The Aïr Mountains of north-central Niger are relatively unspoilt and contain some of the last remaining populations of addax Addax nasomaculatus, ostrich Struthio camelus and dama gazella Gazella dama in in West Africa. The Aïr Mountain are also home for some 5000 Twaregs, half of whom are cultivators and the other half herders. The Aïr and Tùnùrù National Nature Reserve, which was gazetted in 1988, covers more than 77,000 sq km. It was inspired by concern for the region's unique and increasingly threatened wildlife, wcology. The Nigerien Wildlife Service and the IUCN/WWF project that supports the reserve are attempting to reconcile conservation with development through a broadly based programme geared to protection, resoration and sustainable use of the area's natural resources.

While Saudi Arabia has recognized the dangers of uncontrolled hunting and has introduced conservation measures in its own territory, prominent members of that kingdom are killing large numbers of game, including endangered species, in neighbouring countries. In this report the author presents evidence of the devastation caused by Saudi hunters in the Sudan. While the latter country has outlawed hunting, enforcing the law against Saudi nationals is fraught with difficulties.

Although it is a poor country, Nepal has been responsible for one of the greatest rhino conservation success stories. In 1968 its population of greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis was estimated at 81–108 individuals; by 1990 the population had increased to 400, a tremendous achievement for a country with very limited financial resources. However, in 1990 the government collapsed and the enforcement of law and order was not very effective. Rhinos were poached for their horns and tigers for their bones. Poachers started poisoning rhinos, apparently copying the methods used previously for killing nuisance tigers. The author, who visited Nepal in 1991, reports on these new threats and discusses what needs to be done to remedy the situation.

Serra da Capivara is the second largest protected area in Brazil's caatinga – a mosaic of dry habitats in the north-east with a diverse flora and fauna, including several threatened and recently discovered taxa. The park is not effectively protected, however, and there is growing pressure from the surrounding human population.

The Gunung Halimun Reserve has the largest area of primary rain forest left on Java. The reserve is important for the habitat it provides for two endangered primates, the moloch Hylobates moloch and the grizzled langur Presbytis comata, which are endemic to western Java. The author presents the results of a survey conducted in the reserve in July 1989 and makes suggestions for further survey work and scientific research on the primates there.

Equatorial Guinea, the only Spanish-speaking country in tropical Africa, is an important enclave for wildlife. Because of its dire economic situation, the outcome of the withdrawal of colonial paternalism and 11 years of ruthless military dictatorship, the country sees the exploitation of its natural resources as the panacea to its financial deficit. The consequences for fauna and flora of the unchecked exploitation and uncontrolled opening of forest land for commercial logging will be enormous. Some protected areas have been decreed, but effective action to enforce new laws needs to be taken and the country lacks trained personnel and infrastructure.

In the 1980s international publicity was given to the deaths of thousands of wildebeest in southern Botswana. The cause was their drought-induced migrations being prevented by the cordon fences erected to protect cattle from disease. While the mortalities may have accounted for 90 per cent of the wildebeest population since 1979, archive records from the 1920s and 1940s show that the decline started much earlier. Wildebeest were once so numerous in the southern Kalahari that local farmers regarded them as a menace, competing with cattle for grazing and transmitting malignant catarrh. Extermination programmes reduced the wildebeest population to such an extent that by 1961 the Botswana Government classified it as a game animal to be hunted only by licence.

The Ethiopian wolf is a social canid endemic to the highlands of Ethiopia. Today perhaps only 500 individuals survive, making it the world's rarest and probably most endangered canid. Its range has already been reduced and it is threatened by further loss of habitat to high-altitude subsistence agriculture and overgrazing by livestock. Today it survives in only six locations, with the largest and probably only genetically viable population being found in the Bale Mountains National Park. The most immediate threats for the survival of Ethiopian wolves are disease, domestic dogs and human persecution. Improved management in Bale and Simien Mountains National Parks and the establishment of a captive-breeding programme are urgently needed to prevent the extinction of this species.

Wild elephants currently occur in three populations in the lowlands of Nepal. The eastern and western animals are part of larger populations that extend into India; the central population, estimated to be 21 individuals, is geographically isolated from the other two and confined within Nepal's borders. Tracks of young elephants observed in 1979 and 1989 indicate that reproduction occurs on a regular basis. The present reserve system provides good cover and an excellent food base; the potential for population increase is good. Nepal needs to develop policy to handle human/elephant conflicts so that public support for protection of elephant populations can be maintained.

Villagers who live in the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary have traditionally had a taboo against killing the black-and-white colobus Colobus polykomos and mona monkey Cercopithecus campbelli, which inhabit the forest around their villages. The sanctuary is an important example of how traditional values in Ghana have resulted in wildlife conservation. The author, partly funded from the Oryx 100% Fund, carried out an assessment of the current status of the forest and monkey populations. He found that the monkeys are not immediately threatened but that some of the forest that the monkeys rely on has become degraded or destroyed. Further erosion of the forest should be minimized by careful planning of future village expansion, constructing fire-breaks and controlling farming activities along the forest perimeter.

During a 4-month study in French Polynesia, the authors visited 28 islands, seven of which had never been explored by ornithologists. They collected ecological data on endemic land birds, introduced animals and habitats, focusing particularly on the factors involved in population declines and extinctions. As well as hunting and habitat destruction, it appears that introduced predators play a major role, with the roof rat Rattus rattus being the most dangerous. Rapid action to eradicate introduced predators, coupled with translocations, would be the most effective way to ensure the survival of the remaining bird species.

Many, if not all, marine turtle populations world-wide have become seriously depleted by the impact of numerous factors over the years. Populations of marine turtles are now classified as endangered or threatened. National and international legislation designed to protect sea turtles has been unsuccessful and, despite evergrowing interest, there is disturbing evidence of new and increasingly important threats: increased incidence of disease; oil and organochlorine contamination and marine ‘macro-pollution’.