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WLTnews ISSUE No. 53 AUTUMN 2016
Inside this issue...
A dream to reconnect elephant habitats
A chance to double your donation’s impact
Thank you! Olympic Forest Appeal reaches target
Saving habitats Saving species since 1989 Sponsored by
worldlandtrust.org
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Please support Big Match Fortnight
worldlandtrust.org
Elephants have a Right of Passage Let’s give it back
Indian Elephants have patrolled the forests of India for the past 6,000 years, travelling over uninterrupted territory that covered the whole of South Asia and beyond. Due to human barriers, this is no longer possible and elephants have disappeared from over 95 per cent of their historic range.
The Mudahalli Elephant Corridor ensuring safe passage between reserves
INDIAN ELEPHANT. Elephas maximus indicus. FACING EXTINCTION. Due to their great size, elephants have to travel constantly looking for food, using paths created by their ancestors on their journeys centuries past. As human populations expand barriers such as farms, roads and villages are built across the Asian Elephants’ essential paths, hindering their movement and destroying opportunity for them to feed and unite with other herds. Elephants still using these paths forage in the crop fields and grain stores, creating conflict with the people living there.
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Elephants, tigers and other large mammals are losing more and more habitat every day. WLT’s new appeal to save the Mudahalli Corridor is a priority to save for the very many mammals that depend on using this gateway. I hope you will support this important appeal, particularly during Big Match Fortnight.
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Thank you.
October 5-19 is Big Match Fortnight During this time, all donations we receive for the Elephant Corridor Appeal will be doubled by our Match Sponsors
What can we do? WLT is are working with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to ensure elephants safe passage and reduce human-elephant conflict by helping communities who want to relocate away from the corridors. The corridors that have already been safeguarded show that this method does work and WLT is now urgently raising funds to protect and extend the Mudahalli Elephant Corridor. It is a huge undertaking, but if we don’t act now elephants will be trapped in ever-shrinking scraps of wilderness.
How much food does an elephant need each day? Elephants eat plants of almost any size, but unfortunately they have a weakness for sugar cane and other crops, and as they pass by fields they raid smallholdings and rice paddies. Due to their weight of between 2,500–5,900kg, they can consume up to 150kg a day: that’s enough rice in one day to feed more than eighty people.
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All donations doubled between October 5-19, 2016
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Elephant conservation and community: Success stories of wildlife corridors in India The Tirunelli-Kudrakote elephant corridor in Kerala was secured by WTI with support from WLT and IUCN Netherlands. Half the land was secured through voluntary relocation of people living and farming in the corridor, the other half by direct purchase. Communities previously living within the corridor were frightened when elephants passed through and their crops were regularly raided, causing much damage. Four families were relocated to an alternative site which they approved, and a new house was built for each family by WTI. This was a win-win situation as their new land was free from the threat of The Siju-Rewak elephant corridors now protect one of India’s most important areas for wildlife diversity, connecting Siju Wildlife Sanctuary and Rewak Reserve Forest in the Meghalaya state of North East India. This location was vital to protect for elephants as it includes one of only four sandy beaches where elephants are able to cross the Simsang River; most of the river bank is steep limestone cliffs. It is also important for tiger, Clouded Leopard and the Himalayan Black Bear. The people in the neighbouring village of Aretika had been using the land for ‘jhum’ agriculture (a slash and burn practice) and coming into conflict with the elephants using the corridor.
elephants and they also were guaranteed a supply of clean water, schooling for their children and medical facilities. The land acquired for the corridor was passed over to the local forestry department and officially declared part of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. A wildlife survey conducted after the land was secured found that the corridor was being used extensively by elephants, Sambar, Spotted Deer, Indian Bison (Guar) and tigers.
