"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, 1901-1978
Elephants and other wild animals are being protected in India by protective barricades around open wells in reserve and revenue forest.
This is because the animals were falling into wells.
After a survey of the wells, they were nearly all found to be abandoned and unsafe for wild animals.
Reports suggest there are about 360 such abandoned wells in the reserve and revenue forest.
Rescuing the trapped elephants was an enormous task which took several hours to do, so the Dhenkanal Forest division has taken steps to stop this happening and to prevent elephants and other wild animals from falling into them in the first place.
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.
The charity Trees for Life have just totted up the number of trees they planted in 2017 and it comes to a record breaking:
156,869 trees!
Of these, 133,000 were planted at the Allt Ruadh exclosure at the Dundreggan Conservation Estate, thus helping to restore the Caledonian Forest in the stunning Highlands.
Volunteers spent over 5,000 planting trees, and members, donors and supporters similarly played a vital role in ensuring the trees could be planted.
What’s more, Trees for Life have been invited to join the growing European Rewildling Network which puts the restoration of the Caledonian Forest in the Highalnds firmly on the European map.
The network shows how re-wilding can benefit from economic development, including nature based tourism such as wildlife watching, nature-based tourism and volunteer opportunities.
The Caledonian Forest is Scotland’s equivalent of the Amazonian rainforest. Today, just 1% of the original area is left, but Trees for Life has already restored large areas in Glen Affric and at the Dundreggan Conservatoin Estate by planting over 1.3 million trees and encouraging natural restoration.
The charity’s Caledonian Pinewood Recovery Project will help to restore 50 acres of remnant pinewoods – mostly ancient 200 year old “Granny” Scots pines which are dying. There are no young trees to succeed them, so the fragments are in danger of vanishing without action.
Research undertaken by the University of Exeter shows that drones are rapidly becoming a key resource for scientists.
In a paper published in the Endangered Species Review, scientists noted a number of benefits drones have to turtle conservation.
Drones enable scientists to track turtles over big areas and in places which are hard to reach. And they can gather information in much greater detail. They are cheaper than alternative ways to gather data, such as satellite systems.
The information they collect enable scientists to discover more about turtle behaviour and their movements in the water. Drones also give an extra weapon with which to fight poaching.
What’s more, stunning footage collected by the drones really increases public interest and involvement.
What scientists don’t know at the moment is if the turtles can pick up drones in flight, and what impact it has on them, so the University says more research is needed to investigate these points.
International bird conservation charity BirdLife International report that a group in Nigeiria is empowering women and the community to protect the very productive but rapidly disappearing mangrove forests there.
Groups of women are helping commuinties to restore and manage mangrove forests in 5 villages in South East Nigeria. It’s a important breeding site. Crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, fish, shrimps, crab, snails, clam and oysters call this area home. Local people depend on the forest to support their livelihoods.
For the forests have been overharvested. Trees have been used for firewood in homes and to build canoes. Patches of forest have been cleared for housing. This means that ecosystems and economic benefits have put the mangroves at risk.
But the good news is that 7 women on the frontline are working with communities.
Workshops reaching 330 women are raising awareness about the importance of mangrove restoration and tree planting.
Just 9 months after the project was started, over 400 trees have been planted in key areas. Another 600 have been ear-marked for distribution to women in the communities to promote agro-forestry practice.
And 2 nursery sites have been established in 2 communities to grow the Rhizophora species of mangrove tree, and over 400 seedlings grown!