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1. China to create a massive panda park

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 19th Mar 2018

   The Sichaun province government has secured %1.58 billion in funding during the next 5 years for a planned Giant Panda National Park. The park will be three times the size of the US Yellowstone National Park, so it will be enormous – 10,476 square miles in all. The park will protect wild pandas living across the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.  The environment ministry said it had agreed to plans by 15 provinces and regions to draw up red lines to keep large areas of land off limits to economic development.   These large areas include wetlands, forests, national parks and protected nature zones.  Over 80% of wild pandas live in Sichuan, and the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu.  The park plans will link up the pandas who are isolated in these areas and encourage them to breed.  Pandas are terribly slow at reproducing and there are several breeding centres in China to help with panda conservation. Although the number of wild pandas have increased in recent years, the continued increase in numbers depends on having the right habitat available to pandas to breed so the announcement of the Giant Panda National Park is a step in the right direction to ensuring they have the right environment in which to thrive.  Pandas International is a US based charity working to help with panda conservation.  Visit Pandas International here.

    

2. Chile creates new law to protect waters along its 4,000 mile coastline

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   Now past Chilean President Michele Bachelet has signed a decree creating 9 marine reserves which protects 4,000 miles of coastline. President Bechelet ends her term of office this week.  She believes that Chile needed to establish the basis on which to conserve its marine territory for the future.   The decree will increase the area of sea under the protection of the Chilean government from 4.3% to 42.4%.   It will protect marine life in about 1.4 million square kilometres of sea.   One of the new reserve covers the waters around the Diego Ramirez Islands.  Sea lions, kelp forests and whales make this their home. Let's hope her successor will continue to take similar steps to preserve the country's marine life. Wildlife flourishes on an untouched Chile island

    

3. African Parks report 3 successes for big cats

   Posted on 8:00pm Tuesday 6th Mar 2018

   There’s an awful lot of bad news about big cats around at the moment; they are being hunted for their skins, claws, bones and other parts; killed to prevent human-wildlife conflict, and their habitats are increasingly fragmented and lost. So it’s great to hear from African Parks that there are some hopeful signs across the continent for these majestic animals. Lions are being restored to Malawi In 2012, African Parks reintroduced lions to the Majete Wildlife Reserve.  They secured the park and brought back key species, including prey populations.  The lions have formed a small but growing pride to such an extent that African Parks have moved the first two of 10 lions to Liwonde National Park – the first time lions have been there for at least 4 years! New cheetah population doubles in less than a year In 2017, African Parks reintroduced cheetahs to Liwonde National Park, also in Malawi.  They’d been absent for 100 years.  Several females have had cubs, so increasing their numbers in just a few months since their arrival. Lion numbers grow in Rwanda Lions were eradicated by refugees coming back to Rwanda after the genocide, so they had been absent for 20 years.   African Parks reintroduced 7 lions to the Akagera National Park.   With the space to thrive, lions have nearly tripled, and the park is now a real wildlife gem.  Tourism is flourishing with over 36,000 annual visitors to the park, bringing $1.3 million in tourism revenue.  This is reinvested in the surrounding areas. Restoring and protecting the big cat in Africa’s wild places does a number of things: It maintains vital ecological processes It gives tourism a boost Tourism gives much needed benefits to the local communities and revenue to the region Get involved You can help African Parks continue to protect Africa’s big cats and ensure they have the space, prey and safety they need to breed and thrive.    Donate here

    

4. Ecuador declares new National Park for the first time in 9 years

   Posted on 7:00am Tuesday 6th Mar 2018

   Ecuador declares new National Park Good news from Ecuador! It’s just declared the protection of the country’s first national park in 9 years – the Rio Negro – Sophadora National Park. It’s an important protection.   The reserve fills a big gap in a Páramo and Cloud Forest down the eastern Andes.  It’s between two national parks – the Sangay and Podocarpus.   What’s more, a recent survey of its incredible wildlife has discovered 3 news species – a frog, a caecilian and a salamander, so it’s very exciting. This has been achieved through a number of groups working together: Nature and Culture International Municipal governments The Ministry of the Environment Local communities The new reserve covers 75,654 acres.   Nature and Culture International undertook a Rapid Biological Assessment which showed the region’s ecosystems to be unique for its biodiversity and endemism, and having dramatic altitude changes over short distances. These altitude gradients encourage the evolution of diverse species and provide a critical “escape valve” for climate change.  They give an upward migration path to cooler temperatures which help species survive as the climate gets hotter.  The Rapid Biological Assessment showed 43 species of mammans in the area, including threatened specials such as the Spectacled Bear, Mountain Tapir and Andean Condor.   And there are also 546 species of plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.  And there’s more from the Nangaritza Reserve Supporters of the UK based charity World Land Trust helped fund a 447 acre extension to protect other areas in the Sangay – Podocarpus Corridor, namely the Nangaritza Reserve.   It has foothill forests close to the Podocarpus National Park.   It’s really critical to connect large protected areas such as national parks, to ensure the health of wildlife population.  It's home to birds such as the Orange-throated Tanager, Cinnamon-breasted Tody Tyrant and Ecuadorian Piedtail. You can help by donating £25 to the World Land Trust’s Buy an Acre programme, and help it continue to fund land purchase and create nature reserves to protect threatened habitats and wildlife.

5. Good news from Colombia - Chiribiquete National Park is to be extended

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 5th Mar 2018

   Good news from Colombia. The President, Juan Manuel Santos, has announced plans to extend the country’s largest national park by 1.5 million hectares.  At the moment, the Chiribiquete National Park covers 2.8 million hectares in the Amazon region, so this planned extension is enormous.   The National Park has got one of the highest rates of plant diversity in the northern Amazon, and it’s famous for its tepuis (table-top rock formations) which rise out of the forest.   In fact, the forest is located on one of the world’s oldest rock formations, the Guiana Shield.  The park is rich in wildlife and it has traces of ancient human life.  Francisco Forero Bonell, a phpotographer, documented ancient paintings on the sheer rock faces depicting animals and humans.  They are thought to have been made by one of the indigenous groups which lived in the area way before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. The Colombian government is hoping that Chiribiquete will be added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites this year;  it’s on the tentative list at the moment, and the World Heritage Committee will study the application in June.