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"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
 


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Category: Wildlife Habitat: Tree Planting

  1. Koalas need our help as bushfires rage in Australia

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    Wildfires often hit the headlines now, but the media are slow to consider the impact they have on wildlife.  Sometimes they say “nobody died” and I really wonder if they are aware of the millions of animals who have been injured or, worst, died in the fires.

    And at the moment wildfires are raging, in California and New South Wales.

    In New South Wales, they are burning across Port Macquarie.  It’s estimated that between 20,000 to 48,000 koalas live both here and in Queensland.  They are heading for extinction here as early as 2050.

    It’s feared that a large number of koalas may have died in the flames.  Others will be homeless as their trees have burnt down; more will be suffering from smoke inhalation or burns.

    WWF Australia urgently needs all our support to help restore koala habitat and to care for injured wildlife.   Every single koala matters.

    Koalas need trees. Trees have been burnt down in wildlifes, killing koalas and leaving them homeless. But we can all help.

    Please help koalas today and help WWF Australia plant the first 10,000 trees 

    WWF have launched a plan to save koalas and to help protect and restore the trees they call home.

    The WWF Plan is called Two Billion Trees, and it’s a commitment to secure two billion trees over the next decade.  These will provide vulnerable wildlife with safe homes by:

    • Stopping excessive tree-clearing
    • Protecting existing forest and woodland
    • Restoring and planting new trees

    Whatever the outcome for koala numbers, their habitats will need to be restored, both for koalas and other wildlife.  The thing about koalas is that they are dependent on trees.  They need them for their food, their shelter and their safety.   Trees make a difference to koalas.  Without trees, they have nowhere to call home.

    So the area where the effort is to be concentrated is a koala triangle, between south west Sydney, Gennedah and Noosa.   It’s the heartland of Australia’s healthiest wild koala populations, but it’s threatened, not just by bushfires but by development.

    Please help plant the first 10,000 urgently needed trees in critical koala habitat, to save our precious koalas before they’re gone forever.

    All photos are copyright to WWF

     

  2. Scorched Earth to Forest Heaven - an Appeal from the World Land Trust

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    The World Land Trust is one of my favourite charities.  They save land, acre by acre, thanks to the donations of people and organisations who care.

    They’ve been saving habitats (places where wildlife live) and species since 1989, and they HQ is in a small town in Cambridgeshire.  And they work with local conservation partners around the world, who understand the needs of local wildlife and people. 

    Every year, they now have a Big Match Fund Fortnight.  This essentially means that any donation you and I make is matched.  So any donation you & I make is doubled.

    Now, this year’s Big Match Fund Fortnight is up and running – it kicked off on 3rd October and so far, 15% of funds have been raised. 

    The World Land Trust is aiming to riase £575,000 to rejuvenate a landscape in Vietnam.   The money raised will go to the World Land Trust’s local partner, Viet Nature.  Viet Nature will begin bringing back tropical forest, so that it’s teeming with rare species.


    At the moment, the area is overrun with what’s known in Vietnam as “American grass” since it replaced the forests that were destroyed by Agent Orange.   The plan is to rejuvenate the soils, clear invasive grasses, nurture native tree seedlings and then care for them until they are established.

    But one of the very exciting things about this project is that the forest will re-connect with nearby reserves such as the Khe Nuoc Trong, so it will become one of the largest remaining areas of Annamite montain forest.

    This means that wildlife will be able to find a home in the jungle as it spreads out.  Primates such as the Red-shanked Douc and the endangered Sunda Pangolin, the Crested Argus Peafowl and other endangered birds will be able to find habitat to live in.

    And of course, the rejuvenated forest will recreate an environment that’s healthy for locals, who depend on fresh water, clean air and livelihoods.  In addition, the forest will stabilise soils and lock carbon up, so that will help climate change.

    This is an amazing project, and it’s the World Land Trust’s major appeal for 2019.  Last year, Jungle for Jaguars in Belize was very successful – let’s hope that all the supporters can do the same for wildlife and people in Vietnam.

    Donate here.

    The Big Match Fund Fortnight ends on 17 October 2019 but you can still donate after that, it just falls outside of the Big Match Fund Fortnight. 

     

     

  3. Trees for Life plant record number of trees in a year!

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    There’s some amazing news from Scotland.

    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.

    Trees for Life has a number of Conservation Weeks and Conservation Days throughout the year, bringing visitors to Scotland.  

    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.

    You can find out more about Trees for Life here  and how to help here.

     

     

  4. Search engine Ecosia plants trees as you search

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    If you're looking for a way to help plant trees yourself, here's a very easy way to do it!   Choose the search engine Ecosia to search online for the things you want! 

    This short You Tube video tells you  how Ecosia started.   It explains why they are planting teres, and how they decide where to plant trees. 

    Their goal is to plant 1 BILLION trees and you can help every time you search online.  So far, nearly 23 million trees have been planted already!   

    You can use Ecosia on a whole range of devices, such as computers, mobiles and tablets and help them plant more. 

    You only need to make a small change to have a big impact - the information about Ecosia is followed by an interview with conservationist Jane Goodall.  

     



  5. Birdlife International reports that women are championing mangrove conservation in Nigeria

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    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!

    Fly away to BirdLife International for more information