Category: Environment

1. SUCCESS: The Green Match Fund 2023 is from 20-27 April 2023

   Posted on 10:35am Saturday 29th Apr 2023

   #GreenMatchFund

   Update on 29 April 2023:  The Green Match Fund 2023 was a great success, and £4,349,330 was raised for 178 charities in 7 days.  There were 22,457 donations to make this happen!   Congratulations to all the charities involved! 
   
   

   Here's the background here: 

   Here’s a chance to make a donation for wildlife which gets DOUBLED! 

   From the 20^th April at midday for one week, you can donate to an environmental charity taking part and your donation will be matched! 

   This is a great chance to really make your £ stretch to make a difference!

   
   If we all pull together, we can really go places 
   for nature and the natural world
   Visit the Green Match Fund here
   
   

   Charites taking part in the Green Match Fund include:

   • Wildlife Trusts (a number have their own individual appeals)
   • Rewilding Britain
   • Bees for Development Trust
   • Surfers Against Sewage
   • Northumberland Rivers Trust
   • Fauna and Flora International (for pangolins)
   • The RSPB
   • Buglife
   • Students organising for Sustainability (that's Hedgehogs Friendly Schools)
   • Blue Marine Foundation
   • Virunga Foundation (that’s for gorillas)
   • David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
   • ZSL (for big cats)
   • Bumblebee Conservation Trust
   • Wild Fish Conservation
   • Royal Entomological Society (that’s for insects)
   • International Animal Rescue (for mangroves)
   • The Shark Trust
   • Sumatran Orangtuan Foundation
   • Beaver Trust
   • Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (wildcats)
   • Whale and Dolphin Conservation
   • Bat Conservation Trust
   • CPRE (for hedgerows, so important to lifestyle)
   • Wildlife Vets International (for vultures)
   • Space for Giants (elephant-human conflict)
   • South Downs National Park Trust (for a network for ponds)
   • Rhino Ark (UK)
   • Orangutan Foundation
   • Bees Abroad (bees and elephants)
   • Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit
   • Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
   • Project Seagrass
   • Organisation Cetacea
   • People’s Trust for Endangered Species (for hedgerows)
   • International Otter Survival Fund
   • World Cetacean Alliance
   • The Falconry Centre – Vulture Conservation
   • South Georgia Heritage Trust (whales)
   • UK Wild Otter Trust

   
   Even if you cannot donate, this is a great opportunity to find out more about what the charities that interest you most do, and to spread awareness of what they do – spread the word!

   The above list doesn’t cover all the charities taking part, so visit the Green Match Fund’s page to find out more!

   #GreenMatchFund

    

2. Act for wildlife in Cambodia with FFI's urgent appeal in the Cardamom Mountains

   Posted on 8:00pm Thursday 26th May 2022

   I’ve had an email from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) about an impending crisis that is about to get catastrophically worse.

   The beautiful Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia are being covered in snares. 

   FFI say that the snares are shredding through clouded leopards, ripping elephant trunks in half and snapping the limbs of their calves.  Pangolins, sun bears, moon bears and indeed any mammal than a mouse are being badly impacted, as any animal larger than a mouse can be trapped in these cruel snares.

   To make matters worse, FFI’s project funding in the area has fallen through.  FFI patrol teams are still able to operate in some areas and maintain an effective resistance.  A very generous donor has enabled them to remove countless snares – and so save many, many animals.  FFI had hoped to extend the areas that they were covering.

   
   Unfortunately, the donor is unable to continue their support – and FFI must fill a £92,345 hole. 

   If FFI cannot fund the project, the warden leaders won’t be able to pay their patrol teams’ wages – and any who have the means won’t be able to have equipment and the backing to mount and maintain an effective resistance. 

   Funds will be spent on boots, machetes, camping gear, hammocks, rucksacks and everything wardens need to wear as they go out on one patrol after another.   The wardens need GPS kits, patrol mapping – and they need to be paid. 

   FFI say time is short. 

   What’s so important about the Cardamom Mountains?  Well, they have dense rainforest, mangroves and wetlands – and they have more than 60 globally threatened animal species and 17 globally threatened trees.  The Cardamom Mountains matter.  These include:

   • Asian elephants
   • Sun bears
   • The clouded leopard,
   • Dholes, a type of wild dog
   • The Sunda pangolin
     
     

   
   Young elephant wears a protective boot
   to help recovery, after being caught in a snare.
   Credit: Charnwood Photo

   These snares are CRUEL – as the metal clasp tightens, causing the animal terrible pain.  The more they struggle, the tighter the snare gets, cutting more and more deeply into flesh and bone.  It is a terribly cruel and painful way to die.   

