Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 under the Convention on Biological Diversity sets out to conserve at least 17% of terrestrial area by 2020. However, few countries are on track to meet this target and it is uncertain whether developing countries have allocated sufficient resources to expand their protected areas. Biodiversity offsets could resolve this conservation shortfall if developers who affect biodiversity negatively at one locality are made responsible for its protection elsewhere. Here we simulate the use of biodiversity offsetting to expand protected area coverage in South Africa's grassland biome. South Africa's biodiversity offsets policy has been designed specifically to compensate for the residual loss of biodiversity caused by development, by establishing and managing protected areas within the same ecosystem type. We show that it is possible to meet protected area targets using only offsets, while facilitating economic development. However, doing so could slash the current extent of intact habitat by half. These losses could be reduced considerably should the gains in protected areas through offsetting supplement rather than supplant existing government commitments to protected area expansion. Moreover, supplementing existing government commitments would result in comparatively small reductions in potential economic gains, because the marginal economic benefit of transforming habitat decreases as more intact habitat is lost. Therefore, the intended role of biodiversity offsetting in achieving a country's protected area target should be made explicit to fully understand the associated trade-offs between conservation and economic development.

A controversy at the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress on the topic of closing domestic ivory markets (the 007, or so-called James Bond, motion) has given rise to a debate on IUCN's value proposition. A cross-section of authors who are engaged in IUCN but not employed by the organization, and with diverse perspectives and opinions, here argue for the importance of safeguarding and strengthening the unique technical and convening roles of IUCN, providing examples of what has and has not worked. Recommendations for protecting and enhancing IUCN's contribution to global conservation debates and policy formulation are given.

The savannah enclaves (i.e. patches) in the southern Brazilian Amazonia are among the most threatened and poorly surveyed sites in Amazonia. As part of an extensive mammal survey, we set camera traps in three of these savannah enclaves. We obtained 23 independent records of pampas deer Ozotoceros bezoarticus, a medium sized Neotropical cervid that is strongly associated with open habitats and categorized as Vulnerable on the Brazilian Red List of threatened species. These savannah enclaves with confirmed populations of pampas deer lie outside the species’ previously presumed historical range and are at least 350 km from any known extant population. Together, these savannah enclaves add c. 4,000 km2 to the pampas deer's currently known range. The small pampas deer populations in these enclaves are probably isolated by a matrix of Amazon forest, raising questions about spatial genetic structure and meta-population dynamics, and making them vulnerable to local extinction. We highlight the need for further studies, particularly genetic, to assess the conservation status of these populations, the results of which could potentially inform management decisions in other areas of the heavily fragmented range of this species.

Protected areas help to decrease human impacts on threatened mammals but do not always include species’ core habitats. Here we focus on the Vulnerable taruka Hippocamelus antisensis near the Atacama Desert, Chile, a population that is mainly threatened by interactions with local human communities. We develop a species distribution model for taruka and assess the contribution of protected areas to safeguarding its preferred habitat. From sightings (collected during 2004–2015), absence records (collected in 2014), and environmental variables, we determined that taruka habitat is scarce, highly fragmented and limited to humid areas. Only 7.7–11.2% of the taruka's core habitat is under protection. We recommend the establishment of a protected area in the south of Arica-Parinacota district, an area without settlements that lies within the taruka's core habitat, along with educational programmes, fencing of crops, and inclusion of communities in decision-making in areas where farmer–taruka interactions are negative.

With an increase in poaching of elephants Loxodonta africana across Africa, it is vital to know exactly how many elephants remain and where they occur, to ensure that protection and management are planned appropriately. From a nationwide survey we provide current population and distribution data for elephants in South Africa. We consider the viability of elephant populations in the country, as well as some of the management techniques implemented and how effective these are in controlling elephant numbers. According to our surveys there were 28,168 elephants in South Africa as of December 2015, with 78% of these occurring in Kruger National Park and reserves bordering and open to the Park. Of the country's 78 discrete reserves that host elephants, 77% have populations of < 100 elephants, which could mean they are not genetically viable. We discuss our findings in terms of the conservation value of South Africa's elephant reserves, and the animal welfare implications. We recommend that the fragmentation of elephant habitat in the country be addressed through a national elephant management strategy that promotes wildlife corridors between existing, neighbouring elephant reserves.

The Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area Programme promotes landscape-level connectivity between clusters of wildlife management areas in five neighbouring countries. However, declining regional biodiversity can undermine efforts to maintain, expand and link wildlife populations. Narratives promoting species connectivity should thus be founded on studies of system and state changes in key resources. By integrating and augmenting multiple data sources throughout eight wildlife management areas, covering 1.7 million ha, we report changes during 1978–2015 in the occurrence and distribution of 31 mammal species throughout a landscape linking the Greater Kafue System to adjacent wildlife management areas in Namibia and Botswana. Results indicate species diversity is largely unchanged in Kafue National Park and Mulobezi and Sichifulo Game Management Areas. However, 100% of large carnivore and 64% of prey diversity have been lost in the Simalaha areas, and there is no evidence of migrational behaviour or species recolonization from adjacent wildlife areas. Although temporal sampling scales influence the definition of species occupancy and distribution, and data cannot elucidate population size or trends, our findings indicate an emerging connectivity bottleneck within Simalaha. Evidence suggests that at current disturbance levels the Greater Kafue System, Zambia's majority component in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, is becoming increasingly isolated at the trophic scale of large mammals. Further investigations of the site-specific, interacting drivers influencing wildlife distribution and occurrence are required to inform appropriate conservation interventions for wildlife recovery in key areas identified to promote transboundary connectivity in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area.

Habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and human–wildlife conflict threaten the survival of primates across Africa. Particularly dramatic forest losses have occurred outside protected areas in the Guinean forest–savannah transition zone. Using the Boé region, Guinea-Bissau, as a case study, we investigated whether and how this rapidly humanized mosaic of wooded savannah, gallery forests and cropland could sustain viable primate populations. We conducted line transect surveys and reconnaissance (recce) walks to assess populations of one Critically Endangered (chimpanzee Pan troglodytes verus), one Endangered (Temminck's red colobus Piliocolobus badius temminckii), one Vulnerable (king colobus Colobus polykomos), and one Near Threatened (sooty mangabey Cercocebus atys) arboreal primates across a 104 km2 section of Boé in the dry season of 2016. Using the standing crop nest count method we estimated a relatively high chimpanzee density (0.77 individuals per km2, 95% CI 0.45–1.34). An assessment of habitat selection showed that chimpanzees prefer semi-dense forest and fallow fields with remnant old trees for nesting, and locations close to rivers. The other primates studied occurred in extremely low densities and were largely restricted to gallery forests. Our results indicate a need for immediate action to ensure the long-term survival of the primate community in the human-dominated landscape of Boé. Our recommendations include action to maintain hunting pressure at a low level, restoring and protecting gallery forests, introducing incentives for farmers for forest protection and primate-friendly practices, and extending the conservation programme to all arboreal primates in the region.

Despite efforts to combat invasive species, further measures are still required to prevent their arrival and translocation, especially into biodiverse island ecosystems. Although many governments worldwide have already established protocols to control alien species, the European outermost regions have yet to implement fully effective prevention or rapid response procedures. The numerous translocations of the invasive Barbary ground squirrel Atlantoxerus getulus within the Canary Islands illustrate this problem. From 1996 to 2016 at least 2.1 individuals per year have been moved from Fuerteventura to other islands. If movements of these medium-sized vertebrates are taking place regularly, the number of smaller species transported within the archipelago could potentially be greater. We argue that it is essential to implement stricter strategies for invasive species control in these remote biodiversity-rich islands, including early detection and rapid response, to minimize impacts on native biodiversity.