Gashaka Gumti National Park

“Conservation is a moral issue of beauty, ethics and spiritual value. Without moral values, conservation cannot sustain itself.” 

– Dr George Schaller

In my first blog post, I wrote about the fact that a day of free talks that I went to at UCL, was what had inspired me to start writing. These talks were based around the research and conservation being undertaken in the Gashaka Gumti National Park in Nigeria, West Africa, on the boarder with Cameroon.

Gashaka is the largest national park in Nigeria, covering 6,731 sq km of wilderness. It was formed due to the merging of the Gashaka and Gumti Game Reserves. The southern part of the park is located in a mountainous region, covered in thick rain-forest; Whilst woodlands and grasslands dominate the northern end. The variety of different habitats within the park support a uniquely rich community of plants and animals, from ferns to orchids, and chimpanzees to frogs.

The park is also officially labelled as one of Africa's "Important Bird Areas", with over 500 species of bird being found here.

The national park was originally created for a number of reasons, including protection of the local watershed (by protection of the forested slopes that conserve the water resource of the River Benue), the conservation of biodiversity, supporting the traditional livlihoods of the local indigenous people and their rural development and also the protection of their cultural diversity.

Within the national park, is a research station at the village of Gashaka, and a field station in the forests of Kwano. From here, a number of research projects are run, as well as the Gashaka Primate Project, in partnership with University College London and Chester Zoo. More information on the various research projects being undertaken at Gashaka are available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gashaka/research/.

I wanted to talk a bit further about two of the speakers; Richard Barnwell (WWF emeritus) and Tasso Leventis (Director of the A.G. Leventis Foundation), who spoke about "Redefining the enclave boundaries"  and "Biodiversity conservation in Nigeria: Challenges and opportunities" respectively.

Redefining the enclave boundries:

This subject is interesting, because it shows how the local people can live in harmony with nature, with national parks and special reserves, and that although there may be difficulties along the way, they can often be overcome. 

Enclaves are mountainous areas of land within the boundaries of the national park, free from Tsetse flies, on which the local Fulani people are permitted to graze and farm livestock. It was originally decided that the essential needs of the resident pastoral people and the demands of wildlife conservation could both be accomodated within the same protected area. However, over the decades, the boundries of the enclaves have expanded. The local people have also begun to grow maize - something which they had not done before and which requires a larger amount of land. In order to prevent crop damage by baboons and other animals, hunting has increased, and prickly hedges around the crop fields are used - thus fragmenting the land further. During Richard's latest trip to Gashaka-Gumti, he assisted in the erection of 67 new beacons in order to mark out the re-established boundaries of the enclaves. 

Biodiversity conservation in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities

The A.G. Leventis Foundation, of which Tasso Leventis is the Director, focuses on the consequences of slash-and-burn agriculture. Similar to what I have previously described about the illegal deforestation and burning that occurs in Madagascar, areas which are now within the national park, came under intense disturbance from slash-and-burn agriculture from the 70s onwards. The A. G. Leventis Foundation supports associations involved in carbon storage, biodiversity protection and watershed protection in areas within Gashaka Gumti. They are also involved with the establishment of farm schools which teach conservation and sustainable agriculture, and they believe that the mere presence of researchers in the park encourages conservation by the locals whilst also adding to scientific knowledge.

The focus of this foundation on a specific conservation issue and its related conservation topics, allows efficient and effective conservation to be carried out. 

For more information about Gashaka and some of Nigeria's other National Parks visit Gashaka's website: 

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gashaka/park/

Ellie x

Natural Systems and Processes Poster

"An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men"

- Charles Darwin

Today's post is going to be pretty brief compared to my previous posts. As it's going to be about a piece of work I recently made, I thought I would use one of my favorite Charlie D quotes for the header, hence why it's not even slightly related to the content! 

Last Monday, a poster that I created about part of my research in Madagascar was displayed at the Natural Systems and Processes Poster Presentation in Wills Hall - the main hall of the University of Bristol. I was supposed to stand by my poster for at least half an hour during the three hour session but due to an over running interview (for a job I did not get!), I was late and they were packing up by the time I got there. I'd like to think that's why I didn't win any of the prizes!

