"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
The African Wildlife Foundation sent an email to say that the social distancing we are all doing has consequences for lions, elephants and other species in Africa’s 8,400 protected areas.
What has happened with the breakout of COVID-19 and social distancing?
Well, tourism has plummeted. As a result, so has the revenue the safari industry receives. The industry budgets revenue to dedicate to wildlife protection and protected areas management.
Wildlife and the people who protect it – rangers and community members who are employed in tourism and related businesses – will pay the price of this decline.
Sometimes you see something on the internet or on television that really hits you hard and makes a point extremely well.
I saw this video, this afternoon, and I wanted to share it with you. Please share it with everyone you can.
The ultimate message is that we SHARE this planet. It demonstrates how dominant the human race has become - and how selfish. I am not going to tell you anymore about it - please just watch it for yourself. Here it is:
If I’m driving along in my car, I always find the wildlife flowers on our verges to be very uplifting to see.
And whilst I’ve been having my daily one walk during the lockdown because of the coronavirus, I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the wild flowers which are about.
Plantlife is a charity that works nationally and internationally to raise the profile of our wild flowers, plants and our fungi. They support our wildlife and they are vital. Their colour and character give us cheer and brighten up our day and journeys.
It’s really important to protect our wild flowers, our plants and our fungi. And our roadsides have been much quieter of late, as lockdown is observed. The drone of many councils’ mowers have also fall silent as councils may have reduced grass cutting down to the minimum required to maintain visibility and make sure our roads are safe.
Plantlife hope that reduced cutting frequencies may help verge wildflowers to grow, flower and set seed. Flowers such as the white campion, betony, greater knapweed and harebell, the chance to grow, flower and set seed.
The good news is that a more wildlife-friendly management regime will help tackle climate change.
Over 300 local authorities have now declared a climate emergency. Reducing their cutting regimes, as recommended in Plantlife’s management guidelines, will also help councils bring down carbon emissions.
Hopefully it won’t be long before we can all get outside and enjoy the wild flowers along our roadside. Meantime, please visit Plantlife’s website to see how you can support their “Support the road verge campaign.”
The Sierra Club (a grassroots environmental organisation in the US) has announced that there’s big, exciting news from a bank!
JPMorgan Chase have announced at its annual Investor Day that:
It will not finance oil and gas extraction in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
It will not continue financing many coal-related enterprises, including thermal coal mines and coal-fired power plants across the world.
The bank is by far the leading US investor in fossil fuels, and environmentalists and indigenous peoples have put pressure on the bank for years trying to move away from projects which threaten the climate.
They promised to stop investing in and providing services to companies which derive “the majority of their revenues from the extraction of coal” by 2024, and not to provide financing to offshore and onshore oil and gas extraction in the Arctic
Goldman Sachs also made a similar commitment not to financial oil drilling in the Arctic two months ago.
Now, it’s vital that we put the pressure on other big banks to follow suit.
I wonder...
Could their executives and shareholders live with themselves if there was an accident drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic which they had agreed to finance? It only takes ONE spill to do unrepairable damage. As the Sierra Club say, “Clean air, safe drinking water, wildlife and wild places are under attack-and once they're gone, they're gone for good.”
Tell These Big US Banks That Arctic Drilling Is Bad Business!
The Sierra Club say that banks worldwide are refusing to fund Arctic drilling. Some US banks are dragging their feet. But Goldman Sachs have done it; they were the trail-finders who have ruled out financing Arctic oil and gas drilling, thermal coal mines and coal-fired power projects around the world. Thank you, everyone at Goldman Sachs.
Sierra Club
Big banks don’t want to fall behind on industry trends.
The Sierra Club is asking us all to focus our efforts on the other US funders which, they say, are notorious for propping up dirty fuels: Wells Fargo, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley.
The Sierra Club are asking everyone to:
Send a message to the CEOs of the other major US banks, telling them that bankrolling Arctic drilling isn’t just bad business -- it’s a threat to Indigenous human rights and to the climate.
On 16 January 2020, the Governement of Belize signed the declaration of North-eastern Biological Corridor of Belize. It covers an area of nearly 70,000 acres and links the northernmost nature reserve in Belize with more central natural habitats.
It’s really important, because it’s the first step towards achieving a total North-South corridor crossing the whole country as the map shows!
It’s a tremendous example of public-private partnership: the government of Belize, local NGOs, private landowners and many international donors – including the World Land Trust – have been involved.
UNITED FOR CONSERVATION, WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE BETTER
The corridor connects a system of three protected areas in one system. Deforestation has caused the loss of over 25,000 acres of forest in tihe last 10 years.
This will now allow big animals such as jaguar and Baird’s Tapirs enough space to move freely between protected areas and so ensure their long term survival! It will also help build climate resilience into Belize’s network of protected areas.
Why was this acquisition necessary?
In Belize, about 50% of the country is under natural vegetation cover. About 35% of the country is under some form of protection.
So it is still possible to create biological corridors between protected areas.
It’s vital that these acquisitions take place, and speedily, because agricultural development are increasingly encroaching on forest.
How did supporters of the World Land Trust – people like you & me – help in this achievement?
The World Land Trust mobilised its supporters and inspired new ones to raise funds to support this land acquisition. It included 2018’s Big Match Fortnight Jungle for Jaguars campaign, and another Buy an Acre opportunity a few months after that. (The Big Match Fortnight normally comes in October when donations are matched for a specific appeal – it is incredible how much and how speedily this builds up.)
Donate in memory of someone special I donated to this campaign during the Big Match Fortnight (actually in memory of my wonderful Dad as his birthday is in November and I plant a tree or do a buy an acre on his birthday and at Christmas for him, as Dad loved trees).
Ask someone to donate as a gift for you I asked my husband to also donate as my early Christmas present and it was by far the best present I had. It really meant something to me. We had made a difference.
I cannot tell you the glow and warm feeling I have in my heart when I think of my jaguar roaming the biological corridor. I call him “my jaguar” – he obviously isn’t, and I’m never going to meet him – but it’s lovely to think that because I donated and my husband has too, we’ve helped him and lots of other animals.
Please do donate to the World Land Trust if you can, and keep an eye on their website. I often post news of their new appeals here, so you can watch this space as well. They are a wonderful charity and it’s good to give a meaningful gift which will last, so if you’re looking for a gift for a wildlife lover, making a donation could be a great way to do something to really make a difference – a win, win, win all round!
This was the You Tube Video for Jungle for Jaguars – it raised £532,000 in the Big Match Fortnight (normally early October) alone and hit the £600,000 target by Christmas, helping to save 8,154 vital acres. A further 1,818 acres were saved a few months later.
