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Fauna&Flora The magazine of Fauna & Flora International
Sir David Attenborough
FOREVER YOUNG
BACK TO the future
Ian Aitken
Ian Aitken
Celebrating 110 years of conservation achievement The African connection
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OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS Conservation in a changing landscape FAUNA & FLORA INTERNATIONAL
110 YEARS OF INNOVATIVE CONSERVATION
1903 – 2013
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Innovative conservation since 1903 www.fauna-flora.org
UNITED FRONT Joining forces against wildlife crime
SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH A natural interest
Issue 18 | December 2013
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OF INNOVATIVE CONSERVATION
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Fauna & Flora is the biannual magazine of Fauna & Flora International (FFI). Our vision A sustainable future for the planet, where biodiversity is conserved effectively by the people who live closest to it, supported by the global community. Our mission Fauna & Flora International acts to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take account of human needs. Magazine production team Editor Tim Knight
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Front cover: FFI vice-president Sir David Attenborough. Neil Nightingale/Nature Picture Library Forested landscape in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. Jeremy Holden/FFI. Opposite: (Above) Female black gibbon at the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre, Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam. (Below) The talismanic Arabian oryx.
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From the President
celebrating 110 YEARS OF CONSERVATION
“Working together is actually quite simple,” a nine-year-old boy explained to me during one of my recent dialogue sessions with children. We were talking about preconditions of the new economy. “Even if people think very differently or specialise in very different things, they can still understand each other. They just have to ask questions and listen to what someone says and doesn’t say. But you do need to agree on everything that matters, such as how you see nature or being honest with each other.”
Contents 4
My young friend puts his finger on the essence of constructive cooperation. It was precisely this kind of approach to partnership that I found appealing about Fauna & Flora International (FFI) when I first got to know the organisation over 10 years ago. Partnering with others on the basis of equality and respect is, in my mind, what leadership is about: knowing what needs to be done and then inspiring others to give their best to achieve a shared goal. I’ve experienced such leadership from FFI staff on the ground on many occasions, but perhaps most memorably while visiting the amazing endangered primate centre in Vietnam’s Cuc Phuong National Park some years ago.
The African connection
Kindling the flame
Investing in conservation leaders
Securing sites and strengthening management
14 Hidden treasures
Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains
16 Old dog, new tricks
Conservation in a changing landscape
20 United front
Joining forces against wildlife crime
22 Fast forward
Harnessing the power of people and technology
24 Around the world
Putting conservation on the map
26 Landmark events Significant milestones in FFI’s history 30 Who’s who Mark Rose 32 Partner profile A blueprint from Belize
FFI has a long and distinguished history and it is a privilege to be associated with such an outstanding team of people. I look forward to lending my support during the next, vital, phase in our continuing development. We greatly appreciate the generosity of everyone supporting us. May many more follow suit. Never before has the need to invest in the future of our planet been greater or more urgent.
34 Supporting conservation An interview with Sir David Attenborough 37 A special celebration 110 years of conservation success
38 Tools of the trade Staffan Widstrand/Nature Picture Library
President, Fauna & Flora International
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12 Halcyon years
There’s always more to be done when it comes to conservation, but it is remarkable what a professional, dedicated and driven team can achieve. I am proud of FFI’s reputation as a ground-breaker, with our innovative, landmark programmes, many of which have come to be regarded as classic examples of conservation best practice. Over the past 110 years, we have helped set up some of the world’s first protected areas, forged new partnerships with businesses and championed new ideas such as payment for ecosystem services. Operating in a dynamic context naturally requires us to make constant adjustments. But our values remain the same, in particular our continued emphasis on working in partnership, helping others to solve the conservation problems that affect them most directly, rather than imposing our own agenda on others.
HRH Princess Laurentien
Back to the future
More than maps
40 Species profile Arabian oryx 42 Gallery
Natural selection
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Back to the future The African connection When Edward North Buxton and his distinguished, whiskery associates determined that they would champion the protection of a very large chunk of the Sudan as a game reserve in 1903, they could have had no inkling of what would become of the organisation they created to take this work forward. Nor could they have envisaged that 110 years later this organisation – which today is known as Fauna & Flora International (FFI) – would be playing such a pivotal role in the conservation of East Africa’s rangelands, including the pioneering of community-based conservancies for the rangelands, forests and wildlife of northern Kenya and the rebuilding of some important reserves for wildlife in South Sudan.
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As FFI has evolved over the intervening decades, the purpose of such reserves has progressed from being an exclusive preserve for people in other continents, towards ensuring that security for wildlife and benefits from natural resources are inclusive and valued most by local communities. Here Matt Rice, Joy Juma and Rob Brett shed light on how FFI has supported this progression over the last decade.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
Below right: Improving South Sudan’s basic infrastructure will be vital to the rehabilitation of its protected areas.
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
Despite the many challenges facing this fledgling nation, FFI recognised its huge conservation needs and opportunities. Since 2010, FFI has been working with the Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism to help restore the conservation sector in South Sudan. The focus is on supporting endangered species conservation, promoting and developing community conservation, and rehabilitating protected areas (which comprise an extensive network of parks and reserves representing around 14% of the 648,000 km² territorial area of South Sudan). This has started in Western Equatoria State, where FFI is assisting with the reestablishment of Southern National Park, the country’s oldest and largest national park, and two small game reserves (Bangangai and Bire Kpatuos) located along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. FFI is providing practical support in the form of ranger training, basic infrastructure development, equipment provision and research for these protected areas as well as technical input to new wildlife conservation policy and legislation. Through this practical approach, FFI is laying the foundation for a larger programme that may incorporate other South Sudanese states, such as Western Bahr el Ghazal and Unity.
Right: Africa’s elephant populations continue to face poaching threats.
Robert Howard
New country, new programme In 1903, a group of eminent naturalists heard reports that authorities in the Sudan were planning to abandon the White Nile Reserve and substitute a far inferior area to the south. Alarmed by the news, the group put pressure on the authorities to change their plans, and it was this successful campaign that led to FFI’s creation. So there was a sense of returning to our roots when FFI began working again in the region – this time in the newly established Republic of South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011, following two protracted civil wars.
The focus is on rehabilitation of protected areas, support to endangered species conservation and promotion and development of community conservation.
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In 2002, FFI began supporting the establishment of Sera Wildlife Conservancy and, with a three-year grant, raised US$400,000 for Sera through the US State Department. This proved to be a pivotal step, as the funds were later granted and administered by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), beginning a long-standing period of support from USAID towards conservancies in northern Kenya and towards the formation and development of NRT, which was formally established in 2005. FFI’s technical support and intimate involvement with the management of NRT was instrumental over these formative years in creating a robust institution with a broad donor base and a growing membership of community conservancies across northern Kenya. Indeed this engagement has overseen the establishment of Kenya’s largest community conservation initiative, recognised by the Kenya Wildlife Service, USAID and the World Bank as one of the best models of conservation in East Africa. It is regarded, alongside Namibia’s community conservancy programme, as one of the most successful community conservation endeavours on the African continent. Wildlife numbers across NRT community conservancies are now stable and growing (despite ongoing poaching threats), with a reduction in environmental degradation, and an improvement in rural livelihoods.
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Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
FFI and Northern Rangelands Trust Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) is a community-led initiative, co-founded by FFI, which aims to develop resilient community conservancies that transform people’s lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources.
Above: Radio collars are helping staff at Ol Pejeta to monitor the conservancy’s thriving cheetah population.
Growth and replication of the NRT model NRT was established by communities that recognised the need for an umbrella organisation to help them use conservation as a means of improving and diversifying livelihoods. Conservancies are fundamentally about building representative and resilient community institutions. With one hand NRT strengthens capacity and supports development – providing routine assistance to conservancy members to ensure strong governance, financial management and effective anti-poaching and wildlife monitoring operations. With the other hand, it helps to create sustainable financing and income streams for community conservancies and their constituent communities, and currently generates over US$1million each year from tourism, livestock and handicrafts. There is considerable further potential in linking livestock markets, grazing regimes and rangeland management to improve ecological
capacity for wildlife and economic returns for communities. An increasing number of communities and newly-created conservancies have joined NRT, which now boasts more than 20 members covering at least two million hectares spread across seven counties, with over 200,000 inhabitants. NRT’s strategy is now to extend and replicate the model to other areas of Kenya, with the support of FFI, The Nature Conservancy and the Lewa and Ol Pejeta Conservancies as institutional members. In 2011, with support from Halcyon Land & Sea, FFI helped to develop the NRT growth strategy, which recommended the creation of independent branches of the Northern Rangelands Company Ltd (NRC – the operating arm of NRT) for specific geographical regions. This would allow NRT to retain its core values and approaches, to consolidate its support and coordination amongst the original cadre of conservancies (in Laikipia, Samburu and Isiolo counties), and to use this as fertile ground to test,
Outside NRT and even beyond Kenya, there is considerable potential for FFI to continue to help other communities establish or become part of new wildlife conservancies.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
embed and adapt critical programmes – such as rangeland management and enterprise development – for other regions. It would also enable community conservation momentum to grow with its own appropriate representation and linkages in other regions, and allow new NRC branches to emerge that could acquire the structure, staff and resources to support their own constituency of community conservancies. There has been good progress in implementing this growth strategy. With direct support from FFI’s marine programme and the Halcyon Fund, a replicate organisation has been established on the north coast of Kenya. North Coast Conservation, as it is known, is now taking the Ishaqbini, Awer, Kibodo, Ndera and Lower Tana Delta conservancies under its wing, and has already helped set up new ones (including Hanshak-Nyongoro) as well as supporting smaller marine-based community organisations for sustainable fisheries and reef conservation at Pate Island. A new NRC branch for Marsabit County has already led to the establishment of three conservancies. The Wildlife Bill and the community conservancy regulations that are in the final approval stages in Kenya provide opportunities to replicate the model and reinforce it as a sustainable management option in the country.
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
Outside NRT (and even beyond Kenya), FFI continues to help other communities establish or become part of new wildlife conservancies with similar structures and purpose around the periphery of important protected areas (e.g. Tsavo National Park, with the Tsavo Trust), or within them (e.g. the Chuilexi Conservancy in Niassa, Mozambique). FFI will also be supporting programmes
FFI continues to play a crucial role in helping to negotiate the forthcoming hurdles. for flagship endangered species in specific NRT conservancies, including the reintroduction of black rhinos to Sera Wildlife Conservancy, and conservation management of the emblematic beisa oryx at Melako Conservancy. Considerable challenges lie ahead for many of the northern Kenyan and coastal communities, with oilfield and pipeline developments, major transport corridors and infrastructure in planning (including the Lamu Port and South SudanEthiopia Transport corridor, which will incorporate the construction of a
new deep-water port near Lamu). All of these developments will have significant direct and indirect local impacts (such as in-migration, poaching and wildlife crime, and increased access for resource extraction). The challenge for NRT and other conservancies will be to ensure that the communities are resilient, ready and able to take advantage of the opportunities that may come with these changes, and to mitigate the negative impacts. As a long-term partner to these organisations, FFI continues to play a crucial role in helping them to negotiate the forthcoming hurdles.
What is a community conservancy? In general terms, a conservancy is an association dedicated to the protection of the environment. However, where national parks and other formal protected areas typically prohibit or heavily restrict human activity, conservancies permit activities that allow people to earn a living in an environmentally sustainable way. In northern Kenya for example, where livestock herding represents a way of life and a means of survival, NRT is helping its conservancies to follow more sustainable livestock grazing practices while also helping to secure tourism investment and develop other sustainable livelihood options. The core business of community conservancies, however, is the protection of wildlife, and activities undertaken by the conservancies in northern Kenya – including better rangeland management and anti-poaching operations – have led to a significant increase in the abundance of many wild animals.
