Enchanted Lands and Fables

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson’s conservation efforts concentrate on saving an essential part of Rajasthan’s biodiversity – the camel. It is also an identity of the Raika Community. This internationally respected scientist now spends half her life in Rajasthan, the northwest Indian state only slightly smaller than her native Germany, whose once vast camel herds are in danger of becoming an historical footnote.

Ilse is recognized for her original work combining western medicine and modern management with traditional remedies and age-old pastoral techniques to save local herds and bring brighter economic prospects to one of India’s most marginalised communities. In 1996, after a four-year study, Köhler-Rollefson started prescribing practical remedies, helping to establish a non-governmental organisation, Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, to coordinate a regional effort to save the camels and lobby India’s federal government.

Her most publicised achievement has been to forge a unique and synergistic combination of modern medicines and local ethno-veterinary practices using herbal and other time-tested Raika treatments for camels. To ensure the programme has long-term benefits, she also helped found a training centre where knowledge about the traditional practices is kept alive and where “unlicensed” Raika veterinarians and their officially registered counterparts from India and abroad can learn from one another.

Ilse recognizes that the medical aspect of her work will solve only the most immediate problems. The next hurdle is to restore grazing rights. Her ultimate aim is to return sustainable economic viability and cultural cohesion to the Raika.

She also believes that the pastoralists such as the Raika are the world’s “real experts in livestock management” and that the international scientific community has much to learn from them. “Their knowledge,” she says, “is vital especially for the sustainable use of marginal environments.”

Ilse’s rapid progress is regarded by many as astounding. The training centre and other elements of the infrastructure have been expanded, and, she says, “We’ve reached the point where even government officials seek our advice.” Yet she still sees a need “to build a common ‘multi–stakeholder platform‘ for conservation and development”.

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Ornithologist Anita Studer began visiting Brazil in 1976 to study its rich birdlife. Five years later, in the Pedra Talhada forest near Quebrangulo in the north-eastern state of Alagoas, she came across a rare blackbird, Curaeus forbesi, known to the local people as “anumará”. When she told her academic supervisor in Sao Paulo about her discovery, he agreed the anumará would make a good subject for Studer’s research. “But you had better hurry,” he said. “The forest will disappear in nine or 10 years,” he predicted, referring to the rapid deforestation of the area.

Studer, who was in awe of her supervisor, thought overnight about his warning and went to see him the next day. “I’m going to do the opposite of what you advised me,” she bravely told him. “First I’m going to save the forest, and then I’ll have all the time in the world to study the anumará.”

In the early 1980s she began her efforts to save Pedra Talhada, and, like the forest, her plans grew bigger. In 1989 she launched the Arco Iris (Rainbow) project to plant more trees beyond Pedra Talhada and to raise awareness of the value of forests.

Planting a tree is, for Studer, an act essential to life at all levels, individual and global. Before she began her work in Quebrangulo, to the local people trees were something to be removed in order to make more land available for grazing, and the forest was a thing of no value, a haven for snakes and bandits. As she began to teach the villagers and farmers and their children about the importance of the forest, she realised she had to change their attitudes in order to change the landscape. “Someone who plants a tree with his or her own hands will think twice before burning trees down to clear the land,” she says.

There has also been a reversal of attitudes towards her in the years Studer has been visiting Quebrangulo. “When I first began the project, the people didn’t trust me,” says Studer. “They couldn’t believe I was doing it for nothing.” Now, she adds, “they see me as a friend, and not as someone important. And that’s how I want it.” She had also been appointed an “honorary member” of the municipality of Quebrangulo.

Despite all that has been achieved, replanting the forest and improving life in all its forms in Quebrangulo is only one of Studer’s interests. She spends most of the year making her living in Geneva where she works as an accountant and runs the association that funds the work in Brazil.

But she is also eager that the work continues when she is no longer there to help. At one point the local people began calling the forest “Anita’s forest”, but she discouraged that. The forest is something that must far outlive a single human life.

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For South African-born Jackson, a British wildlife biologist who studied zoology and botany in the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and at the University of California at Berkeley, it was clear that a strategy for survival of the snow leopard required a thorough understanding of its movements, home range, food habits, hunting behaviour and social organisation. But information was limited by the animal’s secretive and largely nocturnal habits, its inaccessible habitat, low numbers, and sparse distribution.

