Several years ago, CI conducted a seminar on marine mammal and sea turtle rescue training in the Philippines’ Verde Island Passage. When a beached whale was found in the region this past December, Jessie de los Reyes, a graduate of the seminar, helped mobilize the community’s response. Corina Bernabe, the communications coordinator for CI-Philippines, recounts the experience.

Village patrolman Hernan Reyes was conducting a routine patrol along the shores of Nasugbu, in the Philippines’ Batangas province, when he met with an unusual sight: a 29-foot whale stranded in the shallow waters. It was 3 AM. A series of phone calls followed the discovery, and by daybreak, officials from various agencies had started arriving at the area, constituting a hastily-formed local response team.

The whale appeared calm and was breathing regularly, but would move or thrash its tail when people got too close or too noisy. The animal was found to have about 16 wounds on its body; the municipal veterinarian was called in to administer to the wounds, which were later assessed by experts to be inflicted by bites from the cookie-cutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis).

The incident naturally attracted a lot of attention in the village, with the local school even deciding to release its students early so they could witness the rare spectacle.

Some of the onlookers were later tapped to assist in releasing the whale, which was done after the veterinarian had administered antibiotics to the wounded animal. About two dozen men worked together to lift the whale (assisted by a rope sling) and guide it to deeper waters. The whale immediately swam out of the cove as soon as it was able to float, and a boat followed it to ensure that it safely reached open water.

Through the videos and photographs taken at the scene, experts were later able to identify the species as a Bryde’s whale (pronounced “broodus”), Balaenoptera edeni. In the Philippines, historical records indicate that the Bryde’s whale was subjected to hunting in the past. There is little information available on the current distribution of the species in the country, and live strandings such as what happened in Nasugbu are uncommon.

Cetaceans such as whales are key ecological indicators. High up on the marine food chain, declining numbers of cetaceans such as whales can cause imbalances in the marine ecosystem, consequently affecting fisheries and those that depend on them.

The successful release of the Bryde’s whale in Nasugbu was in large part due to the dedication and cooperation shown by the local community. It also shows an appreciation of the importance of creatures such as whales in maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem. That unforgettable morning in Nasugbu, the entire community was united in one thought: saving the whale was everybody’s priority.

Read more about this unusual event.

Where can you find stunning photographs and inspiring stories highlighting CI’s work around the globe? What does it mean when CI says we are taking our activities to a whole new scale?

It means this—Among other things, the new issue of Team Earth will:

• summarize the outcomes from December’s United Nations meetings in Copenhagen, and examine the next steps we must take to tackle climate change;
• explore how partner organizations in southern Africa are working with CI to save elephants while improving human livelihoods;
• reveal CI’s ambitious new plan to save the world’s oceans; and
• visit the forests and farms of Tanzania, where CI’s TEAM Network and the Gates Foundation are joining forces to revolutionize agricultural practices while conserving essential ecosystems.

It’s a busy time, and an exciting one. Take a moment. Take a look.

For its first major project, CI set out to protect 728,000 hectares (1.8 million acres) in and around La Amistad International Park on the border between Costa Rica and Panama. Partially funded by McDonald’s, this initiative emphasized local community participation in economic growth, seeking not only the conservation of biodiversity, but also the protection of the watersheds essential for Costa Rica’s hydroelectric development and other benefits to human well-being.

Today, CI has grown to include over 30 country field offices with over one thousand government, business and nonprofit partners worldwide. In the last five years alone, we have engaged countless communities in conservation efforts, discovered more than 400 species and helped increase global protected area coverage by 63.6 million hectares (nearly 250,000 square miles – an area the size of Texas).

As we reflect on how far we’ve come, CI is focused on the future. We will continue to work for the protection of the natural ecosystems which form the building blocks of all life on Earth so that humanity and all life can continue to thrive.

Now, thirteen years later, Wildlife Works has expanded from selling clothes and accessories to selling something that is more vital to life on Earth, yet also harder to see: carbon. Last month, Wildlife Works Carbon’s REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) project in Kenya’s Kasigau Corridor became the first REDD project in Africa to achieve the GOLD level validation under the Climate Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Alliance’s REDD Standard.

The Kenya project and its designation is a milestone for the expansion of REDD throughout the global carbon marketplace. It serves as a model for other African communities across the continent to conserve threatened natural resources, and provides direct financial incentives, helping them combat the effects of climate change and pursue sustainable development.

A contract with South Africa’s Nedbank will allow the project participants to sell the Voluntary Emission Reductions that the Kenya project generates; this new source of income is bringing relief for many community members stricken by drought and poverty, and has already created new job and educational opportunities for local people.

CI is proud to partner with Wildlife Works, and we will continue to support their efforts to integrate conservation and development for a more sustainable future.

At that time, the only way to get to Monrovia was with the UN peacekeeping mission or on one of the Nigerian carriers, all of which overbook and work on a first-come, first-serve basis. After two days of trying to catch a flight from Cote d’Ivoire, where I had been meeting with partners, my new friends and I realized we were not going to get a flight in time. So we loaded up a truck and started on a 21 hour journey from Abidjan to Monrovia.

Two images are etched in my memory from that trip. The first was just 20 minutes after we drove across the log bridge and border posts crossing into Liberia. We drove by a UN personnel carrier stopped in the middle of the road. There was a bullet hole through the windshield right about where the driver’s eye level would have been. Welcome to Liberia!

The other image was when we got to Monrovia. Just about every building we passed was completely burned out, a dark shell of concrete. And there were kids, so many kids filling these buildings and streets with nowhere and no one to go to. I had worked in Africa for a decade, but this was the first time I really had a hard time finding the positive in a situation. No one should have to suffer through this.

