YEREVAN, Armenia — A Mozambican safari operator credited with helping restore wildlife populations in Mozambique’s Zambezi Delta, has won the 2026 Markhor Award, which recognizes contributions to conservation through sustainable wildlife management. Zambeze Delta Safaris, led by professional hunter Mark Haldane, received the award on Oct. 22, 2026, at the ongoing U.N. Biodiversity Conference, COP17, in Yerevan, Armenia. The company combines regulated trophy hunting with wildlife restoration, anti-poaching efforts and community development in an area of Mozambique that was devastated by the country’s civil war. “There is no other way to describe it than it’s a truly humbling feeling,” Haldane told Mongabay in a WhatsApp interview. “In my wildest dreams I never imagined this or anything close to this.” The award comes as governments at COP17 review progress toward global biodiversity targets adopted in 2022. One of them, Target 9, calls for sustainable wildlife management that also benefits communities. A new U.N. assessment warns that the world remains off track to meet its biodiversity commitments by the 2030 deadline. Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), welcomed the recognition. “Here is something we can celebrate,” she said during a press conference announcing the winner. Haldane began working in Coutada 11, a hunting concession in central Mozambique, in 1994, after years of conflict had severely depleted wildlife populations. He later established Zambeze Delta Safaris with Mozambican businessperson Carlos Pacheco Faria. According to the company’s award nomination, since the safari outfit began working in the region, the African…This article was originally published on Mongabay

YEREVAN, Armenia — More than 80 conservation, Indigenous and civil society organizations have called on governments meeting at the COP17 U.N. biodiversity summit in Armenia to keep mining, oil and gas operations out of protected areas. “Meeting a numerical target will mean little”, if areas designated for conservation remain exposed to industrial activities, the organizations warn in a joint letter released in advance of  COP17 on Oct. 2. An Oct. 8 report by Earth Insight and partners says that nearly 62 million hectares (153 million acres) of protected and conserved areas across the tropics overlap with oil and gas blocks, while mining concessions overlap with 43 million hectares (106 million acres). World leaders agreed in 2022 to protect 30% of the planet’s land and waters by 2030, a commitment known as “30×30” or Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The signatories argue that this commitment must be achieved “not just on paper, but in reality.” Conservation officials argue that mining has no place in protected and conserved areas. “Protected areas are protected areas,” Nadège Nzoyem, WWF’s Congo Basin regional director, said in a recent interview with Mongabay. Madhu Rao, chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, has echoed that concern, arguing that “some places are so critical that they have to be secured against extractive industries.” The head of Nigeria’s National Park Service also acknowledged in a recent interview with Mongabay the challenges posed by illegal mining and insecurity in the country’s national parks. Signatories to the…This article was originally published on Mongabay