Tonight on Channel 5 at 8pm, take a look at Plant a Tree to Save the World.

Chris Packham and a number of guest presenters are aiming to raise enough money to plant 100,000 across Britain.  The amount they are looking to raise is £150,000.

You can donate in between items such reducing pollution around schools and the best trees to plant in a small garden. You can find out how you can do your bit – there are tips on planting trees at home.  Every tree will make a difference.

The Woodland Trust and Channel 5 are aiming to raise this money and you can donate on the Woodland Trust’s website. John Humphrys, Clare Nasir, Martin Hughes Games and JB Gill join Chris Packham, together with experts from the Woodland Trust.  Dame Judi Dench is also behind the partnership.

The documentary talks about the essential role that trees play in fighting climate change;  and the programme looks at the science of trees, the impact of deforestation around the world (including in the UK) and how trees can help by locking up carbon, fighting flooding and making landscapes more resilient.

Donate at the Woodland Trust's website

There's more sad news from Australia.

Lewis the koala, who was rescued by a very brave lady and taken to Port Macquerie Koala Hopsital, was sadly put to sleep. 

When there was hope for Lewis....
Sadly he had to be put to sleep 
From The National

He'd been put under general anaesthetic to assess his burns and change his bandages and unfortunately, the burns were getting worse - as can happen - so the decision was made to put Ellenborough Lewis to sleep.

Rest in peace, Lewis, and all the other koalas who have perished in the wildfires.

Thinking of everyone at the koala hospital who worked so hard to help Lewis and are working to help koalas who have suffered in the bushfires.  And of the lady who rescued Lewis.

Please make a donation if you can to the hospital - why not do it in memory of Lewis?

You can donate to their GoFundMe page here or directly to the hospital here 

Help snow leopards with a donation on 3^rd December 2019

The Snow Leopard Trust have a campaign to raise $100,000 on their Giving Tuesday campaign this year.

The Trust aims “to better understand the endangered snow leopard and to protect the cat in partnership with the communities that share its habitat.”

What’s more, if we all help to raise $100,000 by Giving Tuesday on 3^rd December, that will trigger a $100,000 match!  And that means that $200,000 could be raised to help snow leopards and their conservation.

At the time of writing, this campaign was 28% of the way there (that’s on 24 Nov 2019 at 20.16 UK time).  We must help snow leopards! 

You don’t have to wait until 3^rd December to donate!  This year, the Snow Leopard Trust are accepting early giving and putting it towards the Global Tuesday campaign.  Every dollar raised between now and 3^rd December will be matched by 10 zoo partners.***

You can double your impact!

***Zoo Dresden, Dublin Zoo, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Kolmården, Helsinki Zoo, La Passerelle, Fondation le PAL Nature, Niabi Zoo, Nordens Ark, Parco Zoo Punta Verde

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.

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