Iraq war hits wildlife conservation

Press Release dated: Friday, May 02, 2003

John A Burton, World Land Trust:
War can have a devastating direct effect on wildlife - witness the oil spills during the first Gulf War which killed thousands of seabirds and other wildlife. But one of the side effects of the recent world crisis is its impact on international wildlife charities. After the first Gulf War in 1989, donations to the World Land Trust dropped dramatically, and in 2001 the September 11 attacks had an even more catastrophic effect on the WLT. As some of our supporters will remember, September 11 was the day chosen to launch a fundraising campaign for the purchase of over 15,000 acres in Patagonia. A reception had been sponsored in central London, a video made of the project, and David Bellamy had come to London to launch it at a press conference in Burlington House, Piccadilly, in the heart of London. Unsurprisingly virtually no publicity was generated, as understandably people's minds were diverted to other events.

During the recent conflict the staff at the WLT have been working very hard to maintain the level of donations needed to keep its projects active. By developing its Internet presence the WLT has been able to draw on a wider public, but fundraising has been difficult, as many people concentrate on humanitarian aid. However, the threats to wildlife persist. Throughout the world day by day the forests continue to disappear. Ecotourism, often put forward as a way of making wildlife pay, is also a casualty of war, with fewer tourists traveling during disturbed times. Already our Belizean partners have reported falling numbers of visitors this year.

The reserves we are buying in Ecuador to form natural corridors for wildlife cost as little as $10,000 to $20,000 each - and these contain species found no where else in the world. A donation of £25 will help save an acre, for ever, It only costs $3000 a month to maintain the protection of the 15000 acres of the Estancia La Esperanza in Patagonia. Possibly the only good thing to come out of the financial crisis in Argentina, is that our running costs have fallen, as our dollars go further

To give our efforts at conserving endangered species some perspective, it costs in the order of £25,000 an hour to keep a Tornado bomber in the air over Iraq - enough to buy 1000 acres of rainforest. One Challenger Tank costs over £4million - enough to buy a quarter of a million acres of rainforest. And in some places land is even cheaper. British taxpayers have no choice, but to contribute to this, but at least by making a donation to conservation, they can get some of it back from the government to help conserve wildlife. Every £1 donated through Gift Aid allows charities to claim 28p back in tax.

For more information, contact: John Burton
CEO
World Land Trust
jab*at*worldlandtrust.org (To avoid spam, we cannot show the email address in full. Please replace *at* with the symbol @ in your email address field.)
Web site: http://www.worldlandtrust.org

 
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