When Rodney Jackson started his research work nearly 20 years ago, there was no real evidence that any snow leopards were to be found in Nepal’s three mountain national parks. It was not until 1972 that the animals were even photographed. Expeditions had been organised to study the snow leopard but without great success.

Visiting the Himalayas in 1976-1977 to survey the snow leopard population, Jackson came to the conclusion that the only answer was radio-telemetry. This would entail live-capturing a small number of the animals, fitting them with radio-collars and then releasing them once more in order to track their movements by following the radio signals.

Jackson drew up a project to trap and radio-collar five snow leopards in the Kanjiroba Himal area of West Nepal near the Tibetan border and to track them over at least eight consecutive months. The radio-telemetry data would be supplemented by visual tracking. The plan was to trap the animals in winter, when their range is most constricted. The trapped leopards would be tranquillised using a blow-pipe projected syringe, then measured, weighed and fitted with the specially designed radio-collar before being released back into the wild. The innovative nature of the project won him a 1981 Rolex Award for Enterprise.

The project also brought Jackson considerable fame. This included an article in National Geographic magazine, which was to become a major supporter. As Jackson explains: “My project was the first successful attempt at radio-collaring and studying snow leopards in the wild. Our work is still by far the most detailed study of the species. It is routinely cited by professional biologists as an example of how field studies should be undertaken. It exemplifies how the myriad logistical, physical, political and other obstacles can be overcome through careful planning, team-work, perseverance, and a willingness to adapt to the rugged, remote terrain and local culture.”

Data from Jackson’s snow leopard project has built a sound basis upon which the species can be protected and managed, especially within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries where its numbers are higher and habitat conditions generally more suitable. Jackson’s information also provides a basis for determining the minimum and ideal sizes and locations for reserves.

More on Rodney’s work at   http://snowleopardconservancy.org/

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It is all quite an achievement for a former nurse from Andalusia with post graduate degrees in toxicology and AIDS, as well as environmental management. Yet despite his obvious dedication to the first of his two nurturing professions, Robles del Moral was always destined to be more than a nurse. By his own admission, he has been interested in conservation since his childhood days as a boy scout.

Eager to do “something special for the earth”, Robles del Moral established an institute for environmental research, Instituto de Investigaciones Ecológicas, or INEC, in his native Málaga, in 1992, relinquishing his position as a senior nurse at the regional hospital to become its full-time director. Still going strong, the institute operates as a non-governmental organisation, offers post-graduate courses in environmental subjects, hosts a number of national ecological events and provides a job placement service for ecologists.

According to Robles del Moral, dialogue with industry representatives at the 1997 conference prompted Forests of the Earth to establish Greenway, its most recent and potentially far-reaching programme.

“Greenway will be a reforested path of green around the world which, like Australia’s great barrier reef or the great wall of China, is big enough to be seen from the moon,” Robles del Moral asserts. “At first it will be just points on a map, later it will be lines and eventually, with the collaboration of everybody, the lines will be joined and we’ll be able to circumnavigate the globe along this green path.”

The first national reforestation campaign took place in Málaga between October 1994 and March 1995, the local authority having donated 2,500 hectares of now-protected land. Some 48,000 forestry students, together with 1,000 members of the public, planted a staggering 110,000 trees on this land. The programme attracted support from, among others, the European Union’s Life Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNESCO and the Spanish Ministry for the Environment.

Yet even these huge achievements are not enough for Robles del Moral, and Forests of the Earth is setting sites for Spain even higher, in line with its plans for elsewhere on the planet.

Few other human beings have done more than this dedicated and inspiring former nurse to change public attitudes towards conservation and ensure that this groundbreaking programme – like so many of the trees planted in its name – is now bearing fruit.

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China is not only on the verge of becoming the leading economy of the world, it is also becoming the leading polluter. 16 of the most polluted cities of the world are in China and a majority of the population has still not got access to clean drinking water.

