Ocelot Photo by Kevin Schafer.

Wild Spaces Programme

Zoos & Aquariums Protecting the Wild

The World Land Trust is working with zoos and aquariums to support conservation in the wild. Zoos and aquariums have the potential to play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity by raising awareness of conservation issues to their visitors, maintaining captive collections of endangered species and supporting in situ conservation.

The World Land Trust’s Wild Spaces programme offers zoos and aquariums an opportunity to help save wildlife in the wild by supporting this in situ conservation project.

The new Wild Spaces project is urgently raising funds through members of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and their visitors. A target of £260,000 has been set and must be raised before the end of 2009. This amount will enable the World Land Trust, together with local partners REGUA in Brazil to purchase a critically threatened 3,675 acre (1,500 ha) strategically placed parcel of land in the Brazilian Atlantic Forests.

REGUA Landscape Photo by Kirsty Burgess.

The BIAZA Reserve, Brazil

The proposed BIAZA reserve is situated between the existing 14,700 acre (6,000 ha) reserve already owned by REGUA and the Rio de Janeiro Primatology Centre, and by linking together the two protected areas it will create a crucial corridor for wildlife to move safely between the two.

The Atlantic Forest - biodiversity 'hotspot'

The Atlantic forest is a 'biodiversity hotspot' and considered one of the most ecologically important eco-regions in the world because of its extremely high levels of unique biodiversity. Of the 260 mammal species found in the Atlantic forest, 70 are endemic, including the Maned Sloth, the Thin-spined Porcupine, 4 species of Lion Tamarins, and two species of Muriquis (Woolly Spider Monkeys). There are over 930 bird species in the Atlantic forest of which 144 species are endemic, including the endangered Red-billed Curassow , which is being reintroduced into the REGUA Reserve.

The massive destruction of this "Global Hotspot for Biodiversity" has been described by Sir Ghillean Prance, FRS (former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and leading expert on South American rainforest conservation), as "one of the biological tragedies of this century". With only 7 % of the original forest remaining, due to logging for hardwoods and clearance for settlement and agriculture, preventing the loss of what remains is an absolute priority.

Activities at REGUA include land purchase of primary forest and secondary forest as well as land that has previously been cleared to enable natural regeneration and tree planting with indigenous tree species. REGUA is also carrying out species reintroductions and community education and outreach programmes.

More information for Zoos

For more information about the Wild Spaces programme and ways in which WLT can help you develop and achieve your conservation targets, please contact us.

More information on the Wild Spaces Programme

• Zoos supporting the BIAZA Reserve
• Zoos supporting the Wild Spaces Programme
• Wild Spaces press release
• Zoo help save threatened rainforest press release
• BIAZA Reserve project brief (304KB) (opens in new window)
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