Diary style blog by John Burton, CEO of the World Land Trust about what WLT has to do to achieve conservation, as it actually happens.

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Green Diary

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Thursday, April 30, 2009:

Priorities, action and strategies 

Monday afternoon we held one of our regular projects update meetings, where we discuss our current and future conservation projects. The list of active land purchases being supported by the WLT is still growing. In fact it is growing so fast that many of our supporters don't know that we are now developing projects that are not part of our regular list for donations. Our online and printed publications both have difficulty in keeping up with all the activity, but I believe that the issues are so urgent that we cannot afford to wait.

The WLT Action Fund is there to support all these new projects, and the Trustees of the WLT can use these funds for whatever is most urgent. That way, small, but vital projects in Guatemala and Tanzania have been funded, even though no specific appeal had been launched. So whilst one of the Trust's unique selling points is that donors are able to earmark donations for specific projects of their choice, please remember that when you support the Action Fund, it can make a huge difference, allowing us to act fast when new projects needs arise.

Posted by John Thursday, April 30, 2009
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009:

Orang-utans and reintroductions 

Finished writing my few words for the upcoming Great Ape Debate on Thursday. This meeting is going extremely well, with a huge amount of interest. An article in last Sunday's Observer gave it a lot of publicity -- though the head line was unfortunately extremely misleading, implying that there was a major feud among conservationists. The truth is very different, as I hope will emerge on Thursday. All the tests have been carried out for the live streaming of the debate, and a national newspaper has asked if they can embed it in their website too.

We are also setting up ways for viewers to become involved by both commenting, and making SMS donations. So please pass on the news, and let us know what you think of the results -- it's a first for us and we need feedback.

Posted by John Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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Monday, April 27, 2009:

Endowments funds - why the WLT doesn't have one 

Why doesn't the World Land Trust (WLT) have an endowment fund? Endowment funds are set up to provide long-term sustainable income, usually to fund the core costs of running a charity. In order to do this, a fund of several million pounds would be needed, particularly at a time when interests are at an all time low.

At the World Land Trust we believe that the crisis for the world's wildlife is so serious that to tie up several million pounds that could be used to buy land would be not only wrong, but possibly irresponsible.

Of course if someone was generous enough to give us several million pounds (or dollars or Euros or yen) specifically for creating an endowment, we would be legally obliged to accept under those conditions. But the view was iterated by all of our partner organisations at the symposium where we all met in Belize last year: time is not on our side, the best investment any conservationist can make is land. Its price is increasing faster than almost any (legal) investment that can be identified on the money markets, so it makes no sense whatsoever to hoard money when we can fund land purchase.

So unlike many other conservation groups we do not have huge investments. At any one time we may have money in the bank, but that is because sometimes it takes several months or even a couple of years to complete a land purchase.

When you are checking out a charity, it's not a bad thing if they have endowments and long-term investments, but thought should always be given as to what their priorities are. If it's saving endangered species, then act NOW.

Posted by John Monday, April 27, 2009
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Thursday, April 23, 2009:

Volunteers, corporate support and whale sharks 

On Monday we interviewed candidates for a volunteer position in Paraguay. Our partners, Guyra Paraguay, asked us to find a volunteer who could go and work for 6 months in their office, to help write fundraising proposals and help out with other publications which needed to be translated into English. We had excellent candidates -- which makes it very difficult when we have to let people know they have not been chosen.

Wanted: Corporates to help save wildlife

I made a quick check of the donations to the WLT recently, and while our regular support is still holding up, corporate donations are significantly down on this time last year. In the long term this will probably change, but at a time when the conservation of what little remains of the world's wild places is such a high priority, we need all the funds we can raise.

How to protect whale sharks, hornbills and chiru antelopes

Simon Barnes' article in The Times last Saturday, on WLT's partners Wildlife Trust of India was an interesting comment on how important it is to use local solutions for local problems: Save the whale shark. And say a prayer.

Posted by John Thursday, April 23, 2009
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Monday, April 20, 2009:

Last Thursday in Bristol, with Sir David Attenborough 

Last Thursday we held a 20th Anniversary event in Bristol, with Sir David Attenborough, WLT's Patron as guest speaker. The event was a great success, and WLT's Jo Finch, who provided support to organiser Dan Freeman, sent the following message to the rest of the staff on Friday morning:

Sir David speaking at the Bristol event.

I just wanted to quickly let you know that last night's event at Bristol Zoo was a great success! Sir David gave a wonderful talk on the reasons he became a WLT Patron and also explained why WLT is so fantastic. John had the rather daunting task of following Sir David onto the podium but did an impressive job of explaining the history and growth of the Trust accompanied by some interesting video clips compiled by Dan Freeman and Derek Kilkenny-Blake.

There was an interesting bunch of people there all who seemed thrilled that WLT had finally done an event in the South West of England.

There were several WLT Partners from the West of England, and a wide selection of our long-term supporters connected with the BBC Natural Hisory Unit in Bristol. Tony Soper, John Sparks, Barrie Paine, Richard Brock, all long-time friends and colleagues of Sir David Attenborough were just a few of those present. Jo Gipps and several of the senior staff of Bristol Zoo (who hosted the reception) were also present, as well as Simon Stuart, the Chairman of the Species Survival Commission of IUCN.