Academic scientists, and biologists in particular, are really hot on posters. I think the thought process is something along the lines of; 

"If we put it on a poster, automatically it becomes accessible and therefore interesting to everyone"

This should include other people outside of their field or subject and even members of the general public with no academic background whatsoever. Some of the posters are brilliant and engaging and I genuinely think they would interest someone who had never heard about, for example, the speciation of a particular type of stick insect (a poster I had to make in the third year of my BSc). The majority, though, are not so good. I often feel like an academic has been told to make a poster, and just shoved as much of the paper they hope to get published onto an A0 piece of paper, with maybe a generic picture here and a fancy but confusing table there.

So I went about trying to make a poster that at a glance, did not look like a bit of academic research. Admittedly, my first attempt was not great. When I asked what Sam meant when he was looking the poster over for me, a fellow post-graduate student said "He thinks it looks unproffessional". A couple of hours, and £30 later, I had to agree with him - hence why I had to pay for the poster to be printed a second time! However, I felt that the final out come... 

...was both professional and might be attractive to non-scientists or academics. To see a larger version of the poster, which you can actually read, go to:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k54glbmgaup1dvf/FINAL%20CORRECTED%20VERSION%20Eleanor%20Frew%20NSPPS.pdf

The layout was developed using a program called Comic Life, a program generally used to make digital comics (unsurprisingly). Normally, academics use Adobe Illustrator or Microsoft Powerpoint, or one of the programs better known for making digital visual media, but I saw Comic Life suggested on a blog about making good posters (for anyone interested in tips on making informative, visually pleasing posters, the address is http://betterposters.blogspot.co.uk/ ), and decided to go for it. I'm really pleased that I did, and the only problem I have left, is where to put the A0 (thats 84.1 x 118.9 cm) poster that resulted from it!!!

Ellie x

Madagascar: Travelling

“There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved”

– Charles Darwin

This post is the last of the Madagascar posts...for now! It focuses on the places which we traveled to after finishing our data collection in Ankarafa, the conservation efforts in place in these areas and the threats that they face. 

We left Ankarafa at the end of January 2012 and made our way back to Tana to organize export visas. These would take three weeks to process, and so during this time, we thought we would travel the island and see some of the wonderful things it has to offer. 

All of the places that we visited are national parks, except in the case of Anja, which is a community reserve. More information can be found about Madagascar National Parks at:

http://www.parcs-madagascar.com/madagascar-national-parks_en.php?Navigation=25

In between each visit we generally had to return to Tana (roughly just north-east of the centre of the island), as the main roads run outward from here.

RANOMAFANA

Ranomafana National Park was created in 1991, and at present, an average of 50 national and international researchers undertake research here every year. Ranomafana is composed of cloud forest, and the name literally translates as 'Hot Water', due to the presence of thermal springs.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit the park (myself and Jana were stuck in Tana mounting flora specimens - essentially sticking bits of leaves to card...), but Sam and Helen took the opportunity to travel there. Amongst other species of lemur they saw a pair of greater bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus), a species of lemur who can apparently consume high levels of cyanide (a fact unfortunately being investigated by the US military). 

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

They also encountered a fascinating visitor in their room...

...a comet moth, or Madagascan moon moth, whose long tail streamers draw attention away from themselves and help avoid predation by bats using ultrasound. 

ANDASIBE-MANTADIA

Before the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park was created in 1989, the area was known as the Special Reserve of Analamazoatra. It had already gained this status due to the presence of the Indri (Indri indri). 

ENDANGERED

These creatures are best known for their whale-like song, which can be heard echoing around the forests at dawn. The national park houses 13 lemur species other than the Indri, such as the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema)...

ENDANGERED

…and a number of mouse and sportive lemurs, as well as numerous amphibian and reptile species, such as this male (left) and female (right) Parson's chameleon (Calumma parsonii)...

...and two fish species currently listed as threatened on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of  Nature) red list. The National Park’s ability to accommodate these animals helps to ensure their on- going survival. Around 50% of the park’s entry fees contribute to the projects of local village development committees, for example, the creation of a primary school at Fanovana, with two class rooms, accommodating 192 pupils. 

ANKARANA

The Ankarana National Park is best known for the vast Tsingy that covers it. Tsingy refers to rock formations, formed by the erosive effect of acid rain on soft rock, resulting in miles and miles of sometimes metre high rock spikes – a particularly interesting eco-tourism attraction. In Ankarana, we were lucky enough to be able to walk across the Tsingy, with the help of suspension bridges, and here we encountered crowned lemurs, Sandford's lemurs, and a number of other incredible animals.

