A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of
salt, but with more than a grain of truth!

It is so easy to think that our world is doomed to extinction with
daily headlines citing extinctions, climate change, forests disappearing, wetlands drying up and drought, hurricanes, floods and
earthquakes becoming our daily diet. However, there is one advantage
to joining an environmental organisation in that you also get the
good news!

So here goes with a catalogue of successes, good beginnings and
happy endings.

June 2000, South Korea: President Kim Dae-jung announced that the government was scrapping a hotly contested dam construction
project in Yongwol, Kangwon Province to protect the ecosystem of the Tong River area, and the 20 endangered species found there. The Yongwol Dam project had been bitterly fought against for years by
environmentalists and during the campaign to stop the dam seven
varieties of animals and plants were discovered for the first time in
the area. So many planned dams submerge valuable habitat, and rotting
vegetation and silting eventually means they are often not viable.

February 2001, Algeria: The Algerian government designated at
least 600,000 hectares of desert wetland sites as Wetlands of International Importance. This was the largest block of wetlands to be
conserved by a Mediterranean country at that time. Wetlands throughout the world are under threat from changing climate, human encroachment, drainage etc. and this news was very welcome.

June 2001, Australia1: It was announced that coral harvesting on the Great
Barrier Reef in Australia is to be phased out. The Great Barrier Reef is
the world's largest living reef formation stretching 2,000 km (1,300
miles) north to south along Australia's north east coast. No timetable
was set, but it was a start. Much of the coral 'harvested' was for
commercial aquariums.

April 2001, Florida: Agreement was reached to establish the
Tortugas Ecological Reserve, a 150 square mile area divided between
federal and state waters. It was to be the largest no-fishing sanctuary in the United States, being a reserve full of coral and marine life just
west of the Florida Keys. The reserve was being created after years of
debate and negotiations between environmentalists, recreational
anglers and commercial fishers.

May 2001, Germany: Lufthansa Cargo (Germany) agreed not to carry wild animals for commercial purposes. Only animals being transported for reintroduction will be transported in future. Lufthansa's decision was an important first step towards preventing the wholesale trade in wild animals. Many other airlines followed suit and coupled with tighter controls by Customs and Excise must surely make a difference in the fight against the wildlife trade.

July 2001: A threat to the Florida Everglades was averted when a planned commercial airport was abandoned as a result of pressure from
conservationists. The effects of such a development would have been
catastrophic for an area already under huge pressure from industry and
water extraction for residential and commercial use.

May, 2002: WWF finally won its battle to protect its initials, as the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc dropped use of the
same which it had also been using, breaking an agreement made earlier. If I had a pound for every time we had been mistaken for wrestlers we
would not have needed to fundraise!! Do I really look like a wrestler?
Well, maybe! Get the diet sheet out quick.

July 2002, Canberra, Australia: Four breeding sites for Wandering, Shy and Grey-headed Albatross were given protection. Anyone who significantly damages their habitat - on Macquarie Island, Albatross
Island, The Mewstone and Pedra Branca, the only suitable breeding
sites in Australia for these birds - faces a fine of A$110,000 (US$62,000) and/or two years jail. The battle to save the Albatross
and many other pelagic seabirds continues as the campaign forges ahead
to prevent longlining, other damaging fishing practices, and the
littering of the sea.

October 2002 Canada, Ottawa: Plans were announced to create 10
new national parks to protect unique wildlife and habitat in addition
to five marine conservation areas during the following five years. The
first National Park in Canada was set up in Banff in 1885.

July 2003, Brussels: The European Union at last outlawed the
practice of slaughtering sharks for their fins, which are then sold to
lucrative Asian markets where shark fin soup is a delicacy. The soup
sells at as much as $65 per bowl. European fishing fleets had become
major exporters of fins to Hong Kong, the most significant market in
Asia. Environmentalists said around 100 million sharks were caught
world wide every year, mostly just for their fins. As the sharks are
dumped back in the water, still alive, it is hoped that this barbaric
practice stops soon! Once again a move in the right direction but
much still needs to be done.

July 2003, Australia: The West Australian government has
rejected a proposal for a controversial marina and large-scale resort at
Maud's Landing, Ningaloo Reef. 'I think there were far too many risks
involved in accepting this development,' Premier Geoff Gallop said.
This area is of outstanding beauty, the marine life in particular being spectacular. I am told it is also an area where there is a general water shortage already, so the marina would have brought added
pressures.

November 2003, Brazil: The Golden Lion Tamarin was removed from 'critically endangered' to 'endangered' on the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Just 30 years before, the golden lion tamarin was
on the brink of extinction. In 1971, when WWF started working with its
partners to protect the primate (it was WWF's first-ever project in
Brazil), there were fewer than 200 left in the wild.

After tireless conservation work and 30 years later, the 1000th
baby tamarin was born in the wild in March 2001. One-third of this
population is the direct result of a WWF-supported programme to
reintroduce zoo-born animals into the wild and to translocate isolated
animals to bigger forest areas such as the Poco das Antas Biological
Reserve. This is a beautiful little animal and would have been a
great loss, but in protecting this species forest habitat has been
saved for other species too.

