» Listings for 2024

1. It’s World Ranger Day on 31 July.

   Posted on 8:00am Sunday 28th Jul 2024

   World Ranger Day is on 31st July  Around the world there are many people who are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect endangered animals and habitats. The International Ranger Foundation (IRF) is the official body representing rangers around the world.  It was established on 31st July 1992, after a year spent setting up and planning for the establishment and development of the organisation.  The aim now is to drive through this development so that there is a professional body of rangers around the world.  It's based in Australia.  International Ranger Foundation UK is here.    Mokala National Park observing World Ranger Day, South Africa This shows how dangerous the job of being a ranger can be and gives you an insight into the life of a ranger. THANK YOU to rangers, everywhere.   2023 was an important year because it was the first year of the newly set biodiversity framework, with lots of targets.  Target three is especialy important because it sets a target of 30% of the world having effectively managed areas by 2030.  To achieve this, it will be vital to have a professional body of rangers around the world and the numbers of rangers worldwide will need to increase from 286,000 today to 1.5 million.  There will be benefits for wildlife and biodiveristy of course, but also for people, who will benefit from the economic and social services outcomes which come about from such a development.   So the theme for World Ranger Day for 2024 is 30 x 30, reflecting target three. Take a look at the "I am a ranger" video on You Tube here from the IRF It introduces rangers from different parts of the world. Celebrating our rangers on World Ranger Day Tasmania Celebrating gorilla trackers and World Ranger Day, Rwanda & DRC Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund A salute to Hayley on World Ranger Day Australia Efforts intensify to protect rhinos There is a lot of information about rangers on their website, so please explore their website.   It works with The Thin Green Line to promote the initiative of World Ranger Day.  World Ranger Day is a chance for all of us to show our appreciation for the work that wildlife rangers and guardians do and offer our support in whatever way we can and to remember those who have died or been injured doing this vital work and to think of the families they leave behind.  The Thin Green Line says that often rangers' families are left behind without any support.  Donations and support give a gift of hope and an urgent lifeline to families left behind.   And it’s good to know that there is something you can do to help wildlife and locals in their communities at the same time, and we thought we’d do a roundup of charities and organisations working to help in this way.  Sometimes wildlife rangers are called wildlife guardians.  Celebrating our Rangers  Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association Please give rangers your support on World Ranger Day Above graphic ©International Ranger Foundation This graphic was for World Ranger Day 2022 but why not do them in 2024 as well? Let us thank the rangers everywhere who are protecting  wildlife and habitats, and let us thank their families too. Support World Ranger Day on social media with hashtags: #WorldRangerDay2024 #WorldRangerDay #WildlifeRangers #RangersDeserveMore #Istandwithrangers  The Thin Green Line Foundation The Foundation works with ranger groups, ranger associations and conservation partners in over 60 countries.  They say it’s estimated that over 1,000 park rangers have been killed in the line of duty over the past 10 years. They are dedicated to providing Rangers worldwide with the assistance they deserve and need.   Other organisations supporting wildlife rangers Ol Pejeta Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000 acre wildlife conservancy in Kenya.  They have 150 rangers who are dedicated to protecting the wildlife there and neighbouring communities.  They also have a K9 unit, whose dogs work hard also to protect wildlife.    Visit Ol Pejeta Conservancy here Project Ranger Project Ranger supports a range of patrols such as horse patrols, foot patrols, motorbike, aerial, truck and K9 patrols.  In doing so it protects a number of species in national parks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, conserved land and wildnerness areas.  There are plenty of ways to support their work so visit their website to find out more! The World Land Trust The World Land Trust has a Keepers of the Wild initiative.  The rangers are working on the front line of conservation, safeguarding some of the world’s most threatened animals and the crucial habitats in which they live.  They protect reserves from poaching and logging, and importantly, link to local communities, building trust, helping to change attitudes and find practical solutions to problems.  You can support Keepers of the Wild by making a donation. David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation works to support rangers in both Asia and Africa. You can support wildlife rangers here and help them conserve nature.  Their work includes carrying out anti-poaching and anti-trafficking patrols across national parks, finding and removing wildlife snares and collecting essential data on endangered speices and their habitats.   They also work with communities to raise awareness and mitigate wildlife conflict.  The Global Conservation Force This organisation works to save wildlife from extinction through education, anti-poaching and conservation efforts.  It does this by using anti-poaching units, awareness and education and on the ground action, working on wildlife’s problems.  You can adopt a ranger (also there’s a K9 poacher tracking unit) – find out what the options are to adopt a ranger here. African Parks African Parks has an anti-poaching team of 1,000 rangers making up their law enforcement team.  Thei rangers are stabilising force both for parks and regions Virunga  Virunga National Park is located on the eastern edge of the Congo Basin in Africa, and it's home to over 1,000 species of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian and a third of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas. It has 750 male and female rangers, all working hard and putting their lives on the line to protect the park and local communities. There's a canine unit as well.  Find out more The Gorilla Organisation The Gorilla Organisation has a supporting rangers scheme in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they act as the eyes, ears and voice of the forest. They cut snaes, save injured gorillas, combat the militias running the blood minerals trade, monitor the gorillas’ health and collect vital conservation data every day.  Find out more here. Tigers4ever Tigers4ever have anti-poaching patrols in Bandharvagh, India, to protect tigers.  They equip forest patrols, provide anti-poaching patrols and provide permanent solutions to water scarcity for wildlife Help Tigers4Ever help tigers on their Global Giving pages Orangutan Foundation Become an Orangutan Guardian and help the Orangutan Foundation’s 60 Indonesian staff work on the frontline of conservation in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.  Their role is to guard and patrol the forests and rivers, to rescue and monitor the orangutans and to replant and nurture tree saplings.  And crucially, they need to gain the trust and support of local communities.  Become an Orangutan Guardian! Lewa Wildlife Conservancy The Lewa Security Team consists of field rangers, radio operators, gatekeepers, baby rhino keepers, anti-poaching rangers and the tracker dog unit.   The Anti-Poaching Rangers and Tracker Dog Unit work day and night to protect wildlife and keep them safe, especially rhinos and elephants.  The tracker dog unit has four dogs and their handlers, the dogs act as efficient trackers, as they can pursue suspects for lengthy distances. Save the Rhino Save the Rhino makes sure that ranger teams have the the equipment they need to do their job as safely as possible.  It has expanded canine units across the projects it funds, which in turn helps apprehend criminals.  Find out more from Save the Rhino Tusk The charity Tusk give a Wildlife Ranger Award every year to give international recognition to the men and women who face danger every day to protect the wildlife and its ecosystems in Africa.   There are also rangers in other countries such as Australia and America and the UK, working for organisations such as national parks and they are also essential to protecting the environment and keeping wildlife safe. And a very big thank you to each and every wildlife ranger working to care for and protect our wildlife and their habitats.  And thank you to their families too.   Please everyone show you support them too.