The flora (trees and plants) of Ankarana is also pretty spectacular, such as baobabs (left) and euphorbias… 

… which tend to be well adapted to long periods of drought, resulting in some pretty peculiar shapes. We were also lucky enough to be shown into a large bat cave - mainly due to Sam's persuasive nature, and here we found a number of species of bat, including Rosette's bats and Madagascan fruit bats...

...as well as some other incredible - if slightly terrifying - creatures.

Unfortunately, the Ankarana National Park, although protected, continues to be exploited due to the presence of sapphires and the consequent mining, as well as the illegal felling of tropical hardwood for export.  Other factors such as sapling destruction by free-ranging zebu (the Malagasy cow) and hunting, also continue to threaten the inhabitants of the park.

ANKARAFANTSIKA

Ankarafantsika (created in 2002) is a haven for wild birds, and this is the main attraction for eco-tourists. Whilst staying in this national park we encountered a number of these birds such as… 

Glossy Ibis

Cattle Egret

Purple Heron

As well as Nile crocodiles…

…and Coqueral's sifakas (Propithecus coquereli) which came skipping across the lawn while we ate breakfast and proceeded to settle on the trees next to the dining terrace. 

ENDANGERED

There is also a breeding centre for two threatened tortoise species in this national park; the flat-tailed toroise (Pyxis panicauda) and the very rare ploughshare tortoise (Geochelone yniphora), as well as the only Malagasy endemic turtle, the Rere (Erymnochelys madagascariensis).

ANJA

Anja is located south of Tana, and holds the most northern population of ring tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) - the most northern, and I think probably the most habituated!

NEAR THREATENED

Anja Reserve is the most visited community managed forest and ecotourist site in Madagascar. In Anja, members of the local community have been chosen to independently manage natural resources. The Anja Miray Association also contributes to local development through community projects such as construction and maintenance of a primary school, large scale fish farming, environmental restoration with tree nurseries, malaria education, and contribution of funds to enable local people to obtain mosquito nets. All residents of Anja are eligible for membership in the association. As Anja is not a national park, it does not appear on the Madagascar National Parks website, however, it does have it's own website:

http://anjacommunityreserve.netai.net/

Although it is wonderful to be able to access the national parks, and good to hear about successful conservation and local sustainable community projects, there has also been a lot of controversy over the legitimacy of some of the parks. Wide scale corruption and political unrest has resulted in the unfortunate labeling of some of Madagascar’s national parks as ‘paper parks’. In other words, on paper, they are protected areas; however, in practice there is not the man power or resources supplied to realistically be able to protect these areas.

In these cases, something more needs to be done, and in some ways, it is my opinion that the corruption that occurs so often in developing countries, is fed by the corporations and companies of the ‘developed’ world, who feel they can benefit from it. It is, therefore, at least partly our responsibility to help get rid of corruption in these areas, by promoting and supporting the sustainable alternatives, and by publicly condemning the companies and corporations who are responsible.

Ellie x

Madagascar: Deforestation

“We are not the summit of creation, but organisms brought 

about by evolutionary processes” 

– Dr Volker Sommer, UCL


Today's post follows on from Mondays in that it focuses on issues in Madagascar. Unfortunately, it's not quite so cheerful.

In my first post, I may have mentioned my dislike of people (whilst attempting to hold back the laughter) asking me if I saw any of the characters from the film Madagascar while I was there. My irritable responses come from the fact that I have been asked this question again and again, so whatever little originality was once attached to these comments has long since expired, secondly...it's not funny...and thirdly, Madagascar is nothing like the way Dreamworks have decided to portray it. This makes me mad because as long as people think that Madagascar is this beautiful unspoiled paradise, they will not feel anything needs changing there, or that organizations and conservation charities working there, can need much help. Don't get me wrong, I went to some wonderful, breathtaking places, but the truth is that the majority of Madagascar has been deforested or degraded since humans arrived between 200 and 500 BC. Since then 90% of Madagascar's forests have been destroyed, leading to desertification, water resources degradation and soil loss (not to mention of course habitat destruction causing the decline of hundreds of species unique to the island).

