I’m very excited by news from Spectacled Bear Conservation who work in Peru.

A camera trap has confirmed bear presence in an area known as Pan de Azucar, which means Sugar Loaf in English.

Spectacled Bear Conservation has monitored spectacled bears in the dry forest area of northern Peru for 12 years.  They were amazed to see the photo of a bear, because the area is very dry indeed.   The camera was on an arid mountain ridge where water sources are limited and it had been thought that it was too dry for animals to exist there.

Image ©Spectacled Bear Conservation

After finding the photo, five more camera traps were put up.   Sapote and overo trees were discovered – they are key food sources – and bear scat was also found, which suggests that more than one bear had used the area.

This shows the mountain to be a likely place for bears to find food fruits in the summer and possibly even the winter season. 

The more signs of bears being in the area the better – it means Spectacled Bear Conservation have more reason to protect the land.

What’s more, finding bears in the Sugar Loaf gives the chance to create one big habitat range for them.  This includes two national protected areas, Bosque de Pomac and the Laquipampa Wildlife Refuge.

This find comes with better news:  the national park authorities are keen on the idea of linking the park with habitat outside protected areas.   Bears need big areas to roam.  They won’t stop at the park boundary.   And the parks are giving Spectacled Bear Conservation camera traps to put up so that it can monitor bears in Pan de Azucar.

Spectacled Bear Conservation is also working with the Peruvian national forestry authority, SERFOR.   The aim is to designate the area as “Habitat Critico” so that key habitats are protected for endangered species – including the spectacled bear!

And to think – it all started with a photo!

It just shows how important camera traps and long term monitoring are in protecting a species. 

Visit Spectacled Bear Conservation’s website

Donate to Spectacled Bear Conservation

There are some amazing people doing great things for nature and conservation.  

On the island of Siquijor in the central Philippines, Women have got together to protect marine sanctuaries from poachers and illegal fishers, even though they only have paddles and kayaks.   They are prepared to risk their lives to protect there are.

The waters are full of rich coral reefs and fish diversity – but they are being impacted by both illegal fishing which has impacted on the coral reefs and reduced fish diversity and its abundance, and climate change.

This video tells the story of the women.  One woman has been shot at – but she is determined and her efforts resulted in the arrest of the person shooting at her.

Watch and be inspired…

The video was supported with a grant from the Earth Journalism Network.

The World Land Trust is known for its fundraising efforts to rescue vital parts of the natural world.  It works with local conservation groups around the world.

Every year it runs a Big Match Fortnight, in which donations are matched.  And this year, the World Land Trust are fundraising for its partner Fundación Jocotoco who protect  vital rainforest.  For the last 2% of Ecuador’s Chocó forests is approaching an extinction cliff.

The Big Match Fortnight is running from 1 to 14 October 2020 and it is a great chance to make donations go twice the distance. 

There are just 500 brown-headed spider monkeys who are thought to be alive in the wild on the planet.  On one hike, 60 to 70 were counted in the tropical rainforest between the Pacific coast and the Andean peaks – about 15% of the single global population in a day.    It’s not an easy place to work in – rangers have to handle constant downpours, rugged terrain, and slippery ground. 

Over 80 years ago, the forest stretched all over Ecuador’s west. 

Ecuador has lost 98% of this natural wonder to oil palm plantations and others.   A new plan could mean that such a loss has numbered days.  

Jocotoco has a chance to buy and protect 57,000 acres of Chocó forest from one company.

The appeal from the World Land Trust will support at least 1,667 acres and other organisations will help fund the total too.

The area has the same reptile and amphibian diversity as the Amazon; it’s got the highest plant diversity of the Americas and more bird species in 100 square miles than across all Europe.   25% of its flora and 10% of its fauna is found nowhere else on earth.

Logging could destroy the last 2% of this forest.   Support the World Land Trust’s “Saving Ecuador’s Choco Forest” appeal and you can help it last forever.

Find out more and donate

Polar Bears International have a fundraiser on with a difference.

They are looking to raise money to buy bear-safe bins!   These will help keep both polar bears and people safe. 

In 2020, Polar Bears International say the summer ice melt in the Arctic is on schedule to be one of the largest on record. 

This ice melt has several outcomes:

Polar bears are going ashore for longer periods and in more places than before

They are at greater risk of being in conflict with people

They re hungrier when they arrive on land and they have to look for alternative sources of food.

So one solution is to reduce encounters which could prove to be dangerous by reducing food attractions.

Polar Bears International have a fundraiser called Bear-Safe Bins, and this will enable them to deliver bins that are resistant to polar bears to communities sharing areas with polar bears.

The bins will reduce conflict between polar bears and people and so help keep everyone safe. 

Join the Bear-Safe Bins Fundraiser, and help provide this simple solution to a growing problem. 

Polar Bears International have sent two pilot bins for use in Churchill, as part of its Polar Bear Safe Community and now they're raising more funds so that extra bins can be sent out to communities needing them.

The bins aren't cheap - they are $1,000 each- but then you need good quality bins to fend off polar bears!

Visit Polar Bears International here

Donate to the Bear-Safe Bins Fundraiser here - and no, you don't need to buy an entire bin, you can contribute towards one! 

STOP THE TOTAL DISASTER

There’s a new petition on the online global community Avaaz.

I am asking you to PLEASE READ IT, and if you’re willing to, to SIGN IT.

Either way, please, please SHARE IT.

So here’s the scoop:

Energy giant Total is about to build the biggest heated oil pipeline in the world. 

Avaaz say that the impact of this oil pipeline is three fold:

1. The oil pipline will displace thousands of farmers.  
2. It will pass through key elephant and chimpanzee reserves.
3. It will threaten crucial biodiversity hotspots.  It will cross over 200 rivers, 12 forest reserves, and skirt Africa’s largest lake.   ONE LEAK could threaten some of Africa’s most biodiverse mangroves and coral reefs.

This is all done to extract 1.033.417.417.032 litres of oil, a fossil fuel – taking us closer to a climate catastrophe.  Mind you, Total's CEO have publicly committed to preventing it!  In Total’s Climate Report 2019 concerning climate change, it was stated “Clearly, we need to take stronger action.”

Let’s have a quick look at Total and Biodiversity:  Commitments and Actions

“Given its business, Total sometimes works in sensitive natural environments. We are aware of the stakes involved and have taken measures to ensure that biodiversity and ecosystems are taken into account in our projects and operations.” Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Total wrote.

Total’s biodiversity policy includes (and I quote):

• Applying the Mitigation Hierarchy, an approach to avoid, reduce, mitigate and, if necessary, compensate any loss in biodiversity

• Taking ecosystem sensitivity into account.

• Managing biodiversity by integrating risks and impacts in our environmental management systems. • Reporting on biodiversity performance to stakeholders.

• Working with local and international partners and our industry associations to improve

Online community Avaaz are attacking the pipeline plan in three ways

1. A call to Total’s CEO Pouyanné now to make him famous in the media so everybody knows about these plans
2. To support the growing movement on the ground
3. To push the French government with what Avaaz calls “razor-focused advocacy”.

Avaaz points out that this is all about fighting for what we all care about.   We need to protect the precious life on earth, to stand up for basic human rights – and to protect life and biodiversity for future generations.

Join this massive call to STOP THIS TOTAL DISASTER and share widely.

Please let’s help communities in Uganda.  Let’s help them defend their lands and the reserves the wildlife need.