The 9th World Wilderness Congress (WILD9) has just kicked off with a beautiful traditional Mayan blessing ceremony. President Calderon confirmed that he will be coming for the opening ceremony tonight!
CI is at WILD9, learn more >>
FEATURE: In defense of forests
Patricia Yakabe Malentaqui is the Press Officer for Conservation International.
In September, Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, stood in front of the crowd at CI’s Team Earth launch event in New York City and announced SC Johnson’s role as a founding partner of Team Earth. This week, his business launched a new initiative that embodies the spirit of Team Earth: environmentally-minded, innovative, and above all, reliant on you for success.
Team Earth’s first focus is to fight climate change by saving the world’s forests. Every year, we lose 32 million acres of tropical forests – an area the size of England. With every acre lost, we also lose essential resources for people and the planet.
So what can you do about it? We know that many families around the world are helping the planet by making a difference in their own homes, whether by recycling, using less energy or many other actions.
Tell us your story. How do you minimize your impact on the earth?
Sharing your tips and ideas will help influence the actions of others, and if you share before November 18, it will have another benefit as well. For every environmental tip or tactic posted on the “Team Earth Tips” blog, SC Johnson will contribute $1 to Team Earth, up to $25,000. The money raised will go towards future Team Earth campaigns to increase environmental awareness and make changes that will ensure a healthier, more prosperous world for all of us.
As a team, we can help. So share your tips by following the link below and clicking “Post a Comment”. We look forward to hearing from you!
Last week in New York City, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CI’s Vice President for Conservation Policy, received an award for his outstanding effort in the fight to conserve jaguar (Panthera onca) populations in Central America.
The former Minister of the Environment and Energy in his home country of Costa Rica, Rodriguez has been instrumental to regional conservation efforts for many years. He has helped pioneer the concept of payment for ecosystem services, a system that CI is now implementing with local communities in ecosystems around the globe.
The Rabinowitz-Kaplan prize was presented to Rodriguez by the Panthera Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to big cat conservation. Rodriguez’s Payments for Ecosystem Services in Costa Rica program has not only improved the lives of many rural people, but it has also resulted in the restoration and preservation of forests which provide crucial jaguar habitat.
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| The logo and slogan for COP 10 to be held in Nagoya, Japan, 18-29 October 2010. |
Last week, Japan launched the logo for the International Year of Biodiversity (2010) and the Convention of Biological Diversity’s (CBD) 2010 meeting in Nagoya (COP10).
If you have been following CI’s recent activities, the concept behind the logo may seem familiar – it depicts a harmonious circle of animal, plant and human origami figures. (see left)
Through the ancient Japanese art, the logo reflects the beauty and fragility of biodiversity, as well as the importance of maintaining harmony in the natural world. The depiction of an adult and a child illustrates the need to protect species and ecosystems for future generations.
This logo is a poignant example of how a small symbol or design can be so much more than just a pretty picture; in this case, it is a call-to-action for people around the world to protect our fragile environment while we still can.
Learn more in the COP 10 summit press release from the CBD (PDF)
See how CI used origami to send a message about forest protection during Climate Week 2009 below!
This week, an Associated Press article about drought in Kenya brought millions of people’s attention to the deep connections between the environment and human well-being. It is during years of extreme weather events such as severe drought, flooding, hurricanes and wildfires that we are all reminded how close many people live to the very edge of survival and at the behest of Mother Nature.
This is the case for many in East Africa, which is now plagued by the worst drought in nearly 50 years. The failure of the last two anticipated rainy seasons has led to rivers drying up and worse, a lack of fresh grass growth to feed domestic cattle, sheep and goats as well as wildlife. All of these animals are suffering equally with carcasses strewn everywhere, and sadly many rural people are also teetering on the edge of starvation.
The situation has been compounded by the steady destruction of the region’s highland forests which act as water catchments and regulate the flow of water from forests into the streams and rivers, like a sponge. Early indicators of environmental stress included water and power shortages in the main towns and cites as a result of reduced hydroelectric power. But the real culprit is the reduction in forest cover has happened over recent decades through illegal exploitation of forests’ reserves.
A 20- minute documentary about CEPF’s efforts to protect what remains of the incredibly rich montane and coastal forests of East Africa.
During this extreme year, people are realizing the true value of the services provided by these forests. The seriousness of this drought has lead to recent calls to reverse the situation by compensating people who voluntarily move out of the previously-forested areas and instigating reforestation programs. But any real change will take years to show any effect.
We are all hoping that the rains come early this year to ease this dire situation.
John Watkin is a Grant Director for CEPF, a CI joint venture that provides grants to nongovernmental organizations to help protect vital ecosystems.
When you land on conservation.org this week, you may notice something different…we’ve refreshed our website to better serve you!
