It’s very motivating to browse the internet and come across something which really strikes into your heart.

The sort of thing I’m thinking of spurs you to take action – not just to want to take action, but to actually do it.

How often do we come away having read something, thinking," That’s terrible," and then go on as if we had read nothing or not been affected at all?

0              1             2              3              4              5              6              7                         

                1 action
                is better than
                no action at all

The good thing about taking one action is that we tend to feel good about doing it.  And often we may think, "That was easy!  What else can I do?"  Sometimes it’s just the getting started and doing something however little time it takes.

The one thing wildlife cannot afford at all is for us all to sit at the zero action position. 

We need a total army of people who will move from the zero point to doing stuff.  And if each of us already do stuff, we need to do more.

E.O.Wilson is a scientist.  In his book , (which inspires us to set aside half of the earth’s surface for nature), Mr Wilson writes:

“To those who are steering the growth of reserves worldwide, let me make an earnest request:  don’t stop, just aim a lot higher.”

We all need to act for the sake of wildlife and this beautiful planet of ours.

Please take an action to help wildlife today.  One way is to support those already working to grow and protect reserves around the world or protecting the wildlife already there.

The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be about £18 billion.  And it’s linked to extreme violence and drugs/weapons trafficking.

In London from the 11-12 October 2018, the UK Government is hosting an international illegal wildlife trade conference. 

And ahead of the conference, the  Duke of Cambridge, President of United for Wildlife, hosted a meeting of the United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce for the signing of the Mansion House Declaration

Over 20 banks are clamping down on money laundering by criminal gangs who are involved in poaching elephants, rhinos, tigers and other threatened species. 

HSBC, Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and the Bank of America Merrill Lynch are all signing an agreement committing them to training their staff to spot transactions which are linked to the trade in rhino horn, ivory and other animal parts.

The Duke met with senior staff from the banks back in May and they agreed to join a new wildlife financial taskforce set up by United for Wildlife.  Traffic (a wildlife trade monitoring network) and the Royal United Services Institute are also signing.

The Duke of Cambridge launched the initiative and the commitment made by these financial institutions is laid out in the Mansion House Declaration. The six commitments in the declaration are:  

1. Increasing awareness of how the financial industry can combat IWT
2. Providing training to identify and investigate suspicious activity
3. Providing intelligence to regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies
4. Reviewing intelligence alerts received through the Taskforce and taking appropriate actions
5. Considering additional actions such as policy amendments
6. Supporting and promoting the work of the Taskforce and external supporting

The Duke of Cambridge thinks that the wealthy overseeing the trade need to be tracked down as well as the poachers.

Britain’s Penny Mordaunt, the UK’s International Development Secretary, will also sign.  She will also announce that the Government will give £3.5 million to an international project to tackle money laundering by gang leaders who profit from the illegal wildlife trade.

In part, the money will help improve detection and the sharing of intelligence by law enforcement bodies in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Uganda and the Ivory Coast.

If the UK can protect these species, it will also help some of the world’s poorest people to benefit from sustainable jobs which depend on the nautral world and endangered, wild animals.

The creation of the Financial Taskforce follows on from the success of the of United for Wildlife’s Transportation Taskforce.  In March 2016, the Buckingham Palace Declaration in March 2016 was signed.  It saw global transport industry leaders unite to identify ways the transport sector can close down criminal supply routes to thwart traffickers as part of efforts to tackle the poaching crisis.  Find out here.

Forestry authorities in China's north western Shaanxi Province have launched an ecological corridor programme.

The programme will connect fragmented giant panda habitat, making it easier for pandas to make their way across the region safely.   Six such corridors will be built by 2027 using bridge construction and road culvert clearance.

In addition to building the corridors, bamboo trees are to be planted and vegetation restored along the route.  This means that the pandas willl have plenty to eat along the way.

Human activities, road traffic and hydropower station construction meant that panda habitat was being divided into six parts in the Qinling area - it was hard for pandas to connect and move about. 

Research shows that about 345 pandas live in the Qinling area.  May there be many more! 

Useful information and ways to help pandas

US charity Pandas International is busy working hard to help with panda conservation in China. 

″Endangered means we have time, extinction is forever.″ 

Pandas International 

Visit their website to find out more.

Lions haven’t been in the Liwonde National Park for 20 years.

But good news!  They’re back!

They are making a great come-back in Malawi and thanks to the Malawian Government, the Dutch Government, the Lion Recovery Fund and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, African Parks report that Liwonde National Park is welcoming these magnificent animals home.

African Parks took on management of the park in 2015.  Since then, they have:

• removed 31,000 snares
• reintroduced cheetahs after they went extinct 100 years ago
• established a healthy founder population of lions after their introduction 

Lions return to the Liwonde National Park

African Parks need help to monitor and protect the lions from the threats around them.  Their rangers are on the ground, protecting these lions. 

So if you can, please support African Parks and help provide for items such as a water filter for the rangers to have clean water when they are out on patrol; a ranger’s uniform; food rations, fuel for the monitoring team, and radio collars to monitor the lions.

Over 100 years ago, more than 200,000 lions lived across Africa.  Now there are just 20,000, threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, a lack of wild prey and poaching for their body parks. 

The lions need all the protection we can give them. All this helps people too - tourism revenue has increased by 70% in the last two years.

Find out more here