In the Garden of the Jaguar  ~  An evening in Mexico with Bernardine Coverley and Roberto Pedraza

Date:
18th March 2010, 7.30pm

Venue:
The Cut, Halesworth

Tickets:
£8 (£6 concessions) available from The Cut

Details

Local writer and former journalist Bernardine Coverley has a close affinity with Mexico from many visits over the last two decades. This occasion is the launch of her newly published book: Garden of the Jaguar. As well as reading from this book she will entertain us with her experiences working for a pioneering conservation charity, Na Bolom, (House of the Jaguar). Rival specialists compete to explain their passion for orchids in the wild, journeys into the Lacandon rainforest introduce her to the indigenous people and medicine plants, in the mountains Mayan rebels say ‘we must be guardians of the rivers, the mountains and the forests.’

Joining Bernardine is Roberto Pedraza, from the World Land Trust’s Mexican project partners, Grupo Ecológica Sierra Gorda. Roberto’s organisation is responsible for the protection of nearly 1-million acres in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, in the state of Queretaro in central Mexico. This is the most diverse protected region in Mexico where Douglas Firs nudge towering rainforest trees, and Giant Barrel Cactuses rub shoulders with mighty Elms. Wildlife abounds and, at the top of the food chain, the King of the Jungle, the Jaguar. Roberto will describe how the land and biodiversity are being protected by local communities who are developing innovative ways of making a living which do not involve damaging this fragile environment.

The talks will be illustrated with wonderful wildlife and landscape images and there will be a distinct Mexican feel to the evening.

 

World Land Trust: saving the Atlantic Rainforest
Chelsea Flower Show

 

Date:
25-29 May 2010

Venue:
Continuous Learning Section,
RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London

Details

2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity and to mark its significance WLT is  having a rainforest exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show this year. The exhibit, in the Continuous Learning Section is called: ‘World Land Trust: Saving the Atlantic Rainforest’ and it aims to recreate a tiny corner of rainforest to give visitors a true impression of what it is really like to be in the rainforest. The stand will include trees and plants from the Atlantic Rainforest, a rangers hut with interpretation and a plasma screen with live streaming direct from the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil.

The Atlantic Rainforest once covered more than 1 million km², centuries of deforestation has seen the Atlantic Forest become the second most threatened biome in the world after Madagascar. It stretches from north-east Brazil south along the Brazilian Atlantic coastline just into coastal Uruguay, and inland into north-east Argentina and eastern Paraguay. Today only 6-7% of the original forest area remains, an area of 100,000 km², and only an estimated 2% is still primary forest. Despite the loss and habitat fragmentation, this ecoregion is still ranked in the top five of the world's biodiversity hotspots and is one of the highest priorities for conservation action globally. 

WLT is actively involved in Atlantic Rainforest conservation in Argentina (Misiones Province), Brazil (REGUA Reserve) and Paraguay (San Rafael).

Please come and visit our stand in the Continous Learning Section and experience the Rainforest for yourself.

 

Elephant Parade London

 

Date:
May-July 2010

Venue:
TBC

Details

Elephant Parade 2010, organised by Elephant Family,  is set to be the biggest public art exhibition ever to be staged in London. The UK’s top artists, celebrities and designers will decorate 250, 1.4 metre high fibreglass elephants in a bid to raise funds for the conservation of critically endangered Asian elephants. The decorated elephants will be displayed across the capital from May to July with the grand finale of the parade taking place at Sotheby’s auction in September when funds will be raised for the participating charities.

WLT is one of the Parade’s conservation partners and will be exhibiting two elephants; one of them raising funds solely for WLT and the other, created jointly with Elephant Family under special arrangement, raising funds for a wildlife corridor in India that both organisations are supporting. The locations of the elephants will be confirmed nearer to the event. 

The designs so far for the WLT elephants look magnificent and we can’t wait to see them in situ. We also hope that they will raise significant funds for the Trust’s Elephant Corridors Project in India.

 Local Communities and biodiversity conservation in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve

A presentation by Roberto Pedraza

Details

Roberto Pedraza from Grupo Ecológica Sierra Gorda (GESG), during a visit to the UK on 12th March 2010, made a presentation in the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London. The presentation focused on the work of GESG in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, which protects habitats such as cloud forest and deciduous and evergreen tropical forest. Roberto also talked about how the local communities are involved in their conservation work.