To illustrate this, let me show you a picture I took from the window of a taxi brousse on the way from Antananarivo (or Tana as the locals call it) - the capital city - to Ankarafa:

Although this is a stunning landscape, there is a distinct lack of trees, and this was the scene pretty much until we reached the forests of Ankarafa - that's a two day journey through the country, with the majority of the landscape filled with bare hills. 

The reason for this deforestation comes from the need for firewood and also the process by which tavvy fields - fields used for the production of rice - are created. In order to clear the area to make room for tavvy fields, areas of forest are felled and then set fire to, in what is known as 'slash-and-burn' agriculture. This method of food production is unsustainable, as these areas can only be used for a limited time period, after which more areas must be cleared in order to make way for tavvy. 

Although this occurs throughout Madagascar, I experienced it first hand in Sahamalaza, usually in fragments of forest some distance from the main camp and forest fragments of Ankarafa, where the lack of a research presence or local authority, leaves these illegal process uninterrupted. 

The felling of the forest itself is a huge problem, as it has led to a dramatic change in climate in many parts of Madagascar over the recent decades, making areas much dryer and lacking in rain, then they used to be. The fires set to clear the land often spread further then may be intended resulting in large forest fires, which inevitably kill wildlife, and destroy habitats. 

It's easy for us to look at these pictures and say that the people taking part in slash-and-burn activities are completely in the wrong, and legally speaking, when this occurs within the boundaries of a national park such as here in Sahamalaza that is correct. But often the local people use these methods because they are the traditional way in which to grow a crop, either to feed themselves and their families or to sell for profit. In this case, is it really right that we, as relatively wealthy, well provided for, westerners should tell them not to do this?

The answer to this, is yes. Of course we should, however, we should also provide the knowledge and practical skills which allow these people to undertake an alternative course of action.

Yesterday I went to the monthly conservation lecture that takes place at Bristol Zoo. This lecture was given by Josia Razafindramanana (the project coordinator for the Malagasy Primate working group), on making conservation effective. She told us about a project she was working on, due the discovery of a number of previously unknown populations of the crowned sifaka, outside of their known distribution range. Although these sifakas are beautiful creatures...

...it was the sustainable community and reforestation efforts, working in combination with other aspects of their conservation program that I feel is relevant to this post.

In the areas now protected due to the presence of these animals, the focus has been largely on getting local communities involved in using practical skills to aid conservation. Particularly, in terms of reforestation, they have implemented a scheme where families are given saplings for both forest trees, and fast growing trees. The families are then responsible for the survival of these saplings, and when they are ready, they plant the forest trees within the forest, and the fast growing trees in a separate area, where they will be ready for felling and using as fire wood in as little as five years. 

The local communities were extremely happy with this plan, as it meant that not only would they have areas of wood allocated to use as fire wood in the future, but also they were replenishing the trees of the forest - the lack of which, most of these local communities now know, is what is causing the lack of rain, which of course, in turn leads to bad crop production. The program also showed them how to grow vegetable crops on what little land they already have, in order to negate the need to clear forest for tavvy, and how to create effective fire breaks (clearing areas of savannah grassland that burn easily, in order to prevent the spread of forest fires).

The point of this post therefore, is to to illustrate the huge problem of deforestation in Madagascar, which is mostly unknown within the general public (who envision green forests as far as the eye can see), and also to show that it is the application of practical education that may be the key to fighting the problem - as is the case with most conservation efforts. 

If you give people the education to understand the problem, the practical skills to undertake an alternative, and the motivation to get involved, the chance of success is much higher then simply telling them what they can or cannot do.

Ellie x

Madagascar: Sahamalaza

 “The collapse of compassion in people is the Earth’s biggest threat. If we begin to care for more than just ourselves, we will reverse the damage.”  