    

2. World Rainforest Day

   Posted on 10:00am Saturday 22nd Jun 2024

   Visit the World Rainforest Day's website The 22nd June is World Rainforests Day.  Rainforests are vital for life to survive on Earth.   Their loss  threatens our biodiversity and imperils earth’s health. We ignore this loss at our peril. World Rainforest Day was founded back in 2017 by the Rainforest Partnership.  It celebrates the importance of healthy, standing rainforests for climate, biodiversity, culture and livelihoods.  Crucially, it convenes a global movement to protect them and restore them.  The Pledge programme mentioned below is launching in 2024 to drive rainforest and climate action across all sectors immediately.   Natural climate solutions such as protecting and restoring forests could reverse global emissions by a third, according to World Rainforest Day. This day is held to celebrate rainforests and encourage us all to protect them.  If we can all unite and become a forest of action that rains on earth, then we can make a huge difference. The World Rainforest Day website has these things we can all do to make a positive impact on rainforests, today and every day: Ways to help rainforests Image copyright World Rainforest Day. They have a toolkit you can use to spread the word, which you'll find on their website. Make a pledge! World Rainforest Day says that "for a climate-stable future, we need standing rainforests. This #WorldRainforestDay marks the start of the Year of Action #forRainforests. Will you join us by making a pledge to take action?"  Pledge here. Find out more from World Rainforest Day’s website.   #WorldRainforestDay You could also visit Rainforest Rescue, whose mission is to give the rainforest a voice and preserve it in all its splendor.   It has petitions you can sign to give rainforests your voice, and projects it runs to protect them, thanks to donor support.  The petitions expose destructive projects and name the perpetrators, so they are important. Take a look at Panthera, too, and their blog Rainforest AMSR:  A Window into Wild Rainforests  and find out about the UK's temperate rainforests from the Woodland Trust.

