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

How Wild Nature Provides Seed Diversity

As the world's population exponentially explodes, demand for additional living space and resources for survival greatly increase. To supply this demand, we compromise the integrity and survival of the natural world and existing ecosystems around us. As a result, the earth and wild nature bears the weight and suffers the most damage in order to make way for its human counterparts. Tropical rainforests are demolished, natural plant and animal ecosystems are threatened, and the quality of the atmosphere steadily depreciates. And as we continue to degrade the health of the world around us, we come dangerously ... 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

World Heritage Site Threatened by Coal Mine

A priceless World Heritage Site in South Africa is highly endangered by an open-cast, coal, strip-mine operating recklessly right on its boundary – and that is now set to expand! Mapungubwe National Park – a World Heritage Site and critically important transfrontier conservation area straddling South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana -- honors and protects the wild, natural area that is the site of “one of the most complex kingdoms that ever existed in Africa”, some 1000 years ago. 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

Environemental News Bits

A handful of interesting stories came across my desk today, so thought I'd post some "news bits" for the WILD readers! First off though, a few updates from WILD: We had a great staff retreat on Monday, lead by Dr. Ian McCallum. The program, called "Wild Leaders," lead us through the creation of earth, evolution of species, composition and workings of the human-brain, and personal leadership and communication styles (in a Myers-Briggs type study). The training related to his most recent book, Ecological Intelligence, for which he was awarded the Wild Writers Award during WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress. At ... 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

Conservation-Rancher Parternship Assists Northern Jaguars

In a press release on 15 Feburary, Sky Island Alliance biologist Sergio Avila  commented:  “Northern jaguars are a reality and they want to stay. Jaguars don’t recognize political boundaries; instead they choose robust prey populations, open space and safe corridors. This healthy feline represents our chance to recover this species in the region.” Carlos R. Elias, co-owner of the El Aribabi ranch located just 30 miles south of the US/Mexico Border in the Mexican state of Sonora, is working closely with the Sky Islands Alliance as part of the Northern Mexico Conservation Program.   This conservation-rancer collaboration partnership celebrated last week, when a jaguar ... Read More