Survival of wildlife reserves under threat in Namibia

After six months of lockdown, the Namibian government ended travel restrictions and curfews on Friday, in light of a drop in new COVID-19 cases. But Namibia’s economy, which depends heavily on wildlife tourism, has taken a major hit during the period, and the future of the country’s wildlife reserves, otherwise known as conservancies, is far from certain.

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https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/09/1072682

‘An unwanted prison sentence’ for seafarers stuck at home and stranded at sea

06 Jan 2021

Hundreds of thousands of seafarers have been on board for many months longer than planned, stranded at sea due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Six months after the problem was first revealed, many of them are still struggling to cope with the ongoing uncertainty.

Forensic lab aids crack down on illegal wildlife trade in Viet Nam

07 Jan 2022

Despite travel bans and other COVID-19 restrictions, the small team at Viet Nam’s wildlife forensic lab has been bolstering police efforts to crack down on illegal trafficking, with support from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

First Person: Surviving Bali’s COVID tourism crash

30 Jul 2022

Dekha Dewandana ran a thriving ‘homestay’ tourism property in Bali, and received UN-supported training which has helped him to maintain a high standard of hospitality. When COVID-19 hit Indonesia, his business was pushed to the verge of collapse and, after a bruising two-year period, it’s now slowly recovering.