"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
Sometimes you see something on the internet or on television that really hits you hard and makes a point extremely well.
I saw this video, this afternoon, and I wanted to share it with you. Please share it with everyone you can.
The ultimate message is that we SHARE this planet. It demonstrates how dominant the human race has become - and how selfish. I am not going to tell you anymore about it - please just watch it for yourself. Here it is:
On 16 January 2020, the Governement of Belize signed the declaration of North-eastern Biological Corridor of Belize. It covers an area of nearly 70,000 acres and links the northernmost nature reserve in Belize with more central natural habitats.
It’s really important, because it’s the first step towards achieving a total North-South corridor crossing the whole country as the map shows!
It’s a tremendous example of public-private partnership: the government of Belize, local NGOs, private landowners and many international donors – including the World Land Trust – have been involved.
UNITED FOR CONSERVATION, WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE BETTER
The corridor connects a system of three protected areas in one system. Deforestation has caused the loss of over 25,000 acres of forest in tihe last 10 years.
This will now allow big animals such as jaguar and Baird’s Tapirs enough space to move freely between protected areas and so ensure their long term survival! It will also help build climate resilience into Belize’s network of protected areas.
Why was this acquisition necessary?
In Belize, about 50% of the country is under natural vegetation cover. About 35% of the country is under some form of protection.
So it is still possible to create biological corridors between protected areas.
It’s vital that these acquisitions take place, and speedily, because agricultural development are increasingly encroaching on forest.
How did supporters of the World Land Trust – people like you & me – help in this achievement?
The World Land Trust mobilised its supporters and inspired new ones to raise funds to support this land acquisition. It included 2018’s Big Match Fortnight Jungle for Jaguars campaign, and another Buy an Acre opportunity a few months after that. (The Big Match Fortnight normally comes in October when donations are matched for a specific appeal – it is incredible how much and how speedily this builds up.)
Donate in memory of someone special I donated to this campaign during the Big Match Fortnight (actually in memory of my wonderful Dad as his birthday is in November and I plant a tree or do a buy an acre on his birthday and at Christmas for him, as Dad loved trees).
Ask someone to donate as a gift for you I asked my husband to also donate as my early Christmas present and it was by far the best present I had. It really meant something to me. We had made a difference.
I cannot tell you the glow and warm feeling I have in my heart when I think of my jaguar roaming the biological corridor. I call him “my jaguar” – he obviously isn’t, and I’m never going to meet him – but it’s lovely to think that because I donated and my husband has too, we’ve helped him and lots of other animals.
Please do donate to the World Land Trust if you can, and keep an eye on their website. I often post news of their new appeals here, so you can watch this space as well. They are a wonderful charity and it’s good to give a meaningful gift which will last, so if you’re looking for a gift for a wildlife lover, making a donation could be a great way to do something to really make a difference – a win, win, win all round!
This was the You Tube Video for Jungle for Jaguars – it raised £532,000 in the Big Match Fortnight (normally early October) alone and hit the £600,000 target by Christmas, helping to save 8,154 vital acres. A further 1,818 acres were saved a few months later.
The lush rainforest runs along the Atlantic coast and inland in southern Brazil. It is home to many species and plants which are not found anywhere else on earth.
The problem for wildlife is....
Sadly, a mere 12% of this huge landscape now persists in very fragmented pockets. Towns, pastures and intensive farming have replaced the rainforest.
Many species living there are threatened with extinction as they are living in small fragmented areas and so are becoming increasingly isolated. These include the black lion tamarin, the jaguar, ocelot and puma.
Durrell wants to protect this ecosystem by creating wildlife corridors to join up the fragmented bits. They will do this by planting trees to connect the Morro do Diabo State Park to isolated forest fragments to the north, thus reconnecting wildlife.
You can help restore this rainforest by planning 17,000 trees and in creating sustainable livelihoods for local people and neutralize about 2,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
The trees will be planted in community nurseries, planted by local people – so giving them sustainable livelihoods. People and wildlife will win through this project.
Looking through the info I have on Good Being Done, I was delighted to see that forestry authorities in Shaanxi Province have launched an ecological corridor programme.
The province is situated in the north west of China, and the idea behind the programme is to connect habitats of giant pandas which have become fragmented. This means that the pandas will be able to move between the habitats.
By way of bridge construction and road culvert clearance, six such corridors will be built by 2027 in the Qinling mountains areas. The pandas will then be able to move around more easily.
That’s not all – bamboo trees will be planted along the corridors, and vegetation will be restored. This means that the pandas will have more to eat.
The thing is that this defragmentation of panda habitat was all down to human activities again. Human doings such as road traffic and hydropower station construction caused it. And that meant the pandas couldn’t connect and breed – they find breeding hard enough as it is – so it didn’t help the panda population.
Nationwide research showed that there were about 345 wild pandas living in the Qinling areas, so may there be many more in the future!
The IFAW (that’s the International Fund for Animal Welfare) have planted 1,500 koala trees on Irish comedian Jimeion’s property.
A number of private land owners in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, have taken action to keep the local koalas safe. They are allowing parts of their properties to be re-planted with eucalyptus trees. This means the koalas can have a safe haven and pass through the landscape.
The idea came from Bangalow Koalas who want to restore a koala wildlife corridor from Byron Bay to Repentance Creek. A neighbour of Jimeion kindly let everyone use his paddock so that they could get to the steep land behind Jimeion’s property.
Over 120 people came to help, all wanting to help plant koala trees and secure the species’ future. Amongst them were old and young volunteers – plus tourists from the UK and Germany. Imagine going home after your holiday and telling people you were part of a volunteer group which planted trees to help secure koalas’ future!
The land had been prepared already and the holes pre-dug. Saplings had been provided – and all the volunteers planted 1,500 trees IN ONE HOUR! They trees were the koalas’ favourite local food trees such as red gum, swamp mahogany, tallow wood and the important medicinal melaleuca that koalas eat from instinct when they don’t feel well.
The trees grow quickly in the climate and in a few years they will be home for koalas, birds and native wildlife. And Jimeoin hopes that by planting trees on his land, the koalas will stay.
The key message IFAW want us to take from this is that yes, there are messages of loss and possible extinction of koalas. They are certainly in trouble. But there is hope – and crucially THERE IS A SOLUTION.
IFAW and Bangalow Koalas hope to plant 25,000 trees by the end of the year.
It’s a fantastic thing to do and I hope they make it. A big thank you to both IFAW and Bangalow Koalas, and also to volunteers and – of course – to the land owners who are willing to help the koalas in this way
Visit Bangalow Koalas here – check out their gallery, whatever you do. It has some beautiful photos and videos of the Bangalow Koalas! You can become a member or donate through their website to help.
Here’s a video of another project Bungalow Koalas worked on with the Northern Rivers Community Foundation. They started a wildlife corridor in Binna Burra in the Northern Riveres of NSW to help conserve the local koalas.
