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1. Help Ancient Forests in Mexico

   Posted on 10:00pm Tuesday 14th Aug 2018

   In Central Mexico, the ancient forests of Sierra Gorda are being destroyed.  They are home to the big cat, the hummingbird, And there’s a chance to save some of them. They are full of Pinyon Pines, Junipers, Cedars, Sweetgums, Firs and Oaks – some of them hundreds of years old.  They are home to species such as the Monarch Butterfly and the Big-footed Salamander.  Jaguars, pumas, bobcats, margays, ocelots and jaguarondi live here. But the forest is all disappearing, thanks to human activity - agriculture, cattle ranching and man-made fires. Fire has a particularly bad impact – it can take a forest years to recover from a man-made fire. Enter the World Land Trust. The World Land Trust is working with local, family run Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda to conserve habitat in Sierra Gorda.  In the 10 years they’ve been working together, supporters of the World Land Trust have saved over 10,000 acres of these forests already. And there’s more.  Every acre the World Land Trust has protected has remained under the guardianship of its Keepers of the Wild programme, that is, wildlife rangers hired from the local community.  They guard the forests and restore them to their natural state. So how can you help? You can get involved by – I’ll be frank – making a donation.  I’ve made a donation already and it always makes me feel better and that I’ve had an influence on the world’s forests and been able to do something, rather than sit back and do nothing. So imagine spending £25.  And it goes towards saving ancient forests in Mexico.   Isn’t that wild? Where will your £25 go? The thing is, the World Land Trust has the chance to buy and protect an area of 578 acres in Sierra Gorda.   It needs all our support to ensure this forest can be saved for wildlife. You can help and get involved by donating to the World Land Trust’s Ancient Forests Appeal. A £25 donation will enable the Trust’s partner in Sierra Gorda to buy 1,000m² and put it under protection. A £100 donation will protect one acre. This is a very easy way to get involved and do something quickly for wildlife. And to feel as though you’ve made a difference. Donate to the Ancient Forests appeal today

    

    

2. The Lion's Share Fund takes off with a big roar.....

   Posted on 10:00am Friday 10th Aug 2018

   Let’s ROAR for wildlife! On World Lion Day (the 10th August), it’s great to announce a really exciting piece of news for wildlife conservation. There’s a really fantastic opportunity for business to make a difference and have a real impact on wildlife. Drum roll please for….. The Lion’s Share Fund! You may have heard of The Lion’s Share.  If you haven’t, let me tell you more.   It’s an initiative which is aiming to transform the lives of animals around the world by asking advertisers to contribute a percentage of their media spend to conservation and animal welfare projects. I am really excited by this initiative.  The hope is that $100 million a year will be raised within 3 years.   The money will be invested in a range of animal conservation and animal welfare programmes, to be implemented by the UN and civil society organisations.  The Lion’s Share is working to contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which are aiming to end poverty and project the planet.  Goal 14, Life Underwater and Goal 15, Live on Land, involve supporting animals and helping to conserve their key habitat.  The UNDP (that’s the United Nations Development Programme) will host the fund.   A joint steering committee will take decisions on priority programmes. Money raised will go into creative, game-changing solutions which focus on achieving real impact for the animals and their habitats. Ambitious for sure - but if the top 10 advertisers alone were to participate, this would bring in a staggering $47m each year alone! Partners in the fund will contribute 0.5% of their media spent to the fund for every advert they use which has an animal in it.  And cartoon animals will count as well.  So if your company has an ad with a cartoon animal in it, they can participate! Mars is the first advertising partner.  It will sit on the executive and steering committees of The Lion’s Share and encourage other businesses to get involved. Worldwide advertising network BBDO and leading measurement and data analytics company Nielsen are also involved.  BBDO is contributing the benefit of its experience in advertising, whilst Nielsen will ensure that companies are contributing correctly. The Lion’s Share Fund has a website, and a very helpful FAQ page.  This answers a number of questions which spring to mind – how can we be sure the money goes to where it should, for instance.  (Nielsen will watch that side of things like a hawk.) And 93% of the funds raised will go to the animals that need it.   Rob Galluzzo, founder of FINCH, initiated the idea with Christopher Nelius, a film director.   Galluzzo says that 9 out of 10 of the most popular animals seen in commercials are endangered or threatened and they don’t always get the support they deserve.    FINCH have partnered with Clemenger BBDO to bring this initiative to life. The fund was launched in Cannes  at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, by UNDP Goodwill Ambassador and actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who said quite rightly that it is our responsibility as people to safeguard all life on our planet. Coster-Waldau plays Jamie Lannister in the Games of Thrones. So how can you help? Well, if I see an advert with an animal in it, I'm going to let the advertising company know about the The Lion’s Shares Fund.  It was only launched recently in June 2018, so they may not know of it yet.

