Africa elephants 'face survival threat' from poaching. Elephant conservationists say demand for ivory remains high. The survival of Africa's elephants is under threat, with estimates suggesting more than 20,000 were killed in 2013, a report says. The office of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) said poaching levels were far above the elephant birth rate. However, the report said poaching numbers had dropped slightly compared to the previous two years. Transnational organised crime appeared to be involved in the trade, it added. Cites, which is based in Geneva, is responsible for regulating the international trade in more than 35,000 species of plants and animals. Ivory tusks and products are displayed after the official start of the destruction of confiscated ivory in Hong Kong 15 May 2014 China has started to destroy seized ivory in public There are a number of interesting signals in these latest figures, perhaps indicating that the tougher line being taken by Cites is bearing fruit. For the first time, more large-scale consignments of ivory have been seized in Africa rather than in Asia. This is down to better policing in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and perhaps a slight downturn in demand from the key markets such as China, which carried out the first public destruction of ivory earlier this year. There is also the rise in demand in China for legal mammoth ivory that is mainly exported from Russia, which may also indicate a growing awareness of the connection to elephants and a willingness to look at alternatives.

Polar bear trade ban divides campaigners

Wildlife campaigners are at odds over a new attempt to ban the global trade in polar bear parts.

Some activists say the market for rugs and ornaments made from the bears is driving them to extinction, but others argue that the most pressing problem for the species is climate change and the disappearance of polar ice. The issue will be decided at a UN wildlife conservation meeting in Thailand in March 2013. The Humane Society International/UK says that polar bears have been brought to a tipping point by climate change but that increased hunting in recent years is pushing the species "beyond the brink."

"The drivers for the increase in recent years in the