The Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
The planet’s human population increases by more than 200,000 people every day. At the same time, global consumption and inequality are rising. As a result, our planetary footprint is unsustainable, with ever more severe and intensifying pressure on finite natural resources throughout the world. The resulting environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change destroys nature and impacts human well-being. The mission of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems through original scientific research. Our research is used worldwide to advise environmental policy-makers. The need for our efforts is greater than ever.
Part of the University of Oxford’s Department of Zoology, WildCRU is a pioneering, inter-disciplinary research unit in a world-class academic centre. We underpin solutions to conservation problems through primary scientific research of the highest calibre. Our approach is empirical, interdisciplinary and collaborative, seeking to include all four elements of our “Conservation Quartet” research to understand and address the problem; education to explain it; community involvement to ensure participation and acceptance; and implementation of long-term solutions.
Video narrated by Prof David Macdonald. Created by, and used with the kind permission of United for Wildlife: www.unitedforwildlife.org/
News
Online trade in turtles jeopardizes China’s Yangtze wetlands
January 22, 2020
With the resurgence of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, the RSPCA caution children, and their parents, not to buy these reptiles as exotic pets, mindful of the ... Read full story
New Study Confirms the Importance of Tiger Population in Thailand’s Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex
January 20, 2020
A new scientific survey has reinforced the importance of one of the world’s only remaining breeding populations of Indochinese tigers and provided evidence of tiger cubs in eastern ... Read full story
New paper examining the risks and opportunities for sustainability of the Belt and Road Initiative’s Traditional Chinese Medicine trade
January 17, 2020
A new paper focusing on the conservation implications of the global expansion of Traditional Chinese medicine has just been published, led by the WildCRU’s Senior Research fellow in ... Read full story