WILD

Presidential Proclamation, Wilderness Stewardship & Wilderness Training in Europe

Several good stories through the pipeline today - On 31 August, through an official Presidential Proclamation, US President Obama declared September official "Wilderness Month!"  A brief excerpt from his proclamation: "This month, we renew our pledge to build upon the legacy of our forebears. Together, we must ensure that future generations can experience the tranquility and grandeur of America's natural places. As we resolve to meet this responsibility, let us also reflect on the ways in which our lives have been enriched by the gift of the American wilderness." Read More

Protests growing against coal mine damage to World Heritage Site in South Africa

News reports today verify that public, governmental, and financial markets are beginning to react against Coal of Africa’s mining operations that are damaging the Maqpungubwe National Park and World Heritage area. As we mentioned yesterday on TalkingWILD, the damage from this existing, open-cast, coal strip-mine is already mounting, has been called ‘irreversible”, yet the company’s application to expand operations has been approved by provincial government. However, iafrica online today reported that the company CoAL is under pressure from South Africa’s national government through their “Green Scorpions” (environmental investigations force). In addition, since the legal interdict was filed by our colleagues in ... Read More

Action for Mexico’s Water Forest

On 12 July, land owners conservationists, government authorities, national and international conservation organizations, scientists and business owners met to address the complex and highly urgent task of protecting, restoring and sustainably managing the Water Forest.  With over 70 participants, this first meeting of the "Think Tank" group was highly successful. Developing a long-term conservation plan for The Water Forest (Bosque de Agua) is extremely important for Mexico -- the forested region provides water and other vital environmental services to a fifth of Mexico’s total population. Currently, the region is threatened by urban sprawl, land-use changes and illegal logging.  A concerted conservation ... Read More

John Muir Trust Launches Wild Land Campaign in UK

The John Muir Trust has launched two petitions to urge the UK and Scottish governments to give greater protection to the country’s last remaining wild land.  The petition in Scotland calls for wild land to be protected by a new environmental designation. The petition for the UK calls for National Park areas to be expanded and created to cover the best areas of wild land. Read More

US President Obama and Mexican President Calderon announce Transboundary Protected Area

On May 19, in a significant step towards the first “peace park” between Mexico and the United States, protecting important transboundary wildlands, President of Mexico Felipe Calderon visited Washington DC and, with US President Barack Obama, made the following official announcement: The Presidents noted the long history of bilateral cooperation in the conservation of natural and cultural resources. They recognized that Big Bend National Park and Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in the United States and the Protected Areas of Maderas del Carmen, Cañon de Santa Elena, Ocampo, and Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico together comprise ... Read More

Biodiversity E-Conference

2010 is the International Year of Bio-diversity.  In order to gather opinion from broad and diverse groups of stakeholders on “how” and “what” actions should be taken in the short and medium term after 2010, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has launched an E-conference as a 'mega' consultation process.  Here's their blurb on what it is and why its important: Read More

Why Bison Belong in Banff National Park

[caption id="attachment_10915" align="aligncenter" width="519" caption="(photograph of the bison bull who escaped from the Banff Buffalo Paddock grazing freely near Hillsdale Meadows, Banff National Park © H Locke 1983)"][/caption] Here at WILD - as you might have guessed - we're pretty passionate about wild-places and wild-things.  In the western US and Canada, the buffalo (plains bison) is an iconic example of this wild-ness.  So, it goes without saying that we're pretty excited about a new initiative to bring the wild plains bison back to Banff National Park (Canada)!  Here's a bit of  info on "Bison Belong," to whet your interest and some great opportunities for you to ... Read More

Learn how private conservation is protecting the Amazon

Did you know that more than 2 million hectares of the Amazon under private ownership is protected by some form of conservation effort?  It's a pretty amazing fact -- and the Amazon is a pretty amazing place.   One in ten known species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest.  The Amazon is under great threat from deforestation, destruction and development, which not only destroy the forest and the animals and plants living there, but also releases stored carbon into the atmosphere.  Since the industrial revolution, at least 25% of all all emissions have come from destroying wild nature - ... Read More

CITES Stands up for Elephants

Last week during its meeting in Doha, Qatar, CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) rejected the highly debated proposals by Tanzania and Zambia to relax their restrictions on ivory trading and host a one-time sell-off of 112 tons of ivory.  This vote is a huge milestone to the African elephant, which is at risk from many factors including poaching, climate change, development, pollution, etc. "Poaching of elephants and ivory seizures are escalating, not decreasing, this decision is a victory for common sense," said Jason Bell-Leask, Southern Africa director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare for an article in ... Read More

Elephants Don’t Carry Passports

This week is a critical one for the elephants of Africa. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meets in Doha, Qater all week, and one of the hot-topics up for discussion and vote is the proposed one-off sale of ivory and delisting of the elephant from the more strict and regulated Appendix I - proposed by Tanzania and Zambia. Tanzania and Zambia support their proposal with research showing that the elephant populations in their countries are healthy, even increasing in the past few years. Neighboring countries rightfully counter argue that elephants don’t carry passports, and that elephant ... Read More