The World Land Trust eBulletin Issue 39, June 2006

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In this issue:
Wild Spaces - a New Initiative from the World Land Trust
First "Wild Spaces" Supporter Zoo: Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens
India Update: New Elephant Corridor in Southern India
Carbon Balanced Holidays by TravelRepublic.co.uk
News in Brief

Wild Spaces - a New Initiative from the World Land Trust

Jaguars and other wildlife will benefit from the new initiative.

New conservation initiative by the WLT offers zoo’s and aquariums the opportunity to protect threatened habitats.

WLT's Wild Spaces Programme is helping zoos and aquariums realise their conservation goals by enabling them to protect the threatened habitats of the species which they exhibit. The project was launched at the recent BIAZA convention (British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums) and offers zoos and aquariums the chance to contribute to WLT's land acquisition projects in order to strengthen the connection between conserving animals in situ and protecting their habitats in the wild.

Zoos and aquariums will be able to support current WLT projects such as:

• The development of sustainable farming alongside wildlife conservation in the coastal steppes of Patagonia;
• An innovative coral transplant project restoring degraded reefs in western India;
• A carbon sequestration project in Ecuador.

By protecting habitats of the species in their exhibitions such as jaguars, monkeys and guanacos, zoos and aquariums can play an important role in conservation whilst also providing a strong educational message to visitors about the importance of the link between captive breeding and wild spaces conservation.

Read the press release on the Wild Spaces Programme
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2006/06/wildlife-twinning-world-land-trust-in.htm

First "Wild Spaces" supporter zoo: Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens

Following the launch of the Wild Spaces Programme Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens has become the first supporter of WLT's new conservation initiative by contributing £5000 to support the World Land Trust’s work.

As Thrigby Hall's collection focuses on Asian species including tigers, gibbons, otters and crocodilians, it was important to director Ken Sims that the funds raised went to support Asian conservation work. The donation will therefore go towards the Wild Lands Elephant Corridor project in India, which is currently assisting with the acquisition of a forest corridor in Kerala State in Southern India, where 20% of the country’s elephant population is found. (Read more about this corridor below.)

India Update: New Elephant Corridor in Southern India 

Forest corridors enable elephants to cross safely between protected areas.

The WLT is working with Wildlife Trust of India to create a new elephant corridor in Kerala State.

The Kerala State region in Southern India is a hotspot for global biodiversity supporting 10 endemic mammal species, 13 endemic bird species, and is home to one of India’s largest elephant population.

The new corridor connects the existing forest reserves Tirunelli and Kudrakote. The specific site is one of 88 corridors identified by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) as traditional routes that elephants use to cross between protected areas.

There are currently a number of villages and tribes living within the corridor area and all have voiced the desire to relocate to reduce the possibility of human/wildlife conflict. The goals of the project are therefore two fold – to acquire the land used as a corridor by the elephants and to provide the current inhabitant with suitable sites to move to, whilst assisting them in developing sustainable livelihoods.

Once the corridor has been purchased by the WIldlife Trust of India, it will be registered as a Reserve Forest which will provide it with legal protection.

Make a donation to the Wild Land Elephant Corridor Project
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/donate.htm

Read more about the new elephant corridor here
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/india-corridors.htm

Carbon Balanced Holidays by TravelRepublic.co.uk

The WLT helps online travel business lead the way in "going green".

Carbon Balanced helps offset emissions whilst protecting and restoring threatened habitats such as this tropical rainforest at Buenaventura Reserve, Ecuador.

The online travel company TravelRepublic.co.uk is taking the dual steps of offering a carbon offset service to their clients as well as guaranteeing that for every flight booked they will preserve a tree in the existing rainforest.

TravelRepublic.co.uk hopes that this move will not only encourage their customers to carbon balance their flight emissions but will also lead the way for other travel companies to address the problems of carbon dioxide emissions. Paul Furner, Managing Director of the company said “This is something that all travel companies should be addressing right now, and if we can make them think about taking action then we will be happy.”

The WLT’s Carbon Balanced Programme, supported by Sir David Attenborough, not only combats issues of carbon emissions, but also helps conserve biodiversity by protecting and regenerating tropical forests in some of the most species-rich regions in the world. By carbon balancing your holiday with TravelRepublic.co.uk and the World Land Trust you can now not only fly carbon neutral, but also help preserve our planet's most threatened habitats and biodiversity.

Read the full Carbon Balanced press release here
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2006/06/how-far-can-green-go_07.htm

News in Brief

Support wildlife conservation when trading on eBay

EBay traders can now help save threatened habitats worldwide by donating a percentage of their profits to the World Land Trust. With the help of "eBay for charity" you can support the World Land Trust when selling your items by simply registering with eBay partner charity “Missionfish”. Listings for items sold on behalf of the World Land Trust will appear with an eBay for charity logo, the percentage donated and the WLT mission statement. Read more on www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2006/06/give-world-present-whilst-selling-on.htm

Indian women's group work to save elephants 

A dedicated women’s group in India is working to reforest areas between forest reserves to create elephant corridors. The group whose name translates to the Self Help Group have been collecting seeds and caring for trees in nurseries in order to create corridors which allow elephants to cross between the protected reserves. Read more about the Indian women's group on www.worldlandtrust.org/projects/india-womens-group.htm

New intern vacancies

There are two new internship vacancies at the World Land Trust. Two positions available:

• Projects Development Assistant (web)
• Projects Development Assistant (carbon)

Deadline for applications is July 7th. Read more about the WLT internships on www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/internships.htm

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