    

3. SUCCESS!!! Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Common Farm Appeal

   Posted on 11:00am Tuesday 19th Mar 2024

    

   Derbyshire Wildlife Trust have a new appeal, Common Farm, and the goal was to raise £300,000 by 30th November 2023. 

   Update on 18 March 2024:  SUCCESS!!!
   
   Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to say that they could officially announce they'd completed on the purchase of Common Farm!!!  
   
   Over 2,000 donated to the appeal (only launched last October), contirbuting nearly £300,000 to the purchase.  Major donors and philanthropic organisations gave the rest of the funding needed to secure the site.  Locals have been critical to the success of the appeal, organising walking tours for potential donors, delivering leaflets, donating and encouraging people to get involved.  And the Trust is working closely with the community to develop the site as a great place for people and nature.  

   This is great news, well done Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and to everyone involved!

   
   The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust want to re-wild 83 acres,
   creating vibrant habitat for wildlife

   It’s made up of 18 sheep-grazed grassland fields which the Trust is going to transform into a wildlife reserve.  The team will make every field count, as they make the most of the different types of habitat;  they will re-wet the land, by filling in ditches, as drainage ditches flush vital rainwater from the site.  Blocking or filling them in will create pools by filling in the ditches to re-wet  the land. 

   As the land gets wetter, so trees and vegetation and wildlife will benefit. And cattle and ponies may come in as grazers, their manure enriching the soil and their grazing stopping trees from becoming dominant.

   
   Please find out more and donate here

   The project should form a diverse habitat – woodland expansion, scrubby thickets and open grassland that are species-rich and will benefit barn owls and skylarks and curlew, as well as plants such as the ragged robin and harebell.  This will give a new territory to wildlife – native plants and animals will thrive – hopefully within a year!

   Please find out more and donate here.
   
   

   Images copyright Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
   
   

4. Give a struggling bee some help with this Beevive bee revival kit keyring

   Posted on 10:00pm Friday 16th Feb 2024

    

   Have you discovered a bee on the floor who looks like they are struggling?  What do you do to help?

   The RSPB says that if you come across a struggling bee, you should place them safely on a bee-friendly flower - but if there aren't any flowers close by, or the flowers have been drained by nectar by other bees , then a boost of a sugar solution can help the bee find their way to a flower that is full of nectar.  

   

   Well, help is at hand with bee revival kits from Beevive!  The one below is and above, available from the RSPB, is pre-filled with ambrosia® syrup in a small aluminium vial, and it also somes with 5+ uses which are refillable from home - you just follow the instructions.  

   

   Beevive started in 2018, when three friends met a very tired bee, and so created the Bee Revival Kit.  They've since visited schools, hosted workshops and collaborated with businesses to spread the word about how important bees are. 

   Of course, one of the great things we can all do to help bees is to plant flowers that attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies.  

   Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has a "Go Potty" campaign to encourage us to do that - you just need a pot to go potty with!  Find out all about it here.

    

    

    

5. World Land Trust Forests of the Mist Appeal, Columbia

   Posted on 9:00am Friday 16th Feb 2024

    

   So after the incredible success of previous events (see below), the World Land Trust's Big March Fortnight 2023 kicked off on the 11th October 2023.

   The appeal was Columbia's Forests of Mist Appeal. And the aim is to secure a future for one of the threatened cloud forests in Columbia.

   UPDATE on 16 February 2024:   £1.15 MILLION has been raised for this project!  SUCCESS!!   Find out more here

   Columbia has some of the largest cloud forest areas in Latin America – and yet it has just 10 to 20% of its original cloud forests remaining.

   Since 2007, Fundación Guanacas has protected 850 hectares of habitat here.  It is a partner of the UK based World Land Trust, who work to support conservation groups around the world.  You can visit the website of Fundación Guanacas here.
   
   

   
   

   The Columbia Forests of Mist appeal will:

   1. Extend the protected area of land by 181 hectares
      This will mean 1,031 hectares are protected – the ecosystem is threatened by agricultural activity. Pumas roam here – they are safe from human conflict and illegal hunting, but the encroachment of agricultural land could change all this. Without this land purchase, the area could be bought up and used for livestock – and that will make forest fragmentation worse.
      
      
   2. Restore 100 hectares of essential cloud forest habitat
      This will be done by planting 36,500 native tree species between 2023 and 2028.  It will reconnect fragmented forests for animals such as the puma, the ocelot and Northern oncilla so that they can move safely, rest and feed.  The pumas’ presence and condition will be monitored by the forest rangers, using camera traps to see what the pumas are up to, and rehabilitated wildlife will be released in the area, too.
      
