Category: Wildlife Habitat: Forests

1. SUCCESS: The Green Match Fund 2023 is from 20-27 April 2023

   Posted on 10:35am Saturday 29th Apr 2023

   #GreenMatchFund

   Update on 29 April 2023:  The Green Match Fund 2023 was a great success, and £4,349,330 was raised for 178 charities in 7 days.  There were 22,457 donations to make this happen!   Congratulations to all the charities involved! 
   
   

   Here's the background here: 

   Here’s a chance to make a donation for wildlife which gets DOUBLED! 

   From the 20^th April at midday for one week, you can donate to an environmental charity taking part and your donation will be matched! 

   This is a great chance to really make your £ stretch to make a difference!

   
   If we all pull together, we can really go places 
   for nature and the natural world
   Visit the Green Match Fund here
   
   

   Charites taking part in the Green Match Fund include:

   • Wildlife Trusts (a number have their own individual appeals)
   • Rewilding Britain
   • Bees for Development Trust
   • Surfers Against Sewage
   • Northumberland Rivers Trust
   • Fauna and Flora International (for pangolins)
   • The RSPB
   • Buglife
   • Students organising for Sustainability (that's Hedgehogs Friendly Schools)
   • Blue Marine Foundation
   • Virunga Foundation (that’s for gorillas)
   • David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
   • ZSL (for big cats)
   • Bumblebee Conservation Trust
   • Wild Fish Conservation
   • Royal Entomological Society (that’s for insects)
   • International Animal Rescue (for mangroves)
   • The Shark Trust
   • Sumatran Orangtuan Foundation
   • Beaver Trust
   • Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (wildcats)
   • Whale and Dolphin Conservation
   • Bat Conservation Trust
   • CPRE (for hedgerows, so important to lifestyle)
   • Wildlife Vets International (for vultures)
   • Space for Giants (elephant-human conflict)
   • South Downs National Park Trust (for a network for ponds)
   • Rhino Ark (UK)
   • Orangutan Foundation
   • Bees Abroad (bees and elephants)
   • Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit
   • Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
   • Project Seagrass
   • Organisation Cetacea
   • People’s Trust for Endangered Species (for hedgerows)
   • International Otter Survival Fund
   • World Cetacean Alliance
   • The Falconry Centre – Vulture Conservation
   • South Georgia Heritage Trust (whales)
   • UK Wild Otter Trust

   
   Even if you cannot donate, this is a great opportunity to find out more about what the charities that interest you most do, and to spread awareness of what they do – spread the word!

   The above list doesn’t cover all the charities taking part, so visit the Green Match Fund’s page to find out more!

   #GreenMatchFund

    

2. Act for wildlife in Cambodia with FFI's urgent appeal in the Cardamom Mountains

   Posted on 8:00pm Thursday 26th May 2022

   I’ve had an email from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) about an impending crisis that is about to get catastrophically worse.

   The beautiful Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia are being covered in snares. 

   FFI say that the snares are shredding through clouded leopards, ripping elephant trunks in half and snapping the limbs of their calves.  Pangolins, sun bears, moon bears and indeed any mammal than a mouse are being badly impacted, as any animal larger than a mouse can be trapped in these cruel snares.

   To make matters worse, FFI’s project funding in the area has fallen through.  FFI patrol teams are still able to operate in some areas and maintain an effective resistance.  A very generous donor has enabled them to remove countless snares – and so save many, many animals.  FFI had hoped to extend the areas that they were covering.

   
   Unfortunately, the donor is unable to continue their support – and FFI must fill a £92,345 hole. 

   If FFI cannot fund the project, the warden leaders won’t be able to pay their patrol teams’ wages – and any who have the means won’t be able to have equipment and the backing to mount and maintain an effective resistance. 

   Funds will be spent on boots, machetes, camping gear, hammocks, rucksacks and everything wardens need to wear as they go out on one patrol after another.   The wardens need GPS kits, patrol mapping – and they need to be paid. 

   FFI say time is short. 

   What’s so important about the Cardamom Mountains?  Well, they have dense rainforest, mangroves and wetlands – and they have more than 60 globally threatened animal species and 17 globally threatened trees.  The Cardamom Mountains matter.  These include:

   • Asian elephants
   • Sun bears
   • The clouded leopard,
   • Dholes, a type of wild dog
   • The Sunda pangolin
     
     

   
   Young elephant wears a protective boot
   to help recovery, after being caught in a snare.
   Credit: Charnwood Photo

   These snares are CRUEL – as the metal clasp tightens, causing the animal terrible pain.  The more they struggle, the tighter the snare gets, cutting more and more deeply into flesh and bone.  It is a terribly cruel and painful way to die.   

