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Conservation Project News

Conservation projects news from the World Land Trust, an international wildlife conservation charity working to protect threatened wildlife habitats worldwide.

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Friday, 29 February 2008:

Jaguar captured in broad day light (Paraguay) 

A jaguar "posing" on the side of Río Negro, close to the Three Giants Lodge. © Veronique Gerard. See a larger version here.

This jaguar was captured by a camera set up to photograph deer at the Chaco-Pantanal Reserve. (That's its over-exposed head and ear to the right!) See a larger version here.

Three Giants visitor lodge. See a larger version here.

An aerial view of the reserve in the Pantanal, with Three Giants Lodge just visible on the side of the river as a small square. The lodge is surrounded by Copernicia palm savannah, which provides excellent jaguar habitat. See a larger version here.


WLT's diploma students: Martyn Griffiths, Tracie Long and Natalie Evans, at a music event they organised to raise funds for their Paraguay projects.

This jaguar snapped on the left was sent to us by Pepe Cartes of Guyra Paraguay, and was taken in the Chaco-Pantanal Reserve by Veronique Gerard.

Everyone at the World Land Trust was excited and not a little envious when seeing the photo - particularly the WLT's CEO, John Burton, who, despite travelling extensively in South America has yet to see a jaguar in the wild! But that may be about to change as John is travelling to the Pantanal next week.

Jaguars in the Pantanal

The Pantanal is located in the north-east of the Paraguay and borders Brazil and Bolivia. It provides a semi-open habitat, with vast wetlands and palm-savannahs offering plenty of prey for the jaguars - and therefore some opportunities for intrepid travellers to spot them.

While it is generally extremely difficult to glimpse a jaguar in the wild, in the Pantanal it is slightly more likely, and a group from the WLT consisting of three staff members and five supporters are travelling there in early March with united hope that they may be lucky. Jaguars have been seen outside the Three Giants Lodge where they will be staying for a few nights so we can't wait to hear from them.

Tony Hawks and WLT students to travel to Paraguay 

A member of the WLT group travelling to Paraguay next week is writer and comedian Tony Hawks. Tony will be writing about his experiences and will be giving a talk to WLT supporters later in the year.

A couple of weeks later, the Trust's three diploma students are also heading out to Paraguay, where they will undertake projects aimed at helping Guyra Paraguay in their conservation efforts. This is what they will be doing:

Tracie Long: "I will be staying at The Three Giants Lodge where, due to its location, the surrounding habitat has remained relatively unexplored. My project will involve using simple light traps to investigate the species of hawk and emperor moths present." The study, which will provide Guyra with basic data on which hawk and emperor moths are present, will result in a field guide to be used at the lodge by future visitors.

Martyn Griffiths will be in the small and very isolated community Bahía Negra for his project work. Together with the few other communities in the area, which include both campesino (landless peasants) and indigenous populations, Bahía Negra lies within a couple of hours' boat trip from the Three Giants Lodge.

Martin, who will conduct interviews to assess attitudes towards conservation and hunting, says: "It's clear local communities need to be involved within conservation projects, and the sharing of any benefits, to ensure success."

Natalie Evans' project is taking place in the south east of Paraguay, where fragments of Atlantic Forest remain among deserts of agricultural land, including soya plantations.

"I will be looking into responsible methods of soybean production in the region and in particular at Guyra Paraguay's pilot soybean project in the Atlantic rainforest in Paraguay to assess its potential for success", says Natalie, whose project will involve interviews with representatives of all stakeholders in the soy production industry including indigenous people, campesinos, small farmers, NGOs, local government and trans-national companies.

Learn more about the Chaco/Pantanal Project in Paraguay

Labels: Paraguay

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New land purchases in Ecuador and Paraguay 

New land has been bought in Ecuador adjacent to Yanacocha (top), and in Paraguay in San Rafael (middle) and in the Dry Chaco (bottom). (Click on the images to see larger versions.)

88 hectares in Ecuador:

World Land Trust project partners in Ecuador, Fundación Jocotoco, have recently purchased a strategic piece of land to expand their reserve at Yanacocha. This 88 hectare area is situated in high altitude Polylepis forest, a habitat type which is seriously depleted throughout the Andes.

The purchase was vital as the land was likely to be developed if it had not been secured by Jocotoco.

The land is targeted for tree planting to restore the forest that has been lost and will guarantee employment for Jocotoco staff for an additional two years.