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Kindling the flame Investing in conservation leaders
I was with the director of the Center for Plant Conservation in Hanoi a few years ago, stuck in a traffic jam for what seemed like hours on the way to a meeting where I was due to facilitate their organisational strategic planning process. I had started talking about the importance of conservation leadership, as other areas of conversation had begun to dry up. He listened carefully to what I was saying and then asked me whether I considered myself to be a conservation leader. I quickly replied: “No, no! I’m not a leader! I support others to be conservation leaders.” Ever since that day, I have thought a great deal about my instinctive response. It was almost as though I was embarrassed at the idea that I could be a leader myself. I think many people initiating, delivering or supporting the protection of biodiversity, often against the odds, might have answered similarly. Those achieving conservation success are usually humble, keen to keep their heads down and get on with the task in hand – be it outsmarting poachers, gathering scientific evidence, changing public perceptions, or influencing those
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Above: Conservation Leadership Programme participants conduct a survey in Uzbekistan’s Shavazsay Gorge.
decision-makers who struggle to think beyond limited terms in office. In my role as Programme Director for Conservation Capacity at Fauna & Flora International (FFI) I have read widely on the subject of leadership, but more importantly I have had the opportunity to witness many individuals and organisations across FFI’s network leading tremendous positive changes in order to realise their vision of a sustainable and biologically-rich future. In most cases they have done this with disproportionately few resources for the impacts they are achieving; and by doing so they have encouraged and inspired others to join them.
By Marianne Carter
There is no disputing that these people and institutions are leaders: they are guiding and influencing positive change. Lisel Alamilla is a particularly outstanding example of someone who has always had a leadership twinkle in her eyes. She joined FFI as Country Director for the Belize Programme in 2006, before moving two years later to lead Ya’axché Conservation Trust (see page 32) where, amongst other things, the organisation helped develop an integrated land management strategy for the Maya Golden Landscape with the participation of indigenous
Those achieving conservation success are usually humble, keen to keep their heads down and get on with the task in hand.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
Left: Friends in high places. Lisel Alamilla’s rise to prominence has given conservation a voice at government level in Belize.
Nicky Jenner/FFI
Below: Conservation mentoring and training is helping to equip tomorrow’s leaders with vital skills.
WE BELIEVE THAT INVESTING IN TALENTED INDIVIDUALS… LEADS TO EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINED CONSERVATION.
C-3
So, what happens if individuals and organisations showing that spark of initiative, like Lisel early in her career, receive a ‘leadership boost’? How can they benefit from a learning opportunity, some recognition and profile raising, a chance to gain a fresh perspective on their challenge, or some additional financial or technical resources? This is what we have been able to discover at FFI, through tailored local and national conservation training and mentoring (in Cambodia,
Sachin Pillai
Anna Ten
communities, private businesses, NGOs and the government. Lisel’s ability, passion and unwavering determination recently put her in a direct decision-making role for her nation; in 2012 she became Belize’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development. In Lisel’s case, the support and recognition she has received along the way from colleagues and mentors (including FFI as a partner to Ya’axché), and via an award or two, have provided opportunities that have helped her progress. Several of the leadership initiatives at FFI follow this ongoing mentoring and support ideology.
Romania, Tajikistan and Liberia, to name but a few) and also through several global initiatives that target conservation leadership development and aim to scale up our ability to carry out effective conservation on the ground. Although clearly there is no single, magic formula, at FFI we believe that investing in talented individuals and maintaining strong, effective institutions and networks leads to effective and sustained conservation. Our leadership programme focuses on those who are in the best position to influence decisions and those who can directly act to protect biodiversity. So, to provide a few examples of our global initiatives supporting conservation leadership, I’ll explain what is happening right now as I write. Currently, eight of this year’s group of 17 international students from the Cambridge Conservation Initiative’s Masters in Conservation Leadership (at the University of Cambridge) are scattered across the world looking at real leadership challenges in their placements with FFI. Their projects are varied, ranging from identifying ways to coordinate policy approaches with the government in Belize (yes, with Lisel!), to exploring how FFI might deal with wildlife trade issues in Southeast Asia. One is even focusing on devising a new conservation-based mobile app. This unique course recognises the breadth of knowledge
and skills required (from biology, to communications, to economics) to create genuinely successful conservation outcomes. Established in 2010, it is designed for specialists with several years’ conservation experience anywhere in the world who are looking to move to a leadership role. Eight Cambridge-based conservation organisations (including FFI) and six university departments have enthusiastically collaborated on the course, and FFI is directly supporting student participation through two scholarships (the Whitbread Scholarship and the Nick Mills Scholarship). Several FFI staff are on the teaching team, providing insights to students on difficult conservation issues such as the use of wild meat, and offering practical management advice in areas such as finance and strategic planning. Madyo Couto of Mozambique, our Whitbread Scholar this year, recently offered me his thoughts on the course, which have been echoed by other students: “Many of the modules were really enlightening, but the most positive surprise for me was my colleagues… you learn so much from their experiences and we have bonded so well…I think that through the network of expertise the course provides, we have an amazing resource that we will be able to draw on in our careers ahead.”
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It is these supportive peer-to-peer networks that we at FFI are particularly interested in. We have a vision of connecting leaders globally. For many, it can be a lonely feeling being a conservation leader: sometimes isolated in remote locations, or being one of the few in your community who sees the importance of sustaining the natural resources around you. The need for closer collaboration and the sharing of experience and lessons has been repeatedly emphasised by our partners across the globe. This has enabled us to begin to formulate a plan to ensure that our leadership support permeates all areas of conservation-focused institutions and does not merely benefit a select few individuals. Our newest initiative is focused on organisational development issues. With other Cambridge-
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Jeremy Holden/FFI
At the same time, 24 early-career conservationists from 19 countries are in Canada at the Conservation Leadership Programme’s annual training workshop, which is provided for the latest cohort of award winners who have secured support for their projects. The two weeks of intensive training provide methodologies for project planning, fostering behaviour change, media and messaging as well as sessions on leadership, climate change and ecosystem services, fundraising and best practices in training. Perhaps the most important outcome of this event will be the friendships that every participant will make. We now have over 25 years of evidence through this programme showing that connections made here will be lasting. The programme has a 3,500-strong alumni network where past award winners stay connected online and meet through funded opportunities to attend training and conferences. This network will help these emerging leaders through tough times, offering encouragement, and inspiring a flow of new ideas and opportunities between them for years to come as they assume positions of influence across the globe – contributing to new conservation science, protecting sites and species and influencing the most critical decisions that affect wildlife.
it can be a lonely feeling being a conservation leader: isolated in remote locations, or being one of the few who sees the importance of sustaining natural resources.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
Alfredo Romero
valuable advice to get them through it. It’s a new initiative and is currently in the testing phase with partners, but with additional investment we hope eventually to make this resource available for all. We cannot talk about FFI’s global leadership initiatives without mentioning our work across the corporate sector, where companies benefit from working with us to help them minimise their often mindboggling global biodiversity impacts. With our help, our business partners are becoming role models, working towards leading through best-practice standards for biodiversity and ecosystem management right across their operations. One of our longestrunning partnerships has been with mining giant Rio Tinto, with whom we have worked closely for over 15 years. In 2004, Rio Tinto became the first company in the extractive sector to make a group-wide commitment to have a Net Positive Impact on biodiversity by closure of each of its operations, and FFI has been helping it to achieve this ambitious goal. Elsewhere, oil and gas company eni
Shahin Isayev
based conservation partners we have recently established a website (capacityforconservation.org), which complements our more conventional one-to-one support of partner institutions by providing a wider range of organisations with a means to assess and plan their development. Although every situation is different, in many cases the challenges faced by organisations are actually very similar wherever they are in the world – be they technical conservation issues or indeed institutional development needs. Resources have been made available and case studies from partners shared to help provide organisations with ideas on how they can strengthen their capacity where it is most needed – be it improving governance structures, or sharpening their approach to fundraising. We hope to give the conservation community (which is looking for ways to make things better for its organisations) a way to connect so that they can carry out conservation more effectively than ever. Those who have overcome an institutional crisis are in a very strong position to reassure others in similar situations and indeed offer very
has gained industry-wide recognition for its recent work on biodiversity and ecosystem services, largely as a result of its partnership with FFI. It has made a positive contribution to the biodiversity working groups of both OGP (International Association of Oil & Gas Producers) and IPIECA (the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues). The fact that it was invited to chair the IPIECA group is testament to the leadership position that eni has assumed. Looking ahead, I sometimes wonder what will happen if we cannot scale up conservation efforts as rapidly as is needed. Despite significant effort, the conservation sector still needs far more capacity to confront the loss of our planet’s biodiversity. I can comfort myself with the thought that even a mere handful of people can still bring about extraordinary change. We need to cultivate and nurture these leaders. I know that the efforts of those building this capacity are valuable, and we need to drive our sector to invest not only in our own people, but also potential conservation leaders in other sectors. FFI, together with partners, is leading the way on this, and we will continue providing ‘leadership boosts’ at multiple levels in order to tip the balance in our favour towards a sustainable future.
Above: Monitoring imperial eagle and lesser kestrel nest sites in Azerbaijan. Far left: Cambodian conservationists search for geckos on a lichen-covered buttress root. Below left: A working party of Cambridge University students visits Hayley Wood nature reserve.
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Halcyon years Securing sites and strengthening management
By Dr Abigail Entwistle
I like the word Halcyon. It doesn’t necessarily roll off the tongue, but for me it evokes images of pastoral idylls and summer meadows…and specifically the idea of a life lived at one with the natural world. This of course reflects the aspiration of Halcyon Land & Sea fund (Halcyon), through which Fauna & Flora International (FFI) supports work to secure the future of threatened natural areas, along with the human communities that live in and around them. When originally established in 1998, it was known as the Arcadia Fund. Again, this name reflected the idea of a longed-for paradise, where nature and mankind are in harmony. In 2010 the fund was renamed with the aid of that master wordsmith (and FFI vice-president) Stephen Fry, alongside Lisbet Rausing, the original architect of the Arcadia Fund. It is not only the name that has changed, however. Over the last 15 years we have learnt a lot about protecting important natural areas through Halcyon, and those lessons have helped the fund itself to evolve. Our original focus was on land purchase to secure sites facing immediate conversion or
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Over the last 15 years we have learnt a lot about protecting important natural areas through Halcyon. degradation, but this has since expanded to include projects that strengthen management of those sites still threatened despite being formally protected. For example, Halcyon support in the high Pamirs of Tajikistan has put in place the equipment, resources and training to enable regular patrolling to take place in the Zorkul Nature Reserve for the first time since its establishment in 2000. Similarly, Halcyon is supporting the reestablishment of active patrolling in Southern National Park in South Sudan (see page 4). This doesn’t mean we have abandoned land purchase as an intervention where it is appropriate. Indeed Halcyon is currently supporting the purchase of an area of botanically rich tumps (small, rounded hills, known locally as movile) in the traditional farming landscape of Romania’s Transylvania.
In this landscape, the presence of farming communities is as important as the biodiversity itself. Traditional farming practices underpin the area’s botanical diversity, and supporting communities to continue farming in traditional ways is therefore absolutely vital in maintaining its stunning plant life. This exemplifies how Halcyon is able to support the continued connections between rural communities and the natural habitats on which they depend. Since 1998, Halcyon has supported 40 different projects that collectively have secured some 6.5 million hectares of biologically rich habitat through land purchase or improved management. But that is not the only way Halcyon works – the fund also looks for projects that take a holistic or strategic approach to the issues.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
Alongside work securing and managing sites, you will find Halcyon supporting efforts to strengthen local management organisations. It is clear that investing in the capacity of the institutions that will manage these sites in the long term is vital to their sustainability – we always ensure that sites supported by Halcyon are owned or managed by local groups, although it can be a time-consuming business to secure the relevant agreements. Halcyon has invested in the development of groups such as Ya’axché Conservation Trust in Belize (which has managed the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve since its purchase in 1998; see page 32), as well as supporting the strategic development of the Northern Rangelands Trust (see page 6) and an innovative programme of work to protect the Critically Endangered Iberian lynx with Liga para a Protecção da Natureza in Portugal.