   At the same time, the animals have lost their habitat, because of illegal logging, land encroachment and unsustainable agricultural ways of doing things.  Over 10% of the forest has gone in 15 years  So the animals find themselves in smaller spaces, into what is known as a “wall of death”, because it is easy for them to get trapped by a snare.

   Enter the wardens. They are from the local communities and they cover over 100km every month, spotting and removing snares, watching for any signs of illegal poaching or logging, and undertaking biomonitoring and data-gathering activities.   These activities are important because they give a better understanding of the wildlife in the area, and enable the right decisions to be made about how to help them.

   

   The clouded leopard is well adapted to prowling through the forest
   Credit:  Bill – Adobe Stock

   Wardens also help by supplying the human-wildlife conflict teams with flashlights and noise-makers.  These can help deter elephants from the boundaries of farms and villages, so preventing damage to crops and property. These things make a huge impact – there have been no retaliation elephant killings since the wardens started such work.

   The warden team is essential to protect the animals of the Cardamom Mountains. 

   Please help today by making a donation.

    

3. It's the Great British Spring Clean from 25 March to 10 April 2022

   Posted on 10:00pm Friday 25th Mar 2022

   Get involved in the Great British Spring Clean 2022!
   
   

   PLEDGE HERE to join the #BigBagChallenge

   The Great British Spring Clean is in its 7th year in 2022 and this year, you can join in the #BigBagChallenge and pledge to pick up as much litter as you can during the campaign. 

   This is something you could do as an individual, as a couple of people, as a family, a group of friends, a club - whatever you want.  Why not do it at work, and make it a team group activity?  

   There's lots of advice and tips on the website to help you including covering aspects of health and safety, insurance and disposing of your litter and recycling.

   You can pick up litter when you're walking your dog, walking to work or school, even jogging.
   
   

   

   
   And the great thing about litter picking is that you know you are making a difference.   New research from YouGov in conjunction with Keep Britain Tidy, 60% of children aged 6 to 17 feel happier when taking eco-action outside, such as picking up litter.  You can pledge as a school, to get involved.

   And it can give you a feeling of taking control and doing something positive for our environment.  Cut litter, end waste and help protect wildlife - far too many get injured or killed because of our litter, so you will be protecting them at the same time!

   COVID Advice for those taking part

4. Earth Hour 2022 is on 26 March 2022 at 8:30pm local time

   Posted on 12:00pm Thursday 24th Mar 2022

   
   Earth Hour is back, and this time it is on Saturday 26 March 2022 at 8:30pm local time to you! 

   This is a great chance to switch everything off.

   Earth Hour started back in 2007 by WWF and partners in Sydney to raise awareness of climate change and it's a huge grassroots movement for the enviornment.  Every year people in over 190 countries and territories take part and take action.   

   You can simply switch off your lights - why not enjoy the night sky for an hour?  Or take part in an event, or hold your own event and find out more about climate change and  habitat loss. 
   
   

   
   Twitter:  @EarthHour
   Facebook: @EarthHour
   Instagram:  @EarthHourOfficial

   You could share your stories online of what you personally are doing to take action and join groups who are making a difference.  

   Why not make a start by calculating your own footprint on the planet?  You can do this on the WWF website and then it has suggestions of what you can do to reduce it.  Give it a go!

   Above all, you can go beyond the hour - and see what you can do to change your lifestyle to reduce your impact on climate change, and to put pressure on goverments and companies to make the right decisions, for people, for the planet and of course for wildlife.

   Visit the website here

5. Help the Rainforest Trust save a vital 110 acres of Colombian tropical forest

   Posted on 4:00pm Monday 26th Apr 2021

    
   The  is working hard to buy 110 acres of Colombian tropical forest.  

   The Rainforest Trust is on the verge of purchasing and protecting 110 vital acres of Colombian tropical forest.  

   The tropical forests are endangered themselves as farms expand and other developments take place.  They are the only place on the planet where you'll find cotton-top tamarins - whose numbers have gone down 80% in just 20 years.

    

   
   
   Help the Rainforest Trust save 110 vital acres of tropical rainforest in Colombia
   Please donate here

    

   As well as cotton-top tamarins, the area is also home to spider and howler monkeys, a critically endangered turtle species and scarlet macaws.  

   Local organisation Fundación Proyecto Tití is working hard to protect the whole area.

   They have blocked the creation of a clear-cutting cattle ranch.

   Now they are working with the Rainforest Trust to secure more land.  The land is critical becuase it will give the animals safe passage - a corridor - between protected areas.  It will give the animals the vital space they need to recover and survive. 

   We can all help the Rainforest Trust achieve this goal.  

   Find out more from the Rainforest Trust and donate here.

   You can donate to this project through SumofUs who partner the Rainforest Trust