Madagascar's conservation problems are many, but the Malagasy Government is working towards solutions, having recently passed into law a strategy that links development with the conservation of natural resources. The protection of the country's remaining forests is a key concern, both for the human population and for the non-human primates. The author is a primatologist and has a research background in behavioural ecology, reproduction and conservation, especially with prosimians. This article was first presented at the joint Primate Society of Great Britain/FFPS meeting on primate conservation in December 1985.

The use of paints containing tributyltin (TBT) to keep boat hulls clean is threatening marine life in some coastal regions, especially where boating for pleasure is popular. Research so far has shown that very low concentrations of the chemical have lethal or mutagenic effects on some marine invertebrates and stop the growth of phytoplankton. Legislation is being drawn up by many countries to control the use of these paints, but the author fears that it may be too little and too late for some populations of organisms.

Simple solutions to wildlife conservation in Africa and elsewhere are comfortable but deceptive. This article focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the six main methods used to conserve wildlife in Africa and argues that their effectiveness differs according to place and circumstances. The means by which we achieve conservation goals must be employed opportunistically because there is no single path to long-term wildlife conservation.

The decline of the Pyrenean desman reflects the pollution, degradation and fragmentation of its mountain torrent habitat, but there are other threats too. In some areas of Spain that were once densely populated by desmans, escaped mink from fur farms have established and the desmans have disappeared. In October 1984 Walter Poduschka, Chairman of IUCN/SSC's Insectivore Specialist Group, and Bernard Richard, desman specialist, visited the Sierras north-west of Madrid to investigate the plight of the desman there. Their findings made them raise the matter at the SSC meeting in Madrid in 1984, and they urge that Spanish scientists study the animal and its problems before it is too late.

The results of a field survey for otters in Israel suggest that the species is close to extinction in the coastal plain, where many rivers are grossly polluted. Signs of the animal were found throughout the Jordan catchment, but, because the total area occupied is very small, even this population seems vulnerable.

Taking animals from the wild to supply the pet trade is often a cause for concern, both on welfare and conservation grounds. The red-eared terrapin Pseudemys scripta elegans is just one subspecies involved, and its survival in certain parts of its range is under threat as a result.

Two of the three subspecies of brow-antlered deer are endangered and only the Burmese subspecies is still relatively abundant. Even so, it is a species of major concern in Burma. The authors describe the results of their surveys to determine the deer's status, the main threats to its survival and what needs to be done to conserve it.

The felling of forest adjacent to the well-known Bohorok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre in North Sumatra, Indonesia, stimulated a series of local and national government responses, the course of which is instructive for those trying to grapple with conservation problems in Indonesia and elsewhere. The authors followed the story while working as Advisor to the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the University of North Sumatra, Medan, and World Wildlife Fund volunteer at the Bohorok Centre, respectively.