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This
is the World Land Trust Web-Archive |
| Issue No. 15 Autumn 2000 | ISSN: 1468 - 8506 |
Stop Press ... Stop Press - Patagonia -the deal is signed
- Saving Birds & their habitats in Tropical Forests of Ecuador
- Christmas is coming...
- WLT Never Stands Still
Guest Editorial
WHALE SOUP - A Patagonia Speciality
News from Belize
South America - Trees for Peanuts
Volunteering for WLT
WLT and the WWW
Click on CharityMall.com
WLT's Projects Manager moves on
Danjugan Update - Letter from Gerry Ledesma
The Patagonia School Pack
Ecuador - Introducing Fundacion Jocotoco
Ecuador Project Official Launch
New Christmas Card for Year 2000
Bruce Pearson Original Works of Art for Sale
The WLT has made a down payment of $100,000 for the Estancia La Esperanza (Ranch of Hopes) … 20,000 acres of coastal steppe adjacent to the Valdes Peninsula … puma sighted … plans to remove sheep and regenerate native vegetation. Your donation really will help establish this reserve. Read more below (on pages 2 & 3 in print version.)
A new bird to science, the Jocotoco Antpitta was discovered less than three years ago. It was found by Dr Robert Ridgley at Cerro Tapichalaca in southern Ecuador. See below for a report on the Ecuador Project.
The perfect present for that ‘someone who has everything’. One thing they probably haven’t got is an acre of endangered wilderness. For £25 you can buy a present that is priceless. And we will send a WLT Christmas card and information pack to accompany your gift.
Follow us through the Steppes of Patagonia, the Forested slopes of Ecuador, the Swamp forests of the Amazon Basin and the Reserves of Belize. Places YOU are helping us SAVE.
It was David Bellamy who introduced me to the work of the World Land Trust and the way he described it appealed to me. I liked the idea that it was possible for supporters to actually go and see the places that they had helped save. This was a refreshingly different approach - it seemed all too often in the past that I had been asked to support ‘urgent’ conservation work overseas but when it boiled down to it it wasn’t easy, or even possible in most cases, to put a pin on the map and say, This is where your money will be going.The way David Bellamy described World Land Trust made it sound different from other conservation groups I had met in the past. As well as knowing where my money was going I wanted to feel part of the organisation I was supporting and to be kept involved and informed. With WLT this sounded possible.
David suggested that if I really would like to help WLT in some way I should meet the Trust’s Chief Executive, John Burton, to find out more.
Wilderness and Whales
That was how my wife, Negar, and I found ourselves in Buenos Aires on a cold winter’s morning in early July. We were due to meet up with John Burton not to be taken to the sweltering rainforests but to the windswept, freezing cold steppes of Patagonia. When I had met with John in the UK he had painted an impressive picture of Patagonia, with its fabulous wildlife, huge unspoiled areas of wilderness steppe and spectacular coastline, and I think I caught ‘Patagonia Fever’ too - I wanted to see it for myself, straightaway.
Despite the fact that we had only three days in the field we had many adventures including getting our 4-wheel drive stuck in deep mud in a particularly remote part of the Valdes Peninsula just as it was getting dark ... but that is another story. The wildlife we saw was truly amazing and I will never forget the spectacle of the whales breaching, blowing and playing around our boat. I now know that “Patagonia Fever” certainly is catching.
I am extremely pleased to be among the first supporters of this important project and I hope you will give it your full support too.
Best regards
Looking out of the hotel window into the Golfo Nuevo the Atlantic Ocean was steaming - the sea was 8oC and the air only 4oC. Through the early morning fog the water was churning and bubbling too. There were whales, whales and more whales, all of them surfacing and blowing. The bay, close to the shore, looked just like a huge bowl of whale soup - a description given by university student Marina Passera who was watching this spectacular site at the same time.