One of the most polluted cities in China is the northwestern city of Lanzhou, which is home to nearly 3 million people. Located at a historic location where the old silk route meets the yellow river, the city is so polluted that its inhabitants breathe in an equivalent of a cigarette pack just by inhaling the air. Ten percent of Yangtze near Lanzhou is sewage. The main polluters are the oil refineries which are also a major reason for the economic growth which Lanzhou has seen for the last four decades.

One of the key individuals trying to address these issues is Zhao Zhong. He is the Director of Green Camel Bell, which is the first environmental NGO in the province of Gansu in western China. Green Camel Bell’s aim is to protect the mother rivers, which have always been a cradle of civilization for the Chinese people.

Here’s a small example of their work from a small village in China’s Gansu province. For a long time the village survived on the water of a nearby creek, until one day the land upstream was found to be prime territory for potato farming. Capital poured in and a veritable potato heaven was established, with plenty of starch factories to make sure the rest of the world profits from the potato bounty. All the starchmaking created byproducts, but no matter, that was easily disposed of in the creek, let the downstream village worry about it. The village soon found they couldn’t irrigate their crops; their teeth grew yellow and cragged the more water they drank; they collected rain water to avoid using the polluted creek, and that worked for awhile, but then the droughts came; A drought every year for the past five years, each worse than the last, the climate was changing and the water was leaving and the village was wilting. Green Camel Bell is doing what it can: in this particular village it is helping to move the local agriculture toward sunflowers, a hardier plant requiring less irrigation work, so at least the villagers can earn a living. Green Camel Bell is also prospecting for water purification methods for use throughout Gansu. Last year an Australian institution heard of Green Camel Bell’s work and donated a batch of household water purifiers which was dispatched to local schools and families in high-need areas. To supplement reaction with prevention, Green Camel Bell serves as the region’s major watchdog NGO and engages in water pollution mapping, acting as a bridge of communication between polluting enterprises and the local communities they effect.  (Story courtesy Yang Chu)

This is just one case study from amongst the many projects and initiative that Green Camel Bell is carrying out. Green Camel Bell’s working fields include:

• Environmental Education and Communication
• Capacity Building
• Rural Community Development
• Water Resources
• Desertification
• Wildlife Conservation

GCB has drawn up the first “green map” of Lanzhou and has published and distributed materials on environmental protection such as the “Green Camel Bell Newsletter” and the “Collected Works of the Gansu College Students’ Green Camp”. GCB’s current projects include the “Gansu Water Protection Project”, the “Local Environmental Teaching Materials on Desertification in Minqin, Gansu Project”, and the “Capacity Building Project for Environmental Organizations in Gansu”.

To read more on their work visit:

http://www.greencambell.ngo.cn/en/

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For 14 years a stoic, courageous and determined Israeli ornithologist, Dr Reuven Yosef, has fought with all the means at his disposal to keep intact a tiny fleck of a sanctuary at Eilat in Israel, at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. This spot is a precious stopover on their ancient migratory path and is frequented by over 280 migratory bird species from Europe, Asia and Africa.

Dr Yosef’s visionary International Birding and Research Centre Eilat (IBRCE) won praise from the Selection Committee of the 2000 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, which chose him as an Associate Laureate.

Developed from an old rubbish dump to include 64 hectares of lakes, wetlands, visitor facilities and natural vegetation to harbour birds, the centre is today acknowledged as one of the world’s ornithological wonders, inspiring projects as far afield as Kenya, Tibet, China, Mongolia and North America.

Young Reuven had grown up in a family that loved and respected wild animals. His great-uncle established India’s reserve for the Asiatic Lion, but he himself was fascinated by birds, dreaming of studying them and trying to understand their mysterious ways.

Arriving in Israel as a 17-year-old imbued with Zionist ideals, he joined the Israeli Army and saw active service as an officer in one of its elite fighting units. Even in the heat of conflict, with bullets flying, he insisted his men treat wounded birds found on the field of battle. “My men didn’t necessarily agree, but they humoured me,” he recalls.

Reuven Yosef may be a bird scientist, but he is also a warrior, a rock climber and a survivor as hardy as the landscape he guards. “The developers don’t appreciate how precious this tiny piece of land really is. They say it is wasted on birds. They think birds can always go somewhere else. They’d rather see a string of hotels or a motocross speedway. They do not care.”

