Category:

1. Oh to be wealthy!

   Posted on 8:00pm Tuesday 27th Mar 2018

   It would be the dream of my life to make or win tons of money and be able to give it all to wildlife conservation and reforestation! In late March 2018, philanthropists, governments and corporate leaders from Europe, China, the US and Africa pledged over $6 million to protect wildlife habitats at the end of an important conservation summit. The Kavango-Zambezi Trans frontier Conservation Area borders Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  It’s home to over 220,000 elephants – and yet parts of this ecosystem are now under huge pressure from poachers.  Forest elephants in Central Africa also suffer from high levels of killing. Space for Giants is an international conservation organisation.  It’s just co-hosted the Giants Club Summit, with Botswana’s Tlhokomela Trust. The Giants Club has come together and galvanised new money for fast action.   So what did the Giants Club countries – Botswana, Gabon, Kenya and Uganda (plus other KAZA nations Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe) – achieve? The Giants Club will work with national wildlife services and partner organisations to nominate people for the Ranger Award Programme of the Paradise Foundation.   The award raises awareness about threats to Africa’s wildlife and the essential role that rangers play on the front line in conservation.  Working together will mean more candidates will be reached. A US$2 million grant given by the EU will be implemented by Space for Giants and the Tlhokomela Trust to train and mentor wildlife rangers sharing operational intelligence and resources across the border region It will boost legal deterrants against poaching by making investigations and prosecutions stronger across the five countries. The Giants Club aims to protect half of Africa’s elephants and their landscapes by 2020 by uniting political will, technical expertise and financial power to achieve its goal. Founding members are the presidents of Uganda, Gabon, Kenya and the Tlhokomela Trust.   415,000 elephants live in these areas – over half of Africa’s remaining elephants.  The Giants Club’s members include financiers, international philanthropists and key influencers such as celebrities.   Conservation scientists are the technical advisors.  The summit brings people together to hear innovative ideas on how to protect elephants and their landscapes and it then negotiates finance and secures political will to increase the reach of the ideas. Kenyan based Space for Giants works to protect Africa’s elephants from immediate threats such as poaching.  It works to secure their habitats in landscapes which are under increasing pressures.    Space for Giants aims: To develop and deliver anti-poaching intiatives to reduce the problems arising where elephants people live alongside each other, and to provide education and training.

    

2. 5,000 trees planted and doing well in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 26th Mar 2018

   In Brazil, 5,000 trees have been planted the Atlantic Forest

   Trees planted in the Matumbo Gap of the Atlantic Forest in 2017 are doing well!

   5,000 trees were planted, thanks to funding from the World Land Trust’s Plant a Tree programme.  The programme plants a tree for a £5 donation.   

   The trees are all grown from seeds collected from the indigenous tree species of the neighbouring Atlantic Forest.  They are cultivated in the nursery of the Reserva Ecológica e Guapiaçu (REGUA) and then planted in the slopes of the cleared area known as the Matumbo Gap.

   The Matumbo Gap has been a priority for reforestation.   It would create a wildlife corridor between two areas of forest which are under the protection of the Reserva Ecológica e Guapiaçu.  The area is funded by the World Land Trust.

   The forest is maturing; some pioneer plant species are bearing seeds and fruit, which fees the native fauna, particularly bats and birds. 

   
   

   
   The Reserva Ecológica e Guapiaçu’s mission is to protect the remaining areas of Altantic Forest and connect fragmented habitats.   These areas have been cut off from each other because of clearance for agriculture. 

   Thriving wildlife can be seen in the state of Rio de Janeiro, thanks to successes from REGUA’s work.

   You can be a part of the World Land Trust’s work to support reforestation in Brazil, Ecuador and Kenya through their Plant a Tree Programme.  

   Native tree species are planted to restore degraded habitats for £5 each.  Donate £25 or more, and you’ll receive a donation pack detailing the impact of your support. 

   BE A PART OF THIS SUCCESS STORY - PLANT A TREE HERE FOR JUST £5

   You can also make a donation to REGUA here

    

3. El Pantonoso Reserve is 100% fully funded

   Posted on 8:00pm Friday 23rd Mar 2018

   There’s good conservation news from the World Land Trust today. They’ve announced that the El Pantanoso Reserve is now 100% fully funded, which means that 10,900 acres is permanently protected through their partner Fundación Biodiversidad Argentina.  The reserve is a wildlife corridor of Yungas Forest.  It sits between the Calilegua National Park and the Estancia Urundel, and it’s Argentina’s biggest area of Jaguar habitat. This project has also been supported by a legacy which was left by a supporter of the World Land Trust, so it just shows how legacies can make a difference to causes one cares about.   Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, also supported the project.  And it was secured by supporters of the Buy an Acre Argentina programme. At the moment, the World Land Trust’s Buy an Acre programme is focusing on Mexico at the moment, where a £100 donation can buy an acre of land.  In Ecuador, land prices are going up, and it’s not possible to buy an acre for £100, hence the focus on Mexico where the World Land Trust’s partner Grupo Ecological Sierra Gorda can save habitats about £100 an acre.

    

4. China to create a massive panda park

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 19th Mar 2018

   The Sichaun province government has secured %1.58 billion in funding during the next 5 years for a planned Giant Panda National Park. The park will be three times the size of the US Yellowstone National Park, so it will be enormous – 10,476 square miles in all. The park will protect wild pandas living across the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.  The environment ministry said it had agreed to plans by 15 provinces and regions to draw up red lines to keep large areas of land off limits to economic development.   These large areas include wetlands, forests, national parks and protected nature zones.  Over 80% of wild pandas live in Sichuan, and the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu.  The park plans will link up the pandas who are isolated in these areas and encourage them to breed.  Pandas are terribly slow at reproducing and there are several breeding centres in China to help with panda conservation. Although the number of wild pandas have increased in recent years, the continued increase in numbers depends on having the right habitat available to pandas to breed so the announcement of the Giant Panda National Park is a step in the right direction to ensuring they have the right environment in which to thrive.  Pandas International is a US based charity working to help with panda conservation.  Visit Pandas International here.

    

5. Chile creates new law to protect waters along its 4,000 mile coastline

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   Now past Chilean President Michele Bachelet has signed a decree creating 9 marine reserves which protects 4,000 miles of coastline. President Bechelet ends her term of office this week.  She believes that Chile needed to establish the basis on which to conserve its marine territory for the future.   The decree will increase the area of sea under the protection of the Chilean government from 4.3% to 42.4%.   It will protect marine life in about 1.4 million square kilometres of sea.   One of the new reserve covers the waters around the Diego Ramirez Islands.  Sea lions, kelp forests and whales make this their home. Let's hope her successor will continue to take similar steps to preserve the country's marine life. Wildlife flourishes on an untouched Chile island