World Land Trust Events

A selection of World Land Trust events. See our upcoming events here.

This page shows the most recent events updates. To read older posts, use the events archive in the navigation bar on this page. The newest posts can always be found at www.worldlandtrust.org/news/events-archive.htm.

Events featured on this page:

The Red Ape Debate - The Future for the Orang-utan 

Royal Geographical Society, London
27 November 2009

At the end of November 2009 a group of experts* in the field of orang-utan research and conservation came together to discuss and debate issues relating to the Future for the Orang-utan in both Borneo and Sumatra.

The Red Ape Debate was filmed (the footage can be watched here) to enable those who were unable to attend the debate to learn about the topics discussed. This screenshot from the video shows (from left to right): Roger Wilson (World Land Trust), Michelle Desilets (Orangutan Land Trust), Wilfred Landong (Sarawak Forestry Corporation), Helen Buckland (Sumatran Orangutan Society) and Lord Cranbrook (Chairman).


The motion that the audience was asked to vote on before and after the debate.

The World Land Trust (WLT) followed up April's highly successful Great Ape Debate with this second orang-utan conservation debate to further explore two conservation strategies: Maintaining populations of orang-utans in rehabilitation centres and the conservation of habitats for wild populations of the apes. In particular, we wanted to involve a larger audience and take a vote on where the onus for conservation expenditure should lie.

The event began with the experts discussing some of the key areas for concern during a series of workshop sessions. Following this, their findings were presented to the public in the main lecture theatre of the Royal Geographical Society.

Workshops on orang-utan conservation topics

During the afternoon workshops, four groups discussed the following broad topic areas of orang-utan conservation:

• Rehabilitation as an effective conservation strategy
• Constraints on reintroduction
• Problems of conservation in non-protected habitats
• Obligations and impediments for the plantation industry

A speaker from each group then presented the conclusions at the public debate: Roger Wilson (World Land Trust), Michelle Desilets (Orangutan Land Trust), Wilfred Landong (Sarawak Forestry Corporation) and Helen Buckland (Sumatran Orangutan Society).

Debating rescue and rehabilitation versus habitat conservation

Prior to the presentations the audience was asked to vote on the following motion:

Even with limited funding available, reintroduction of captive orang-utans is as important for their survival as habitat protection. The majority of the audience rejected the motion, feeling that habitat protection IS more important for the future of the orang-utan than the re-release of rehabilitated, captive animals.

The four presentations that followed were highly thought-provoking and persuasive, with Roger Wilson and Michelle Desilets arguing for the motion and Wilfred Landong and Helen Buckland against. The main points of the presentations were summed up by the chairman of the event, Lord Cranbrook, before the debate itself started with a series of extremely insightful questions from a very passionate and diverse audience.

The audience was again asked to vote at the end of the debate and this resulted in an even larger majority of voters calling for greater habitat protection throughout orang-utan ranges. However, many members of the audience and expert panel maintained that rehabilitated orang-utans should be identified as a resource with which to boost the wild population in the future, not as a welfare conundrum. Other conservationists felt strongly that the very large amount of funds spent on captive orang-utans is unjustified, given the limited funds that are available for the conservation of wild orang-utans.

One main theme to emerge from the debate was the moral obligation that we, the human species, has to stem the flow of orphaned, injured or displaced orang-utans that end up in rehabilitation centres. Experts and audience agreed that with greater areas of orang-utan habitat under stronger protection, fewer animals should find themselves forced into care at these oversubscribed rescue centres.

You can watch the Red Ape Debate on the WLT website.

* List of participating experts (PDF document, opens in new window)

You will need Adobe Reader to view the participant list. Adobe Reader is free and can be downloaded from Adobe, below.

Get Adobe Reader (opens in new window)

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Last Chance to See: WLT Supporters Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry in search of some of the world's most endangered species 

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 | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Presentation at the House of Commons calling the UK government to help save the Paraguayan Chaco 

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 | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Argentine Ambassador reception illustrates how partnerships are protecting the Atlantic Forest 

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 | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

World Land Trust brings the rainforest to the Birdfair 

Rutland Water
21-23 August

WLT wanted to make a real splash at this year's Birdfair, to celebrate our 20th Anniversary and we achieved this with stunning support from our
Corporate sponsors.

Enterprise Plants, WLT supporters for 18 years, provided lush rainforest plants, Puro Fairtrade coffee came along with a wonderful Bean-to-cup machine and offered visitors free coffee, which was complimented by delicious chocolate provided by Organic Meltdown. Calypso Soft Drinks donated bottles of BerryAid (spring water with real fruit juice) and Rainforest Friends toys lent a 'cuddly' feel to the stand. Finetra, the company whose cutting edge equipment is used for the Webcam in the Forest in Ecuador, donated the use of a large plasma screen and stand so that we could have the Webcam live at the Fair.

