Bristol,
15 October
Mark Carwardine, a former World Land Trust (WLT) Trustee and keen supporter, worked with the late, great, Douglas Adams on a series called Last Chance to See, some twenty years ago. Their journeys took them as far afield as Zaire in search of the Northern White Rhino, China in search of the Yangtze River Dolphin and the Amazon in search of the Manatee. The book of the series was published in 1990 as a companion to the BBC radio series. In 2001 Mark and Douglas were discussing the possibility of new adventures, when sadly Douglas suffered a heart attack and died that year.
Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry during the filming of Last Chance to See.
Mark speaking about and showing photos from the making of the programme. (The image in the background shows an Aye-Aye.)Stephen Fry was a close friend of Douglas Adams, and when Douglas and Mark spent their year travelling the world, Stephen lived in Douglas' house, and recalls "taking urgent phone calls to send maps and lenses to faraway places." It seemed a natural evolution that Stephen should take over where Douglas left off and in 2008-09, exactly 20 years after the original journey, Stephen and Mark found themselves heading off to in search of those same animals, to look at how they had fared over the past two decades.
Shown on BBC2 during September and October Mark and Stephen went in search of
- Amazonian Manatee
- Northern White Rhinoceros
- Aye-Aye
- Komodo dragon
- Kakapo
- Blue Whale
On Thursday, 15 October, a few days before the final episode was shown, Mark Carwardine spoke of his adventures with Stephen Fry at a WLT Charity event, held as part of our 20th Anniversary Celebrations, at St George's, Bristol.
Talking to a packed house, Mark told both hilarious and poignant tales of their journeys, illustrated with breathtaking photography. Said Stephen of his co-presenter: "Mark Carwardine will climb mountains, ford streams and penetrate steamy malaria-infested swamps just for one glimpse of an animal." Mark proved that this was true.
| Permanent location of this post |
| Read comments
(0)
|
|
Share this post with your friends
London,
19th November 2009
On November 19th, Dr José Luis Casaccia, Paraguay's former Minister of the Environment and Dr Alberto Yanosky, Executive Director of Guyra Paraguay gave a presentation at the House of Commons to bring the ecological disaster taking place in the Paraguayan Chaco to the attention of the UK Government.
Aerial photo showing deforestation in the Chaco. Photo © Guyra Paraguay.At its peak in May this year, the rate of deforestation in the Chaco reached the equivalent of 1,500 football pitches a day. In 2008, 563,388 acres (228,000 hectares) of Chaco were logged to make way for agriculture, largely cattle ranches. Alarmingly, by the end of October 2009 already 654,815 acres (265,000 hectares) has been irreversibly lost, with estimates that this years total will exceed 741,300 acres (300,000 hectares). At this rate the rich biodiversity of the Chaco will all be lost in 30 years' time if no action is taken.
In their presentation, Dr Casaccia and Dr Yanosky alerted the UK Government to the urgency of the situation in this remote area of wilderness, which is little-known to most of the world. They urged the world community to join with them in the fight to save the Chaco. Publicising the issue in UK Parliament is an important step in increasing national and international attention and gaining critical support to halt this ecological crisis.
The presentation to the House of Commons was part of a week long visit to the UK hosted by WLT's partners, Guyra Paraguay. While in the UK Dr Casaccia and Dr Yanosky attended a series of interviews and meetings and gave several presentations to raise awareness of the continuing destruction of this wildlife paradise.
For more information about their visit and the destruction of the Chaco, see Deforestation in Paraguay: Over 1500 football pitches lost a day in the Chaco.
To find out more about the project in Paraguay and how you can help save the forests of the Chaco, see our project pages Saving the Paraguayan Landscapes.
| Permanent location of this post |
| Read comments
(0)
|
|
Share this post with your friends
London,
5th November 2009
On November 5th, the World Land Trust (WLT) and Argentine project partner Fundación Frontera Verde (FFV) attended a reception held for the Governor of Misiones at the Argentine Ambassador's residence in London.
Tourist attractions of Misiones. Top:Iguazu Falls and above: Monoca Falls.Governor Maurice Closs, accompanied by Mario Malajovich of FFV, was on a visit to the UK to attend the World Travel Market in London to promote the tourist attractions that the Misiones Province of Argentina has to offer.
Misiones Province is where WLT and FFV are working to protect an important remnant of the Atlantic Rainforest, by purchasing and protecting nearly 10,000 acres (3,764 hectares) within the Yabotí Biosphere Reserve: one of the last strongholds of the Atlantic Rainforest.
The Misiones Province incorporates an incredible range of wildlife and natural wonders for nature lovers, not least the breathtaking Iguazu Falls, situated on the Argentine-Brazilian border. Environmentally sensitive tourism might therefore have a role to play in providing an income stream for the proposed reserve.
The reception at the Ambassador's residence proved an inspiring occasion, illustrating how the government of the Misiones Province, local communities and organisations such as FFV and WLT are working in partnership to protect some of the last Atlantic Rainforest of Misiones.
John Burton (CEO of the WLT) and Governor Closs gave presentations about the work that WLT and FFV are doing in Misiones and the reception ended with a musical celebration of the collaboration through Chamamé, folk music typical of the indigenous Guaraní communities.
To learn more about the Misiones Rainforest Corridor Project and find out how you can help, visit our project page Preserving the Atlantic Rainforests of Misiones, Argentina.
| Permanent location of this post |
| Read comments
(0)
|
|
Share this post with your friends
+44 (0)1986 874422
