The World Land Trust eBulletin Issue 36, March 2006

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In this issue:
World Land Trust to Form Alliance with World Parks
Brazil Update: REGUA Busy Saving the Atlantic Rainforest
Sponsor News - Two New World Land Trust Sponsors
News in Brief
Get Involved: How do you prefer to donate to charities? (Poll)

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World Land Trust to Form Alliance with World Parks

In February John Burton, the CEO of the World land Trust, visited Washington DC to discuss a possible alliance between the WLT and World Parks. Since both organisations share a very similar philosophy and are actually funding some of the same organisations (notably the Jocotoco Foundation and Guyra Paraguay), working more closely together seemed an obvious development. Over the next few months the details of the alliance will be worked out, but the immediate effect will be that,

• WLT supporters living in the USA, who wish to donate to projects being jointly funded will be able to make tax-deductible donations through World Parks.
  
  
• World Parks supporters will start receiving news updates through the WLT newsletters and the WLT eBulletin.

Brazil Update: REGUA Busy Saving the Atlantic Rainforest

Three-toed Sloth spotted by WLT's Kirsty Burgess at REGUA, Brazil.

WLT's Projects Co-ordinator reports from Brazil: "It's all go at REGUA!"

• Patrolling 13,500 acres of Atlantic Rainforest
• Planting thousands of new trees
• Re-creating wetland habitats from cleared pasture land
• Reintroducing endangered species back into the wild
• Running a Young Rangers programme for local children

These are only some of the activities going on at REGUA (Reserve Ecologia de Guapi Assu), located 80km north-east of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Kirsty Burgess, Projects Co-ordinator of the WLT, visited the site last month and reports, “Both energy and enthusiasm simply pour non-stop from REGUA’s Project Director, Nicholas Locke & his wife Raquel. It is obvious that there is a lot going on, and so much that they still want to achieve.”

A combination of high biodiversity and severe habitat loss makes the Atlantic rainforest a high priority for conservation and wildlife. The area where the reserve is located has had a relatively low level of habitat loss and human disturbance, making the site even more valuable for its abundant wildlife. The WLT are working in partnership with REGUA to protect this threatened habitat, to ensure that it can support viable populations of species dependent on the forest for their survival.

Read the news story in full: Protecting the Atlantic Rainforest with REGUA
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/regua-update-mar06.htm

Read more about WLT's project in Brazil
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/brazil.htm

Sponsor News - Two New World Land Trust Sponsors

4 Paws veterinary surgery balance their carbon

4 Paws Veterinary Surgery and The Animal Clinics are going Carbon Balanced with the WLT, becoming probably the first veterinary partnership in the UK to balance their carbon emissions.

4 Paws is donating money to regenerate an area of degraded forest in Ecuador, where new tree growth will remove from the atmosphere all the carbon dioxide emissions caused by running the three surgeries. The forest is being regenerated using native species of tree grown by the WLT's local partner, the Jocotoco Foundation, giving employment to local people and restoring wildlife habitats.

Veterinary partner Simon Huntley says:"We believe that linking with the World Land Trust shows our commitment on the wider stage and will be appreciated by our clients; we hope to increase exposure of the issue of global warming and carbon offsetting not only to our 7000 clients but also to the companies with whom we trade."

Become Carbon Balanced with the WLT here
http://www.carbonbalanced.org/

Pinword - one word for all your PINs.

Pinword: Remember all your PINs with one word

If you are struggling to remember all your different PIN numbers, Pinword offers a solution. The Pinword Card lets you use just one word of your choice to keep track of an unlimited number of PINs.

Cards are free, but businesses can sponsor Pinword Cards as an innovative promotion tool: Each card will display a sponsor message and will protect 10 square feet of rainforest through the WLT. Pinword's Gerry Tomlinson says: "Our aim is to solve, once and for all, the ticklish problem of how to remember bank and credit card PINs - and to help save the rainforest."

Get your free Pinword card here
http://www.pinword.co.uk/

News in Brief

Getting the WLT’s Goat

Goats: eat everything. Photo: SteveFE (Creative Commons).

After several weeks of not getting satisfactory responses from Oxfam about their policy of buying goats for poverty alleviation, John Burton, the WLT’s CEO spoke out publicly on the issue. This resulted in a major feature in The Times newspaper, followed by broadcasts on radio and TV.

The focus of the criticism was that goats were in fact a major factor in causing desertification, and hence contributing to poverty, in most of the arid regions of Africa. Oxfam, and other charities marketing goat giving, claimed that goats were essential because cattle and sheep had all died in droughts, and goats were the only livestock that could survive. However, as most conservationists know only too well, one of the reasons that goats manage to survive, is that they feed on the very last vestiges of anything growing, roots, bark, bulbs and even prickly plants.

The WLT, supported by the Commonwealth Forestry Association and Animal Aid, highlighted the dangers of the goat giving campaigns in Thinking of giving a goat? Consider the butts: www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2006/02/thinking-of-giving-goat-consider-butts.htm

Paraguay's Vice President praises conservation work

The WLT's partners in Paraguay, Guyra Paraguay, has received praise from the Vice President of Paraguay, Luis Castiglioni, for its conservation work in the Atlantic rainforest. The San Rafael Reserve, which is located in one of the largest remaining tracts of Atlantic forest in Paraguay is the first Important Bird Area (IBA) declared in the country. The reserve provides a home for at least 11 globally threatened bird species and 17 near-threatened species, as well as numerous endemics, and is considered the top conservation priority in Paraguay.

Donate to the WLT by SMS

You can now make a contribution to WLT's work by Short Message Service (SMS) on your mobile phone: Text WLT DONATE to 87050 (UK only. Cost: £1.50 plus standard SMS charges). More information and terms and conditions on www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/sms.htm.

Bill Oddie in Patagonia on TV again

The BBC TV production Bill Oddie with Penguins, Parrots & Whales, filmed on the WLT's reserve Ranch of Hopes and first shown on TV last year, will be broadcast again on Sunday 9th April at 17.20 on BBC TV. Presented in Bill Oddie's quirky style, the film shows the variety of wildlife that manages to survive in the harsh coastal steppe environment of Patagonia.

Get Involved: How do you prefer to donate to charities? (Poll)

Research shows most people prefer telephone donations.

"More than half of people in the UK prefer to donate to charity by telephone rather than in person or through the post", according to Third Sector magazine (14 September 2005). 250 consumers where asked whether they preferred donating over the phone, in person, by post or through the internet, and 55% stated they would donate over the phone. How do you prefer to donate? Let us know by taking part in this quick poll.

Poll: How do you prefer to donate to charities?
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/