Thank you to all of them for joining in so generously. We also enjoyed meeting many supporters at the Fair and we congratulate WLT Council Member, Simon Barnes on his Celebrity Lecture, which he repeated for the Trust at The Cut arts centre in Suffolk 12th November.

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

Rising Gems: Conservation projects glisten in the West End 

Liberty, London
10th June

On Wednesday 10th June "Rising Gems" launched their fabulous collection of jewellery at Liberty's new jewellery room in London, sponsored by Enlightened™ - Swarovski Elements, as part of Coutts Jewellery Week.

The talented designers behind the Rising Gems collection.




Jewellery from the Rising Gems collection: "Planting some seeds for the future" pendant by Ornella Iannuzzi on display in Liberty's new jewellery room (top) and "Mangrove Viper Cuff" by Missoma (above) .

The one-off "Rising Gems" collection was designed by ten of London's most innovative and directional young jewellery designers, drawing their inspiration from individual World Land Trust conservation projects.

Each piece was specially made and unique creating a wonderfully diverse collection which stunningly reflected the variety and beauty of the land and species protected by the WLT supported wildlife reserves. What was clear from the collection was how each designer had identified with 'their' particular WLT project and expressed a specific element of that project in an artistic and visual form through their jewellery. Whether the subject was a bird from that project site, an aspect of local community support, or a simple seed of a common plant, each project seemed to appeal to the designers in different ways and inspired some magnificent work.

Despite the tube strikes the turn-out was surprisingly good and there was a great buzz of excitement in the air for what was a very special launch. Liberty did a wonderful job of displaying the jewellery imaginatively in individual glass capsules with the jewellery arranged amid decorative settings inspired by nature.

Three pieces have been sold so far with 30-40% being donated to World Land Trust projects. World Land Trust would like to thank all the highly talented jewellery designers for choosing to support our work. We would also like to thank Enlightened™ - Swarovski Elements and Liberty for participating in this fantastic project.

See the full Rising Gems collection, and which WLT project areas inspired the pieces here

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

An Evening with the World Land Trust: Retrospective & Prospective 

Linnean Society of London
8 May 2009

6pm John Burton (WLT CEO) welcomes guests to the 20th Anniversary event and introduces (l-r) Edilberto Romero (Programme for Belize), Renton Righelato (previous Chairman of WLT), Jerry Bertrand (WLT Hon President) and Albertino Abela (new Chairman of WLT) and Lee Durrell (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), hidden from view.

6.05pm Dr Lee Durrell (right) who, together with Gerald Durrell, officially launched the WLT on 8 May 1989 at Syon House Butterfly House. Lee spoke of her visits to Belize with Gerry Durrell and her love of the country. Her involvement in Belizean conservation issues continues.

6.15pm Dr Gerard (Jerry) Bertrand - Hon President of WLT and one of the founders of Programme for Belize then gave an overview on Programme for Belize: a new model for conservation, now 20 years old. He described how the concept was born and how the programme got off the ground to become the success that it is today.

6.25pm Edilberto Romero - Director of Programme for Belize (above, right), spoke on the Trust's first project which now has its HQ in Belize City and two field stations: at La Milpa and Hill Bank. PfB owns and protects 262,000 acres of tropical forest and other threatened habitats. Edilberto looked back over conservation achievements over last 2 decades in Belize and also at opportunities for the future.

Jerry Bertrand and John Burton: WLT - the Future. Jerry and John gave a short photographic presentation on current projects being supported by WLT and talked about priorities for the future.

Q&A Several guests had questions, including supporter Chris Redston (left). Jerry Bertrand and Lee Durrell (right) also participated.

Thanks. John Burton paid tribute to the very many people who had been significant in the development of the Trust over the years and apologised for not being able to name everyone who had contributed so generously to its success. We were joined by just a few, including actor Frank Thornton, and his wife, Beryl, (above left) who have been supporters since the beginning of Programme for Belize. We were also delighted to welcome Her Excellency Camilla Palma (above right) from the Belizean High Commission in London, who have been very supportive of our work over the years. She is joined by Bruce Coleman, a founding trustee of the WLT, and Jane Krish, a former trustee who had retired at the AGM earlier in the day.

Above: WLT Chairman, Renton Righelato (left), retired at the AGM earlier in the day. Here he is chatting with incoming Chairman, Albertino Abela.