Posted by John Monday, April 20, 2009
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009:

Conservation history, fieldwork and cyber donations 

Yesterday I was preparing my words for an event being held in Bristol on Thursday evening -- we will be tracing the history of the World Land Trust over the past 20 years, using video clips from several of our projects.

We heard back from our Diploma Students, currently on Margarita Island, Venezuela, where they are carrying out their field work -- all seems to be going well, though they have to start work at 3.30 am, to avoid the heat!

Finally we totted up the funds raised on our JustGiving web pages for orang-utans in Borneo and elephants and tigers in India, and the appeals have raised nearly £400,000, with over £60,000 being raised directly on the web pages. So thanks to all the fundraisers out there in cyber space. Keep up the good work, and spread the message.

Posted by John Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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Monday, April 13, 2009:

Saving tigers & elephants: Simon Barnes writes about wildlife corridors in India 

Saturday's Times carried a splendid feature on the World Land Trust's wildlife corridors, written by WLT Council member Simon Barnes, as well as a personal commentary on seeing a tiger in the wild:

Simon Barnes on elephant back in India. Photo © David Bebber/The Times

India's new elephant corridors
Elephants and humans want the same thing: space. Simon Barnes discovers a conservation triumph in India

The tiger glowed with a striped beauty
How I made the ultimate wildlife sighting

If you are enthused by Barnes' writing, then go to Justgiving.com to support our new appeal to create corridors for tigers, elephants and other threatened wildlife in India.

Posted by John Monday, April 13, 2009
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Thursday, April 09, 2009:

New appeal for wildlife in India 

The day usually starts with coffee. In fact ever since Puro Coffee started supporting the World Land Trust you could say the WLT runs on coffee. Every coffee drinker that visits our office says how wonderful our coffee is and more than one organisation has gone on to get a Puro machine for their office. And even better, it is generating thousands of pounds a year for conservation.

Having got my caffeine, it's on to planning responses to the publicity which will be generated by the article about the new India corridors that will appear in The Times on Saturday.

We are launching a new fundraising site today, http://www.justgiving.com/indiacorridor, to take donations from everyone inspired by Simon Barnes' feature in The Times. (We will add more details and images as the appeal progresses.)

Also today: interviews for a new student who wants to enroll on our Diploma course next year. And a meeting with Nacho from Paraguay on his last day with WLT before returning home. He will be carrying books from our Books for Conservation programme, which proves essential text-books and field guides to conservation organisations in developing countries. In due course someone else from our partners Guyra Paraguay will spend a few weeks with us.

But back to the new wildlife corridor appeal: We have a donor who will match all donations, up to a total of £100,000, which means that we can be even more effective in saving wildlife -- so please spread the word and support this important appeal through our Justgiving page.

Posted by John Thursday, April 09, 2009
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Wednesday, April 08, 2009:

Rising income despite economic climate 

A very busy day, with a new potential corporate supporter visiting today. I drafted a report on my visit to India, to be circulated to Trustees, and met with our web team to discuss new donation pages relating to the new Indian elephant corridor appeal.

This evening most of the staff are coming to our home for a farewell drink with Nacho, who returns to Paraguay at the weekend. Nacho, from our partner organisation Guyra Paraguay, has spent three weeks with the World Land Trust, and his visit has proved to be mutually beneficial. He has shown us how all Guyra's mapping systems work and he has seen how the funds are raised at this end. He has also visited other organisations in the UK: Yesterday he spent a very productive day with BirdLife International in Cambridge.

It is really encouraging to see the continued growth of the World Land Trust, despite the apparent economic turmoil. Income is still rising, and projects are all developing (although some are slower than others as land deals often take many months to complete). New support is mostly from small companies, with a genuine concern about the future of the planet -- not simply 'greenwash'. And while most charities are complaining about falling incomes, we are glad to report increases, which means we can save more wilderness, at a time when the threats are greater than ever. I do have to bear in mind that what we are doing is on a very minor scale -- but hopefully it encourages others, more powerful than the WLT.

Posted by John Wednesday, April 08, 2009
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Tuesday, April 07, 2009:

Back from India, new fundraising campaign 

Just back from India where I went to Corbett National Park with our partners Wildlife Trust of India. We were investigating potential new wildlife corridors around Corbett National Park. This is one of the few areas where tigers are actually increasing, and so any corridor for elephants will also help the tigers. In the next few days we will start fundraising for this wildlife corridor, so check back later for more information.

Unfortunately I have too much catching up to do to go into details about the visit, so you will have to read Saturday's The Times to find out more. I was accompanied by writer and WLT Council member Simon Barnes and Times photographer David Bebber, and Simon's write up will be published this Saturday. (When available online we'll post a link.) It's an exciting project, and whilst in India we saw some wonderful wildlife, including a brief - but memorable - encounter with a tiger.

Posted by John Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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Wednesday, April 01, 2009:

Question: Can WLT buy land for £50 an acre in Borneo? 

Answer: Unfortunately, no.

Unfortunately land in Borneo costs much, much more than £50 an acre since, despite the world's economic crisis, it is in huge demand for oil palm plantations which yield large profits. Even so, our supporters have urged us to get involved in this ecological catastrophe, and have responded very generously. We will continue with the Orang-utan Appeal, buying strategically placed standing forests to ensure as much protected land as possible for Orang-utans to live and breed safely.

John is currently in India. This frequently asked question about Borneo was published in WLT's latest newsletter, now available online in pdf format.

Posted by Helena Akerlund Wednesday, April 01, 2009
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