The 7th April is International Beaver Day.

Beavers can be quite controversial animals in the natural world;  personally I admire them for their incredible engineering skills.

About 400 years ago, beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK but they are being re-introduced (with caution) in the hope that they will help restore our wetlands to their natural state and also reduce  the impact of flooding.

Forestry England has produced this video showing why beavers build dams.   Their teeth are really quite something  (the beavers, not  Forestry England.)

Now, a number of the UK's Wildlife Trusts have beaver appeals and they are Dorset, Derbyshire, Devon, Cheshire, Cornwall and Kent.

The Wildlife Trust's website describe beavers as the engineers of the animal world and looking at the video above, it's easy to see why. 

To support the Wildlife Trust's conservation efforts, you could Adopt a Beaver  either for yourself or as a gift for a nature lover!  

Of course you should also take a look at the Beaver Trust.   I hope they won't mind me quoting their very exciting mission which is:

"to recover Britain’s waterways and landscapes through the rapid and widespread re-establishment of beaver wetlands across whole river catchments."

Their belief is that beavers are a practical, low-cost solution for long-term restoration.  They can help revesse the trend of extinction of British wildlife. You can see from their map where beavers are in the UK.

Furthermore, the Beaver Trust reports that in the US West, land managers and scientists hare using beaver dam analogs to do three things:

1. To heal damaged streams
2. To re-establish beaver populations
3. To help wildlife

And they've seen positive changes in 1 to 3 years in many cases!   Find out all about it here

Visit their website to have a good look round and see how you can  help.     

SumofUs have sent an email alert about the proposed plans French oil giant Total have for the Arctic.

They say that Total want to pump the equivalent of 535,000 barrels of oil a day from under the Arctic’s ice!  (Here is Total's webpage on preserving biodiversity.)

What’s more, the French government may back this plan and make it a reality.

French President Macron had called the project “reckless” and “incoherent” – but SumofUs say he is about to grant a €700 million loan guarantee to Total!

A global outcry would embarrass Macron – we need to raise a global public outcry and stop him becoming a Total Arctic Destroyer.

Tell Macron to withdraw from Total's deadly Arctic project and stick to his international climate commitments!

The Arctic is home to Indigenous communities like the Gwich'in, the Inuit, and the Sámi – and endangered species such as polar bears.

SumofUs say “Total's plan will assault the Arctic landscape and life with methane explosions, pollution and more deadly heat waves.”

We need to stop the French government financing this project and make other world leaders sit up and take notice.

Polar bears are just some of the species counting on us to do the right thing. 

Please sign this petition today and spread the word

Please give the Arctic and everyone living there a voice today and sign the petition to tell Macron to stop bankrolling oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.

March 2021:  There’s news about African elephants.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recognised the African elephant as two separate species after the emergence of new evidence.

1. The Forest Elephant – the number in the wild has fallen by over 86% in three decades – they are now critically endangered, a step away from extinction

Getting involved

• ZSL is working to help forest elephants in Cameroon, specifically in the forest landscape of the Dja Biosphere Reserve. 
• The African Wildlife Foundation has more information about forest elephants.  
• The Aspinall Foundation  funds and coordinates PALF, an anti-wildlife crime project in Congo and it works with the ANPN in Gabon (Gabon’s National Park Authorities) to protect forest elephants.
• WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) works to help Savanna elephants https://www.wcs.org/our-work/species/african-elephants

There are more elephant charities here.

PLUS!  News of a special appeal!

The World Land Trust has launched its first appeal of 2021 to help Tanzania's coastal forests and a crucial corridor for elephants, lions, leopards and others.   

Find out more and please donate if you can and spread the word at the World Land Trust's website

There’s good news for spectacled bears in Peru from the World Land Trust!

Locals in the Amazonas Department have successfully expanded a reserve in one of the most biodiverse ecoregions in the world.   It’s essential for spectacled bears and critically endangered primates.

Originally 8,155 acres were envisioned but the community owned area has been enlarged by 21,530 acres! 

This was made possible by Natureleza y Cultura Peru and World Land Trust supporters such as Puro Coffee.  Well done and thank you to them!  The reserves now protects 64,700 acres in what is a key biological corridor.

130 flora species and 29 mammal species call the area home, and there are 65 avian species as well.

The success of this project just shows how important it is to have local communities steer conservation efforts and how vital it is to involve them at every stage.   The communities manage the land, and NCP give them training and support in such areas as reserve mapping, fire prevention and tourism.  The area is rapidly being turned into agricultural land so you can see how important this development is.

Find out more about the Peruvian milestone to add 21,500 plus protected acres to spectacled bear country!

Find out about the Action Fund here. #Nottoolate

There’s good news from Ecuador, brought to us by the World Land Trust and their partner Naturalez y Cultura Ecuador (NCE for short). 

The Santiago Municipal Reserve was officially declared early this month.

It’s is an important expansion of vital habitat for species, covering 34,051 acres, and it’s a link between two national parks.  Essentially it’s expanded the Sangay-Podocarpus Connectivity Corridor which spans 1.4 million acres as well as parts of the Podocarpus-El Condor Biosphere Reserve.   WLT and NCE work here, too.

However the protected land doesn’t stop there.  North of the aforementioned connectivity corridor, there’s a 200 mile long area of reserves and national parks.  They like along the eastern Andes, connected by the Llanganates-Sangay Biological Corridor which is managed by Fundacion Ecominga, another WLT partner.  So the network of protected areas now covers about 4 million acres.

The most recent acquisition of 34,051 acres was partly funded by donations to the World Land Trust’s Action Fund.   The idea behind the Action Fund is that the World Land Trust can respond rapidly to any need to purchase land.

This purchase is an excellent example of the Action Fund at work and how important it is to be able to move fast in conservation.

The forests and grasslands would have faced cattle ranching and timber chopping, but thanks to the efforts of supporters like you and me, they have been saved.   Scientists have already recorded 344 plant species, 152 species of birds, 57 amphibian species, 47 mammal species and 11 reptile species.  They all call the area home.

Their home was saved just in time!

Visit the World Land Trust's website here