And a bar of chocolate for everyone to take home, courtesy of corporate supporters Brand Stand. Brand Stand are supporting WLT through their Organic Meltdown brand which is now available widely: One Bar Saves One Tree with WLT.

Thanks to photographer, Crispin Zeeman, for taking the photographs at the event, and for donating his time.

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends

The Great Ape Debate: The Controversy Surrounding Orang-utan Conservation 

Linnean Society, Burlington House, London
30th April

Orang-utan numbers have plummeted over recent years, mainly as a result of the spread of monocultures, particularly oil palm. The destruction of huge areas of Orang-utan habitat is now seriously threatening the species with extinction. So how best to ensure the survival of the Orang-utan?

The aim of the Great Ape Debate was to focus on the controversy surrounding Orang-utan conservation: Is rehabilitation and reintroduction of rescued captive animals a viable way of conserving Orang-utans or would resources be better spent on the purchase, protection and recreation of their natural habitats?

The Great Ape Debate panel (l to r): Ian Redmond, David Chivers, John Burton, Earl of Cranbrook (chair), Marc Ancrenaz and Ashley Leiman.


Ian Redmond (left): "Conserving wild Orang-utans is key in order to maintain the natural function of forests." Marc Ancrenaz: "65-75% of Borneo's Orang-utans live outside of protected areas."

The debate, hosted by the Linnean Society in partnership with the World Land Trust (WLT), consisted of a panel, with John Burton, CEO of WLT and Fellow of the Linnean Society (FLS) joined by the following speakers:

• David Chivers, FLS, University Reader in Primate Biology and Conservation;
• Dr Marc Ancrenaz, Director of Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project;
• Ashley Leiman, OBE, Founder and Director of Orang-utan Foundation (UK);
• Ian Redmond, OBE, GRASP - UNEP/UNESCO Great Ape Survival Project.

The lively debate was chaired by the Earl of Cranbrook, FLS, who clarified that the Great Ape Debate was not intended to define a "winning argument" but instead to discuss whether rehabilitation and reintroduction of rescued Orang-utans could be a viable way of conserving them or whether resources would be better spent on habitat protection.

Discussions included the perceived risks of reintroductions as well as the financial implications and welfare challenges of Orang-utan rehabilitation. John Burton questioned whether releasing semi-wild animals could potentially cause disease, behavioural and genetic pollution risks and David Chivers responded that these animals are released into areas where wild Orang-utans aren't present, meaning that transfer of diseases is not a concern.

Both John Burton and Ashley Leiman were concerned by the welfare standards in rehabilitation centres, which are often very overcrowded. Burton insisted that "there are undoubtedly very important welfare issues, and these do need to be addressed, but they should not be allowed to undermine conservation". David Chivers also noted the welfare issues but pointed out that these centres should not be dismissed because of overcrowding: "Efforts must be accelerated to rehabilitate these orphans and return them to the wild where they can make a significant contribution to the survival of the Orang-utan", he said.

All the speakers agreed on the importance of habitat conservation. As Leiman said, "The future of Orang-utans depends on us stopping habitat conversion from forests to non-forests. If we achieve that, not only will we save Orang-utans but everything else which lives in the rainforest". This point was strongly emphasised by Ian Redmond who likened the Orang-utan to a "shaggy red cog" in the mechanism of the rainforest, stressing that conserving wild Orang-utans is key in order to maintain the natural function of forests.

Marc Ancrenaz brought a field perspective to the debate, saying that studies show that Orang-utans have adapted to live in secondary forest. He emphasised the importance of addressing how to ensure the conservation of the 65-75% of Borneo's Orang-utans that are living outside of protected areas and insisted that the oil palm problem is not going to go away, but that, increasingly, Orang-utans are forced to use oil palm plantations as corridors between forests. He suggested that a "paradigm shift" is needed to integrate biodiversity conservation with economic development.

The debate proved incredibly popular, with the event being fully booked within days of its announcement. In response to the wide interest in this issue, the debate was streamed live on the Internet, in what was a "first" for both WLT and the Linnean Society. Web users were able to watch the debate on the WLT and Linnean Society websites as well as on the website of the Guardian Newspaper, and the library at Burlington House served as an 'overspill' area where guests who had been unable to obtain a place for the debate could watch the event unfold on screen.

75 minutes did not provide enough time to explore the subject in any real depth and so the Great Ape Debate will continue with a larger forum discussion in November, which will be held at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

You can view a recorded version of the debate here. To contribute to the discussion, or ask a question related to the debate or Orang-utan conservation in general, you can join our Facebook group, or leave a comment below.

| Permanent location of this post | Post a Comment | Read comments (0) | Links to this post |

Share this post with your friends