Alex Diment/FFI
At the same time, Halcyon is willing to find novel ways to achieve its overarching goal of securing important areas of biodiversity. This might entail support for testing and developing REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) in the province of Aceh in order to keep Sumatra’s rainforests standing, or for Payment for Ecosystem Services schemes that could help to safeguard the threatened landscape and wildlife of Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains (see page 14). Similarly, in South
Africa, Halcyon has funded work that led to legislative changes. Consequently, perverse incentives that rewarded land conversion have been consigned to the dustbin, and restrictions can be imposed on any land that changes hands, thereby protecting its conservation value. Whilst Halcyon undoubtedly helps FFI to achieve its primary goal of safeguarding species and habitats, the fund also helps us tie together site protection, innovation, strategic alliances and conservation leadership. This type of combined approach is vital to ensure the longterm effectiveness of conservation. It has been my privilege to manage Halcyon Land & Sea for the past six years. In that time I have seen many exciting projects develop, and have seen the experiences from past projects applied to new initiatives. None of the achievements to which Halcyon has contributed would have been possible without the generosity of its key donors. In particular, the ongoing support of Arcadia (the charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin), which has recently been renewed until 2017, will enable us to seize many new opportunities and, in time, safeguard even more areas of high conservation value throughout the world.
None of the achievements to which Halcyon Land & Sea has contributed would have been possible without the generosity of its key donors.
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This spectacular green pit viper, Cryptelytrops cardamomensis, was described as recently as 2011.
Hidden treasures Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains By jeremy holden
Throughout its 110-year history, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has shown itself to be rather adept at seizing new opportunities to explore and safeguard natural areas that less intrepid organisations might have regarded as strictly out of bounds. Until FFI spearheaded an ambitious expedition into Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, this virtually unexplored wilderness was arguably Asia’s best-kept biological secret, as Jeremy Holden was privileged to discover. A few months into the new millennium, accompanied by tiger biologist Pete Cutter, I approached the summit of one of the highest peaks in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. Even at 1,500 metres above sea level, the forest was magnificent: tall straight-limbed trees rising more than 30 metres over a sparse understorey. It was first class primary forest, showing no signs of human disturbance. In the rich black earth we noticed the ovoid marks of elephant footprints. They were perhaps a month old, long enough for falling leaves to have partially obscured them. Pete bent down to remove a leaf from one clear print and, magically, revealed at its centre
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the impression of a tiger’s pugmark. It was an important moment. In a stroke we had proved that the megafauna of the Cardamom Mountains had somehow survived the madness of the past 30 years. The area known as the Greater Cardamom Mountains runs from the Thai border in the south-west of the country in a long arc, petering out before reaching the Vietnamese border in the south-east. After their defeat in 1979 the Khmer Rouge retreated into these mountains, rendering them off limits to all outsiders for almost two decades. For biologists and conservationists this was frustrating. The Greater Cardamoms cover a vast area of Cambodia, approximately 10,000 km2, most of it tropical rainforest. Their environmental importance was undisputed. But no scientists
had visited the area since the 1970s and there was no information on how these forests had fared. Two questions needed answering: had the megafauna (species such as elephants, tigers and gaurs) survived? And, was this remote range a centre of endemism, harbouring its own unique fauna and flora? No one was certain of either. The chance to find out became a possibility in 1998 when Pol Pot finally died and the remaining Khmer Rouge groups disbanded. Within two years FFI and its partners had conducted an ambitious expedition to the area now known as the Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary (PSWS). The objective was simple: to gauge the conservation potential of the area – to see what wildlife remained in the Cardamom Mountains and how to protect it. That first expedition gathered together a
we had proved that the megafauna of the Cardamom Mountains had survived the madness of the past 30 years.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
This Khmer Rouge edict prohibiting the killing of large mammals was one positive aspect of an otherwise lunatic time, but there were plenty of dangerous legacies too. Landmines laid by the Khmer Rouge, Cambodian government troops, and the invading Vietnamese army meant the area was littered with minefields. Poor healthcare had also created an environment rife with drug-resistant malaria – and these were only the human-created problems. We also had to battle a naturally hostile environment: steep terrain, aggressive leeches, and a scarcity of water characterise the remotest corners of the Cardamom Mountains, making fieldwork tough.
Jeremy Holden/FFI
This is perhaps why it has taken almost a decade to finally answer the second question concerning the level of endemism in the Cardamoms.
However, after more than a decade of field surveys, it now seems that the incidence of endemism is higher than those first results suggested. Discovering this has been a slow process; the Cardamom Mountains have given up their secrets gradually. Documenting the Cardamom’s biodiversity and trying to protect this unique environment has been difficult, and is also a race against time. With much of the land now cleared of mines and new roads being built, the Cardamoms have opened up for exploitation. Hydroelectric dams, plantations and logging are taking their toll on the forests, and protected-area status doesn’t always safeguard land from economic land concessions. The Cardamom Mountains and their wildlife are under threat as never before.
Sapria poilanei. Jeremy Holden/FFI
During the expedition it seemed that perhaps we had been overly optimistic. We did find some new species – the Cardamoms wolf snake, Cardamoms bush frog, a subspecies of partridge, and a host of new snout moths. More importantly, we located a population of the Critically Endangered Siamese crocodile, then thought to be effectively extinct in the wild. But the level of endemism seemed lower than we had expected.
Philautus cardamonus. Jeremy Holden/FFI
Asian elephants. Jeremy Holden/FFI
One key element of post-conflict conservation is assessing the impact of hostilities on the local wildlife. In some conflict zones, large mammals have been slaughtered to feed hungry troops. Elsewhere, conflict has placed off limits areas that were formerly accessible to hunters, thereby preserving the wildlife. It was possible that the jungle-living Khmer Rouge soldiers had extirpated the large mammals, either for food or trophies. This proved not to be the case. A few days into the expedition we confirmed the presence of large mammals, finding footprints of elephants, tigers, leopards and gaurs, and learning in the process that Khmer Rouge commanders had outlawed the killing of any mammals larger than a deer.
Jeremy Holden/FFI
motley group of specialists covering most of the major groups – reptiles and amphibians, large and small mammals, birds, plants and – more specifically – the Pyrilidae, or snout moths (a useful family for gauging insect diversity).
Development has brought some benefits. In small settlements such as Pramouy in the centre of PSWS, the pace of change has been dramatic, and has made life safer, as well as opening up the area to the possibilities of tourism. The fall of the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent opening up of the mountains has had other consequences – notably the arrival of hunters who don’t share the same deference for large mammals. Easily trapped, and scarce everywhere else in Cambodia, tigers were heavily targeted and remain a shadowy presence. All is not lost, however. Protection work by committed rangers from Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment has made hunting a risky business, and forest patrols and checkpoints on the roads in and out of the sanctuary have brought the initial free-for-all under control. Our camera-trapping work bears testament to this improvement, with some incredible results – elephants, clouded leopards, marbled cats and many other rare species have been captured on our cameras. It’s the proof we need that, whatever the challenges, the Cardamom Mountains are worth fighting for.
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Old dog, new tricks Conservation in a changing landscape
Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is the world’s longestestablished international conservation body. An organisation with a history dating back to 1903 could be forgiven for being a little set in its ways, but FFI’s outlook is anything but conservative. Well over a century since it was first established, FFI continues to reflect the pioneering spirit of its founders. Resourceful, innovative and unencumbered by red tape, it remains at the forefront of enlightened conservation practices, continually developing new techniques, forging new partnerships and adapting to changing circumstances. As the challenges confronting conservationists have multiplied and intensified in recent years, FFI’s trademark adaptability and inventiveness have proved to be increasingly crucial for success. Today, groundbreaking initiatives and new alliances continue to keep FFI at the cutting edge of conservation, as we work with our partners across the globe to find practical ways of tackling species loss, damage to ecosystem integrity, over-exploitation of vital
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Above: Panoramic view from a rocky outcrop at the heart of Kenya’s Northern Rangelands.
By Joanna Elliott
resources such as fisheries and forests, growing threats to water security, and the causes and effects of everincreasing climate instability.
depleted supplies of fresh water, healthy soil, minerals and fuels, forest products and biological diversity that are essential to our long-term survival.
The exponential rise in the human population, exacerbated by the growing demands of each individual consumer, has taken us precariously close to the tipping point. Despite the rapid expansion of new technologies and efficient means of production, we are beginning to exceed our planet’s capacity to deliver the environmental goods and services required to feed us and keep us healthy, let alone to sustain our current lifestyles. We are in danger of exhausting the already
Additionally, the failure to tackle growing income inequality serves to increase the threat of social instability and challenges us all to find new ways to address poverty while strengthening democratic processes and governance systems. This is the context within which we are striving to safeguard the planet’s threatened biodiversity, and which has shaped FFI into an organisation that always looks ahead for innovative ways to conserve the natural world. One
groundbreaking initiatives and new alliances continue to keep FFI at the cutting edge of conservation.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
This global FFI field programme is now supported by five cross-cutting teams working under the banners of Conservation Science, Conservation Capacity & Leadership, Mining & Energy, Agricultural Landscapes and Environmental Markets. Each of these teams focuses on a discrete field, but they share a common ethos. Whether establishing a new protected area, investing in the conservation leaders of tomorrow, or minimising the environmental impact of big business, their approach bears the characteristic FFI hallmarks. As the examples below illustrate, creative solutions and imaginative alliances are the order of the day.
Right: The Global Trees Campaign, established by FFI in 1999, continues to explore new ways to broaden its impact on tree conservation.
Li Xiaoya/FFI
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
of the most important tools at our disposal is our burgeoning global network of partnerships and alliances, which supports our growing field programme.
Creative collaborations The alliance of science Responding to the current crisis in our oceans, FFI has begun expanding its marine conservation remit in tandem with local partners, governments and marine-focused groups such as BLUE Marine Foundation. Since 2010 our Marine Programme has crafted conservation solutions that mitigate the effects of human development on the marine environment. These have ranged from the re-establishment of traditional management systems in the Indonesian province of Aceh, to the development of consumerfocused materials in the UK. One of the many emerging issues that have commanded our attention during the past year is the threat from microplastic particles that are present in many domestic cleaners and personal care products such as facial scrubs. These microplastic particles wash down the drain and end up in the marine environment, where (evidence suggests) they are ingested by marine invertebrates. Research suggests that this may also result in bioaccumulation of toxins up the food chain. With this in mind, FFI has launched the Good Scrub Guide, a practical tool that encourages best practice by enabling consumers to choose facial scrubs
Right: Something old, something new. The name remains the same, but the reputation, reach and remit of FFI’s renowned scientific journal have grown immeasurably in the past century.
that do not contain microplastics. FFI also supported the development of a new smartphone app (www. beatthemicrobead.org) to make this information more widely available. Pass it on One of the most powerful ways in which FFI supports knowledge sharing is through its widely acclaimed, peer-reviewed scientific publication, Oryx—The International Journal of Conservation. The Oryx team also offers tutorials and workshops on scientific writing for conservation – anything from a few hours to several days in the classroom – to work through the potentially gruelling process of turning great conservation research into a first class scientific manuscript ready for peer review. The publishing ambitions of those working in the field are more difficult to fulfil if English is not their native tongue. Provided that their research is sound, the Oryx editorial office will endeavour to support these authors throughout the publication process. Consequently, the number of non-Anglophone authors publishing in Oryx is considerably higher than in similar journals; in 2012, for example, 64% of first authors were from a country outside North America,
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Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Alongside the support offered by the editorial office staff, the journal’s website (www. oryxthejournal.org) provides links to a number of free resources that help researchers with their scientific writing. Encouraging better practices Long before it became fashionable, FFI was blazing a trail in developing conservation alliances with the mining and energy sectors to improve their biodiversity performance. When we held the first business and biodiversity conference in London nearly 15 years ago, some accused us of sleeping with the enemy. Undeterred, we went on to develop strategic partnerships with Rio Tinto and BP. We continue working with them to this day, to integrate biodiversity and ecosystem services management into their risk management processes and practices. Our partnerships with these and other companies including eni, Anglo American and BHP Billiton are challenging the ‘business as usual’ mentality and demonstrating that conserving nature and maintaining its function and resilience make good business sense; these companies depend on freshwater, genetic resources, climate regulation and natural hazard protection to run their businesses successfully and profitably.
conserving nature and preserving the healthy ecosystems on which local people and businesses equally depend, they earn a so-called ‘social licence to operate’. FFI is working to harness the potential of corporate social management programmes to understand the dependence of communities on the natural resources potentially affected by mining and energy developments, and turn this information into risk management processes and livelihoods projects that can have positive outcomes for both the company and the communities.
