We're happy to announce that 'A Climate for Life: Meeting the Global Challenge,' the new book done in partnership with CEMEX is for sale!  With the holidays coming up, it makes the perfect gift...hint hint!

CEMEX is taking the initiative in making sure this book gets out to important heads of state and influential people.

The book examines the impact of climate change on biodiversity and focuses on the most important challenges currently facing life on our planet.  Powerfully combining both images and offerings, 'A Climate for Life' is the result of leading scientists and veteran photographers contributing their talents to showcase the topics, issues, and challenges that society must urgently face, and the book's lasting impression is that ultimately the responsibility is literally and figuratively in our hands.

BUY THE BOOK here!

This month's featured photographer is ILCP Fellow Christian Ziegler.

On a rotating basis we will contact ILCP members if you are chosen.  This person reflects commitment and is proactive in their support of the ILCP.



View our website's coverage of Christian here!

     In late January, the ILCP will send a group of Mexican and US photographers to the border of the United States and Mexico, to highlight the ecological implications of the border wall and current immigration policy in the United States. The RAVE begins in San Diego on January 25 and will finish up at the far end of the border on February 15.
     The Borderlands RAVE will include ILCP Fellows Jack Dykinga, Kevin Schafer, Roy Toft, Wendy Shattil and Cristina Mittermeier, along with Emerging League members Ian Shive, Chris Linder, Santiago Gibert, Miguel Angel de la Cueva and Krista Schlyer, and also some special guest photographers, Jeff Foott and Fritz Hoffmann. To learn more about these photographers and our plans for the RAVE, visit our website here, and if you have not yet seen the multimedia we produced about this issue in advance of the RAVE, you can still see it on YouTube here.
     We are partnering on this effort with several organizations that have been at the forefront of protecting wildlife and wildlands from damaging immigration policies--inlcuding Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, Cuenca los Ojos, and Felidae Foundation. Our coalition hopes to accomplish two things: to require the Department of Homeland Security follow all environmental laws when building any future barriers on the border; to mitigate damage done to wildlife corridors by wall that has already been built, and to facilitate future discussion on how increased international cooperation can help maintain and increase habitat connectivity in crucial corridors along the border. During an era of global warming, this final objective has never been more important.

Any further questions, contact Krista Schlyer, kris_schly@yahoo.com

ILCP Executive Director Cristina Mittermeier along with Michael Hutchins from the Wildlife Society and Heather E. Eves' article on 'Fueling the Conservation Engine' briefly reviews the major sources of funding available to those who work in fish, wildlife, and habitat management and conservation.  They concentrate on sources of funding for nonprofit organizations, academics, and other experts engaged in relevant activities.  The review is not exhaustive, but rather provides examples of the kinds of support currently available to those working in the same fields as themselves.  They also make suggestions for the future of fish, wildlife, and habitat funding.  The article, published in the book 'Wildlife and Society: The Science of Human Dimensions', can be read here.

 

ILCP Emerging Member Ben Horton:
The Cocos Island Seamount Project is coming together slowly, but it is coming together. Ben has shared some news with us, so we thought we should pass those along for those who are interested in the project.

Ben Horton wrote: I'm in Costa Rica right now, and I met with the biologist that is going out to Cocos Island with me who is a Costa Rican himself. We have made some exciting plans to actually capture and tag hammerheads with tracking units which will be more reliable than the kind placed on the sharks from underwater with a spear. We will also be taking the French Ambassador to Costa Rica who is involved with the French Fund for the environment, and will be giving them a first hand experience of the issues that are taking place on Cocos Island, the tagging of the sharks, and the submarine exploration of the seamount. Once we get to the Island, my role will be just to get the photographs that will help tell the story, but I'm working hard to get everything set up before we go again in March 2009. In other related news, a Tiger Shark and Silky Shark Rookery have been discovered about 40 miles off of Costa Rica near Gulfito, a major fishing port.  I plan on working with Randal and his non-profit organization PRETOMA to protect these areas in the coming months.

ILCP Fellow Boyd Norton:  The Baikalsk Pulp plant is closing!  A source of serious pollution for more than four decades, this is momentous. For the past twenty years I have been traveling to Lake Baikal, Siberia and working with local environmental groups. (I was co-author/photographer, with Peter Matthiessen, of the Sierra Club book 'Baikal: Sacred Sea of Siberia' published in 1992).  I had the honor of working with the late David Brower and Dr. Grigory Galazii (former director of the Baikal Limnological Institute) in helping to achieve World Heritage Site designation for Baikal. This is one of the scenic gems of the world. If you'd like a brief look at my Baikal coverage, click here. 

By the way, the shots of the nerpa (Baikal seal) are appropriate because studies over the years have indicated that toxins from the pulp plant may have weakened the immune systems of the seals. They are at the top of the food chain and the toxins get more concentrated each step up. I have been trying for years to get the nerpa listed as threatened because, I feel, no one has found a good, accurate way of assessing the population. In the early 1990s an "official" survey by the government listed the population at over 104,000. However, in 2000 Greenpeace conducted its own survey and concluded that the number was about 65,000 - a 30% difference! Even worse, the Russian government allows 3500 nerpa to be offically "harvested" each year, but recent studies indicate that there's almost no enforcement and one researcher estimated that as many as 12,000 seals might be killed each year by poachers. In 1987-88 a peculiar virus caused an estimated 10,000 deaths of the seals, probably aided, in part, by weakened immune systems. Another such die-off could put the nerpa population perilously close to extinction. This, by the way, is the only pinniped living full time in a freshwater ecosystem.

