 – 28 August 2015 : click here for more information!

The Mercury (Durban, South Africa) has published two articles that highlight alarming declines in giraffe and okapi numbers, which raise major concerns for the conservation of these two emblematic species in Africa. You can read them here!

21 June has been designated the day on which the wildlife aficionados of this planet celebrate the giraffe, one of Africa’s most beautiful denizens and iconic symbols. According to Billy Dodson, GCF patron and nature photographer, this acknowledgment is long overdue. More information here!

The last issue of our newsletter Giraffid is now available.