Below: Brazil is one of the many countries to have benefited from FFI’s long-running partnership with British American Tobacco, which puts biodiversity at the heart of its decision-making.
FFI has also played a central role in the development and adoption of concepts such as Net Positive Impact on biodiversity, and biodiversity compensation mechanisms such as offsets – instruments that are now integral to lauded performance standards of the International Finance Corporation, the Equator Principle Finance Institutions, the World Bank Standards, and a growing volume of national legislation.
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government authorities requiring support to ensure that natural resources are exploited according to best practice standards and for the benefit of all stakeholders involved. In all but a few of these scenarios, the main protagonists will be government, private sector proponents, communities and civil society, although the balance of power may vary from context to context, or project to project. FFI’s role, increasingly, is to broker and facilitate a favourable outcome for biodiversity conservation with the support and cooperation of the other parties. Pushing the barriers, planting seeds FFI began engaging with leading agribusiness companies over a decade ago. A long-running collaboration with British American Tobacco (BAT) and two other NGO partners in the form of the BAT Biodiversity Partnership has helped to shape company policy regarding biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES). A vital component of this programme has been the development of a landscape-level tool to assess BES risks and opportunities across BAT’s entire global smallholder tobacco growing operations, and provision of in-country technical support for its application. This Biodiversity Risk and Opportunity Assessment (BROA) tool is now freely available for use by other companies with agricultural supply chains. Its effectiveness was highlighted in a report produced by the collaborative international initiative, Landscapes for People, Food and Nature.
These strategic alliances are sometimes driven by mining or energy companies, sometimes by lender banks pushing their principles, sometimes by
Souza Cruz
Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation, as it is known in the trade, also allows companies to build trust among the communities within which they operate, and among stakeholders abroad. By
FFI blazed a trail in developing conservation alliances with the mining and energy sector.
FFI is spearheading two landmark BAT projects that address BES impacts and dependencies in tobacco-growing landscapes in Brazil and Indonesia; the latter involves integrated watershed management, community forestry in degraded areas, supply chain improvements and the development of alternative fuels to replace unsustainable natural resource use in
celebrating 110 years of conservation
Recognising the grave threat to global biodiversity posed by the explosion in demand for palm oil and the consequent proliferation of unsustainable plantations, FFI has participated in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for a number of years, particularly in working groups concerned with managing and monitoring high conservation value areas (and with smallholders). We have provided technical support and advice to companies including Cargill and Sime Darby to help them minimise their impact throughout their supply chain and implement RSPO best practice standards. A major part of FFI’s work in Indonesia has involved identifying and protecting high conservation value areas in palm oil dominated landscapes at concession and landscape level and using this information to ensure that strategic government land-use planning and policies take account of biodiversity. We are applying the lessons learned in Indonesia to the emerging palm oil sector in Liberia. FFI has already led the national interpretation of the high conservation value toolkit in Liberia and has recently been appointed as the RSPO convenor to advance the development of a Liberian national initiative that will influence the designation of 500,000 hectares of proposed new oil palm concessions and support the sustainable development of the country’s palm oil sector. Green investment We cannot wait for a post-2020 global climate treaty to be in place before tackling climate change. FFI and our partners are already working to develop a finance facility that uses public sector support to boost private sector demand for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). Our pioneering work in REDD+ focuses on developing the forest carbon market niche with the highest standards
Right: Rewarding communities that keep their forests standing is a vital facet of efforts to halt deforestation.
Jeremy Holden/FFI
the tobacco industry. Support from BAT has also enabled FFI to develop and help apply approaches that focus on climate adaptation and valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services, to build resilience in complex agricultural landscapes.
for both biodiversity and social considerations. By linking international carbon finance with local community forestry we aim to place biodiversity and people at the centre of REDD+ while demonstrating the value that standing forests provide. The Environmental Markets Programme is developing a suite of innovative financial instruments, working with a range of private, public and civil society organisations to harness their expertise to funnel new types of finance into conservation. Rainforest Impact Bonds are designed to shift risk from donors to investors, with repayment of the capital tied to the achievement of specified social and environmental outcomes. We are also working with UNEP-FI and others to develop interim financing for climate-focused conservation work where the stalling of global climate change negotiations has created uncertainty that is jeopardising project success. FFI is working to ensure that nature’s goods and services are fully valued and reflected in economic decisionmaking. We are piloting field-based techniques to value ecosystem services across four sites globally, with a view to understanding the opportunities
and risks of using ecosystem service valuation for local decision-making. We recognise that the finance sector has enormous potential to change the way business is done. Through the Natural Value Initiative we have developed a range of tools to help financial institutions integrate risk factors associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services into their investment decisions, reaching investors with in excess of US$1.2 trillion under management. Similarly, our Sustainable Seafood Finance Initiative is helping financial institutions to drive greater sustainability in the seafood supply sector, providing a step-by-step guide to help fisheries companies improve their performance. With the emergence of a number of business-focused approaches to solving conservation problems, FFI has started working with environmental entrepreneurs to support the establishment of businesses that have a positive impact on biodiversity. By providing technical and financial support (potentially through an FFI impact investment vehicle), we hope to demonstrate that the growing interest in social impact investment is equally appropriate to the environmental challenges we face.
FFI is demonstrating that conserving nature and maintaining its function make good business sense. www.fauna-flora.org | 19
United front joining forces against wildlife crime
Nevertheless, we recognised that the legal wildlife trade had a potentially valuable role to play in conservation, in that it could encourage sustainable management and ultimately reverse species declines. It could be argued that, where they have control over the resource, fishing communities can be the best guardians of their stocks in the marine environment for example. The trouble is that while natural resource use can work in certain situations, in many cases the levels of exploitation are patently unsustainable. Rampant illegal wildlife trade is exacerbating the problem, and evidence from the field indicates that species are declining at alarming rates, with many endangered species (including charismatic megafauna such as rhino, elephant and tiger) being driven perilously close to extinction. How have we reached such a crisis point? A number of factors have combined, and it is their cumulative effect that is having such a seismic impact. Corrupt officialdom, complexity of legislation, difficulty of law enforcement, lack of joined-up policies across range states, increasing sophistication and ruthlessness of the organised crime networks driving poaching, slow reproductive rates among target species, paucity of data
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on what constitutes a sustainable level of hunting – all have contributed to the unprecedented level of pressure on endangered wildlife. Above all, the exponential rise in demand for wildlife products among the expanding and increasingly affluent consumer base in China and other parts of Asia is having a devastating effect. In light of this, it has become clear to FFI that we need to revise our approach and find new ways of addressing this serious issue through innovative alliances. This will require a concerted and collective effort on the part of conservation organisations, governments, communities and private companies. Prince William is among the many calling for urgent action. He recently announced that the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry is collaborating with seven of the world’s most influential conservation organisations, including FFI, in a new partnership called United for Wildlife, which is addressing major conservation crises such as illegal wildlife trafficking. Similarly, in the United States, President Barack Obama issued an historic executive order in July 2013 directing the US federal government to design and implement a plan to address this crisis.
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has always adopted a pragmatic approach to wildlife conservation. This pragmatism extended as far as recognising that many of the communities with which FFI works may well be actively involved in exploiting wildlife and other natural resources. Experience has taught us that the tacit acceptance of wildlife use, provided that it was demonstrably sustainable and confined to nonendangered species, could be a valuable weapon in the conservationist’s armoury. That is not to say FFI has actively encouraged the wildlife trade. In fact, we were instrumental in establishing many of the institutions that today are responsible for regulating such activities and preventing the illegal exploitation of endangered species. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, both owe their existence to FFI-led initiatives. FFI is consulting with relevant US government entities to help further this initiative. In the meantime, FFI and our partners continue to explore the most effective ways of combating the illegal trade, refining existing approaches and, where necessary, pursuing new avenues. As the examples on the next page illustrate, education, enforcement and economic incentives to conserve (rather than consume) wildlife hold the key to success. We will all have our part to play. One of FFI’s greatest assets is our extensive global network, forged over the last 110 years. As a result, we are ideally placed to form strong new alliances that transcend boundaries and vested interests, and encourage a collaborative approach to tackle what has become one of the most critical issues in conservation. If we are to ensure the long-term survival of the rhino, tiger and elephant (and all the other species that share their habitat), we need to devise imaginative ways to combat the illegal wildlife trade and, above all, work together to implement them.
celebrating 110 years of conservation Saving Sumatra’s tigers Rhino conservation in Kenya The Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya provides a vital refuge against poaching for rhinos and other target species. Black rhino numbers plummeted from 65,000 to 3,000 within the last two decades of the 20th century. Sanctuaries like Ol Pejeta (which harbours 100 black rhinos, 11 southern white rhinos and the last four fertile northern white rhinos) are helping to protect the remaining animals and encourage breeding. Techniques such as dehorning, radio-tracking and ear-notching are helping rangers to monitor the rhinos and respond to poaching threats with armed patrols. Community outreach, the use of bloodhounds as tracker dogs, collaboration with local cattle herders and effective law enforcement have brought poaching levels close to zero in the past two years at Ol Pejeta.
Turtle nests in Nicaragua
J A Bruson/FFI
Nicaragua hosts some of the Americas’ most important marine turtle nesting sites. Since 2002, FFI and local partners have been collaborating with the Ministry of the Environment and local communities to prevent illegal harvesting of hawksbill, leatherback and other turtle eggs. These eggs have traditionally provided coastal communities with a seasonal source of food and income. Our simple, but effective strategy is to train and employ local people (often ex-poachers) to patrol beaches and maintain hatcheries where clutches of eggs are protected in controlled conditions during incubation. Before 2002, virtually every leatherback egg was poached. Today over 90% are protected at our sites. At a recently discovered hawksbill nesting beach, project staff have observed and tagged more than 100 turtles and protected more than 630 nests over three nesting seasons. These data suggest the site accounts for 4050% of the annual hawksbill nesting in the entire Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Among the many threats to wild tiger populations, the demand for tiger skin, bone and other body parts in traditional medicine has taken a particularly severe toll. Sumatra’s Kerinci Seblat National Park, where FFI was instrumental in establishing a series of Tiger Protection & Conservation Units (TPCUs), is one of the few protected areas in Asia where tiger numbers have stabilised. For the fifth year running, TPCU patrols recorded an increase in the frequency of tiger encounters, a strong indication that this imaginative anti-poaching initiative continues to pay dividends.
Protecting forest elephants in Guinea By reinforcing and expanding protection measures within Ziama Forest Reserve and the migratory corridor that links it with Liberia’s Wonegizi Forest, FFI and our local and international partners are helping to prevent poaching of forest elephants. Five teams of eco-guards have now been furnished with urgently-needed field equipment and training, thereby enabling them to carry out effective monitoring patrols. Messages broadcast by local media are also helping to promote the project’s goals and reduce humanelephant conflict.
Crocodile conservation in Cambodia Hunting and habitat destruction have eradicated Siamese crocodiles from 99% of their historical range. The remaining wild population – numbering around 250 individuals – is largely confined to Cambodia’s remote highlands. As part of the Cambodian Crocodile Conservation Programme established by FFI in partnership with government ministries and local communities, community crocodile wardens have been appointed to help combat poaching of these Critically Endangered reptiles at three key breeding sites. Wardens undertake annual monitoring work as well as regular patrols. No poaching incidents were reported in 2012.