    

3. Simple steps to stop elephants and other wild animals falling into wells

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 25th Jun 2018

   Elephants and other wild animals are being protected in India by protective barricades around open wells in reserve and revenue forest. This is because the animals were falling into wells. After a survey of the wells, they were nearly all found to be abandoned and unsafe for wild animals. Reports suggest there are about 360 such abandoned wells in the reserve and revenue forest. Rescuing the trapped elephants was an enormous task which took several hours to do, so the Dhenkanal Forest division has taken steps to stop this happening and to prevent elephants and other wild animals from falling into them in the first place. Source:  Newindianexpress.com The Times of India's You Tube video

    

4. Oh to be wealthy!

   Posted on 8:00pm Tuesday 27th Mar 2018

   It would be the dream of my life to make or win tons of money and be able to give it all to wildlife conservation and reforestation! In late March 2018, philanthropists, governments and corporate leaders from Europe, China, the US and Africa pledged over $6 million to protect wildlife habitats at the end of an important conservation summit. The Kavango-Zambezi Trans frontier Conservation Area borders Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  It’s home to over 220,000 elephants – and yet parts of this ecosystem are now under huge pressure from poachers.  Forest elephants in Central Africa also suffer from high levels of killing. Space for Giants is an international conservation organisation.  It’s just co-hosted the Giants Club Summit, with Botswana’s Tlhokomela Trust. The Giants Club has come together and galvanised new money for fast action.   So what did the Giants Club countries – Botswana, Gabon, Kenya and Uganda (plus other KAZA nations Angola, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe) – achieve? The Giants Club will work with national wildlife services and partner organisations to nominate people for the Ranger Award Programme of the Paradise Foundation.   The award raises awareness about threats to Africa’s wildlife and the essential role that rangers play on the front line in conservation.  Working together will mean more candidates will be reached. A US$2 million grant given by the EU will be implemented by Space for Giants and the Tlhokomela Trust to train and mentor wildlife rangers sharing operational intelligence and resources across the border region It will boost legal deterrants against poaching by making investigations and prosecutions stronger across the five countries. The Giants Club aims to protect half of Africa’s elephants and their landscapes by 2020 by uniting political will, technical expertise and financial power to achieve its goal. Founding members are the presidents of Uganda, Gabon, Kenya and the Tlhokomela Trust.   415,000 elephants live in these areas – over half of Africa’s remaining elephants.  The Giants Club’s members include financiers, international philanthropists and key influencers such as celebrities.   Conservation scientists are the technical advisors.  The summit brings people together to hear innovative ideas on how to protect elephants and their landscapes and it then negotiates finance and secures political will to increase the reach of the ideas. Kenyan based Space for Giants works to protect Africa’s elephants from immediate threats such as poaching.  It works to secure their habitats in landscapes which are under increasing pressures.    Space for Giants aims: To develop and deliver anti-poaching intiatives to reduce the problems arising where elephants people live alongside each other, and to provide education and training.

    

5. Trees for Life plant record number of trees in a year!

   Posted on 9:00pm Friday 16th Mar 2018

   There’s some amazing news from Scotland. The charity Trees for Life have just totted up the number of trees they planted in 2017 and it comes to a record breaking: 156,869 trees! Of these, 133,000 were planted at the Allt Ruadh exclosure at the Dundreggan Conservation Estate, thus helping to restore the Caledonian Forest in the stunning Highlands. Volunteers spent over 5,000 planting trees, and members, donors and supporters similarly played a vital role in ensuring the trees could be planted. What’s more, Trees for Life have been invited to join the growing European Rewildling Network which puts the restoration of the Caledonian Forest in the Highalnds firmly on the European map. The network shows how re-wilding can benefit from economic development, including nature based tourism such as wildlife watching, nature-based tourism and volunteer opportunities. Trees for Life has a number of Conservation Weeks and Conservation Days throughout the year, bringing visitors to Scotland.   The Caledonian Forest is Scotland’s equivalent of the Amazonian rainforest.  Today, just 1% of the original area is left, but Trees for Life has already restored large areas in Glen Affric and at the Dundreggan Conservatoin Estate by planting over 1.3 million trees and encouraging natural restoration.  The charity’s Caledonian Pinewood Recovery Project will help to restore 50 acres of remnant pinewoods – mostly ancient 200 year old “Granny” Scots pines which are dying.  There are no young trees to succeed them, so the fragments are in danger of vanishing without action. You can find out more about Trees for Life here  and how to help here.