- Cindy Milburn, Senior Advisor, IFAW

Today I'm going to talk about my time in Madagascar, and when I say I could talk for hours about it, I really mean that...but if I did that, the main conservation issues would probably get lost in a sea of anecdotes about battery hens, fire starting locals and jumbo score...so I'll try and stick to the point. There's a lot to talk about, so I've decided to divide it into three parts: 1. Sahamalaza 2. Deforestation 3. Traveling

The data collection period of my MSc took place in the Ankarafa forest, which is situated on the Sahamalaza peninsula in northwest Madagascar. The Sahamalaza Iles-Radama National Park and UNESCO biosphere reserve are located on the peninsula, and the Ankarafa research station is located within the National Park, two hours hike from the coast at Maravato. The research station is funded by an international NGO; The Association European pour l'Etude et Conservation des Lemuriens, or for those of you who don't speak french, The European Association for the Study and Conservation of Lemurs. I'll talk more about them as an organization in a future post. Their executive secretary, and the founder of the camp also happens to be the head of research for Bristol Conservation & Science Foundation, and my primary supervisor, Dr Christoph Schwitzer - hence how I got this amazing opportunity in the first place.

The Ankarafa forest is primarily divided into four fragments, surrounded by savannah and with a river valley running through the middle. The picture below is a basic map, created using GPS waypoints, of the four main forest fragments, and the location of the research station (sorry it's so small!):

Within these fragments live an unimaginable amount of amazing creatures, with the presence of a number of endangered lemur species being the reason for AEECL's focus on this area. 

The blue eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons), studied by myself and Jana:

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

The Sahamalaza sportive lemur (Lepilemur sahamalazensis), studied by Melanie, and the focus of her three year Phd:

DATA DEFICIENT (officially, this means there isn't enough data for IUCN to put this species into a category, but I think Melanie would tell you that it is most definitely Critically Endangered and will probably go EXTINCT over the next few decades)

Other lemur species present include the giant mouse lemur (Mirza zaza) and the fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius), classed as 'vulnerable' and 'least concern' respectively. There are also numerous other animal species, such as the bats that Helen was researching...

and the amphibians and reptiles which Sam studied. Incredibly, one of the frog species Sam recorded as being present is highly likely to be a species never described before, from the genus Boophis (the bright eyed tree frogs); "This colorful species of bright eyes tree frog is known only from one small forest fragment on the Sahamalaza peninsula. The area's high levels of habitat destruction make this species future extinction a very real possibility" .

The discovery of this new species will hopefully add weight to the status of Ankarafa as a protected area, which is brilliant. To read more about some of the other frog species Sam encountered in and around Sahamalaza, visit his blog:

http://www.sahonagasy.org/the-search-for-two-critically-endangered-frogs-in-north-western-madagascar

Since our group has come back from Madagascar, some other Masters students have traveled out there, and the continued use of the field station supposedly keeps illegal activities, such as logging and slash & burn tavvy fields, at a lower level. In the next post, you will see that this is not necessarily the case, and that there is a huge need for Sahamalaza (and I'm sure other national parks in Madagascar), to have park rangers with the power to arrest individuals undertaking illegal activities. 

As always however, it is important to give local inhabitants an alternative, and so far it's my opinion that this has not yet been achieved to the level it needs to be in Ankarafa. Whilst we were working there we employed four locals as guides, and three locals are employed by AEECL, along side a full time cook, and a second cook who was there for the duration of our stay. However, this is a tiny minority. Whilst we were staying in Ankarafa a group was brought to the camp to be trained in spotting and giving tours on the native birds, and this combined with the development of a sustainable tourism camp at a separate location within the forest, may make a contribution to the development of an alternative sustainable economy, however, more needs to be done. If anyone has any thoughts on how this could be achieved, suggestions are always happily accepted! 

If you would like to read more about Program Sahamalaza, this pdf was written by Dr Christoph Schwitzer. Although it was written a number of years ago, the facts are pretty much still accurate 

http://www.aeecl.org/documents/29.pdf

Myself and the other members of the group that traveled to Madagascar are hoping to come up with some conservation related, sustainable living etc, ideas for actually getting things done. I know I'd also like to do some fund raising in the not so distant future, the products of which would go to Sahamalaza, so again, if anyone would be interested in helping out, or purely has some fresh ideas, it would be excellent to hear from them.

Ellie x

Do What You Can

"People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure"

 - Sir David Attenborough

HI!!!

So I've never written a blog or anything like this that I actually wanted other people to read...so I may take a while to get good at it, but hopefully you'll bear with me!

I've decided to write this blog because of a combination of things, so today's post is just to explain my reason for writing it in the first place, and then more interesting posts will follow!