Saiga crisis in Kazakhstan As recently as the early 1990s, saiga antelopes roamed the grasslands of Central Asia in their millions. By 2003, the species had been virtually obliterated by poaching for its horns, which are used in Chinese medicine. Today, an estimated 150,000 survive in the wild. FFI has worked closely with the Kazakh government and the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan to protect this Critically Endangered icon of Eurasia through stricter law enforcement as well as scientific research, satellite tracking of remaining animals and public awareness campaigns.
Anti-poaching measures in Mozambique Mozambique’s Niassa National Reserve covers 42,000 km 2 – the size of Denmark – and is one of Africa’s largest and least developed protected areas. This wilderness has witnessed an alarming escalation in elephant poaching, illegal logging, bushmeat poaching and the uncontrolled spread of settlement and agriculture. In 2011, FFI began helping three contiguous concessions within the reserve to improve their capacity to combat poaching. Support for the first concession, Miuro, included constructing a regional headquarters to coordinate antipoaching activities, supplying vehicles and state-of-the-art communications equipment, and constructing two permanent scout outposts to increase anti-poaching deployment and coverage. No elephant poaching was recorded in this concession during the first six months of 2012, in marked contrast to neighbouring concessions, where 84 elephant carcasses were recorded.
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Fast forward Harnessing the power of PEOPLE AND technology
There is a tension between those who feel that established and emerging technologies represent a significant threat to our environmental, social and cultural well-being and those who are optimistic that technology will help us to solve our greatest global challenges. Gavin Shelton, Head of Enterprise & Innovation at Fauna & Flora International (FFI), finds himself occupying the middle ground. Few, if any, people and places on Earth remain unaffected by the reach and ever-escalating pace of disruptive technological innovation. Irrespective of whether your instinctive emotional response to this change is amazement, excitement or anxiety (or perhaps a combination of these), we can be certain that the pace of technologyenabled change will continue to accelerate unabated. Currently, 99% of machines in the world are not connected to each other, but within decades most will be. Vast amounts of data gathered by remote sensors in most mechanical processes will be analysed by computers running algorithms that are capable of learning, making automated decisions for us and issuing instructions to other machines
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based on those decisions. This phenomenon relating to the connectivity between machines and the automation of the systems and processes that govern them is being described as ‘The Internet of Things’ or the ‘Industrial Internet’. This could bring a host of benefits – safer travel, greater resource efficiency, reduced agricultural inputs and a decrease in emissions from industrial processes, to name just a few. But it may also rapidly accelerate the speed and efficiency with which we deplete Earth’s already dwindling natural resources. The script for how this story plays out is not yet written.
As conservationists, our challenge is to understand not just the forces that drive these advances but also how best to channel them into a relentless quest for inventive solutions to our most intractable challenges. Alongside this we must accelerate the rate at which those solutions are resourced and implemented. Fauna & Flora International’s Enterprise & Innovation Programme engages with technology experts, innovators and entrepreneurs across the world in order to ensure that new waves of technological innovation have a positive effect on the environment by equipping us with tools to better
As conservationists, our challenge is to understand not just the forces that drive technological advances but also how best to channel them.
celebrating 110 years of conservation
understand, communicate and conserve biodiversity for the benefit of all. This requires us to promote strategic collaboration between innovators in the science, technology and entrepreneurial disciplines with practitioners from the conservation and development sectors and those living closest to the biodiversity we collectively strive to protect.
With recent advances in technologies that can enable mass audiences to collaborate on creating solutions to problems (crowdsourcing) and platforms that could enable these solutions to be rapidly financed by a global audience of investors and donors (crowdfunding), there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about how technologies can be applied for conservation benefit. However, none of these tools will
be adapted and applied to the task of securing a sustainable future for the planet by accident. We need to play our part consciously, deliberately and wisely by influencing both the way in which these tools are applied and the development of the nascent regulatory frameworks that can enable them to flourish, delivering the kind of value that our existing financial systems have hitherto failed to deliver.
Conservation Labs A flagship initiative of FFI’s Enterprise & Innovation Programme, Conservation Labs will be the world’s first technology-focused innovation hub promoting the protection of the world’s threatened species and ecosystems. Conservation Labs is a unique and ambitious project launched at a time of great technological advances. The central aim will be to promote open sharing of ideas about how technology can be used for conservation through an online platform owned and run by a global community of conservationists, technologists and entrepreneurs. Conservation Labs will not only catalyse the development of solutions to pressing local and global conservation challenges, but will also create significant market opportunities for the products and services that are devised. Core Objectives of Conservation Labs Track the development of new technologies Few commercially-focused technologies are developed with conservation uses in mind, but that does not mean conservationists are unable to find a use for them. We can only assess the potential if we know what exists. Assess the potential of emerging technologies for conservation News of new technologies will be shared with the Conservation Labs community – technologists, innovators and conservationists – where we can share ideas on possible uses, adaptations and deployments for conservation. Develop new tools and resources for conservation Conservation Labs will form strategic partnerships with industry to adapt and apply new technologies to conservation projects. For technology gaps (where a conservation need has been identified but no technology solution currently exists), we will utilise the creative capacity of this community to develop new tools and technologies. Encourage local technology hubs in the developing world to focus on conservation Some great work has already been done in other development sectors around organising hackathons and mobile app
competitions with technology communities to help develop solutions to major health, agriculture and governance challenges. Conservation Labs will engage with these communities to foster the development of solutions geared towards conservation. Crowdsource ideas and solutions to today’s tough conservation and environmental challenges Conservation Labs will set annual innovation challenges to reward some of the best problem solvers with the finances, support, resources and pilot project sites they need to develop, test and launch their technology solution. Online discussion forums will allow conservationists and technologists to discuss openly the challenges, needs and issues in order to foster collaborative thinking and partnership. Investing in Conservation Innovation The Innovation in Conservation Awards, which will be hosted and convened on the Conservation Labs platform, will engage the general public, hobbyists, schools, universities, technology companies and research & development hubs and labs throughout the world to crowdsource solutions to themed challenges, set by conservationists and sourced from the Conservation Labs community. Award winners will receive funding, in the form of seed grants and impact investment, to develop, pilot and roll out their ideas. Investment in products, entrepreneurs and companies that are successful will help develop a sustainable source of revenue for conservation and for reinvestment in future award winners. The pressures facing species and ecosystems across the planet demand a radical change in the pace and scale of finding and implementing new solutions. Conservation Labs and the Innovation in Conservation Awards are designed to help drive and accelerate that change. Ken Banks, Innovation Adviser Gavin Shelton, Head of Enterprise & Innovation
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N O R T H A T L A N T I C O C E A N
Around the world Fauna & Flora International’s work spans four continents and over 40 countries. S O U T H P A C I F I C O C E A N
S O U T H A T L A N T I C O C E A N
around the world Fauna & Flora International’s work today stretches right around the globe, from the Americas, Africa and Europe to Asia and Australia. Here, you can see the spread of our work, with Fauna & Flora International project countries marked in darker shading.
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around the world
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N O R T H P A C I F I C O C E A N
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l Americas & Caribbean l Eurasia l Africa & Madagascar l Asia-Pacific & Australasia FFI hub offices
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Landmark events
1903–2013
Significant milestones in the 110-year history of Fauna & Flora International (FFI)
11 December 1903: a group of British naturalists and statesmen formally launch The Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire (today known as FFI) to tackle the alarming decline in game species. Now regarded as the oldest international conservation organisation, the fledgling society (led by Edward North Buxton) boasted an illustrious membership including US President Theodore Roosevelt and went on to establish the first network of international protected areas, including a number of the national parks still in existence today.
HM King George VI becomes the Society’s royal patron. The Society publishes the first issue of its journal.
Corbett National Park is established in India (as Hailey National Park).
The Society and its Hon. Secretary, James Stevenson-Hamilton, help establish Kruger National Park in South Africa. HRH The Prince of Wales becomes the Society’s first royal patron, continuing his patronage when he becomes HM King Edward VIII in 1936.
The Society helps bring about the International Convention for the Preservation of Wildlife in Africa, the first binding legal instrument to provide for the creation of protected areas in Africa.
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FFI launches the 100% Fund (now operating as the Flagship Species Fund), which has since provided over 750 grants, many to individuals who have gone on to become leading conservation professionals.
The Society is re-named the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society. TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network) is established by John Burton, the Society’s Executive Secretary.
Sir David Attenborough becomes the Society’s vice-president. The Mountain Gorilla Project is launched at the request of Sir David Attenborough. Now known as the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, this model of conservation success empowers communities to conserve their gorillas through sustainable ecotourism.
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Landmark events
Visit www.fauna-flora.org/timeline to explore an interactive timeline of FFI’s history.
HM Queen Elizabeth II, on ascending the throne, becomes the Society’s royal patron.
‘Operation Oryx’ is established to rescue the Arabian oryx from extinction through a captive breeding programme, culminating in the first successful reintroduction of a species into the wild.
© John Swannell/Camera Press
The Society is a founding member of the IUCN – The World Conservation Union.
Colonel Boyle becomes Secretary, bringing in many reforms including renaming the Society as the Fauna Preservation Society. His work at Heathrow airport documenting captured wildlife also leads to the formation of CITES. In 1963 he is awarded a CBE, and later receives the prestigious Order of the Golden Ark from Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
Sir Peter Scott, Chairman of IUCN Species Survival Commission, becomes Chairman of the Society. Scott also devised the Red Data Books, a systematic study of the status and distribution of all endangered species.
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The Society is renamed Fauna & Flora International (FFI). Throughout the 1980s, FFI brings the need for bat conservation to world attention and establishes the Bat Conservation Trust.
The Society and partners launch the Conservation Leadership Programme, aiming to develop future leaders and help them address the most significant conservation issues of our time. Since it began the programme has supported over 3,500 young conservationists in over 100 countries.
FFI and partners initiate the Antiguan Racer Conservation Project to save what is (at the time) the world’s rarest snake. Thanks to a programme of invasive species eradication and environmental education, the snake’s numbers increase from just 50 in 1995 to over 1,000 in 2013.
Halcyon Land & Sea fund (originally set up with Dr Lisbet Rausing and called the Arcadia Fund) is launched to secure vital areas of natural habitat, such as Belize’s Golden Stream Corridor Preserve – a vital conservation link from the Mayan mountains to the sea. Since its establishment, Halcyon has harnessed over US$112 million, directly securing 6.5 million hectares of critical habitat, and contributing to the conservation of over 43.5 million hectares, an area larger than Sweden.
FFI secures Flower Valley – 550 hectares of pristine ‘fynbos’ heathland in South Africa threatened with conversion to vineyards. Through Halcyon Land & Sea, FFI purchases the land and creates the Flower Valley Conservation Trust to link conservation with community development. Today, communities sustainably harvest wild fynbos flowers, ensuring a future for local people and the ongoing conservation of the area.
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FFI holds the first international business and biodiversity conference at Chatham House in London, and launches a programme aimed at engaging with the private sector to ensure that biodiversity features prominently on its agenda.
A joint FFI-Cambodian team completes the first post-conflict biodiversity assessment of Cambodia’s remote Cardamom Mountains and rediscovers the Siamese crocodile, which had been declared ‘effectively extinct in the wild’ by IUCN in 1992. The team also discovers an additional 400 unidentified species.
FFI’s Global Trees Campaign receives an award from the Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of its work to conserve tree species around the world.
In the United States, FFI welcomes Katie Frohardt as Executive Director, and centres its US operations in Washington, DC. FFI celebrates its centenary with events in London and Los Angeles, hosted concurrently by Joanna Lumley, Sir David Attenborough and John Cleese.
FFI and its local partner begin securing a landscape corridor for the Iberian lynx in Portugal, with support from Halcyon Land & Sea. Following the end of Liberia’s brutal civil war, FFI (which has been active in the country since 1997) facilitates the drafting of new laws to protect Liberia’s forests, including expanding protected areas and reforming a forestry law that had promoted logging.
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FFI helps found the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI), which brings together researchers, educators, strategists, policy-makers and practitioners to develop collaborative conservation programmes, including a Masters degree in Conservation Leadership, which runs through the University of Cambridge and is attracting future leaders from around the world.