   At the same time, the animals have lost their habitat, because of illegal logging, land encroachment and unsustainable agricultural ways of doing things.  Over 10% of the forest has gone in 15 years  So the animals find themselves in smaller spaces, into what is known as a “wall of death”, because it is easy for them to get trapped by a snare.

   Enter the wardens. They are from the local communities and they cover over 100km every month, spotting and removing snares, watching for any signs of illegal poaching or logging, and undertaking biomonitoring and data-gathering activities.   These activities are important because they give a better understanding of the wildlife in the area, and enable the right decisions to be made about how to help them.

   

   The clouded leopard is well adapted to prowling through the forest
   Credit:  Bill – Adobe Stock

   Wardens also help by supplying the human-wildlife conflict teams with flashlights and noise-makers.  These can help deter elephants from the boundaries of farms and villages, so preventing damage to crops and property. These things make a huge impact – there have been no retaliation elephant killings since the wardens started such work.

   The warden team is essential to protect the animals of the Cardamom Mountains. 

   Please help today by making a donation.

    

3. World Okapi Day 2021

   Posted on 5:00pm Sunday 17th Oct 2021

   The okapi live in the dense jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo.   The opaki is under threat Although it is a respected cultural symbol of the DRC (have had protect status since 1933), the opaki is threatened by human activities: slash-and-burn agriculture, illegal gold mining, logging, encroachment from human settlement and bush-meat poaching. Enter the Opaki Conservation Project Enter the Opaki Conservation Project which works to protect the natural habitat of the opaki and indigenous Mbuti pygmies who lives in the Opaki Wildlife Reserve.  It also looks to promote the species around the world. The reserve itself is a designated World Heritage Site.  It sits within the Ituri Forest, and it encompasses 13,700 square kilometres. As well as the opaki, it is home to animals such as forest elephants, chimpanzees, 13 species of primates, leopards, bongo antelopes and a huge variety of birds and insects.  World Opaki Day’s aims World Opaki Day on 18 October 2021 celebrates the opaki – it raises awareness of it as many people have never heard of an opaki.   You can find out more about the opaki here.  And crucially, the opaki acts as a flagship species to protect the forest ecosystem where it resides.    There are activities around the villages in the reserve and they are combined to educate local communities and protect the opaki. Things we can do on World Okapi Day: 1.  Follow the day on social media: #OkapiConservation and #WorldOkapiDay and #WOD2021 and tell people about okapis.  The Okapi Conservation Project also has a social media kit  2.   Recycle your own mobile phone.  Did you know that a cell/mobile phones have coltan?  It’s a mineral mined in the DRC forests, so if you recycle your phone it means less mining in the forest. 3.   Put okapi photos on social media, using the hashtags hashtags #OkapiConservation and #WorldOkapiDay 4.  You could also donate to the Okapi Conservation Project – all proceeds go to help protect okapi and its habitat.  $15 Supports 1 ranger per day to protect okapi and their habitat.  $50 Provides a month of medical care for a ranger and his family. £125 Provides one sewing machine for an OCP sponsored women’s group. $250 Buys a camera trap to capture photos of okapi in the forest 5.  Watch okapi videos!    6.  Become an Opaki Guardian!  Give a recurring gift and help the project to help prevent habitat loss and preserve the forest, or remove poachers from the forest or support the agro-forestry project.  Visit the Okapi Conservation Project

    

4. Help the Rainforest Trust save a vital 110 acres of Colombian tropical forest

   Posted on 4:00pm Monday 26th Apr 2021

    
   The  is working hard to buy 110 acres of Colombian tropical forest.  

   The Rainforest Trust is on the verge of purchasing and protecting 110 vital acres of Colombian tropical forest.  

   The tropical forests are endangered themselves as farms expand and other developments take place.  They are the only place on the planet where you'll find cotton-top tamarins - whose numbers have gone down 80% in just 20 years.

    

   
   
   Help the Rainforest Trust save 110 vital acres of tropical rainforest in Colombia
   Please donate here

    

   As well as cotton-top tamarins, the area is also home to spider and howler monkeys, a critically endangered turtle species and scarlet macaws.  

   Local organisation Fundación Proyecto Tití is working hard to protect the whole area.

   They have blocked the creation of a clear-cutting cattle ranch.

   Now they are working with the Rainforest Trust to secure more land.  The land is critical becuase it will give the animals safe passage - a corridor - between protected areas.  It will give the animals the vital space they need to recover and survive. 

   We can all help the Rainforest Trust achieve this goal.  

   Find out more from the Rainforest Trust and donate here.

   You can donate to this project through SumofUs who partner the Rainforest Trust

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

   Posted on 8:00am Wednesday 14th Apr 2021

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

   

   
   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