» Listings for March 2018

1. Task force on human-wildlife conflict set up in Kenya

   Posted on 8:00pm Tuesday 27th Mar 2018

   The Kenyan government has set up a task force to look into ways to deal with human-wildlife conflict and clashes between ranchers and communities. The task force is expected to make recommendations on game farming and game ranching.  It will evaluate its contribution to Kenya’s GDP, and food security. The Kenya Wildlife Service is busy dealing with cases of poaching and wildlife trafficking, but also cases of human-wildlife conflict.  Pastoral communities have invaded private ranches as they look for pasture. So the task force is expected to come up with solutions to human-wildlife conflict which will last, and also safeguard game parks, community and private land. It is aiming to create a peaceful co-existence between communities and wildlife. Visit the Kenya Wildlife Service to find out more about their work.

    

    

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

   Posted on 9:00pm Friday 16th Mar 2018

   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.