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Fauna & Flora International Australia is established in response to calls from NGOs, corporations and individuals for Australia to play a stronger part in supporting global conservation. FFI and the Royal University of Phnom Penh launch the Cambodian Journal of Natural History – Cambodia’s first peerreviewed scientific journal.
The last four northern white rhinos of breeding potential are translocated from Dvu° r Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta Conservancy. This work was funded by Australian philanthropist Alastair Lucas through the family’s Matsarol Foundation.
FFI staff and local partners discover the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey and subsequently set up a project to ensure its conservation.
Landmark events
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is secured through a major gift from US philanthropist Jon Stryker’s Arcus Foundation, protecting the conservancy “for the wildlife and people of Kenya.” Ol Pejeta protects critical migration corridors and diverse wildlife (including black rhinos) using a novel business model that features wildlife conservation, livestock grazing, ecotourism and community outreach.
FFI and the Royal University of Phnom Penh launch a Masters of Science course in Biodiversity Conservation to rebuild Cambodia’s conservation capacity and arm a new generation of scientists with essential knowledge and experience in conservation biology and sustainable development.
Rapid Response Facility is launched in partnership with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the United Nations Foundation. This emergency small grant programme provides rapid support to sites of global biodiversity importance during times of crisis.
A study estimates the population of the Pemba flying fox to have quadrupled to around 19,000 individuals – up from just a few thousand in the early 1990s when FFI began working to conserve this declining fruit bat species.
FFI launches its Environmental Markets Programme to harness the power and resources of commercial markets to protect threatened habitats and provide real and meaningful benefits for the local communities who depend upon them. In the same year, FFI and partners launch the Natural Value Initiative – a tool that helps financial institutions understand the links between natural capital and financial performance, and build these considerations into investment decisionmaking.
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Following a major grant for US$5 million from Arcadia, FFI launches an ambitious marine programme. Building on existing areas of expertise and experience, the programme focuses on securing marine protected areas, addressing the wider threats to the oceans (such as plastic pollution), and supporting the growth of local marine conservation organisations around the world.
Fauna & Flora International Singapore is incorporated as an operational management hub for our Asia-Pacific programme.
FFI celebrates the 10th anniversary of its successful sea turtle conservation programme in Nicaragua.
photo credits: www.fauna-flora.org/magazine
FFI goes back to its roots, supporting conservation activities in Southern National Park, in the newly formed state of South Sudan.
A camera trapping survey run by FFI and partners captures the world’s first pictures of the Myanmar snubnosed monkey, while in Tajikistan another survey photographs some playful snow leopard cubs stealing a camera.
A conservation campus for the CCI is formally launched with Sir David Attenborough and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. Comedy legend and ardent conservationist Betty White joins forces with FFI as its first Honorary Director in the United States. FFI’s team in Vietnam receives a second award in 13 months for its work to protect the Critically Endangered cao vit gibbon.
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Mark Rose has held the role of Chief Executive at Fauna & Flora International (FFI) for the past 20 years. A zoologist by training, he spent the early part of his career as a wildlife officer and field biologist, specialising in the sustainable conservation management of wildlife, working in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.
Helen Tinner
During his two decades at the helm, Mark has been the driving force behind the implementation of FFI policy and strategy. He was instrumental in establishing (and has personally managed) some of the organisation’s most significant initiatives. Mark is particularly passionate about making conservation relevant to all levels of society and, to this end, advocates engaging with business, trade unions, local communities and sovereign governments.
Who’s who: A series of interviews with FFI staff, partners and associates
When did you first become involved in conservation? I have always been interested in natural history. When I was seven my grandfather gave me an aquarium. I collected amphibians and reptiles in it, rather than fish. I remember being influenced by the British naturalist Maxwell Knight, naturalist and collector Gerald Durrell and of course Sir David Attenborough. I left school at 16 to work in animal husbandry and later moved into conservation after university. What was your worst experience in the field? On my first foray into Africa, I got hopelessly lost in the Sahara desert and needed to be rescued by staff at a uranium mine. Another time, flying in a light aircraft over the remote western province of Papua New
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Mark Rose
Guinea, we got lost in cloud, and ended up running out of fuel and crash landing on an airstrip. The worst part was watching the demise of the fuel on the instrument panel. Where is the most interesting place you have worked? I went to Papua New Guinea just after its independence, which was very exciting. It’s a land of diverse habitats, peoples and cultures where they speak about 715 different languages. I was posted to a remote region as a district wildlife officer, visited unexplored places and met people who had never encountered anyone from the outside world. The work involved introducing an innovative crocodile ranching scheme that provided sustainable income for locals whilst conserving the wild population. It was very successful and still is.
Why did you decide to join FFI? I became an FFI member as a zoology undergraduate at Royal Holloway College. Then, as now, Oryx—The International Journal of Conservation was essential reading for those interested in a conservation career. My tutor, Dr Pat Morris, introduced me to John Burton, General Secretary of what was then the Fauna & Flora Preservation Society (FFPS). John took me on as an intern in what was the first TRAFFIC office in London, where I worked on a study into the trade in crocodilians. Many years later, when approached by headhunters about the role of Chief Executive, I was already aware of FFPS’s pedigree and saw the potential to help it out of the difficulties it was facing.
who’s who
What achievement are you most proud of? Helping to build an organisation that has such talented and devoted staff and trustees and has maintained its focus, integrity and reputation. More specifically, the Halcyon Land & Sea fund, established with Dr Lisbet Rausing in 1998 and later joined by Hugh Sloane, which has directly contributed to the conservation of almost 46.5 million hectares, an area larger than Sweden. What is the most fulfilling part of your job? Watching organisations and people grow and flourish. Flower Valley Conservation Trust is a great example. We saved a unique and irreplaceable botanical treasure house from destruction via an emergency land purchase through Halcyon Land & Sea, entrusted it to local partners, and worked with them to establish a sustainable flower harvesting initiative that is now safeguarding biodiversity, improving local livelihoods and demonstrating the economic viability of well-managed, independent conservation projects.
What is the most frustrating aspect of your job? Putting a lot of effort into an initiative and it going nowhere. For example, following the UN Climate Change Conference in 2007, FFI developed several Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) exemplars to help overcome some of the technical difficulties facing this initiative. The REDD initiative could have been the single most important mechanism for protecting the world’s tropical and temperate forests, not to mention its impact on climate change. Deforestation and forest degradation account for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the entire global transportation sector and second only to the energy sector. We developed six projects with an investment of US$10million, only to see our efforts fall foul of the vagaries of the international political system. Nevertheless, we are confident of success in the long run. What is your most memorable FFI experience? Being in Rwanda just after the genocide in 1994, seeing a country on its knees following one of the most horrendous war crimes of the 20th century. People were shell-shocked, but a new and resolute government was determined to rebuild the country and had the foresight to recognise the key role that biodiversity had, and still has, to play. Gorilla tourism is now the third-largest revenue earner after tea and coffee production, and there is wide recognition that deforestation of the Virungas would not only condemn the mountain gorilla to extinction, but also have disastrous human consequences, as soil erosion, flooding, erratic rainfall and local climate change would trigger wholesale crop failure and collapse of the local economy.
What’s next for FFI? We are continually looking for new opportunities. We aim to increase expenditure and activity around Halcyon Land & Sea, with a particular emphasis on marine conservation, and have recently been joined by a new partner, Fondation Segré. Our Environmental Markets team is exploring potential new conservation mechanisms (see page 19) such as impact investment and integrating the value of biodiversity into the fabric of society. Then there is the development of our newest region, Australia, and the potential for new initiatives out of Singapore. What is the biggest single challenge facing conservation in the 21st century? Putting a value on the natural world and communicating this message. For example, the importance of pollinators, which affect 35% of the world’s crop production, is only now becoming apparent to the wider population. Messages and thinking need to be firmly embedded into global governance and accepted by the general public. This has been extremely well articulated in a book by Tony Juniper (one of our council members), and by our own President, Princess Laurentien.
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Jeremy Holden/FFI
How has your own role changed? When I started there were just five staff, so my first task was to grow a team and a work programme. I spent lots of time in the field, helping to develop conservation programmes around the world. Now that we have a more established regional structure, I can step back. I still travel widely and frequently, but it tends to be to Sydney, Washington and Geneva, rather than Monrovia, Jakarta and Managua!
Lisel Alamilla’s rise to prominence (see pages 8 and 33) is a wonderful success story. Closer to home, Kathie Alban joined FFI as my PA in 1997, when we had around 30 staff. As we grew, and the need for human resources expertise increased, Kathie took the lead in establishing and managing the relevant processes. Now head of HR, she is a trusted port of call for all our staff.
Flower Valley Conservation Trust/Slingshot Media
What major changes have you witnessed? FFI has consistently taken a quantum leap forward every five years. As an organisation, we have progressed to a more corporate structure. We are a genuinely global organisation, including a thriving US office in Washington DC, which recently celebrated its own 10th anniversary. When I started, we had three projects in three countries. Now we have more than 140 projects in over 40 countries. The challenge has been to retain our family values through this growth period, and I think we have succeeded.
Building partnerships from the grassroots up A blueprint from Belize
Working in partnership has always been a guiding principle for Fauna & Flora International (FFI). We believe fostering mutually-beneficial relationships with incountry partners is essential to secure local ownership of conservation activities and ensure interventions are appropriate and long lasting. A prime example of this partnership approach is our work in southern Belize, where we have been instrumental in helping a small grassroots group grow into an increasingly autonomous, effective and influential organisation. Although FFI had previously worked in the north of the country a decade earlier, our involvement in southern Belize began in 1997, when entrepreneurs and Maya community leaders from the southern district of Toledo raised the alarm about a 6,000-hectare area of broadleaf forest facing conversion to citrus plantations and shrimp farms. Located between the forest-clad Maya Mountains and the Belizean coast, FFI quickly recognised the significance of this area as a biological corridor and identified with the Maya leaders’ vision for conserving the forest for future generations. With finance from the Arcadia Fund (now Halcyon Land & Sea) and the Grass Valley Trust, FFI was able to secure the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve and transfer ownership to the nascent grassroots organisation. The Ya’axché Conservation Trust was born.
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Institutional growth Over the last 15 years, FFI has supported Ya’axché as a close institutional partner, helping it grow and become a strong, well-regarded organisation. From the outset, Ya’axché has demonstrated strong local leadership. This has defined its identity and priorities, and has shaped the character of our partnership. “We have always worked hand in hand with communities to encourage the wise use of land and natural resources,” says Bartolo Teul, a founding member of Ya’axché who now leads its community outreach and livelihoods programme. From its origin as a small group of people who saw conservation as a priority, Ya’axché now has a staff of 25 people, with specialists in social development and conservation biology, and a team of rangers recruited from the local
By Alison Gunn
community. It has a growing network of national and international alliances, whilst maintaining its well-established connections and resonance with the Mayan community. Initially Ya’axché focused on managing Golden Stream as a private protected area, but in 2008 the fast-growing organisation was granted management rights for the 40,000-hectare Bladen Nature Reserve, considered to be the jewel in the crown of Belize’s national protected area system. Today its impact on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development extends across the Maya Golden Landscape, spanning 120,000 hectares of connected ridgeto-reef habitats. Throughout the evolution of the partnership, FFI has provided reliable and adaptive support, responding to the needs of the organisation, as well as the emergence of new conservation challenges. We have worked together to secure and implement project grants, and have also helped Ya’axché to improve its internal systems, planning and governance, as well as to develop the strong national profile and support that it now enjoys.
partner profile
The review confirmed the valuable role this partnership plays in helping FFI and Ya’axché to carry out effective conservation work that is demonstrably benefiting both biodiversity and communities. Ya’axché believed that no other organisation could have fulfilled the same partnering role as effectively as FFI. In the words of the former Executive Director of Ya’axché, Lisel Alamilla: “We recognise and appreciate that FFI does not impose its own agenda; rather it aims to develop capacity for conservation, put more areas under conservation management and help local organisations work more effectively.” FFI has since supported Ya’axché in reviewing its institutional strategy and planning processes, which has helped to define the next phase of our maturing partnership. A new, brighter era for Belize’s natural environment In 2012, a new chapter for Belizean conservation was signalled by Lisel’s appointment as the new Belizean Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development. This exciting development recognised her outstanding commitment to conservation, both during her leadership of Ya’axché and previously as FFI’s Country Manager in Belize. In a reassuring demonstration of its strength as an organisation today,
We have always worked hand in hand with communities to encourage the wise use of land and natural resources. Ya’axché was able to make a smooth transition through the resulting change in leadership – a testament to the strong foundations put in place by the dynamic, talented and committed teams at both Ya’axché and FFI. Lisel’s progressive policy agenda now provides Ya’axché – and its new Executive Director, Christina Garcia – with an exceptional window of opportunity to advance the organisation’s mission in southern Belize. Today, FFI is assisting Ya’axché to become truly autonomous, with wide-ranging networks and high conservation impact in Belize. As Christina says: “FFI continues to be instrumental in guiding Ya’axché’s development and strengthening its funding base, helping us to reach our goals and achieve greater financial sustainability for the coming years.”
and mutually-beneficial relationship, that it is providing a model for future partnership development elsewhere. Ya’axché is already replicating this approach through its support to the development of other nascent community groups, in order to strengthen environmental stewardship among those living closest to the rivers, forests and reefs of the Maya Golden Landscape. “Both organisations see this as a longterm collaborative partnership,” says FFI’s Nicky Jenner, who has worked on our Belize programme for the last four years. “It will continue to adapt and evolve over time as we face new conservation challenges in southern Belize.”