600 hectares in San Rafael, Paraguay:

In Paraguay, WLT partner organisation Guyra Paraguay have managed to add more land to two of their reserves; San Rafael and the Dry Chaco.

The purchase of 600 hectares adjacent to Guyra's core reserve area in San Rafael National Park means that they now manage and protect 6,600 hectares of endangered Atlantic Rainforest in the south-east of Paraguay.

The demonstrable support from WLT donors has enabled matched funding from two US foundations: WLT-US and American Bird Conservancy. With continued commitment from WLT Guyra aims to secure more habitat as well as continuing to carry out forest restoration and research.

3,500 hectares in the Chaco, Paraguay:

Guyra recently secured 3,500 hectares of threatened arid habitat in the northwest of Paraguay - their first purchase in this region. The next phase of Guyra's project in the Dry Chaco is the purchase of 3,000 hectares with the overall aim to eventually secure 13,000 hectares in total.

The Dry Chaco is an extremely vulnerable ecosystem and is disappearing at an alarming rate. As well as being overwhelmed by agricultural expansion the Dry Chaco is particularly vulnerable to disturbance.

John Burton, WLT CEO, visited the Dry Chaco recently and he says "it was astounding how the tracks of tanks used in the Chaco War in the 1930s were still visible - the habitat is so fragile it can take a century or more to regenerate."

Please help us save this unique habitat:
Make a donation to the Chaco/Pantanal Project.

Learn more about WLT's projects in Ecuador and Paraguay:

• Help Save the Rainforests: Tropical Forest Project, Ecuador
• Saving the Paraguayan Landscapes: Chaco/Pantanal Project, Paraguay

Edit 3rd March: The recent purchase in the Dry Chaco was for 3,500 ha, not 350 ha as previously stated, and the next purchase is for 3,000 ha, not 300 ha.

Labels: Ecuador, Paraguay

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Friday, 15 February 2008:

Magellanic Penguins Rescued by FPN, off coast of Patagonia (Argentina) 

Magellanic Penguin © Lee Dingain.

Following a mystery oil spill in the South Atlantic Ocean on Boxing Day 2007, Fundación Patagonia Natural, WLT's project partners in Patagonia, have been working with IFAW's oiled wildlife team, local groups, rehabilitators and veterinarians, to clean up oiled sea birds. This spill covered an area of 24 square kilometers in the Atlantic Ocean threatening hundreds of animals.

Over 600 birds were treated, including 200 threatened Magellanic penguins, Steamer ducks, Silvery grebes, cormorants and Crested grebes. On February 13th 163 of the 200 Magellanic penguins were released back into the sea and other birds are still being cared for and will be released when they have recovered.

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) also fund work carried out by WLT's project partners in India - Wildlife Trust of India.

The Magellanic penguin is the largest of the warm-weather penguins and was named after Ferdinand Magellan who first saw them in 1519 on his first voyage around the tip of South America. Although millions of these penguins survive on the coasts of Argentina and Chile, they are classified as "Near Threatened," mainly because they are so vulnerable from oil spills. It is estimated that up to 20,000 adults and 22,000 juveniles are killed by oil spills every year off the coast of Argentina.

Learn more about the World Land Trust project in Patagonia »

Labels: Argentina

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Friday, 1 February 2008:

Sir David Attenborough presented with new tree at World Land Trust webcam launch 

Lou Jost and Sir David Attenborough with an image of the flowers of a newly discovered tree species that will be named in honour of Sir David.

Sir David Attenborough, Patron of the World Land Trust (WLT) recently attended an event at the Linnean Society, London, where he launched WLT's new wildlife webcam project. Following the launch, Sir David was presented with the naming rights of a new tree species discovered by botanist Lou Jost in the newly purchased Candalaria reserve. Lou Jost, from Fundación EcoMinga, was also present at the launch and he presented Sir David with a photograph of the stunning flowers of this tree, which is new to science. This tree was found on a recent exploration of the reserve by Lou Jost who was at the time accompanied by WLT's Jack Astbury and Andy Orchard from Puro coffee who were in Ecuador setting up the webcam.

To celebrate the launch of the webcam we are offering a fantastic prize: A week's accommodation at the Umbrella Bird Lodge in the Buenaventura reserve for the first person who discovers a new species of hummingbird whilst watching the webcam. All you have to do if you think you have discovered the 33rd species is freeze frame the footage. You can find full details on this competition on the Wildlife Focus website shortly.

Labels: Ecuador

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