Few issues in the conservation community rival the intensity of the debate over sustainable use of wild species. At one extreme, people advocate that sustainable use ensures conservation of the resource. Others view it as a guise to exploit wild species. Somewhere between these positions, scientists point out that it impossible to guarantee sustainability given the complexity of human and biological factors that must be balanced. All these points of view are represented among the membership of the IUCN.

Although the Galapagos Islands were first colonized over 160 years ago, the major impact on the marine resources by local fishermen has occurred only during the last 40–45 years. During this period, and especially more recently, a lack of attention to the largely uncontrolled fishery has led to confusion, a conflict of interests, and a series of inapplicable laws and regulations. Changing markets, exploding human populations, and a new approach to marine resource exploitation, with minimum investment and maximum expectation, has led to a chaotic situation in which neither the fishermen nor the Galapagos National Park will ultimately benefit.

In 1992 the discovery of a new bovid, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, in Vietnam led to speculation that the species also occurred in adjacent parts of Laos. This paper describes a survey in January 1994, which confirmed the presence of P. ngethinhensis in Laos, although in low densities and with a patchy distribution. The paper also presents new information that helps clarify the phylogenetic position of the species. The low numbers and restricted range of P. ngethinhensis mean that it must be regarded as Endangered. While some admirable moves have been made to protect the new bovid and its habitat, more needs to be done and the authors recommend further conservation action.

The Okomu Forest Reserve in south-west Nigeria contains a 114-sq-km wildlife sanctuary that is an important refuge for several threatened species, including the white-throated guenon Cercopithecus erythrogaster. A conservation project that started in Okomu in 1987 focused initially on protection, but the emphasis recently shifted to a programme of agricultural development assistance to migrant farmers in the reserve. This approach, which appears to follow the philosophy espoused in IUCN/UNEP/WWF's Caring for the Earth, may hasten rather than prevent the destruction of this remnant tropical forest and its wildlife.

Tamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Upper Chindwin district of Myanmar could be one of the most important remaining sites for wildlife in the country. Until recently, insurgency problems prevented officials of the Myanmar Forest Department visiting the area or carrying out any form of management. Yet the sanctuary is essentially intact and, with the exception of rhino, appears to contain viable populations of most large mammal species known from that part of Myanmar. However, hunting and the collection of forest products in the sanctuary are having negative impacts on the wildlife community. The future survival of the Sumatran rhino in the Upper Chindwin area is doubtful. Other large mammal species, such as the tiger and gaur, may follow the rhino towards extinction in the near future. Tamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary will need to be actively protected and managed to ensure that much of Myanmar's wildlife continues to survive in this area, well into the future.

When the Indian Government banned the export of snakeskins in 1976, the Irulas – a tribal people whose traditional skills included snake-catching – lost a major source of income. The authors describe how the Irula Co-operative Venom Centre was established to replace this lost income and at the same time exploit a valuable wildlife resource in a way that is apparently sustainable. More research is needed, however, to ensure that the project is viable in the long term.

The National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) was established in 1986 to oversee all wildlife conservation programmes in Saudi Arabia. One of the first species-specific programmes, started in the same year, was a houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii captive-breeding project at the National Wildlife Research Center. With the production in 1992 of a selfsustaining captive houbara flock and the provision of an annual surplus of houbara chicks, attention has shifted to the release of captive-bred houbara into protected areas. Critical review of the houbara programme in 1993 emphasized the need for field studies, public-awareness programmes and international collaboration in addition to captive-rearing and release.

New Caledonia, a French territory in the south-west Pacific has a very high number of endemic taxa. The endemic fauna include a monotypic genus of parakeets – Eunymphicus. One subspecies, Eunymphicus cornutus uvaeensis, which is endemic to the island of Ouvéa in the Loyalty Islands, is seriously threatened by degradation of its natural habitat, natural predators and capture for sale to collectors. There are now only 200–500 individuals left in the wild. The parakeet is the emblem of Ouv–a and local people, together with research scientists, have formed a society with the aims of studying the parakeet in its natural environment, making the general public aware of its conservation requirements, combating smuggling, increasing its population by breeding it in captivity and, if possible, introducing it on to a neighbouring island.