Far left: View of Belize’s Golden Stream River. Below: Jaguars are among the many species that thrive in the biologically-rich landscape that FFI’s long-term partner helps to protect.
Secrets of our joint success FFI’s partnership with Ya’axché is proving to be one of our most successful. Key to its success is the high degree of harmony achieved (through compromise and adaptability) between two very different organisations. We each recognise and respect our common vision and purpose. We appreciate that good communication and understanding is necessary to make a collaboration work. We share resources and spread the risks. We are both open to jointly developing and trialling new approaches to conservation that also contribute to sustainable development, in a region where poverty is still a real issue.
Lynn M. Stone/Nature Picture Library
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
Reflecting upon a successful partnership As Ya’axché celebrated its 10th anniversary, FFI commissioned an independent review of our institutional partnership, in order to record its evolution, achievements, challenges and successes, and to help determine its future direction. The willingness of both partners to openly review our institutional relationship in this way demonstrates the level of trust and mutual respect between our organisations. It also reflects FFI’s commitment to build the capacity of our partners while respecting their autonomy to realise their own aspirations for their environment and long-term future.
It is a tribute to the strengths of our partnership approach, and to the specific qualities of this collaborative
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A natural interest Fauna & Flora International (FFI) vice-president, Sir David Attenborough, talks about mankind’s connections with the natural world, what it would mean to lose it, and why we must never give up hope. You’ve been a member of FFI for 60 years. Why and how did that connection come about? This may sound odd, but 60 years ago the concept of global conservation didn’t exist. It wasn’t just that people didn’t know about it, it simply didn’t exist. So why was FFI established, way back in 1903? Well, the organisation was founded by a group of notable naturalists who were deeply concerned about the decline in African and Indian species – particularly game species – they were witnessing. This group of far-sighted individuals got together and said, “We ought to work out (a) why this is happening and (b) what we can do to stop it.” At that time it was a relatively small problem, but these people laid the foundation of modern conservation science. They published a journal [today called Oryx] – the only one in
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the world that dealt scientifically with the problem of disappearing species. When I joined in the 1950s, I was fresh out of the navy but before that I had a degree in zoology – and I was very interested in Oryx, not necessarily because I recognised the danger of species losses at that time, but because here was a journal that described how elephant populations changed, what elephants did. Where other publications looked at animals in captivity, this journal looked at animals in the wild. And that was what I was interested in.
Well, since those days the world has changed enormously, and that expertise has become gold dust. This is what the world needs to know, and FFI has maintained its position as the centre of scientific expertise on protecting the natural world and the species within it. Was your connection with FFI linked at all to your famous experience with mountain gorillas, while filming Life on Earth? Well that was aired in 1979, so nearly 30 years later! The series was about the history of life on Earth – starting
If we are divorced from the natural world – or if we find that it has been diminished – we are desolated.
supporting conservation
But then he told me about this amazing woman called Dian Fossey, an American zoologist who had gone out to live in the Virunga Volcanoes in Rwanda, where one of the last remaining populations of mountain gorillas is found. The director told me that Fossey had habituated a group, which would allow us to approach them without their running away. I didn’t think I could possibly sit near them – in fact I had no ambition to sit near them – but we could get close enough to film. Dian Fossey was passionate about gorillas, and she was distraught when we arrived because one of the gorillas – the first one that she had ever touched, a little male – had been poached, his head and hands cut off. And for her, it was as though a nearest and most loved human being had been killed – murdered. Of course, that was not what we were there to make a film about, so with Fossey’s help we proceeded with our own project. But before we left she said, in floods of tears, “Promise me that when you get back you will do something to help protect these gorillas.” Here was a dying woman, I mean she really was. And I promised. Going back in the plane I wondered how I would keep my promise, how I could even start. And then I remembered FFI. By this time I’d been a member for nearly 30 years, so I went to John Burton, who was then director, and I asked him what we could do. And there and then FFI set up a fund to raise money and made a plan as to how the gorillas could be protected. Initially it was a small group, but other groups soon came and joined until eventually there was a big project to
we don’t only depend on the natural world for the material things – it is also profoundly important to us, to our very existence. look after these gorillas. And it worked magnificently – so much so that within a few years the foreign income generated by mountain gorilla tourism for Rwanda had become a major contributor to the country’s economy. In 2012, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (as this group has become known), reported that there are now 880 mountain gorillas in the wild – a testament to this amazing work. I honestly believe that if it hadn’t been for Dian Fossey and FFI, there would be no mountain gorillas left in the wild today. Here’s a tricky question: does every species deserve to be saved? When people talk about species loss, what we’re really talking about is the ecosystem. Each species is an integral part of this complex web, and when you lose one thing, you’re in danger of destroying and upsetting the rest of the ecosystem, so that what was a working system, rich in variety, breaks down altogether.
John Sparks/Nature Picture Library
Miles Barton/Nature Picture Library
from the very beginning, and going right through to monkeys, apes and ourselves. One of the things we desperately wanted to do was to film primates gripping tools, because this was a crucial stage in the evolution of mankind. Initially I proposed to film chimps, but the director said, “No, we could go and do it with gorillas.” Of course I thought that was impossible – I believed gorillas to be huge, ferocious creatures, and I wasn’t keen to sit next to them!
Unfortunately, often we don’t even realise what we are doing at the time. It’s only when we look back that we realise what we’ve done – that we’ve destroyed the system. The big picture is that we are part of the natural world, and we depend on it for the air we breathe, and for every particle of food we eat.
Far left: Sir David eyes an Oustalet’s chameleon, endemic to Madagascar, during filming for the BBC series Life in Cold Blood.
And do you think the natural world is important on a more spiritual level as well? There is no doubt about that. I get a lot of letters – I may get 30 or 40 letters a day, particularly if there is a series on. Some people talk about how a particular series or episode has appealed to them on an intellectual level, but I also get letters from people who say, “I was recently bereaved, and my loss has been profound; and I discovered that the only thing that gave me any solace was the natural world. But I live in a town and I have been out of touch with the natural world. So when I turned on the television set and saw your Left: This memorable encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda while filming Life on Earth was one of the catalysts for the formation of what is now the International Gorilla Conservation Programme.Today however, tourists are discouraged from this kind of close encounter as mountain gorillas are extremely susceptible to human illnesses.
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programme about the tropical rainforest, it gave me a comfort that I have been able to get in no other way.” This goes to show that we don’t only depend on the natural world for the material things – it is also profoundly important to us, to our very existence. And if we are divorced from the natural world – or if we find that it has been diminished – we are desolated.
And he’s right, you see. When you’re four, you want to know what that extraordinary thing is. How does it move? What are the things on its head for? What does it feed on? Why is it there? That fascination is in all of us, and rightly so because we are part of that system. As we grow older, of course, we become interested in new things. And maybe part of that interest in the natural world becomes displaced. But if we lose it altogether, we lose one of the great treasures and sources of delight in our lives, but not only that: we’ve lost sight of the whole system of which we are a part and which sustains us. How much hope do you hold for the future? Can we solve the problem of biodiversity loss? Well, let’s not underestimate the size of the problem. Never in the history of this planet have all the people in the world agreed on any proposition. And how can you persuade people who are on the edge of starvation to treat their desert, for example, in a certain way? It’s as if you come from a different kind of universe. How can you get all the nations of the world to cooperate?
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Phil McIntyre/www.johnmcintyre.com
How do you think we can encourage young people to take a real interest in the natural world? I don’t know a single child who is not interested in the natural world when they are about three or four. I’ve taken a small child into a meadow and – when he turned over a stone – he cried, “Oh look! What a treasure! A slug!”
The coral of the Great Barrier Reef, for example, will be unable to withstand the rising water temperature and acidity associated with climate change. But you can only deal with this problem if there is a global commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and how do you persuade people who live miles away from the ocean that it’s necessary for them to cut down on carbon in order to save your reef? Well the only answer is international cooperation. And that’s what UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Programme is trying to do. People come back from these international conferences wringing their hands and saying that there were too many words and not enough action.
Above: Coral reefs are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, but they are extremely vulnerable to climate change and other threats from mankind.
And of course that’s true. But does that mean to say we should stop? No! So we progress, millimetre by millimetre. It’ll take a long time, but eventually people will have to recognise that something must be done if Homo sapiens is to survive at anything like the level of luxury we’re enjoying at the moment. And so, on the one hand I’m profoundly depressed that talk goes on and nothing seems to happen. But on the other hand I believe that we should not give up; on the contrary, we must redouble our efforts.
I believe that we should not give up; on the contrary, we must redouble our efforts.
supporting conservation
A special celebration
Gill Shaw/FFI
Gill Shaw/FFI
On 15 October 2013, guests gathered at the Royal Geographical Society in London to celebrate Fauna & Flora International’s 110th anniversary with a very special event.
Before a 700-strong audience, Sir David Attenborough and BBC compatriot Libby Purves discussed the wonders of nature and Sir David’s incredible career in wildlife broadcasting. Talk also turned to the threats facing our natural world today, and the reasons for conserving biodiversity. Attenborough shared his thoughts on the matter: “If you say, ‘well the reason we protect species is because they have value to us,’ – I can see that’s a very good, practical reason for preserving the rainforest because there are lots of plants there that may have alkaloids or whatever that may be useful for medicine. But I question that. I mean I’m not against it as a reason, but it shouldn’t be the fundamental reason – in my view.
“The fundamental reason is not because it [biodiversity loss] could be affecting us, but because we have the stewardship of the world…and we ought to protect that world; we don’t have the right to exterminate nature and manipulate it to this degree. At least, that is the moral proposition which I’m putting forward, and there will be plenty of people who would argue with it…but that’s my position anyway.” Attenborough has been a member of Fauna & Flora International (FFI) for 60 years, and a vice-president since 1979. Widely recognised as the face and voice of British wildlife documentaries, he has brought the wonders of the natural world to our living rooms for over half a century, inspiring millions of people around the world.