On the opposite side of the isthmus to the Peninsula Valdes, in the Golfo San Mathias, lies the 10,000 hectare ranch (Estancia La Esperanza), and 12 kms of coastline, that the WLT is now purchasing to protect as a nature reserve.
This tract of land has more than 300 guanacos roaming it and the current owner told us that a puma had been seen on the property. Since Puma are virtually extinct in the region, we were somewhat sceptical, but later in the day actually found puma scats. On the long shelving beach we saw a herd of sea lions, and apparently killer whales have been seen to rush up the beach to grab a pup - just as the sequence that was seen in David Attenborough's Trial's of Life TV series, which was filmed in the same bay. Mara, cuis, tortoises, rhea and hairy armadillos are among the other wildlife known to be there.
On excursions to the adjacent peninsula (which was declared a World Heritage site last year) we saw colonies of elephant seal, lots more sealions, despite the changeable midwinter weather of Patagonia. From Puerto Pyramide on the Peninsula we took a whale watching boat for one of the best wildlife watching experiences in the world. Right whales to the right of us, Right whales to the left, and Right whales underneath the boat. All very close and very active showing spectacular behaviour usually only seen on television. But in real life they are so different. They are huge, not only can you see and hear them, you can even smell them.
But there is pressure to buy - land speculation is forcing prices up, and we are not the only people interested in buying the land. This real opportunity to save a significant tract of wilderness. 25,000 acres is big - about the same size as the island of Jersey!
The visit to Patagonia was organised by Carol and Carlos Passera of Causana Viajes, and Jose-Maria Musmeci, and his colleagues from the Fundaçion Patagonia Natural. Thanks to everyone in Argentina for making this such a memorable occasion and we are looking forward to working with them on setting up the Patagonia Steppe Project. Thanks also to British Airways for their continuing support.
Please contact us if you would be interested in details of the Patagonia Wildlife Tour being organised in conjunction with Trips Worldwide, in October / November 2001.
Volunteer Alison Pagan worked in the WLT office for 18 months before going out to Belize to join Belize Audubon Society (BAS) as a business management assistant last winter. She was so successful in this role that WLT was asked to recruit another volunteer to take over from where Alison left off. Anna Rossington was recruited and she flew out to Belize for a six month stint at the beginning of August. She e-mails the WLT office every Friday and although, as we go to press, she has only been there for three weeks she has sent us impressively detailed accounts of her activities and below are some extracts:“I am gradually settling in - the culture shock was quite large at first - the contrast between London and Belize City is probably as large as you can get. I still can’t get over how small the city is - and the fact that everyone seems to know everyone else. I’m finding the people really friendly - on a crowded bus people will smile and make room for you”... “We’ve had four days of proper Belizean weather - howling wind and torrential rain. The other morning a lot of Belize City was flooded and shopkeepers were furiously brushing the water out of their doors. But the sun is shining now and everywhere is sparkling.
“My projects have been defined. Firstly I will be carrying out a Small Business Assessment in the buffer zone communities surrounding the National Parks that BAS administers. And secondly I will be running Volunteer Management Co-ordination - setting up a central system for the organisation of volunteers and liaising closely with WLT over this.
“Leanne McCarthy has recently taken over as Marketing and Membership Coordinator for BAS. She is very enthusiastic and actively working on increasing BAS’s profile here in Belize. The BAS office now has sales items in reception and takes all major credit cards. I know that Leanne is looking to extend the range and improve the park shops.
“I’m looking forward to visiting Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve soon and getting out of the office and seeing some wildlife. The wildlife I have seen so far has been limited to clouds of massive mosquitos, all of which bit me. Apparently I must drink tea made from JackAss bitters and Billyweb bark - it tastes foul, but stops the bites from itching. Welcome to the tropics!”
From the desk of
Nimmi Herrera“Experience has shown us that environmental conservation is more likely to succeed if people living close to protected areas are involved in making decisions about how the natural resources are managed. The Belize Audubon Society (BAS) has recently embarked on an ambitious ‘Co-management Program’ that aims to increase local participation in the management of protected areas. The project, funded by the European Union, is initially targeting two parks, the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Jaguar Preserve) and Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a wetland area of international importance registered under the Ramsar Convention.