Audubon magazine is running a major article and photo essay of mine about Baikal, but it's not scheduled until next July.  Many parts of Lake Baikal remain pristine and wild. More than three-quarters of the shoreline and its adjacent forests and mountains benefits from some form of protective classification. There are three large nature reserves and two large national parks, with several smaller reserves scattered among them. Overall, these protected lands total over 4.8 million acres around the lake, an area almost as large as the state of Massachusetts.  A real gem!

ILCP Emerging League Member Santiago Gibert Isern has published a calendar for the company Promotora Ambiental, which is one of the most important companies in Mexico dedicated to the collection and disposal of waste.  They seek to provide integrated solutions in waste management and recycling processes. Promotora Ambiental also takes care of Mexican biodiversity through conservation projects as the Maderas del Carmen mega-corridor, found in the north of Coahuila state in Mexico on the border of Texas. They preserve part of this area that in conjunction with other companies are protecting more than 200,000 hectares in Mexico alone. The calendar shows images of some species found in Maderas del Carmen, with a text explaining where to see the species, if it´s common, their behavior and the role in the ecosystem.  Santiago printed and donated 2,500 of the calendar as a present to Promotora Ambiental for their clients.  Otherwise it is not available for sale.

Wild Wonders of Europe is about sharing the amazing natural wonders of our continent with 700 million Europeans and the World! Fifty of the continent's most talented and committed nature photographers will bring you a feast of inspiring images of creatures and places so fantastic, you wouldn't believe they existed. Not in Europe anyway. Along with a network of dedicated partners, Wild Wonders of Europe aims to become the biggest and most spectacular wild show ever.

Enter their online photo competition here!

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas.- For a second year in a row the Fondo de Conservación El Triunfo held a successful fundraising dinner in which business leaders from the State of Chiapas, inspired by one of the most important natural treasures in the country of Mexico and indeed, the world, the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, made significant donations, which in this occasion added up to the sum of $189,000.

Through the images of photographer Fulvio Eccardi, Vice president of FONCET (El Triunfo Conservation Fund), and the narrative of renowned Chiapas poet Efraín Bartolomé, those attending were able to experience the beauty of the reserve without ever having been in it.  Thanks to the details provided on the presentation by the poet, viewers where able to take an intimate look at El Triunfo and marvel at one of the most amazing and most endangered ecosystems on the planet.

One by one the business leaders joined the cause, which ranges from the conservation of land to the organic production of honey and coffee.  The Alsea Starbucks Foundation was one of the contributors as was Fundemex, who recognized the work of FONCET in the management of natural resources as that of a scrupulous and serious organization which has built the trust of the business community. Reforestamos México, A.C. also demonstrated its commitment to this area through a generous donation.

The ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland was present at the event and declared himself enamored by the state of Chiapas and its people, as well as its natural wonders, which include the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve.

One of the highlights of the evening was when the amount of money raised was announced and the Government of the State of Chiapas announced it will match that amount for conservation projects in 2009.

In a message from Bruce Beehler of Conservation International on Papua New Guinea's first national "Conservation Area" approval:

We are happy to announce that Papua New Guinea's National Executive Council has formally approved the creation of the 76,000-hectare YUS Conservation Area in Morobe Province. This long-awaited designation is a product of the vision of Dr. Lisa Dabek of Woodland Park Zoo's Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program, as well as a very productive six-year collaboration between the WPZ, CI's Global Conservation Fund, and our Indonesia-Pacific Field Division.
 
The YUS Conservation Area conserves a swath of old growth equatorial forest that extends from jungles at sea level to alpine grasslands at 4100 meters, and includes a substantial portion of the global population of Matschie's Tree-Kangaroo, listed as endangered on the IUCN Red-List. It also is the home of many other fabulous plants and animals, including the Long-beaked Echidna, three endemic birds of paradise, two endemic honeyeaters, endemic orchids, rhododendrons and the like. Russ Mittermeier visited YUS in July with Lisa and came away very impressed by the rich environments, remarkable wildlife, and committed local communities.
 
This is the first time that PNG's Conservation Areas Act of 1978 has been invoked to create a protected area in Papua New Guinea, and it heralds a new day for conservation in that megadiverse country.

The 2010 Pro-Tour of Nature photography will be the Borderlands region of Laredo, Texas, and will be held in April 2010.  Prize money will be $180,000.  Click here to see the announcement on the event.
Also, Images for Conservation Fund has created the William Henry Jackson Award, named after the American painter, photographer and explorer famous for his images of the American West. He is known as America's pioneer photographer. William Henry Jackson was the first photographer in the world to use his images for conservation. This new award will represent the first grand prize winner of the Pro-Tour.  The award will be a bronze representing nature photography and habitat. Now open for application.  The official rules and application are on the website (imagesforconservation.org). Click here to see a description of the William Henry Jackson and its meaning to ICF and the Pro-Tour award.

The ILCP is Going to WILD9 - Save the Date!

WILD 9 - Feel, Think, Act - is underway! For the first time in its more than 30 years of work around the world, the World Wilderness Congress (WWC) will convene in Latin America, in the welcoming "White City" of Merida in Mexico's Yucatan -the land of the Maya.

The ILCP will celebrate it's 4th anniversary at WILD9 with a three day symposium that will explore the latest and most innovative conservation communication initiatives.  We are also planning a Yucatan RAVE to highlight the development challenges faced by this region.

From November 6 - 13, 2009, the WWC - the world's longest-running public international forum for the environment - will again convene a large and diverse gathering of senior and respected experts and representatives from governments, NGOs, indigenous peoples, communities, corporations, religion, the arts and other sectors to act on WILD9's vision statement: wilderness is the strategic element in our response to global environmental change. Many people and groups are already collaborating on the practical objectives of WILD 9.

To learn more and to register to attend, click here.