This is just one example of the need for long term planning and
commitment to conservation in order to achieve lasting results. The
re-introduction of a migrating wild flock of Whooping Cranes in
America is another such commitment in which WWF has played a small
part.

November 2003, Mozambique: Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) were
made compulsory in trawl nets in Mozambique. This should save the lives of at least 5,000 marine turtles each year. During that year's review of
Mozambique's fisheries regulations, over a period of several months
Mozambican Ministers and Vice-Ministers received hundreds of letters
from campaigners around the world calling for TEDs to be compulsory.
The new Regulation had to be implemented in all trawl nets on boats
with engines, from January 2005.

December 2003 UK: Under the Criminal Justice Act, wildlife trade crime within the UK now carries a maximum sentence of 5 years - thereby making it an arrestable offence. This was largely as a result of
massive campaigning by WWF and other organisations. It is a pity that
other wildlife crimes do not seem to attract such stiff penalties.
Judges and magistrates have been given guidelines on the subject,
written almost entirely by WWF which should help.

April 2004, UK: Britain to ratify seabird treaty. Britain agreed to ratify a global treaty to help reduce the 300,000 seabird deaths caused every year by longline fishing - often used to catch tuna.
Fishing vessels using the waters of ratifying countries must take
measures to protect albatrosses and petrels. The measures should help
protect other species caught up in the lines too.

April 2004, Baltic Sea: The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting on April 2nd decided to designate the Baltic Sea as a 'Particularly Sensitive Sea area'. Ships will now be required to take special care when navigating through the Baltic, and the IMO and
coastal states will choose the best protective measures.

July 2004, Poland: After just six months campaigning by WWF
Poland changed its laws regarding wildlife trade. Poland's National Act
on Nature Conservation was rewritten to include regulations on wildlife
trade. Until a world wide ban can be contemplated, this will go some
way towards restricting trade. Unfortunately as one loophole closes,
and things get hot for the smugglers and traders, they look for other
routes through which to move their wares.

July 2004, China: Results from the most comprehensive survey of China's giant panda population reveal that there are nearly 1,600
pandas in the wild, over 40% more animals than previously thought to
exist. Increasingly more reserves are being opened with connecting
wildlife corridors to allow freer movement of the animals.

Equipped with sophisticated GPS technology, Li Xiang Feng and his
colleagues covered over 23,000 sq km in three years searching for
signs of giant pandas. They were part of a team of over 170 scientists, field workers, and conservationists who combed the remote and rugged mountains of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu for China's Third
National Panda Survey.

November 2004's meeting of the Convention on International Trade
of Endangered Species (CITES) achieved significant results for
conservation, with the adoption of better trade controls to protect
African elephants, great white sharks and other threatened species.
One of the biggest victories was the adoption of an unprecedented
continent-wide action plan to crack down on unregulated domestic ivory
markets across Africa. The battle continues.

There have been many successes over the years, some big, some
small but for some reason the good news doesn't make the headlines as
it should. Here are just a few more examples:

China: Twenty years after being reintroduced back into the wild in China, Pere David's deer are once again thriving in the Central
Yangtze region.

South Africa: Twenty-one black rhinos were released at the
Zululand Rhino Reserve. WWF was instrumental in the project which aims to boost numbers of the critically endangered species by increasing the
land available for conservation.

Bolivia: More than two million hectares of forest have now been certified, making the South American country the world leader in
tropical forest certification. The success of the FSC (Forest
Stewardship Council) scheme has, I think, exceeded expectations.

Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands: have
together agreed to measures to save the critically endangered western
Pacific leatherback turtle. The beaches of these three countries are home to the largest remaining leatherback turtle populations in the
Pacific Ocean.

Fiji: A WWF survey, the first ever comprehensive study of Fiji's largely uncharted Great Sea Reef, the world's third longest
barrier reef, has revealed an amazing array of life, including a new
species of reef fish. WWF is now working with the local community to
protect this unique marine environment.

Every area, on land or sea, that gains protection means that more
species can be saved for the future.

Just to prove that the environmental message is getting through,
albeit slowly, I spotted this little nugget which cheered me up no
end. Translocation doesn't necessarily work, but it appears this
has, and you have to give them full marks for trying:

Florida, Spring 2006: A large chain store wanted to build where a 120 year old Oak Tree stood. Surprisingly, they didn't cut it down, as they seem bent on doing in the UK, but moved it! This colossal
venture took about six weeks. The 42ft wide root ball was trimmed, steel
rods were slipped underneath and the 353 ton tree was moved on a trailer
just 500 yards to its' new home. This in a wetland preservation area.
It would be interesting to see how the tree fares in the future.

There is so much good happening in the world of conservation, with
people in just about every country in the world fighting for the
preservation of their wildlife, and ours, that it has to give us hope
for the future. I refuse to believe that we are just going to sit back
and watch our planet become barren, and certainly while I have the
energy to write, protest and help I will continue to do so, and I
hope you will too.

Websailor's Wacky Wildlife
World Archive

Websailor

21.09.06 Front Page

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