“The communities bordering Cockscomb and Crooked Tree are very poor, and families rely heavily on the trees and wildlife to eke out a living. BAS is working closely with families and community groups to help identify environmentally responsible alternatives to clear felling, hunting and fishing. In the Maya villages bordering Cockscomb these alternatives include honey production, handicrafts and herbal medicines. In Crooked Tree the local people are pursuing cashew processing and fish farming as sustainable development projects.
“The program will encourage local people to participate in co-management by organizing leadership training, advocacy campaigns, literacy programs and environmental education. Some difficult work lies ahead, but we hope that it will be possible to improve the living conditions for local communities while demonstrating sustainable conservation benefits.”
Nimmi Herrera is the new Advocacy and Education Coordinator at the Belize Audubon Society. She formerly worked for Programme for Belize on their Education Programme, based at Hill Bank Field Station. She is currently working on a funding proposal, which WLT hopes to support, to enable Belizean nationals to visit some of the National Parks administered by BAS.
Trips Worldwide are UK agents for the Programme for Belize Field Station and can arrange a tailor-made itinerary to suit your requirements, advising on where to go in Belize and how to get there. Ring them for more details:
Tel: 0117 987 2626
Email: info@tripsworldwide.co.uk
Website: www.tripsworldwide.co.uk
The Amazon Basin, consists of an amazing variety of habitats ranging from floating meadows, high dryland forested areas and white-water flooded forests.The programme has strong connections between conservation and sustainable development of non-timber forest products like Brazil Nuts and ‘pau rosa’ which, in other areas, has been exploited by the perfume industry causing the tree to become virtually extinct elsewhere in the Amazon.
The Amazon Basin Project twins with the Trust’s Kite’s Hill forest. By making a donation to the Amazon project you will be helping protect both animals, along with hundreds of other species.
A donation of £150 will save and protect six acres of tropical forest in South America. This six acres will contain approximately 1,500 big trees. As well as sending you a certificate to record your support we will also plant a tree for you in the new WLT UK forest in Gloucestershire.
A register of supporters will be maintained at Kite’s Hill, and will be on view once planting has taken place.
Volunteers assist WLT’s work greatly, both in our Halesworth office and with our overseas partners. Over recent weeks the Volunteer Programme has added a new dimension by creating an ‘internship’. We are currently looking for a volunteer to work as an intern PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER for six months. The intern will gain invaluable experience in international conservation management and develop a wide network of international contacts. There will also be the possibility of an overseas posting for a month. Applicants should be highly literate and numerate with good communication skills (including IT) and be looking to pursue a career in international conservation management. For further details please look at our web site or apply by sending a CV and letter of application to me at the WLT office. Volunteering for WLT
Cindy Engel, Volunteer Co-ordinator
The World Wide Web is playing an increasingly important role in everyone’s life. And it is proving to be invaluable in helping spread the word about the World Land Trust. Although we do not (as yet) have a secure site so that donations can be made on line, it is possible to download a donation form which can then be e-mailed or faxed to us - an increasing number of our supporters are making donations in this way. We are also continuing to work with several of the e-commerce and charity sites.In the future we will be placing more news of Trust activities on the web as they occur. (see Latest News ) We are also now keeping supporters’ e-mail addresses so that we can e-mail occasional news bulletins when something of interest occurs. If you would like to be placed on the e-mail list, please remember to add your e-mail address next time you are making a donation or writing to us.
We are trying to make our web site more ‘user friendly’ and our volunteer web-master is looking for feedback. The site has two principal functions: to provide information and help raise funds. PLEASE E-MAIL US WITH YOUR COMMENTS.
