"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
I've got to say, I just love Ecosia. They're a search engine and I use it a lot to have a good rummage around the internet.
It's a simple formula - you search, they plant trees and it doesn't cost you a penny :-) Ecosia uses 100% of its profits to plant trees where they're needed most. So far over 34 million trees have been planted and Ecosia are aiming to plant one BILLION. It's a journey I'm really to help with, and it's so good to see that many people are joining in as well.
So I was really pleased to discover that Ecosia now have an online shop and you can buy things like t-shirts, tops, jumpers and hoodies.
Their products are made from organic cotton and they're printed in the UK in a renewable energy powered factory.
And best of all - All profits from their organic apparel go directly towards one of Ecosia’s reforestation projects.
Buying and wearing one of their t-shirts or other clothing items will be a great way to pass the message of the importance of trees on and give people an immediate and very easy way to help :-)
The fifth largest salt lake in the world, Mar Chiquita is South America’s second largest water body. And it’s home to most of the world’s Chilean flamingo (about 318,000 of them, they are Nearly Threatened) and nearly half of its Andean Flamingo (18,000 in winter (Vulnerable) and Puna Flamingo as well (and they’re Near Threatened).
In addition, there are tens of thousands of American Golden Plover, White-rumped and Lesser Yellowlegs who migrate here.
Oh, and don’t forget the 600,000 Wilson's Phalaropes – about a third of the world’s population.
So let’s move away from the Little Sea (as Mar Chiquita means) to grasslands. These are home to the Greater Rhea, Bearded Tachuri, a Maned Wolf and Sickle-winged Nightjar (Near Threatened). The swampy areas have Dot-winged Crake, and Dinelli's Doradito, while Crowned Solitary Eagles Buteogallus coronatus fly over Chaco forest.
Unfortunately dear reader, that is not the case. It’s in danger. Why? Well, the human race is at it again.
Water extracted from the lake at an unsustainable lake
The lake is polluted, thanks to local industry
Agricultural intensification
Above average deforestation rate
Unregulated tourism.
And action is needed urgently. Which is where the supporters of Birdfair in the UK come in and the human race is working to put things right.
Aves Argentinas is a partner of BirdLife International. It has undertaken bird surveys, raised awareness, improved management of the area and clarified land ownership at Mar Chiquita for years.
Then came its light bulb moment – a plan to create what should become Argentina’s largest national park.
Creating a national park to keep the area safe
The plan has been developed with provincial and national authorities. Back in 2017, a concordat was signed by Argentina’s environment minister, National Parks Administration and the governor of the Córdoba province. And the Ansenuza National Park will protect up to 800,000 hectares which will be managed at the national level.
Crucial to the plan is the involvement and engagement (how I hate that word but I can never think of another) of the local community.
Planning involving them, empowering local stake holders and establishing a network of local conservation guardians has been a key part of Aves Argentina’s strategy from the start.
And there’s more – bolstering the local economy through nature-based tourism is essential to the project’s success. So the Ministry of Tourism is very pleased indeed. Ecotourism will lengthen the tourist seasons and help provide sustainable livelihoods over a wider area. That should also help local communities commit to the long term conservation of the area.
And the lake’s colloquial name in the national park title says a great deal.
The British Birdwatching Fair helps in two key ways:
Raising awareness
An international event like this is vital in building political awareness back in Argentina as to why this area needs to be protected. It will help build support from the bird world and show that the Ansenuza really is a birding paradise.
As a bird lover, I want to go and see birds in a beautiful, natural environment. I don’t want to go to see a polluted lake where a lot of the water has been sucked out and drive through an area where local forests have been destroyed to get there.
Raising funds to support the project
In 2017, the theme was ‘Saving paradise in the Pacific’. The aim was to remove invasive predators from the French Polynesian island of Rapa Iti. Last year, Birdfair raised a jaw-dropping £333,000 was raised towards the work.
The 2018 project is an ambitious one. A project to create and protect a national park and all its wildlife, whilst helping locals through eco-tourism. And surely a model for other conservation organisations to look at?
Aves Argentinas - I hope you speak Spanish! But do take a look anyway.
BirdLife International - BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations (NGOs) that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. 121 BirdLife Partners worldwide.