      
   3. Protect habitat of 665 species. 
      15 species are on the IUCN Red List so this project is giving them a lifeline.   Species such as the  Antioquia Brushfinch are here – this species was once thought to be extinct – and so is the Antioquia Chocolate Frog, a tree frog found in northwestern Columbia alone.  This frog needs the torrents and puddles that the damp terrain provides. But a successful appeal will help:

   • 28 Amphibians, of which 3 are threatened species. 
   • 443 birds, of which 6 are threatened species
   • 148 mammals of which 4 are threatened species
   • 46 reptiles – 2 species are threatened
   • Over 250 plant species.  These include 120 recorded orchid species and the area also has the world’s tallest palm tree!
     

   4. Ensure the health and security of very important water cycles
   Wildlife and local people depend on these, as the cloud forest captures, stores and releases water downstream.

   5. Offer livelihoods to local people through ecotourism and conservation jobs. 
   Nine cabins will be built to host guests, for example, and ecotourism activities will be developed with local communities.   Three forest ranger positions will be held by local people for the first three years of the project and their role will be to plant and nurture trees, monitor camera traps and accompany visitors to the reserve
   
   

   
   The Antioquia Brushfinch is one of the species
   who need this appeal to succeed.
   
   

   This is an exciting and important opportunity to support Fundación Guanacas, a partner of the World Land Trust, to expand its Guanacas Reserve which has one of the only cloud forests in its Antioquia region.  Fundación Guanacas needs funds to save land that would suffer deforestation and soil degradation if it were not saved and restored.

   Please support this appeal if you can!

   All about the World Land Trust:

   The World Land Trust is an amazing charity based in the UK, (HQ in Suffolk).  It focuses specifically on conserving threatened habitats and it does this through raising funds for land purchase.  It goes down this route with considerable care, and the land is purchased, protected and managed by local partner organisations. Thus is has the ability to respond swiftly when lands are under threat of destruction.

   So far, the World Land Trust has protected 2,409,420 acres, and planted 2,457,900 trees.   It works in countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, Belize, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, the UK, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Paraguay, India, Guatemala – and lots more!  View their projects here

   It raises some of these funds through a Buy an Acre scheme – a £100 donation can buy an acre of land and protect it for wildlife in perpetuity.  You can also donate (one off or monthly) to the Action Fund which is used to for funds to enable the Trust to respond fast where action is needed, be it to extend and safeguard existing reserves or fight fires, or make sure that the reserves are protected by experienced rangers.

   Every year, the World Land Trust has a huge appeal in the autumn.  It's called Big Match Fortnight...

   All about previous Big Match Fortnights

   In 2022, this appeal was a real opportunity to save Ecuador’s incredible Río Anzu and Río Zúñac forests!  The Life of the Edge appeal launched in October 2022 reached its £1,430,000 target!  Everyone who donated has enabled the World Land Trust's partner  – Foundación EcoMinga – to DOUBLE the size of the Anzu and Zúñac reserves in Ecuador’s upper Río Pastaza watershed.  Read all about it HERE

   Along with donations from EcoMinga’sother supporters, the World Land Trust’s partner would be able to safeguard 5,1234 acres across both reserves, patrolled by the World Land Trust funded Keepers of the Wild.  And – very exciting – they will be linked to a 1.6 MILLION hectare protected network.  

   In 2021, the Trust aimed to raise £1.2 million for the Guardians of Nimla Ha’ – one of their most ambitious appeals to date.  An incredible £1.37 million was raised which enabled the Trust’s partner in Guatemala, FUNDAECO, to complete the purchase to TRIPLE the size of their Laguna Grande Reserve, home to over 700 species.  Manatees, ocelots, 357 bird species, primates, Jaguars, Margays will all be much safer thanks to this purchase.   The reserve tripled in size from 1,668 to nearly 5,000 acres.  Find out more about the Guardians of Nimla ‘Ha appeal here.
   

   We need to buy these habitats to protect them.  Let conservation be the victor here, not extraction and destruction

   Together we can all make this happen.  Every single donation will make a difference.

   The wildlife need us.   Please let’s take action and donate and/or spread the word!

   We can act as individuals by donating and spreading the word and being a part of a something really important and terrific.  By pulling together, we can power through this appeal and help protect wildlife.

   Visit the World Land Trust’s website for updates and to donate