"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, 1901-1978
Both sites provide suitable habitat for wintering water birds such as the lapwing, golden plover, brent geese. And they are an integral part of a continuous network of designated coastal habitats extending north from the Thames Estuary to the Colne Estuary.
The East coast used to be full of vibrant wildlife but human claims for agriculture, together with the forces of nature (coastal erosion and rising sea levels) have taken their toll.
The new status of both sites have recognised the importance of new mudflats and saltmarsh to offset the losses over the last 400 years.
The Government sees this protection as a vital way to achieve their 25 year Environmental Plan, and the thing about protecting the aforesaid area is that it is next to the RSPB’s Wallasea Island Wild Coast project.
The RSPB is working with partners such as Defra and the Environment Agency to create more coastal habitat for people and nature.
Approximately 95 per cent of the area of our Sites of Special Scientific Interest and about 60 per cent of the total area of our most important or ‘priority’ wildlife habitats is now in good condition for wildlife or has management in place to restore its condition.
The Dee Estuary is bursting with wildlife, including hosting avocets, egrets, harriers, noisy redshanks, swallows and swifts.
Since 2011 the RSPB has established management on approximately 130,000 hectares of land to create new wildlife-rich habitat in the wider countryside.
The fifth largest salt lake in the world, Mar Chiquita is South America’s second largest water body. And it’s home to most of the world’s Chilean flamingo (about 318,000 of them, they are Nearly Threatened) and nearly half of its Andean Flamingo (18,000 in winter (Vulnerable) and Puna Flamingo as well (and they’re Near Threatened).
In addition, there are tens of thousands of American Golden Plover, White-rumped and Lesser Yellowlegs who migrate here.
Oh, and don’t forget the 600,000 Wilson's Phalaropes – about a third of the world’s population.
So let’s move away from the Little Sea (as Mar Chiquita means) to grasslands. These are home to the Greater Rhea, Bearded Tachuri, a Maned Wolf and Sickle-winged Nightjar (Near Threatened). The swampy areas have Dot-winged Crake, and Dinelli's Doradito, while Crowned Solitary Eagles Buteogallus coronatus fly over Chaco forest.
Unfortunately dear reader, that is not the case. It’s in danger. Why? Well, the human race is at it again.
Water extracted from the lake at an unsustainable lake
The lake is polluted, thanks to local industry
Agricultural intensification
Above average deforestation rate
Unregulated tourism.
And action is needed urgently. Which is where the supporters of Birdfair in the UK come in and the human race is working to put things right.
Aves Argentinas is a partner of BirdLife International. It has undertaken bird surveys, raised awareness, improved management of the area and clarified land ownership at Mar Chiquita for years.
Then came its light bulb moment – a plan to create what should become Argentina’s largest national park.
Creating a national park to keep the area safe
The plan has been developed with provincial and national authorities. Back in 2017, a concordat was signed by Argentina’s environment minister, National Parks Administration and the governor of the Córdoba province. And the Ansenuza National Park will protect up to 800,000 hectares which will be managed at the national level.
Crucial to the plan is the involvement and engagement (how I hate that word but I can never think of another) of the local community.
Planning involving them, empowering local stake holders and establishing a network of local conservation guardians has been a key part of Aves Argentina’s strategy from the start.
And there’s more – bolstering the local economy through nature-based tourism is essential to the project’s success. So the Ministry of Tourism is very pleased indeed. Ecotourism will lengthen the tourist seasons and help provide sustainable livelihoods over a wider area. That should also help local communities commit to the long term conservation of the area.
And the lake’s colloquial name in the national park title says a great deal.
The British Birdwatching Fair helps in two key ways:
Raising awareness
An international event like this is vital in building political awareness back in Argentina as to why this area needs to be protected. It will help build support from the bird world and show that the Ansenuza really is a birding paradise.
As a bird lover, I want to go and see birds in a beautiful, natural environment. I don’t want to go to see a polluted lake where a lot of the water has been sucked out and drive through an area where local forests have been destroyed to get there.
Raising funds to support the project
In 2017, the theme was ‘Saving paradise in the Pacific’. The aim was to remove invasive predators from the French Polynesian island of Rapa Iti. Last year, Birdfair raised a jaw-dropping £333,000 was raised towards the work.
The 2018 project is an ambitious one. A project to create and protect a national park and all its wildlife, whilst helping locals through eco-tourism. And surely a model for other conservation organisations to look at?
Aves Argentinas - I hope you speak Spanish! But do take a look anyway.
BirdLife International - BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations (NGOs) that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. 121 BirdLife Partners worldwide.
National Trust supporters and donors have enabled the National Trust to acquire 30 acres of Norfolk coastline.
The site is at Salthouse, and the Trust is working in partnership with the current grazier, who will manage the land as the National Trust’s tenant.
The Norfolk coast is home to a wide diversity of wildlife, and the space inland will enable the animals to move, adjust and retreat as the coastline changes.
The area is home to over-wintering wildfowl such as Brent Geese.
The land sits next to land already in the National Trust’s care, and that land is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
The new acquisition will enable the National Trust to widen and join up habitats – and this will help make nature more resilient along the coastline.
The donors were giving to the National Trust’s Neptune Coastline Campaign which has supported the Trust’s work to care for coastline for 50 years, and will help it well into the future.
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:
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.
In January 2011, the Peruvian government established the Yaguas National Park.
It is enormous – 2,147,166 acres. And it’s a safeguard and home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna AND has the ancestral lands of over 1,000 indigenous people living in the region.
The park sits in a remote northwestern region of Peru. It’s near the Colombain border, and it runs along the Putumayo River. And it controls weather patterns in the United States.
The area has a history of exploitation – logging, mining and rubber production. Needless to say, some of this has been illegal. The indigenous people were forced to collect rubber from the forest under terrible conditions, facing murder, mutilation and systematic rape, according to the Field Museum.
But now, with the national park status, the land and people are protected.
Additionally, so are 3,000 plant species, 600 bird species and over 150 mammal species in the area. Many of these are threatened or endangered. And over 300 fish species live in the various rivers flowing in and out of the Yaguas National Park. Species such as giant otters, woolly monkeys, Amazonian river dolphins and manatees live there.
South America is creating vast stretches of protected wilderness, so hopefully they are signs of both people and governments showing how important these regions of wilderness are, both for animal and human wellbeing.