Then I began to get to know our Liberian partners and staff, and learn about what they were doing. Forests had helped finance the conflict, but these people were engaged in a revolutionary plan to help Liberia gain greater control of those forests and use them for human well being. When we had crossed the border and my passport was stamped, the border guard scolded me. “What Liberia needs is for people to quit coming and taking all of our resources, leaving nothing here!” I learned how CI country director Alex Peal and his team were working closely with local leaders to help them develop their own organizations, providing them with the funding they needed to improve their communities. I saw women putting new coats of mud over the bullet holes on walls, painting welcome greetings for new shops and restaurants. Liberia was moving forward, and its people wanted partners to assist.

“I can smile, having seen how far Liberia has already come. It is easy for me to be optimistic about the future.”

Four years and five trips later, Liberia and CI are still moving forward. There are no longer UN checkpoints every 10 minutes or so; security is increasingly handled locally; programs for education, business development and women’s empowerment are moving forward. The president is convincing investors to join in on Liberia’s development.
Sanctions on timber were lifted, thanks to the adoption of the regulations and plans that CI helped author. Partners we used to fund are getting the grants that we used to apply for. The burned-out buildings have mostly been renovated and now house new businesses. The streets are no longer filled with orphaned kids, but busy people working to earn a livelihood.

The entire development community here is turning over. Now government partners of Liberia are developing programs focused on five to ten years as opposed to three to five.

Many of the new faces coming in express their reservations about how far Liberia has to go. Yet I can smile, having seen how far Liberia has already come. It is easy for me to be optimistic about the future. Certainly serious challenges remain, but Liberia has already moved further than I would have thought possible four years ago. I feel lucky to be opening a new office and revising the next steps on a path defined years ago – to conserve Liberia’s natural heritage as a fundamental principle of development. It is indeed an exciting time to be in Liberia.

Eric Coppenger is the Director of Resource Strategy in the Africa and Madagascar Field Division of Conservation International.

REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The main idea behind it is that deforestation is one of the main contributors to climate change and that reducing it is one of the quickest and most cost-effective ways of lowering carbon emissions. REDD projects give financial incentives to those communities or nations that are effectively working to prevent forests form being cut.

The new set of standards aims to put the interests and rights of people in the forefront, so that efforts to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and can also contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development. Another innovative feature is the fact that this is the first initiative to develop REDD standards through a global public consultation process. Read “Indigenous views of climate change” >>

These standards provide governments with a way of demonstrating the benefits of their REDD programs, while at the same time trying to prevent any potential negative social and environmental impacts of REDD to indigenous peoples and communities that depend on forests for their livelihoods.

The REDD+ Social and Environmental Standards can be found at: www.climatestandards.org

Read the press release: A new global social and environmental standard for REDD+ programs
en Español: Nuevos estándares sociales y ambientales para programas REDD+

Patricia Yakabe Malentaqui is the Press Officer for Conservation International.

The CCBA is a partnership convened by CI’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business and several leading NGOs to leverage markets to foster the development of forest protection and restoration projects around the world that deliver significant climate, local community and biodiversity benefits.

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.

Now U.S. leaders agree on the direness of the situation. Military and intelligence analysts have acknowledged that climate change will pose an increasing threat to U.S. security as effects such as drought, flooding and food shortages cause political instability, spread of infectious disease and massive migrations, among other problems.

Read John M. Broder’s New York Times article, “Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security“.

Or learn more about CI’s work to combat climate change

The park, which protects headwaters of important river basins that are the major freshwater sources for the densely populated state, was expanded from 46,350 hectares (114,533 acres) to 58,790 hectares (145,273 acres), an increase of 21 percent. To put the region’s fresh water importance into perspective, a single portion of the park’s headwaters was estimated to provide water for more than 800,000 people.

With support from the Global Conservation Fund, CI-Brazil and the Conservation Strategy Fund have been working towards the development of a scheme for payment for ecosystem services provided by the park’s freshwater sourcing potential, including the design of the necessary institutional framework for its implementation.

At the same time, CI-Brazil and its partners have been collaborating with the Environmental State Agencies of Brazil’s southeastern Region (Minas Gerais, São Paulo; Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro) to design policy frameworks for the tapping of ecosystem services provided by protected areas, a possibility established under Brazil’s National Protected Areas System law.

The expansion of this park is a joint initiative of the Rio de Janeiro Environment Agency and the Atlantic Forest Protected Area Initiative (AFPAI) – a partnership between CI-Brazil, SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

Luiz Paulo de Souza Pinto is the Atlantic Forest Program Director at Conservation International

No one is immune to the issues facing freshwater ecosystems. However, it is becoming clear that small indigenous communities in isolated areas are among the first to feel the impacts of these threats.

Members of the Kamayurá tribe in the Amazon are slowly going hungry as deforestation and climate change make their homeland hotter and drier, shrinking water supplies and reducing fish stocks. On another continent, in the “cradle of civilization” between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, drought, pollution and lashes between Iraq, Syria and Turkey are taking a toll on the livelihoods of local Marsh Arabs. They are now are being forced to import fish from Iran, an unsettling turn of events for a culture which has relied on fishing for millennia.

As in the past, modern societies faced with catastrophic changes in their environment must either adapt or relocate. While relocation is without a doubt far less tragic than death, it is a difficult choice for many due to high costs and the fact that as the global population grows, there are fewer and fewer places to go.

Also, in assimilating with other communities, cultures risk losing their unique languages, art, traditions and overall worldview – regional knowledge which has been molded by the communities’ past. If lost, the lack of this knowledge could make finding regional environmental solutions even more of a challenge.

CI is working with indigenous communities and organizations all over the world to incorporate their cultural heritage and unique perspectives into regional conservation practices. Through this work, community members have a bigger chance of mitigating and adapting to change rather than disappearing along with their homelands.