Our blog & news: Get involved to help wildlife

 
 

"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
 


Search Take Action for Wildlife Conservation
 


 RSS Feed

Category:

  1. Rainforest Foundation UK have good news from the DRC about 29,142 hectares of forest!

    Posted on

    Rainforest Foundation UK have good news from the Democratic Republic of the Congo!

    The Bamasobha Community have been granted their community forest!


    Its community forest programme there has gained momentum, as the Bamasobha community has been granted their community forest!  This secures 29,142 hectares!   Find out more about it here.

    There are now over 100 community forests which are either established or applied for, in the world’s second largest rainforest.  They total over 2 million acres!

    Rainforest Foundation UK works in the two largest rainforests, the Congo Basin and the Amazon.  The forests are spread over billions of acres but as we all know, they are threatened by illegal logging and mining.    Destroy the forest habitats, and you also undermine the livelihoods of locals living there.  You also destroy eco systems.

    ForestLink fights illegal activities in the forest

    So communities are important in the fight against illegal activities, and the Rainforest Foundation UK’s ForestLink monitoring system enables communities to send low-cost alerts about illegal logging.  It’s been so effective that it’s been expanded to the Ivory Coast!


    There was also a landmark conviction of eco-guards for human rights abuses which were committed in the Salonga National Park.   It sends a strong message that abuses won’t be tolerated.  

    Rainforest Foundation UK says that much needs to be done to address the risks from a poorly designed UN plan to double protect areas within the next decade.  It is working to “amplify the voices of those on the frontline of deforestation on the international stage” as the climate summit in Glasgow approaches.

    Visit Rainforest Foundation UK's website here

  2. New Appeal from the World Land Trust: Save Tanzania’s Coastal Forests

    Posted on

    The World Land Trust has launched the first appeal for this year and this one is in Eastern Africa.

    The coastal forests there did cover an area larger than the UK – now, they would fit into half of Scotland.

    There are 400 forest fragments from Somalia to Mozambique and biodiversity islands that are full of endemic life.

    The Appeal Target:   £360,000

    The Trust is working to raise £360,000.   With help from these donations, their partner the  Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG)  can save a crucial wildlife corridor.   Elephants, leopards, lions and other animals are counting on us all to save this land for them.

    Roads are bringing cashew plantations closer and closer.  The animals need their wildlife corridor to be saved.

    About the Rondo Appeal

    The Rondo Plateau is a 900 metre table-top mountain.  It is a microclimate of misty forests, chameleons and bush baby primates whilst below it, big cats, butterflies and elephants roam. 

    And with all our help, the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group is going to create a huge protected belt around this ancient landscape.


    The donations will help safeguard a crucial wildlife corridor between the Rondo Forest Reserve and the Nyerere National Park.  49,000+acres (20,000 ha) of land will be protected.  The corridor will come in the form of 10 Village Land Forest Reserves, each under the stewardship of a village, and the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group will work with them closely.

    Which animals will the appeal help? 

    These animals are examples of those who need the Ronda route:

    • Elephants who need space to roam and who need their migration routes,
    • The African Lion and African leopard manage prey species – they must do this or animals such as the African Bush Pig would go unchecked, and devastate local farms.
    • The lions in the area need the land between the forest and shrubland to hunt or they would become extinct in the area
    • Leopards need forests so that they can store their kills up in the trees where other animals can’t get them.
    • The dwarf galago is a tiny endangered primate, who lives in trees and who needs the connectivity the Ronda land will give it.
    • The bearded pygmy chameleon is very vulnerable to habitat disruption – even the loss of a few trees could be one loss too many for some
    • The chequered elephant shrew’s population is very fragmented because of habitat loss so the subspecies is under real pressure

    We all need to act

    Please help protect these animals by protecting their homes today – and please donate to the World Land Trust’s appeal

  3. 34,051 acres saved in Ecuador!

    Posted on

    There’s good news from Ecuador, brought to us by the World Land Trust and their partner Naturalez y Cultura Ecuador (NCE for short). 

    The Santiago Municipal Reserve was officially declared early this month.

    It’s is an important expansion of vital habitat for species, covering 34,051 acres, and it’s a link between two national parks.  Essentially it’s expanded the Sangay-Podocarpus Connectivity Corridor which spans 1.4 million acres as well as parts of the Podocarpus-El Condor Biosphere Reserve.   WLT and NCE work here, too.



