Pangolins are the world’s most trafficked mammal. They desperately need our help and, this week, you can make double the difference to protect them.
We’re delighted to be taking part in the Big Give’s Earth Raise campaign, a seven-day online match funding initiative helping charities to tackle pressing environmental issues. From midday on 22 April to midday on 29 April, all donations made to Project Pangolin through Earth Raise will be doubled in value.*
It’s exciting for WLT to be involved in this brilliant campaign, particularly with the launch taking place on Earth Day – the perfect time for us to come together to inspire collective action to protect the planet.
For Earth Raise, the Big Give will match up to £7,500 of our fundraising and a generous private donor will match another £7,500. This means that if we can raise £15,000 from our generous supporters this week, we’ll have £30,000 for vital pangolin conservation around the world. Every gift towards our target will mean so much and go twice as far for these remarkable creatures.
What Earth Raise donations will do
The donations raised for Project Pangolin through the Earth Raise website will fund land purchase and habitat restoration at our projects in Uganda, Borneo and Nepal.
Our conservation partners in these pangolin hotspots are working tirelessly to secure a safe future for six of the eight known species of pangolin.
A Vulnerable Temminck's Ground Pangolin. Credit: ©Shutterstock
Nyamukino Reserve in Uganda
In Uganda’s Albertine Rift, our partner Environmental Defenders are working to purchase and restore over 838 ha of critical pangolin habitat. This will more than quadruple the size of their existing Nyamukino Reserve. Funds raised through Earth Raise for Project Pangolin will help to make this expansion a reality and help to protect all four of the African pangolin species: Temminck’s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), White-bellied Pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis), Giant Ground Pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) and Black-Bellied Pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla).
Critically Endangered Sunda Pangolin. Credit: ©adamardn
Kinabatangan in Malaysian Borneo
In Malaysian Borneo, our long-standing partner HUTAN aim to purchase 12 ha of critically threatened forest along the Kinabatangan River, to begin the connection of a new habitat corridor. This landscape is severely threatened by oil palm, so the purchase of this land will link and preserve vital forest fragments and protect the home of the Critically Endangered Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica).
A Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin. Credit: ©U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters
The Tamor Valley of Nepal
Our partner KTK-BELT is working to create a pangolin-centred community reserve in Nepal’s Tamor Valley. Once completed, this project will increase protection across 119,103 ha of land in the region, connecting the newly confirmed Yangshila Conservation Zone to two protected areas in India. 400,000 native trees will also be planted to restore the landscape. This community-managed reserve will increase local support for pangolin conservation and safeguard the Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla).
Pangolins face severe threats every single day – both from human cruelty and habitat loss. Without urgent protection, they will continue to be stolen from the wild and illegally traded. But together we can protect them before it’s too late.
If you’d like to donate to Project Pangolin and have your generous gift doubled in value*, please visit the Earth Raise website between midday on 22 April and midday on 29 April.
*All donations will be doubled until we reach our £30,000 Earth Raise target