Site Comments to worldlandtrust@btinternet.com
The founders of CharityMall, an on-line shopping facility, are dedicated to wildlife conservation, and the WLT has been fortunate in being one of their chosen charities. It’s great to have business partners who really share a concern for saving wildlife and habitats. Do check out their site, and remember that every time you visit it, you are making a donation to the World Land Trust at no cost to yourself. Why not click daily?
At the end of July the WLT’s Project Manager, Dominic White, married and moved to a new job with the World Wide Fund for Nature. Dominic had been with the Trust for nearly five years and had been responsible for overseeing our largest ever project — the EU-funded Forestry and Micropropagation work in Belize. The final reports were accepted just before Dominic left, and the results are being transferred to a web site.We wish him all success for the future.
Finally, the Danjugan Island Marine Reserve and Sanctuary (DIMRS) is a reality! After four years of hard work with the local communities, the Provincial Council of Negros Occidental approved our proposal with a resolution declaring the DIMRS as a provincial marine reserve and sanctuary.The Foundation is now working on alternative and complementary livelihood projects that will augment the incomes of the fisherfolk and worthy of note are the mud crab culture and the multi- species mangrove nursery projects. These livelihood projects were selected and introduced to the community because of their high conservation value, i.e. the mud crab culture enclosures are established inside the mangrove forest provide income while protecting the mangroves from exploitation for timber and firewood. Moreover, seedlings from the multi-species mangrove nurseries are sold to the restoration projects of the Southern Negros Coastal Development Program and with the income mother trees and the mangrove forests are protected by the coastal communities.
We know we have to do much more to enable communities to become economically and ecologically stable as well as to assume their roles as responsible parents by keeping population growth to a reasonable level.
We continue to organise Marine and Wildlife camps for young people from our project sites and we are currently planning for the eventual nature tourism program. With the income derived from eco-tourism the Foundation will achieve fund sustainability that would allow us to expand our vision in marine and wildlife conservation. With the very generous purchase of Danjugan Island you, our supporters, have provided the excellent opportunity to present to the Filipino people that people and wildlife can indeed exist in harmony.
On behalf of the Foundation I thank you for your help.
Most sincerely,
Gerry Ledesma
Project Director, Philippine Reef & Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc,
Now that Danjugan is purchased we need to implement all kinds of protection and sustainable development programmes. Your donation to the Danjugan Island Support Fund will help to make those things happen.See our online Danjugan Island Support Fund page.
Sponsored by Nationwide Building Society this new pack is full of information and fun things to do. Available from WLT, it is free of charge to all educators.
The Patagonia School Pack
If you do please sign the GIFT AID DECLARATION online to enable us to claim back the tax on your donations.
Fundaçion Jocotoco was established in early 1998 to undertake land conservation projects in the Andean region of Ecuador, with the primary objective of protecting globally threatened birds. Its second objective is the protection of overall biodiversity in the rapidly vanishing forests of the tropical Andes. This ecological zone is now estimated to be 80% destroyed and is ranked No.1 in the world for conservation priority, by Conservation International. Fundaçion Jocotoco received Ministry of Environment approval in Ecuador by the end of 1998 and made its first land purchase - 680 hectares of montane forest, now increased to 2,000 hectares. The Foundation currently owns three reserves and is looking at three more potential sites for reserves.Dr Nigel Simpson of Fundacion Jocotoco, contacted John Burton last autumn, at the suggestion of BirdLife International. He suggested that the long term aspirations of FJ were very much along the same lines as WLT’s aims and objectives and a meeting was arranged to discuss ways of co-operation. Dr Simpson subsequently gave a presentation to the WLT Trustees who were unanimous in their agreement to adopt Fundaçion Jocotoco as an official project of World Land Trust.
A New Bird to Science found in this exact spot
Dr Bob Ridgely is author of Birds of South America, illustrated by Guy Tudor. He and Lelis Navarette stand at the exact spot where the Jocotoc Antpitta was first seen. The area was subsequently purchased by Fundaçion Jocotoco to ensure the safety of this species.