    However the protected land doesn’t stop there.  North of the aforementioned connectivity corridor, there’s a 200 mile long area of reserves and national parks.  They like along the eastern Andes, connected by the Llanganates-Sangay Biological Corridor which is managed by Fundacion Ecominga, another WLT partner.  So the network of protected areas now covers about 4 million acres.

    The most recent acquisition of 34,051 acres was partly funded by donations to the World Land Trust’s Action Fund.   The idea behind the Action Fund is that the World Land Trust can respond rapidly to any need to purchase land.

    This purchase is an excellent example of the Action Fund at work and how important it is to be able to move fast in conservation.

    The forests and grasslands would have faced cattle ranching and timber chopping, but thanks to the efforts of supporters like you and me, they have been saved.   Scientists have already recorded 344 plant species, 152 species of birds, 57 amphibian species, 47 mammal species and 11 reptile species.  They all call the area home.

    Their home was saved just in time!

    Visit the World Land Trust's website here

  4. Koala Conservation Status: Please petition the NSW Government to raise it to Endangered

    Posted on

    I’ve had news of a need for help from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

    Back in March 2020, IFAW recommended that the New South Wales (NSW) Government move the conservation status of koalas from Vulnerable to Endangered on an emergency basis.  This recommendation was made on the basis of a scientific report, commissioned by IFAW, which showed that koalas are facing an immediate and significant threat of extinction in NSW.

    Please help by signing this petition

    Please petition the NSW Government to save the koalas
    by giving them endangered status protection

    The change in the koala's conservation status would mean that:

    • There would be greater protection for the forests where koalas live
    • Politicians would have greater powers to stop trees and critical habitat from being cleared.

    This would mean that in the short term, koalas would get some breathing space to recover after the terrible bushfires which killed thousands of koalas and destroyed key koala habitat. 

    The IFAW report showed that:

    • Over 6,000 koalas died in the fires alone
    • In three generations, 65% of the koala population has been lost
    • The fires “all but destroyed” many koala populations that were significant in their regions
    • The bushfires burned over 12.6 million acres across NSW.  This land was vital to koalas.  The land left is depleted because of the long drought.

    Many koalas were left starving and injured.  Things had been bad enough before, because of enormous habitat destruction and a prolonged drought.

     Please act to help koalas!

    Unfortunately, IFAW is still waiting for an answer.   Please, wherever you are in the world, join IFAW and the 190,000 people who have already signed the petition and ACT to save koalas.

    They need every single one of us to help put the pressure on.  It does not matter where we live.   What matters is that we all act for koalas and do what we can to help them.

    Please sign here today, and give the koalas a voice and your support.  And when you’ve done that, please share and spread the word.

                                        

    Please sign here today

     to help koalas

    Thank you.

    Image above © IFAW

     

  5. Initiative to protect the Gola Forest in Liberia and Sierra Leone

    Posted on

    Birdlife International report that there’s a new forest conservation initiative to save one of West Africa’s few remaining tropical forests.

    The area covers over 350,000 hectares and it’s called the Gola Forest.   It goes across the Liberia and Sierra Leone borders, and it’s the largest remaining block of Upper Guinean Forest.

    The area is an important for one for biodiversity – it boasts:

    • 49 mammal species
    • 327 bird species
    • 43 amphibians species
    • over 200 species of tree
    • over 60 species there threatened call this home including - it’s got the world’s second biggest population of Western chimpanzees.
    • it’s an overall carbon sink and helps to reduce the impacts of climate change.


    But the area has suffered deforestation and degradation

    Logging, agriculture, mining and conflict have caused the loss of vital biodiversity.   It’s reduced the ability of the area to cope with climate change – and impacted on local people who depend on the forests for their livelihood.

    There’s protection now in place

    The governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone have signed agreements in 2011 and 2020 to manage the forest and protect the biodiversity there. 

    And back in August 2020, the EC funded Programme to Support the Conservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa was implemented to conserve the Gola Forest. 

    The programme has been implemented by:


    The impact on locals

    The project should help to manage conflict between communities sharing the same forest resources.  It will support the management of five protected areas.   Local people will be trained and empowered to undertake the management of the forest – the programme will be training community eco-guards so that there are joint patrols by the two countries.   A bio-monitoring programme will also be put in place.

    As eco-guards, local communities will be involved in protecting the forests which will in turn give them an income.  Many were hunters, miners, loggers and farmers before.

    Two community based ecotourism ventures will be supported by the project, and a sustainable logging model in Liberia will be piloted.  Over 50,000 people in 160 communities will benefit from the programme.

    Visit Birdlife International for more information