Left: Sir David Attenborough and Libby Purves in conversation. Right: FFI President, HRH Princess Laurentien, greets the speakers. After the event, praise for Sir David poured in, and it was clear that he continues to delight and enthral audiences wherever he appears. The evening as a whole was a resounding success, due in no small part to his inspirational presence, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank him once again for his continuing support. We’re pleased to say that a video of the talk is now available, so if you missed the event (or would like to watch it again), visit: www.fauna-flora.org/110years
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Tools of the trade An insight into some of the techniques and equipment used by FFI and its partners in the field
More than maps By andy cameron
A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected. Reif Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
Whether idly spinning a globe, poring over a nautical chart or whizzing around Google Earth, you could be forgiven for thinking the world has been mapped almost down to the last little rock. The days of “Here be dragons” and continental expanses of deepest, darkest unknown are unthinkable in the digital age. Modern map-making has evolved into a sophisticated field encompassing a wide range of technology and expertise across scientific disciplines. But whilst mankind may have reached even the greatest depths of the oceans, and satellites deliver images from space in enough detail to pick out a penguin, there is more to map, and so much more to maps… Since the earliest days of conservation, maps have been an essential tool; you cannot protect species and habitats unless you know where they are. The first map to feature in Fauna & Flora
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Above: A master’s student from the Royal University of Phnom Penh records a GPS waypoint during a field survey.
International’s journal (which today is called Oryx), showing nature reserves in central Africa, appeared in the very first edition in 1904, by which time we had already come a long way from the vast, blank interiors of the African continent. For much of the 20th century, maps in conservation bore close resemblance to those of exploration – a means simply to show where things were: be it the path of a river, the extent of a forest, boundaries of a reserve, or perhaps sightings of a rare species. The advent of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in the early 1960s changed all that. Originally developed in Canada as a means of urban planning at regional scales, GIS brought the power of the computer to the collection and analysis of data, allowing us to understand, interpret and visualise spatial and temporal relationships.
The possibilities of GIS soon became apparent and began to creep into all walks of life, including conservation. The first instance of GIS being mentioned specifically in Oryx didn’t come until 1992, by which point cardpunch computers the size of dinner tables had given way to the desktop computer. Data didn’t have to come just from the field anymore; the era of remote sensing meant they could come from the skies too. The door had been opened wide for more and more conservation scientists to look at species, habitats and the environment in a whole new light. GIS didn’t just facilitate the creation of maps, it enabled the data behind them to be combined, analysed and queried. It’s not about making maps. It’s about asking questions of maps. GIS has been a commonplace tool for conservationists now for the best
tools of the trade
Whether planning protected areas, designing field surveys, modelling species distribution or valuing ecosystem services, GIS has a role to play in almost all of our conservation efforts. In the steppe landscape of Mongolia, for example, GIS has been used to plan flight paths for aerial surveys that maximise survey area for the Endangered Asiatic wild ass, as well as analysing the resulting sightings captured in photographs across the landscape. Meanwhile, a project in Myanmar will harness GIS to link survey sites with data and satellite imagery, helping to establish ecological baselines, explore impacts of activities and provide options for the sustainable management of fragile ecosystems. And in places like Liberia and Cambodia, local staff are being trained in the use of GIS for forest survey techniques as part of REDD+ projects that aim to reduce deforestation through the development of carbon markets. Coming full circle? GIS in conservation has itself become a big beast and the field is constantly growing in new directions as practitioners get hold of new technologies and techniques. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, like those being trialled in FFI’s community conservation projects in Aceh, Indonesia (primarily as a deterrent to illegal loggers), are also seen as a means to put remote sensing technology for mapping into the hands of local projects in the near future. Meanwhile, the rise of cloud computing will allow us to track deforestation in near-real time at a global scale using satellite data and GIS.
Although cutting-edge technology has been fundamental to the success of GIS, this does not mean that the tool is only accessible to those who can afford expensive equipment. GIS can be as simple as overlaying maps drawn on paper, for example by fishers marking their grounds as a means of deciding how best to balance livelihoods with protecting natural resources, as in FFI’s work with coastal communities in Kenya. Or taking a GPS device, loaded up with old Russian topography maps, out into the field in Tajikistan to plan the placement of camera traps for snow leopard surveys. The focus on GIS in conservation is increasingly as a participatory tool to help community-driven planning, harness local knowledge, aid decision making and promote sustainable growth.
hand-drawn maps of cholera outbreaks in the mid-1800s. No matter what technological wonders may appear on the horizon, the most important pieces of kit are, and always will be, people.
After all, GIS has effectively been around a lot longer than the computer. Charles Picquet and John Snow applied the fundamental concept of spatial analysis in their
Above: The map that featured in the Appendix of the very first Oryx edition, 1904. Left: The advent of GIS revolutionised survey work in even the remotest locations.
Alex Diment/FFI
Jeremy Holden/FFI
part of 25 years. It is much more than a means to make maps. It allows us to look at scenarios, ask questions about species and the landscapes they live in, and approach complex issues that are, by nature, spatial. It is an analysis tool that helps us to visualise problems and communicate our findings. GIS allows us to use maps as a vital tool to assess the world we live in and make informed decisions in a variety of different ways. It is no longer just about “Where is…?” It is a question of “What if…?”
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Arabian oryx Scientific name: Oryx leucoryx Status: Vulnerable
Threats: Traditionally hunted for its meat and hide by the Bedouin of the Arabian Peninsula. The availability of automatic weapons and motorised vehicles, and the increasing popularity of sport hunting, have served to exacerbate the problem.
Long-standing supporters of Fauna & Flora International (FFI) may recall that the Arabian oryx was the subject of the very first species profile when the inaugural issue of Fauna & Flora was published back in October 2001. We make no apologies for featuring the species again in this commemorative issue, not only because of its iconic status within the FFI pantheon of conservation success stories, but also because the intervening decade has witnessed further vindication of the original captive breeding and reintroduction initiative that helped save this beleaguered antelope from extinction (see opposite). In 2011, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reclassified the Arabian oryx as Vulnerable. This announcement, which came just 40 years after the species was officially declared Extinct in the Wild, represents a remarkable conservation achievement. The only one of the four oryx species to occur outside Africa, the Arabian oryx inhabits sandy and stony deserts
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and is supremely well adapted to this hostile environment. Its bright white coat reflects the sun’s harsh rays, while splayed hooves allow it to negotiate the sandy terrain more easily. It can survive for extended periods without a direct water source and is capable of travelling vast distances in search of vegetation. Arabian oryx are active mainly around dawn and dusk, and tend to rest in the shade during the heat of the day. They dig with their hooves to create a bed of cooler sand in which to lie. The species is gregarious and forms herds comprising as many as 30 individuals. When conditions
Staffan Widstrand/Nature Picture Library
Geographical range: Once widely distributed across the Arabian Peninsula and north to Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and the Sinai desert in Egypt. By 1972 it was considered extinct in the wild, but has since been reintroduced to Israel, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
are less favourable these herds break down into smaller units, with males becoming more solitary and ranging more widely. Females typically give birth to a single calf each year. The Arabian oryx has an almost talismanic significance for FFI. As well as sharing its name with our internationally renowned conservation journal, it also inspired the formation of the 100% Fund, precursor of the Flagship Species Fund, which has since benefited innumerable other endangered species around the world.
the intervening decade has witnessed further vindication of the original captive breeding and reintroduction initiative that helped save this beleaguered antelope from extinction.
SPECIES PROFILE
Operation Oryx Little more than half a century ago, the Arabian oryx was a relatively obscure desert antelope, well on the way to becoming a footnote in the natural history books. Although the species had long been on international conservation’s radar, its plight was not seriously addressed until 1962, when The Fauna Preservation Society, as FFI was then known, devised and executed an ambitious rescue plan with financial help from the recently-formed WWF. An expedition was mounted to what is now South Yemen, with the aim of capturing several of the last surviving wild Arabian oryx, which would form the nucleus of a captive herd. The long-term goal was to reintroduce the species to its original habitat at an appropriate future date. Three of the four captured animals survived the ordeal, and were eventually shipped to Phoenix Zoo in Arizona, where the climate was similar to that of southern Arabia. A breeding programme was established, initially comprising the three captured oryx and a female from London Zoo, but subsequently augmented by further individuals courtesy of the Sultan of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’s King Saud.
Staffan Widstrand/Nature Picture Library
A decade later, the so-called World Herd at Phoenix numbered 35 individuals, and six animals were transferred to form a satellite colony at San Diego Zoo. Meanwhile, hunting of the remaining wild Arabian oryx continued unabated, and by October 1972 the last animals had been reported killed or captured. Captive breeding proved so successful that by 1992 there were 1,600 Arabian oryx distributed widely among the world’s zoos and private collections. Paradoxically, the main challenge for conservationists has not been to breed the species in captivity, but to overcome the problems inherent in returning the Arabian oryx to the wild. Since habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict did not pose a problem in this instance, successful reintroduction was contingent solely on preventing the relentless hunting perpetrated by a thoughtless minority.
by 1992 there were 1,600 Arabian oryx distributed widely among the world’s zoos and private collections. In 1978, four animals were shipped to the recently-created Shaumari Wildlife Reserve in Jordan, where they were bred in captivity for a further five years, at which point 31 Arabian oryx were released into the protected area. That same year, a small founder herd was dispatched to a reserve in Israel. Arguably the most momentous event occurred in 1982, when 10 oryx were released into the open desert in central Oman on the stony plateau of Jiddat-al-Harasis. Although heavily guarded and intensively studied, this herd was completely independent.
By 1996 there were over 300 Arabian oryx in the wild. The celebrations were premature, however. Poaching soon resumed and quickly intensified to the point where it was deemed necessary to bring some animals into captivity again, in order to secure the long-term future of the species. Hunting remains a serious threat to this day, particularly in Oman where, ironically, the population has been decimated by illegal live capture for sale to private collections. Notwithstanding the problems that continue to undermine its recovery, the reintroduction of the Arabian oryx remains one of conservation’s most enduring success stories.
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natural selection As Fauna & Flora International (FFI) looks back on 110 years of conservation achievements and enters the next phase of its continuing evolution, this provides us with the perfect excuse to showcase just a few of our many notable success stories.
Opposite: These king protea blooms will provide the centrepiece for another spectacular floral bouquet, the end product of a thriving sustainable flower harvesting initiative. Saved from destruction by an emergency land purchase and entrusted to FFI’s local partner, Flower Valley Conservation Trust, this botanical paradise at the southern tip of South Africa is living proof that biodiversity conservation, local community interests and economic imperatives are best served by being addressed holistically.
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John Cancalosi/Nature Picture Library
Below right: The remarkable comeback of the Antiguan racer, once dubbed the world’s rarest snake, is a classic illustration of the effectiveness of FFI’s approach to conservation. A coordinated programme of rat eradication and environmental education has transformed the fortunes of this harmless snake and led to a 20-fold increase in racer numbers since the mid-1990s, benefiting many other native species in the process.
Zhao Chao/FFI
Right: The cao vit gibbon is one of the world’s most critically endangered primates, with an estimated population down to a mere 110 individuals. The entire species is confined to a small area of karst limestone forest along the border between north-east Vietnam and China. It was considered extinct until an FFI-led team found a remnant population in the Vietnamese province of Cao Bang in 2002. Since that momentous rediscovery, FFI has spearheaded cross-border conservation efforts, which include establishing community-based patrol groups to monitor and protect gibbon habitat. Latest surveys indicate that numbers have stabilised, and may even be increasing.
Flower Valley Conservation Trust/Slingshot Media
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Below: The northern white rhinoceros is believed to be the world’s rarest large mammal. In 2009, FFI was instrumental in organising a dramatic last-gasp attempt to rescue this subspecies from extinction. With just eight individuals remaining in captivity, the last four fertile rhinos were flown from Dvu° r Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic to Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy, where their wild diet and more natural surroundings will enhance breeding prospects.
Mark Carwardine/Nature Picture Library
Opposite: This magnificent silverback is one of an estimated 880 mountain gorillas that live a precarious existence on two small islands of montane forest amid a sea of humanity in the heart of Africa. The International Gorilla Conservation Programme, co-founded by FFI, has been central to the survival of the species.
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Evan Bowen-Jones/FFI
Right: The Pemba flying fox derives its name from the Tanzanian offshore island to which it is confined. By 1995, when FFI first intervened, hunting and habitat loss had driven this large fruit bat to the brink of extinction. Thanks to a concerted education campaign and hugely successful community conservation efforts, the species has made a dramatic recovery.
Andy Rouse/Nature Picture Library
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Jeremy Holden/FFI
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Issue 18 | December 2013