A Melon with Pogo-stick legs
When world-renowned ornithologist Bob Ridgely heard a distant, but strong hoot, not unlike that of an owl he stopped in his tracks - this wasn’t a sound he recalled. A couple of seconds later a big bird came crashing out of the undergrowth which he didn’t recognise either. In fact, as he recalls, “It was stunningly different”. It turned out to be a bird previously unknown to science - an entirely new and quite distinctive species of antpitta.
Antpittas are shy, strange-looking birds with a round body usually the size and shape of a grapefruit, and legs which they use like pogo sticks to hop across the forest floor. They belong to the antbird family - so-called because some species follow army ants, picking at the smaller insects that the ants disturb as they march across the forest floor.
The Jocotoco Antpitta
At least a dozen pairs are now known to occupy the Cerro Tapichalaca Reserve which was established for them by the Jocotoco Foundation in 1998.
RAINFOREST - £25 AN ACRE
For just £25 you can save and protect an acre of tropical forest in the WLT/Fundaçion Jocotoco forests of Ecuador. With 3 reserves already in existence (Cerro Tapichalaca, Yunguilla, and Buenaventura), with your help we can save and protect more critically endangered and vital habitats. New species are waiting to be discovered and your £25 could be absolutely crucial.
We will soon have a Project Brief available for this project. Please contact us if you would like a copy.
As we go to press, Rainforest Cafe London, has announced that it will be raising funds to help purchase a species-rich wildlife corridor in the WLT/Fundaçion Jocotoco’s project area. They aim to raise at least £5,000 and will be featuring a special Rainforest Dish on their menu, and making a donation for every one ordered.
Rainforest Cafe, London, has generously agreed to host the Official Launch of our new project partnership with Fundaçion Jocotoco later in the year. Chris Packham and Mark Carwardine hope to join us and if you would like to attend please contact the WLT office for more information.Visit the rest of the WLT website: www.worldlandtrust.org to find out more about this exciting new project.
Chameleon & Hale Bop
by John Norris Wood.
Size: 16.7 cm x 13.5 cm (6¾ in x 5 in)
Price: £2.50 for 5
About the artist:
John Norris Wood is one of Britain’s best known wildlife artists, and one of the very few to have their work exhibited in the Royal Academy exhibitions. He will be having a one-man show of his work in Saffron Walden next Spring.A keen conservationist John has visited, and painted in, the forests of Belize. We thank him for allowing WLT the use of this stunning design for our Year 2000 card.
Also available . . .
Fox in the Snow
by Andrew Haslen.
Size: 19 cm x 12 cm (7½ in x 5 in)
Price: £2.00 for 5
(Sorry no online image available. )
Very popular last Christmas we have only limited numbers of these cards also available.
See our Christmas Card Order Form
Please order cards in good time for Christmas posting.
Thank you.
A selection of framed paintings, by Bruce Pearson, produced for the Collins Guide to the Rare Mammals of the World have been donated to raise funds for WLT projects.The book was published in 1988 by Collins and the text was written by John Burton (WLT Chief Executive). The Public Lending Rights have been donated to the WLT through its Authors & Artists for Conservation scheme.
The WLT web site shows the plates that are still available for sale - but please take into account that the plates were scanned from the published book, and are at relatively low resolution. (See online plate images.)
All the originals have a picture size of approximately 28 cm x 42 cm and some have cream mounts. Plates are individually signed by the artist.
Plates cost between £100 and £250.
(For details on how to receive one of these original works of art
-see opportunity to own an original work of art.)
Winners of the Spring competition were:
1st Prize (The New Collins Bird Guide): C M Kennedy (Exmouth)
Runner’s Up: (Collins Wild Guide - Wild Animals) R Hamar (Plymouth),
Mrs G Jones (Isle of Man), Mrs M Lloyd (Horsham), Mr S W Plumb (Warminster) and Woodchurch Rd Primary School (Wirral).
WLT thanks HarperCollins for donating the books.