WLTnews ISSUE No. 44
AUTUMN 2013
Inside this issue... • Big Match Fortnight: saving Borneo’s Orang-utans • Caucasian Leopard: captured on camera-trap • Syrian Brown Bear: important sighting • Update on land purchases • Donation form insert and new Christmas card designs
Saving Real Acres in Real Places
www.worldlandtrust.org
Launching the Borneo Rainforest Appeal: aiming to raise One Million pounds
Dr Isabelle Lackman, director of WLT’s Bornean partner organisation, Hutan. She is photographed with Pygmy Elephants in one of the forest strongholds in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain, in Sabah.
World Land Trust Blyth House, Bridge Street Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8AB, UK Tel: 01986 874422 Fax: 01986 874425 Email: info@worldlandtrust.org
On 13 August, WLT officially launched its biggest ever appeal: to raise One Million pounds to secure a wildlife corridor in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. If successful it will permanently connect fragmented forest habitat for Orang-utans, Pygmy Elephants and other threatened species. Dr Isabelle Lackman, director of Hutan, WLT’s partner organisation in Borneo, was visiting the UK and had an opportunity to give a presentation to a
Big Match Fortnight: 2-16 October All donations will be matched pound for pound
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World Land Trust’s Big Match Fortnight gives everyone a chance to save precious habitat for Orang-utans, Pygmy Elephants and other critically threatened wildlife in Malaysian Borneo.
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Please add your support. Thank you. Chris Packham, Patron
Help us connect forests for Orang-utans and Pygmy Elephants to ensure their long term survival se Please help WLT rai een tw be 0 ,00 £300 2 - 16 October
be ght your donation will During Big Match Fortni ion will twice as far. Your donat in matched making it go s of land to connect forests help secure crucial parcel o to Borne sian Malay an region of the Lower Kinabatang nts Orang-utans, Pygmy Elepha create safe havens for ened wildlife. and other critically threat
Follow the link from www.worldlandtrust.org l and sign up for an emai reminder to donate
Don’t forget Big Match Fortnight 2 - 16 October
Special Appeal group of WLT supporters. One of the guests, Dominic Belfield, said afterwards: “Dr Lackman is an impressive wildlife advocate and her presentation was an unmissable chance to get a grasp of what Hutan is up against in Sabah, while affording a real sense of hope for what can be achieved by intelligent, determined, well motivated people.” As a result of logging and agricultural development including Oil Palm cultivation, 90 per cent of Sabah’s native Orang-utan populations has been wiped out in the past 100 years. Sabah is one of the last remaining Orang-utan strongholds, and there are currently thought to be about 1,000 Orang-utans in Lower Kinabatangan. This may seem a good number, but as Isabelle explained: “The Orang-utan populations are highly fragmented, and groups range from between five individuals to more than 200. Some groups are simply too isolated to be viable.”
This is how author and WLT Ambassador Nicola Davies describes it:
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Isolated little groups of Orangs survive in parcels of forest that have had their biggest trees cherry picked by the loggers, and are dispersed in a fragmented strip along the river. They are threatened constantly by new plantations and development that reduce the size and increase the isolation of each green island. Although the total number of Orangs in these little parcels is quite large, they are as doomed as a group of human survivors on a desert island. Separated from each other, and from the big forest reserves (which have pools of Orang population to the east and west), they will die out in a few generations, and another part of Borneo’s wild heritage will be gone forever. However if the green islands can be joined up, by buying threatened plots of land, by replanting forest, preserving and safeguarding forest that survives, the green islands can be made into a continuous green corridor, linking isolated populations of Orangs and utterly transforming their long-term viability. By the purchase of just a few hundred acres of forest the fate of thousands of Orang-utans – as well as elephants, and Proboscis Monkeys, Leaf Monkeys and hornbills – is changed from doomed to thriving.
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Helping WLT save species from extinction Good news from the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge • Caucasian Leopard captured on camera-trap • Syrian Brown Bear recorded • Bezoar Goats on the increase
Spot the Leopard 27 August, 2013: WLT received word that a good image of a Caucasian Leopard had been filmed by a remote camera in the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge (CWR). The news came from WLT’s project partner in Armenia, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC). FPWC manages the reserve and had set the camera, which was supplied by WLT. The camera is positioned in the CWR on the south-western slopes of the Geghama mountains. Previously just the tail of a leopard had been captured on film. See videos of the Caucasian Leopard on WLT’s YouTube site. www.youtube.com/worldlandtrust Between three and five leopards have been recorded in Armenia in recent years, mainly on a migratory route near the country’s southern border with Iran. Leopards are notoriously elusive but in the vicinity of CWR it is eight years since one had been seen. If it hadn’t been for traces of hair and a scat proven earlier in the year to belong to a Caucasian Leopard, there might still be doubt as to their existence. With the release of this recent video footage, conservationist have come another step nearer to seeing a leopard up close. Manuk Manukyan, FPWC's Coordinator
Camera-trap footage in the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge captures a rare Syrian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos syriacus), a subspecies of Brown Bear. There may be just one or two bears in the refuge.
of Conservation Projects, is one of the few people to have seen a Caucasian Leopard in the wild, being lucky enough to catch sight of one nearly a decade ago. He told WLT:
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The leopard is no longer a ghost! We know he (or she) is there and that the habitat is suitable. It is very quiet and there is plenty of prey. We will adjust the cameras and sooner or later we will get pictures of the entire animal.
