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Of a total of 237 Brazilian IBAs now identified, only 21 per cent are protected; 39 per cent are partially protected, and the remaining 40 per cent have no official protection at all. As Dr Jaqueline Goerck, SAVE Brasil’s Director President and co-author of the publication says, "There is still a long way to go to ensure the long-term survival of Brazil’s bird diversity." One of the first tasks was to identify IBAs for Brazil. Not an easy task by any means. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world at over 8.5 million square kilometres and also has the fifth largest population, mainly concentrated around the coastal strip. A Wildlifewatch report on the ambitious project.

Animal populations in a wide variety of geographical areas —- birds in the UK, small mammals in the arctic, and most recently foxes, lynx and otters in cold Scandinavian regions — are adapting to a shift in rising temperatures. Where temperature changes are most radical, such as those at higher latitudes, Prof Yoram Yom-Tov of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology has measured the most radical changes of these animals' body size over time. A Wildlifewatch report.