Did you know that the World Bank is involved in tiger conservation?
Who would have thought that all those financiers had a passion for our stripy four pawed friends?
Back in 2008, the World Bank joined the Global Environment Facility, the Smithsonian Institution, Save the Tiger Fund and the International Tiger Coalition (which represents over 40 non-government organisations. And the Global Tiger Initiative was launched. It’s led by the 13 tiger range countries.
In November 2010, leaders of these tiger range countries got together in St Petersburg in Russia. At this International Tiger Forum, they adopted the St Petersburg Declation on Tiger Conservation. And they endorced the Global Tiger Recovery Programme.
The goal of this programme was to double the number of wild tigers across their area by 2022. This would take the number of tigers from 3,200 to over 7,000.
Tiger Initiative
Progress has been made in many tiger range countries:
A 2 week hands-on training for over 800 wildlife conservation professionals was launched. These are from national parks and protected areas in South East Asia. The idea is that they share best practice which could help all the tiger range countries. What’s worked to increase the number of tigers? What hasn’t?
In India, population numbers of tigers have gone up just a whisker over 30% from 2010 to 2015
Nepal has done even better, with a 60% increase in tiger numbers between 2009 and 2012.
Crucially, livelihoods provided under the World Bank/GEF India Ecodevelopment Project led to a group of poachers giving up the practice in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala.
The Bangladesh Forest Department did a census of Bengal tigers, using the data they got to monitor the size and density of tiger populations in the Bangladesh Sundarbans.
30 Bangladesh forestry department officials undertook a certificate training course on wildlife management at the Wildlife Institute of India. Over 800 forest department officials have had in-country training.
34 subprojects have been implemented on habitat improvement, eco-tourism development and human-wildlife conflict mitigation.
So what challenges lie ahead for tigers??
Threats to Habitats and Connectivity will get worse with rapid infrastructure development and the investment in extractive industries
Poaching and Wildlife Crime Control, especially to monitor trends.
Capacity Building and making sure there are enough resources to boost current efforts and also to develop national centres of excellence.
Scientific Monitoring – results must be monitored so that the right interventions can be made. An example is pinpointing poaching corridors around the world.
Eliminating the demand for tiger products. .
Rebuilding Tiger Populations – it is vital to share current experience and knowledge on how to rebuild tiger populations.
And Plantlife thinks local councils could benefit from verges with wildflowers.
So it’s produced a Good Verge Guide. It says that early cutting and frequent cutting reduces plant diversity. It encourages coarse grasses and plants such as cow parsley which require more cutting.
Plantlife says the best time to cut is between mid-July and late September, and to do it once. Cuttings could be used as hay, biomass or wildflower seed.
The county council in Dorset has saved over £100,000 since 2014 by using cost-cutting practices which are wildflower friendly. It expects to save £50,000 during the 2017-2018 year.
Burnley Borough Council is saying no to mowing and reckons it will save a lot of money by doing so.
Plantlife say that a YouGov Poll for Friends of the Earth and Buglife show that 81% of the public back the move for councils to help wild flowers. Bees depend on them. We need bees for our own wellbeing.
The Supreme Court has ordered the TN (State of Tamil Nadu’s) government to track down on elephant corridor encroachment.
There are 400 resorts that are violating the corridor territory and elephant deaths in the state have gone up. One report in The Times of India says elephant deaths in the state doubled from 61 in 2015-2016 to 125 over the past year.
There’s been a long battle between conservationists and resrots owners in Tamil Nadu at the confluence of the Western and Eastern Ghats.
Back in 2011, the Madras High Court ordered the creation of an elephant corridor. Resort owners were to hand over or leave their lands falling within the corridor area.
It also mandated that no new development activity was to occur in the area. Private landowners quickly applied for and got a stay on the order a few months later.
During the north east monsoons, the elephants move from Bandipur in Karnataka to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the south west monsoons, they do the opposite journey.
Lawyer and conservationist Elephant G Rajendran, said that the elephants’ abode is the forest where it has the food it needs. They move along their traditional path. This used to be rich forestry cover but private resorts have chosen to operate there, so the elephants are losing their path
Wildlife corridors are vital to wildlife because they enable the animals to get from one essential piece of habitat to another so it is really important they are connected.