Were migratory birds to disappear, he explains, the insects they feed on would take a vast toll on humanity’s crops and food supply. We need birds for our own future, too – as well as for theirs.

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Ecosphere Spiti is a collaborative effort of the local community of Spiti and
professionals from diverse backgrounds with a wide spectrum of skills and experience, effectively spanning the bridge from the general to the niche.

Our focus is to re-establish the critical link between the custodians of Spiti’s
natural and cultural resources and consumers, through our product line ranging between travel, organics and health. We aim to create sustainable livelihoods that are linked to conservation.

Our passion for conservation, mountain travel and adventure has brought us all together for this venture. Some of us have college and university educations that strongly support our claims. Other members of the team have (adrenaline) educations that no educational institution can provide.

We have wandered the Himalayas (and will continue to do so) and most travelers we have come across have been awed by its grandeur, very few have been disappointed.

We have a commitment not only to the development of the place, people and resources of this region but also to the outside world with whom we wish to share this rich natural and cultural heritage and the traditional knowledge of healing and health.

Reach us at-  http://www.spitiecosphere.com

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A longtime educator and environmentalist, Rod Walker is protecting the bioregion and promoting environmental education and awareness, as well as launching an eco-tourism program that trains and employs local guides in the Cañi region of southern Chile.

Drawing on his decades of experience teaching urban dwellers how to appreciate nature, Rod Walker has launched an environmental protection program in the south of Chile that combines eco-tourism, income generation, and education. Located in the Cañi forest, the first privately-run sanctuary of its sort in Chile, Rod’s program is training local guides to lead eco-tourism excursions and to educate locals and tourists alike about the fragility, the needs, and the natural wonder of the region. In so doing, Rod is emphasizing the educational side of eco-tourism while at the same time generating jobs and income for the local economy.

Moreover, Rod is making his guide training courses available nationwide and building a network of guides and other organizations committed to environmental protection through eco-tourism. He has created a guide certification program that, pending approval from the National School of Mountaineering, will systematize the training of local guides. Through his work, Rod is spreading the idea that Chile’s diverse and rich bioregions cannot survive unless citizens are given an opportunity to explore and appreciate the natural richness of their country.

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Allan Schwarz is helping the residents of Southern Africa’s Miombo region create businesses that provide good livings while protecting the forests in which they live. He is applying his skills as architect, artist, and designer to educate people about ecological sustainability, while also addressing the main cause of deforestation–poverty.

Allan has devised a business model that gives residents an alternative to cutting down large numbers of trees for fuel or to clear land for agriculture. Unlike other forest conservation projects, which operate solely from a development framework and depend on financial aid, his approach is funded through private investment. Allan collaborates with residents to take an inventory of resources and create a management plan that balances timber harvesting with re-planting. He employs workers and trains them in sustainable, value-added methods of production that generate income while contributing to the management of the forest.

The project operates as a business, taking into account all of the costs and responsibilities of working in and preserving the forest. It assumes that the capital value of the forest will eventually appreciate because of the resource management approach, in contrast to the value depreciation of normal forestry approaches. All policy and operating decisions are evaluated in terms of both their business and environmental consequences. Project participants receive a minimum wage and a share of the turnover or production bonus.

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Victor Ananias is raising awareness about the benefits of organic food, one part of his larger effort to encourage environmentally sound agriculture by increasing public awareness, changing consumer tastes, altering marketing and advertising strategies, improving farming practices, and reshaping community and business development in Turkey.

Recognizing that food, health, and environment are closely related, Victor is cultivating new respect for the environment and for simple, natural ways of living, eating, and farming. Drawing on his family background and from his travels, Victor establsihed Bugday, “wheat” in Turkish, the first all-organic health food store, restaurant, and environmental and cultural center of its kind in Turkey. Bugday provides information about organic food production to people ranging from village farmers to agricultural policymakers to lay people. Victor has established systems for certifying and marketing locally produced organic food and other products, and is striving to preserve traditional, environmentally low-impact methods for growing food.

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