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Finally caught on camera-trap: a Caucasian Leopard in the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge. Previously a tail had been spotted on camera so we are getting closer to having an image of the whole animal.
Support from WLT is vital “The involvement of international partners such as WLT is of vital importance to conservation efforts in Armenia”, says Ruben Khachatryan, founder of FPWC. “Caucasian Leopard migration routes cover not only a corridor through Armenia but also reach out to Iran and Azerbaijan. We are working hard to strengthen regional cross-border cooperation in other countries through which leopards migrate.”
Special Appeal
Bezoar Goats, or Caucasus Wild Goat (Capra aegagrus aegarus), are endangered due to hunting for their magnificent horns. With protection in the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge numbers are increasing.
Syrian Brown Bear video topples Sir David from top spot There are as few as 150 bears surviving in Armenia and we were thrilled to receive camera-trap footage from FWPC of the Syrian Brown Bear shown above, in the CWR. The bear is so endearing we aren’t surprised that this short video toppled Sir David from the highest number of viewings (a record he had held for many months) and we don’t think he minded in the least! You can watch it here on our YouTube site: www.youtube.com/worldlandtrust We are huge fans of camera-traps as they cause very little disturbance to wildlife and this footage highlights their importance for monitoring wildlife on reserves and informing conservation strategies.
Help WLT save the Caucasian Leopard To donate, visit www.worldlandtrust.org or use the donation form insert.
www.worldlandtrust.org
Buying land, acre by acre: recent land purchases Extension to Buenaventura Reserve in Ecuador protects habitat for one of the world’s rarest parrots Thanks to a generous donation from a WLT supporter in Germany, Fundación Jocotoco has been able to extend the Buenaventura Reserve by an additional 578 acres (234 hectares). The recent purchase brings the total size of the reserve to 5,873 acres (2,377 hectares) and protects one of the largest remaining tracts of foothill cloud forest on the west slope of the Andes in south western Ecuador. The reserve provides critical habitat for a number of threatened species including El Oro Parakeet (Pyrrhura orcesi), one of the world’s rarest parrots (right).
Buy an Acre project
Buy an Acre land purchases over recent months include:
The most recent purchase with Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda (GESG) has extended the Hoya Verde Reserve by 596 acres (241 hectares). In this cloud and temperate forest habitat Roberto Pedraza has recently discovered a new genus of slug.
Success for Margarita Island’s Yellowshouldered Parrot. A happy ending to the breeding season with record number of chicks.
You can see a short video of camera-trap images of Ocelot, Puma and Jaguar on the WLT-funded Three Giants Reserve in Paraguay on WLT’s YouTube site: www.youtube.com/worldlandtrust
Last word R PE
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Buy an Acre projects Save One Acre for £100 in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. See donation form enclosed or donate online:
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Coming in the Winter issue of WLT News:
Although Ocelots occur through Mexico, Central and South America their numbers have declined dramatically due to relentless hunting for their fur in the past. They are found on many WLT reserve areas.
More on these and other Buy an Acre land purchases in the Winter issue of WLT News
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Photo credits: Cover: Pete Oxford/naturepl.com; Page 2: Hutan; Page 3 (all) FPWC; Back page: (top) Fundación Jocotoco; (slug, Mexico) Roberto Pedraza Ruiz.
Cover image
Colombia (Partner, Fundación ProAves) 1,896 acres (405 hectares) of threatened Choco rainforest, extending the Las Tangaras Reserve.
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Querétaro State, August 19, 2013. At a meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development in the LVII Legislature of the State, a Medal of Honor for Ecological Merit was awarded to Roberto Pedraza Ruiz in recognition of his continuous work to preserve the environment for the benefit of the people of Querétaro.
A new family of slug found in Hoya del Hielo reserve in Sierra Gorda. Three species within this family have been identified: Echinix ochracea, Echinix granulata and Echinix rugosa. The family is endemic to north-eastern Mexico.
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And congratulations from WLT
Ecuador (Partner, Nature & Culture International) 763 acres (309 hectares) at Cazaderos and 133 acres (54 hectares) at La Ceibe. Both Tumbesian Tropical Dry Forest.
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From Mexico Roberto says: “Again, thank you to WLT, for your work and efforts on behalf the Sierra Gorda and its creatures. Another portion of the Hoya Verde is now protected, along with its Pumas, Margays, salamanders, orchids that inhabit its forests. So nice to think no more chainsaws and foresters or loggers will be there.”
Other Buy an Acre news
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New land purchase extends Hoya Verde Reserve in Mexico