We reorganized the content to showcase the benefits of nature that CI works to protect – a stable climate, clean water, abundant food, human health, cultural importance and the as-yet undiscovered values that nature gives us.
We also wanted more opportunities to share straight from the home page the huge variety of work we’re doing all over the world – whether it’s video footage from a recent rainforest expedition, notes from the latest climate conference, or journal entries from scientists exploring new ocean territories.
From the mountains of Guyana to the boardrooms of New York City to the coral atolls of Kiribati, we will connect you to the individuals, families and organizations working to transform our global economy and ensure a sustainable future for all – farmers, governments, researchers, politicians, fishermen, nonprofits, business leaders and many others.
On conservation.org this week:
As CI’s Photo Coordinator, I work with amazing photography and the leading photographers in conservation.
Recently, the Conservation in Focus Alliance, CI’s partnership with BG, debuted an incredible exhibit called BG Thrive! in London, and now it has traveled to Brazil. It is being held at the The Botanic Garden in Rio de Janeiro from October 15- November 9, 2009.
The exhibit features some of the most dominant conservation photographers like Luciano Candisani, who is member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP). Through the Conservation in Focus Alliance, Luciano was able photograph some amazing imagery like this Northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus) – a critically endangered resident of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest (above). Less than one thousand remain. To help revive them and other unique species, CI has helped create green corridors linking the remaining fragments of the Atlantic Forest, assuring animals have a wider home to roam.
Karen Mikosz is the Photography Coordinator at Conservation International
As you might expect, CI’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia is full of people who live for being outside; after all, our passion for nature is what brought all of us here. Ironically, the demands of our jobs often keep us indoors at our desks.
Luckily, this isn’t always the case. A couple of weeks ago, I joined about 25 CI staff members and volunteers from REI and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club in McLean, Virginia’s beautiful Turkey Run Park. Less than ten miles from my house in the middle of DC, the park’s thick woods and ample river views felt much further away.
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In lieu of going to the office, the members of our team elected to take a “good Samaritan day” to help rebuild some of the park’s degraded hiking trails. After a brief introduction from Mark and Bruce, our team leaders, we picked up clippers, shovels and other mysterious tools whose names I never learned, and got to work.
I spent most of the morning hauling rocks out of the nearby riverbed and depositing them alongside the trail. As a few of us built up the rock pile, others gradually covered it with dirt, widening the trail to about three times its previous size. I was amazed at how quickly our large group was able to transform the section of trail. In only two hours, it went from a foot-wide slippery slope above the stream to a flat path that would allow two visitors to walk side by side.
After lunch, we moved on to another stretch of trail alongside the Potomac, where we worked amid a swarm of thousands of recently-hatched (and harmless) insects, which Bruce insisted only appear for a few weeks each year. Lucky us! Throughout the day, I also spotted toads, crayfish and a variety of smaller creatures living under rocks.
It may seem strange to alter native habitat in order to preserve it, but our wider trail and slightly re-routed stream will help to reduce erosion and hopefully attract more visitors, reminding city-dwellers that they don’t have to go far to experience nature’s beauty. At the end of the day, we piled back in the van, tired but satisfied that we had made a small but tangible difference.
World Food Day 2009 falls on October 16th, and as the new coordinator of CI’s Food Security program, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on some of the ways CI will be approaching the connection between nature and the food that everyone depends on.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2002) defines food security as a “situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
To address this, CI’s new Food Security Program is working at both the field and policy level to demonstrate that healthy ecosystems are essential to long-term food security, and to promote sustainable livelihoods through responsible agricultural production and resource conservation.
To learn more about our work on food security issues, and how it relates to healthy ecosystems and sustainable livelihoods, please check out the new food section on CI’s website starting on Monday, October 19th.
Bemmy Granados is CI’s new food security coordinator, with a background in environmental science in the international development arena.
A recent scientific expedition in Madagascar’s Ankeniheny-Zahamena rainforests has found evidence of the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) in twice the number of locations it was previously believed to inhabit.
Believed to be the world’s most endangered lemur, with less than 100 remaining in the wild, this discovery by a team of researchers from CI and partner organizations spells hope for this and other species that may have higher numbers than have been recorded.
Local conservationists believe that the support from local communities is playing a key role in the protection of important lemur habitat. The lemurs’ presence in the forest underscored the importance of the new protected area that is being created in the region.
Learn more…
PRESS RELEASE: Scientists Provide A Lifeline For Madagascar’s “Panda”
FEATURE: New Greater Bamboo Lemur Found in Madagascar
IN PHOTOS: Greater Bamboo Lemur
Our Reason for Being - We believe that the Earth's natural heritage must be maintained if future generations are to thrive spiritually, culturally, and economically. Our mission is to conserve the Earth's living heritage – our global biodiversity – and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature. Learn more about CI through our values.