Firstly, a lot of you will know that at the moment I'm completing the thesis write-up of my MSc by research at the University of Bristol. This is in Conservation & Ecology - a very broad term. My specific work was based in northwest Madagascar, on the remote Sahamalaza peninsula, studying these guys: 

These are blue eyed black lemurs (or Eulemur flavifrons for the scientists), and they are a Critically Endangered primate species, found only in populations on the the Sahamalaza peninsula. Travelling to Madagascar and seeing what it was really like (I swear if someone asks me if there were any talking lions, zebras, hippos, giraffes or lemurs, one more time, I will throttle them), was an experience, and I thought sharing that and how much it has further inspired me to pursue a career in conservation, would be pretty cool. So in a later post, I'll talk more about my time in Madagascar and maybe post a couple of my better wildlife photos (there weren't that many - I'm not one of these would-be photographer types), but for now I want to concentrate on the reasons for starting this blog.

In order to collect my data I stayed at a Research Camp in the Ankarafa Forest, with a number of other MRes students (Helen Drew, Jana van den Abbeele and Sam Penny), our very own Dr Melanie Seiller (Phd) and her wonderful field assistants Gabby Bell and Lisa Knudson. Whilst we were in Sahamalaza we had a lot of evenings to fill, and sometimes the kindle and bananagrams just wasn't enough. There were a number of occasions we ended up talking about what we could actually do to help in Sahamalaza - research is all very well and good, but even if it gets published, what are the actual practical consequence? Sadly, too often, not very much. So we talked about getting our various associated zoos and universities and so on involved, and then we came back to the UK and got part-time jobs, or full time jobs, had thesis' to write, some of us went swanning off to south east Asia, whilst others decided to give themselves a wedding to plan by getting proposed to (nice one Gabster). So basically, and I'm just as much to blame here as anyone else, we haven't done that much (except maybe Melanie who managed to finish her Phd, travel back to Madagascar for an IUCN conference, and then to Mexico for an IPS conference), and this leads me into the main point behind this blog: 

AWARENESS!!!

A lot people think they are aware of 'conservation' issues, but when it really comes down to it, most people may be able to name a couple of conservation NGOs or an endangered species or two, or have the tendency to be a bit self-righteous about the whole thing, but they don't really have a clue about the environmental programs being run, the realities and severity of the situation, and the ways in which they can potentially help. 

I went to the 5th Gashaka Field Day today, a day of free lectures in UCL's Anthropology Department, focused on the primate conservation work being undertaken in Nigeria's Gashaka Gumti National Park, as well as touching on some other conservation issues in West Africa. Again, I'm going to talk about this in more detail in a later post, but the main thing I got from the talks today was this. That often, even among academics who undertake 'conservation research', the focus is much more on publishing papers, presenting workshops and perhaps developing some sort of mitigation plan on paper. In other words TALKING about the problem, but not DOING anything about it. This is something I've sort of known for a while, but it really hit home today, and I was sitting in that lecture theater thinking; What can I do about it? Right now, today, how can I help? Ideally, I'd fly off to Africa tomorrow and go all Dianne Fossey (Gorillas in the Mist)...but you need money for that, and an ability to drop everything and just pick up and go, and these are both things I unfortunately lack. The work I'm doing in my MRes will provide useful information, that I'm confident will actually put positive consequences into actions, and one day I'd like to do a Phd, which I would be able to ensure produces information that can actually be used to help...but I want to do something right now...I don't want to just sit at my desk and get increasingly angry about the stupidity of the human race...

In almost every talk today, there seemed to be a focus on getting people involved and creating awareness. This was often in terms of local populations; communities in developing regions where many of these conservation programs are underway. However, I think getting people here involved, in the UK and the Western 'civilized' world, is just as important (if not more so - we do have all the money, and we do consume the most after all). I also think its important for people to know about the environmental, wildlife and conservation issues occurring on their front door step here in the UK.

So I've decided to create this blog, so that I can spread awareness of the many many conservation issues, projects and organizations around. I'm just going to post up interesting websites, articles, pictures, etc., as and when I find them, to keep you all informed. There's a lot of cool information about the natural world out there, and there should be more being done to make it accessible to everybody...

People should care about nature and the environment and the 7,999,999 other species that have every right to share this planet with us...but they need to be told what it is they are supposed to be caring about first; So that's what I can do, right here, right now.

Ellie x