The World Land Trust eBulletin Issue 35, February 2006

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In this issue:
Paraguay Update: WLT Buys 10,000 Acre Reserve
Reef & Mangrove Appeal: First Projects Underway
WLT Returns to Brazil to Protect the Atlantic Rainforest
Valentine's Day Gift Offer: Buy an Acre and Get a Divine Fairtrade Chocolate Bar
WLT News in Brief
Get Involved: What would you like to read about in the eBulletin?

Paraguay Update: WLT Buys 10,000 Acre Reserve

Giant Armadillos, Giant Otters and Giant Anteaters are just three of the amazing array of species to be found on a new WLT funded reserve in Paraguay.

The Giant Anteater is one of many edentate (lacking teeth) species encountered in the new WLT project area. Illustration © Bruce Pearson

The World Land Trust (WLT) has started a major land acquisition programme in Paraguay thanks to a generous bequest by the family of Sid Templer (who was a local businessman in Halesworth, where the WLT has its office). At the beginning of January, Guyra Paraguay, the Trust's local partner organisation, made the first down-payment on a reserve. The first parcel of land is 10,000 acres (3,600 ha), and another 10,000 ha may be added if funds are raised.

Mosaic habitats with spectacular wildlife

The Sid Templer Reserve will be the first protected area in Paraguay to include pantanal habitats. While the pantanal is one of the largest wetland in the world, only a tiny proportion of it occurs in Paraguay. The majority of the pantanal habitats exist in Brazil, but none of the Brazilian reserves include the edge, mosaic habitats which occur in Paraguay. Palm savannah and chaco (dry grassland) habitats are also included in the new reserve, giving it a high biodiversity and a spectacular array of wildlife, including three giants: Giant Armadillo, Giant Otter and Giant Anteater. The Hyacinth Macaw is perhaps the most spectacular of the bird rarities, and the huge Jabiru stork is commonly sighted.

The threat of agricultural intensification

The main threat to land in Paraguay is the gradual intensification of agriculture. Until recently most of the chaco and other remote areas have only been used for low impact cattle ranching, but it is all too easy to see the threats of the future: In Brazil agriculture and even cattle ranching is much more intensive. The Sid Templer Reserve is located in an area that has already been designated as a Biosphere Reserve, with some legal protection. However, its transfer from private ownership to the ownership of Guyra Paraguay, working in partnership with the adjecent indigenous Indian reserves, will ensure its protection in the future.

Read more about WLT's new project in Paraguay
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/paraguay.htm

Reef & Mangrove Appeal: First Projects Underway

New WLT projects assist the recovery of mangroves and restoration of coral reefs.

Mangrove seed pods germinate while still attached to the tree. Using such propagules for reproduction allow the plants to regenerate very quickly.

The Reef & Mangrove Appeal (RAMA) was launched a year ago following the Indian Ocean tsunami. Since then the WLT has received over £4,000 in donations, and in addition to existing funds earmarked for the Philippines, £10,000 is now available to initiate the first two projects. Half of this will be used for mangrove planting and protection, in partnership with the Philippine Reef & Rainforest Conservation Foundation. This project will build on experience gained from a successful mangrove planting project in the area carried out five years ago.

In Gujarat, India, the WLT is working with the Wildlife Trust of India to initiate a pilot study assisting the recovery of a damaged coral reef. With the help of a coral expert, the study will attempt to restore the reef using a cutting edge coral transplant technique.

Make a donation to WLT's Reef & Mangrove Appeal
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/donation.htm

Read more: Restoring Mangroves and Preserving Corals
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/reef-mangrove.htm

WLT Returns to Brazil to Protect the Atlantic Rainforest

Golden-headed Lion Tamarin — one of the endangered species found in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil.

The WLT to help protect the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil.

The Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil is a high conservation priority: More than 8,000 plant species are endemic to the region and it has one of the highest numbers of threatened bird species in the world — but with just 7% of the original forest cover remaining, the Atlantic rainforest is one of the most endangered eco-regions in the world. The priority now is to protect the fragmented patches of forest that remain, ensuring that further loss of biodiversity is prevented.

From 1996-2000 the World Land Trust helped establish and manage an important reserve in the Atlantic Rainforest. The Trust has pledged to yet again help raise funds for the area, now named Reserva Ecologica de Guapi Assu, or REGUA for short. REGUA is also the partner organisation with which the WLT is protecting this threatened rainforest habitat in Brazil.

The REGUA Reserve is located in one of the largest areas of Brazil’s remaining Atlantic rainforest and protects an abundance of wildlife, including the critically endangered Buffy-headed Capuchin Monkey, Collared Anteater, Puma, Jaguarundi and 18 species of bat.

More information about the project in Brazil will be provided on the WLT website soon.

Valentine's Day Gift Offer:

Buy an Acre and Get a Divine Fairtrade Chocolate Bar

There is an alternative to the traditional Valentine Gift of intensively grown roses transported across the globe — a gift that is much more romantic and lasts forever: Buy the love of your life an acre of tropical rainforest. You will help save endangered tropical flowers and wildlife, and courtesy of Divine you can give your chosen one a real treat as well: a scrumptious, fairtrade chocolate bar. Our Valentine gift package costs just £30 and consist of:

• a special Valentine certificate,
• a Valentine card
• and a bar of Divine fairtrade chocolate, all sent by Special Delivery to reach your loved one on Valentine's Day morning.

Read more about this Valentine offer and make your gift donation here
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/valentines.htm

Offer valid for delivery within the United Kingdom only. For a Valentine's gift outside of the UK — or if you don't like chocolate — buy an acre with a certificate for £25.

WLT News in Brief

WLT's John Burton joins Advisory Board of BBC Wildlife

BBC Wildlife Magazine is Britain's leading international wildlife magazine, founded in 1963 and still flourishing. The WLT's John Burton was Assistant Editor of the Magazine in the late 1960s, and it is therefore apt that he was recently invited to join the new Editorial Advisory Board of BBC Wildlife. The Magazine has always been at the forefront of news relating to conservation of endangered species, and publicity in BBC Wildlife produced some the WLT's earliest supporters.

Birdwatching at the WLT Office

The Bohemian Waxwing is a bird widespread in the northern regions of Scandinavia and Siberia. Each winter they appear in England, sometimes just a few, other years in their hundreds. This year, the WLT staff were fortunate in seeing a flock of 30, right outside the office window. John Burton sprung into action and contacted local journalist and WLT supporter Simon Barnes, who had only ever seen a single waxwing before. To Simon's joy he saw the whole flock and, more importantly, heard the characteristic call notes that give the bird its Latin name of garrulus — and duly reported the experience in his Wild Notebook column on TimesOnline.co.uk.

Correction

A typo crept into the last issue of the eBulletin. In the piece about Pale-headed Brush Finches, we stated that by 2004 the numbers of breeding pairs had increased by 80% since the rediscovery in 1989. The birds were in fact rediscovered as late as 1998, making the increase in numbers all the more impressive.

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