We need all the good news we can get for rainforests at the moment, and there's two sets of good news from the Sumatran Orangutan Society today!

Temporary Moratorium set to become a Permanent one!

In an email, SOS sent a link to Mongabay which report that a temporary moratorium which prohibits the issuing of new permits to clear primary and peat forests is set to become permanent later this year.   There is more that can be done to strengthen this action, such as including secondary forests, say environmental activists.  

When it was first introduced back in 2011, the moratorium was largely ineffective in stemming deforestation;  but since 2016, it has been shored up by peat-protection regularions which have helped to slow the loss of forest cover.  And fears that the move would harm the economy have been unfounded. 

There's also a need to close a loophole which allows primary and peat forests to be razed for rice, sugarcane and other crop planatations.  

But the move to make the moratorium permanent is a start.  Indonesia has pledged to slash its carbon dioxide emissions by at least 29% by 2030.   Although it is one of the top emitters world-wide, most of the emissions come from deforestation and not the burning of fossil fuels.

Swing over to Mongabay for more information. 

And there's more!

Palm oil plantations to be cleared ready for new forest

From 2018 to 2019, SOS ran an urgent appeal - the Rainforest Home Appeal.   They needed to raise £870,000 to buy 890 acres. 

Visit SOS, the Sumatran Orangutan Society

The public did it and the money was raised - and on 17th June 2019, a restoration team will start to clear the oil palm trees using chainsaws.   Once the oil palms have gone, the next phrase of restoration will start, bringing the land closer to being forest again! 

Dakatcha has been identified as a Key Biodiversity Area and an Important Bird Area.  It has no official protection – but the future of this habitat could be secured under the ownership of Nature Kenya.

The World Land Trust partners with Nature Kenya and their current project is to protect 810 acres before the threats of illegal charcoal production, hunting, controlled pineapple farming and the persistent threat of deforestation see this rare area burn.

Save land by sponsoring an acre – or even quarter of an acre, and you can help save a species.

You can get involved by sponsoring an acre for £100, half an acre for £50, or a quarter of an acre for £25.00

So why save Dakatcha?

The You Tube video below shows the reasons why we should all help save the area.    It’s a vital area for people and animals locally, but it also is the case that every single healthy intact forest we can save will help us in the fight against climate change. 

New species are still to be found here, as little is known about the forest – but it is known that endangered species such as the Clarke’s Weaver, the Sokoko Scops Owl and the Golden Oriole need this area. 

Donate £25 to save a quarter of an acre of Dakatcha.

Donate £50 to save half an acre of Dakatcha.

Donate £100 to save an acre of Dakatcha.

The World Land Trust are looking to save 810 acres and people have started to donate to save these acres already :-) 

I’m making a donation in memory of my wonderful father on this Father’s Day.   He loved his feathered friends and his trees – and he enjoyed a family holiday to Kenya many years ago.  So the ties are there, and I can’t think of a better way to remember my father than save an acre of forest in his memory.

Save land, save species here.

Thank goodness!  The Zambian Government has done an about-turn on its plan to cull over a thousand hippos in the Luangwa Valley.

There had been increasing international pressure for the Zambian Government to justify why such a cull should take place.  The National Association of Community Resources Board in Zambia had also called for the cull to be reversed.  Born Free say local community representatives had also been against the cull. 

Hippos across Africa are under more and more pressure – there are only 115,000 to 130,000 of them left, and the IUCN lists them as “Vulnerable”.

There has been a lot of effort to end the elephant ivory trade – and now hippos are being targeted more and more for their ivory instead.

We must do more to stop such exports.  And to stop trophy hunting in the first place.

Born Free say they remain committed to working with the Zambian Government "to help secure a future of peaceful and prosperous co-existence between Zambia’s wildlife and its people."

For more info from Born Free, click here

In the run up to World Oceans Day (8^th June every year), Environment Secretary Michael Gove has created 41 new Marine Conservation Zones.

This represents the most significant expansion of England’s Blue Belt of Protected Areas to date.

Stretching from Northumberland (where eider ducks live) to the Isles of Scilly off Cornwall (basking sharks, seabirds and fish) , the action Gove has taken safeguards 12,000 square kilometres of marine habitat.   A substantial number of additional zones were created in waters away from the coast – some in the deep sea – thus giving protection to habitats and species such as coral gardens, fan mussel and sea pens.

Here’s a map showing the Marine Protected Areas

Vulnerable marine wildlife will now have an opportunity to recover.    And if there are richer habitats for marine life, so there life will be better for those whose livelihoods depend on a healthy coastline and sea. 

WWF has discovered that in marine protected areas, fish breed more readily and populations recover.  In the Apo Island (Philippines), communities depend heavily on fish.   After a marine protected area was created, catch per unit increased 50%.  Fish populations tripled.  Fisherman were able to save fuel and spend less time at sea.

The UK now has over 350 Marine Protected Areas, covering 220,000 square kilometres – that’s twice the size of England.

The areas protected include wildlife such as worms, seahorse and oyster.   Sand, tidal mud, rocky reefs and gravel will be protected.  Each as a role to play in the balance of nature. 

The evidence about the importance of these new sites was gathered by volunteer divers who dive  for Seasearch, a programme co-ordinated by the Marine Conservation Society.    Divers spent hours diving very diverse seabed habitats to record the marine plants and animals living in our inshore seas.   There were extensive consultations with local fishermen too, and members of the public.

This citizen science enabled groups such as the Marine Conservation Society to make a case for protecting many of these sites, and they will now be involved in developing management and monitoring plans for these newly protected areas.

After all, protection must be active if it is to mean anything.  It’s no good allocating a protected status to an area if action isn’t taken to ensure that the area IS protected.

Bodies such as the Marine Management Organisation and local Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities will have the responsibility of ensuring that the zones are protected, working with local fishing communities and other organisations.

The UK government has called for 30% of the world’s oceans to be protected by 2030.  It has co-chaired the creation of the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance with Vanuatu. 

Later this year, the government will publish an international strategy setting out more action to conserve the ocean and use it in a sustainable way.

Meantime, its next step closer to home is to stop damaging activities in the Marine Protected Zones which affect wildlife.   Beam trawling, dredging for scallops and langoustines are among these – and surely there must be some action to stop some leisure activities, too. 

But this is a great start, and the fact that citizen scientists (e.g. willing volunteers) and world-class marine scientists have worked together to contribute towards such an outcome is heart-warming.

Watch this space!

There’s a new protected area in Bolivia! It spans over 12,000 square kilometres – that’s 4,650 square miles.  And it includes well-conserved forests – it’s home to 300 species of birds and 100 species of jaguars, pumas and night monkeys.  It’s home too to the Ayoreo indigenous community which is voluntarily isolated.

 “Ñembi Guasu” means “the great hideout” or “the great refuge.”  The creation of the protected area is expected to help to offset deforestation in Bolivia’s Gran Chaco region.

The Ñembi Guasu Area of Conservation and Ecological Importance is the second-largest protected area in the Gran Chaco.   The jaguar, puma, the southern night monkey, the southern tamandua live here.

The area is one of the few places in Bolivia where long-term plans can be made for jaguars and other large animals there.

The territory is home to more than 100 species of mammals, 300 species of birds, and at least 80 species of reptiles and amphibians.   The area is described as “a large area where animals can hide”.

Some threats put the territory at risk – the extraction of oil is one.  The Bolivian government approved an order that allows the extraction of oil in natural areas.  Land invasions are another problem.