Families are moved to new houses following relocation away from the Kerala elephant corridor
The shallow, sandy beach of the Siju- Rewak corridor allows elephants to cross the Simsang River
Initially Aretika villagers feared that facilitating elephant movement would increase elephant conflict in the village, but after discussions with the village chief (the ‘Nokma’) and the community, they understood the benefits of preserving the corridor and their role and wanted to help. WTI secured the corridor by relocating the individual who lived and owned plantation plots within the corridor, bought the other plots within the forest and restored the rest of the community forest land through cooperation with Aretika villagers. WTI also worked to improve quality of life for the villagers by organising a medical camp and renovating the school.
It’s not just elephants who will walk the Mudahalli Elephant Corridor...
Together with Indian Elephants, a wide diversity of mammals traverse the Mudahalli corridor, including Bonnet Macaque, Indian Bison (Gaur), Black Buck and Bengal Tiger Photo credits: Cover image (WTI/Sandeep Kumar Tiwari); Page 2: Rice (Nick Hubbard) Page 3: Family (WTI), Simsang River (WTI/ Sandeep Kumar Tiwari), Bonnet Macaque (Ganesh Raghunathan), Indian Bison (Sen), Black Buck (Pranav), Tiger (Srikaanth Sekar); Back page: REGUA (Nicholas Locke), sloth (Alan Martin); Vivek’s visit to Vietnam (Viet Nature)
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Fundraising success to save Atlantic Forest Olympic Forest Appeal exceeds £40,000 target Thank you to all the supporters of this important appeal The Atlantic Forest is a global conservation hotspot as one of the world’s most diverse but threatened ecosystems, with just seven per cent of the original forest remaining. This habitat hosts more than 450 species of birds and 55 species of mammals, including the Brownthroated Three-toed Sloth
WLT would like to thank everyone who supported this appeal, with a special mention to Olympic Gold Medal winner and WLT Ambassador Helen Glover for raising the profile of the appeal; Rob Beale and Phil Giannecchini for raising over £10,000 in sponsorship through the London 2 Brighton Challenge; Nature Picture Library and Anthony Gold for their generous support.
Conservation and cooperation Vivek Menon of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), recently visited Khe Nuoc Trong Forest, WLT’s project area in Vietnam. He met with WLT’s partner, Viet Nature. WLT recommended he liaise with Viet Nature about their hopes to reintroduce the Critically Endangered Edward’s Pheasant as WTI were involved in the successful reintroduction of Cheer Pheasants in India. Pham Tuan Anh, President and Deputy Director of Viet Nature, said “It was a very valuable opportunity for us to share experiences about conservation in Asia and for Viet Nature to learn from a very a strong partner in the WLT Alliance.”
All donations matched between 5-19 October
What is the ‘Match Pot’?
Standing beneath a photograph of the Critically Endangered Edward’s Pheasant, LeTrong Trai and Pham Tuan Anh of Viet Nature and Vivek Menon of Wildlife Trust of India
For the past four years a small group of WLT donors (made up of individuals and corporate supporters) have offered to match funds raised for a specific appeal. The purpose is not only to help get to the target as quickly as possible, but also to help spread the word about what WLT is capable of achieving. Please help us raise £750,000 to save the Mudahalli Elephant Corridor. Donations can be made on our website, by post to WLT or by telephoning the WLT office, details below.
World Land Trust, Blyth House, Bridge Street, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8AB, UK Tel: 01986 874422 Fax: 01986 874425 Email: info@worldlandtrust.org Registered Charity 1001291
Paper dontated by Antalis, printed on Carbon Balanced paper.
This money is funding the purchase of 221 acres (89.5 hectares) of Atlantic Forest, which will be named the Olympic Forest Reserve as a conservation legacy for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The land purchase cost is £40,000 and the additional funds raised will enable REGUA to employ a Keeper of the Wild
(reserve ranger) to protect the reserve from illegal hunting and logging.
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As we go to press, the Olympic Forest Appeal has raised more than £45,000 to save a vital parcel of Atlantic Forest with WLT’s partner in Brazil, Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA).