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A Rocha International News, issue 42

NEW field study centres

Pembina Valley Centre, Canada

The map shows the location of the House which will serve perfectly as a community living space and residence for a host family; the Education Centre with its outdoor amphitheatre, a winterized shelter with washrooms, and an eating/ meeting area for up to 60 people; the Interpretative Centre accessible to the public visiting the neighbouring provincial park; the Hiking Trails; and the Garden, Orchard and Meadow. The meadow and specific clearings in the woods are being set aside as places for study, research and reflection.

The original A Rocha Canada centre is in British Columbia, within easy walking distance of the coast and the US border. Now there is a second centre – 1,200 miles away – in the Pembina Valley in Southern Manitoba. This is a highly strategic location for establishing a community of research and education and engaging people in conservation. The valley supports a rich variety of wildlife and habitat. White-tailed Deer, Wild Turkeys and Red Squirrels are found year-round. Each spring Manitoba’s massive raptor migration brings thousands of eagles, vultures, hawks and falcons northward through this migration corridor. Over 200 species of birds pass through or breed in the valley, including some of special concern on Canada’s at-risk list.

White-tailed Deer and many other mammals can be seen in the Pembina Valley.

The Important Bird Area (IBA) programme is an international conservation initiative that recognizes areas of special significance. A Rocha is supporting a proposal made by the Manitoba IBA program, Manitoba Conservation and the Pembina Valley Conservation District, that 43 square kilometres of the valley be designated as an IBA. Much of the flora and fauna still needs to be monitored and this is one of A Rocha's priorities. Agriculture is a major land use activity in the valley so A Rocha plans to partner with landowners and conservation agencies.

The Canada team have initiated a campaign to complete the purchase of the two centres and to support their renovation and running costs. If you would like to help, please contact the International Office.

Our NEW field study centre in Kenya and the working women of Mwamba

Sykes’s Monkey is just one of many mammal species being studied by students based at Mwamba.

Last year, with the help of many generous people, A Rocha Kenya purchased their field study centre and bird observatory, Mwamba, at Watamu. Since then, it has not only provided a base for A Rocha’s own research in this ecological hotspot, but become a magnet for researchers hailing from far and wide. Melanie Sorensen, an A Rocha volunteer from the USA, reports:

During the last three months, Mwamba rooms have been filled with female researchers from all over the world. Their projects are as diverse as the women conducting them.

Amrita Neelakantan from India and Cate Jackson from the UK are working together on a project funded by Paignton Zoo, England, in association with the Kenya Wildlife Service. They are studying Ader’s Duiker (a small, endangered antelope) in the Arabuko–Sokoke Forest, testing the efficacy of camera traps in establishing its status. Threats to the duiker include logging of its habitat and illegal poaching. Amrita and Cate have successfully identified hotspots for the duiker in the north of the forest, obtained ten pictures of the little antelopes, and had ten direct sightings between them and their field guide, Willy Kombe. Further knowledge of this beautiful animal is essential if we don’t want to witness its extinction within the next decade. Cate says, “Mwamba is only fifteen minutes’ drive from the forest entrance, which is fantastic for our 5am wake up calls! Living at the centre gives us endless opportunities.” Amrita added, “Mwamba has a special sense of community and we are very lucky to be based here. We fell in love with the location — the stunning Indian Ocean and Mwamba nature trail are right on the doorstep.”

Female research scientists based at Mwamba

Kelly Schultz, a monkey specialist from the USA, has been living here for over a month, at the start of her eight-month stay. She is a field assistant to Steffen Foerster, whose PhD research is on Sykes’s Monkeys at nearby Gede Ruins forest. Kelly has had many memorable experiences in the forest, including being attacked by biting ants and walking through large spider webs. Despite these obstacles, Kelly says, “I’m very grateful that Mwamba is available to me. I had never been to Africa before and everything was very foreign. At Mwamba I feel very safe and the people here explain to me how things work. It’s also very nice to have the social network.”

Rebecca Vande Griend from Canada is here for six months to develop a monitoring programme that can be easily repeated every year to evaluate the impact of A Rocha Kenya’s Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Eco-tourism Scheme (ASSETS) on the conservation of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and Mida Creek. A variety of methods will be used, including surveys of the East Coast Akalat (a Vulnerable forest bird) and Amani Sunbird (an Endangered species). Rebecca says, “Developing the programme from Mwamba means that I’m able to make use of A Rocha’s resources and networks, and gain ideas from other researchers staying here.”

Barbara Lutz and Meike Newiadomsky from Germany are researching bushmeat hunting in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Together with their field guide, David Ngala, they spent twenty days during October and November recording every forest-disturbing activity including logging, pole-cutting and trapping. The traps they found mainly targeted duikers, sunis (smaller antelopes) and elephant-shrews. Some of the hunted species are endangered. Meike said, “The biggest advantage Mwamba has given us is the people. We can’t imagine what we’d have done without their help. Roni and Colin took over the place of our supervisors back home for a while, Rebecca helped us get going with the GIS program, and Cate and Ami exchanged collected data and worked on our statistics.” Barbara added, “Mwamba is like a home-base to us. It is wonderful to come back from an exhausting day of fieldwork and be welcomed by friends and comforted by wonderful meals.”

A Rocha Brazil is launched!

Some of the A Rocha Brazil team with Marina Silva, Ghillean Prance and Peter Harris at the Ecology and Society Forum

Some of the A Rocha Brazil team with their guests at the Ecology and Society Forum: Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment and Prof Sir Ghillean Prance (centre) and Peter Harris (back left).

A Rocha Brazil took a huge step forward in organizing a launch conference, on Ecology and Society, in São Paulo in November.

They led seven other organisations, including the Ministry of the Environment, in the first reflection of its kind on major issues facing this country where 20% of the world's biodiversity is concentrated, and where around 25% of the population belong to evangelical churches of a wide variety. Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment, spoke powerfully of the need for commitment from the churches to the environmental challenges facing the whole of Brazilian society, and shared her own biblical convictions and remarkable story of struggle and eventual faith. As her talk ended she commented: “A Rocha Brazil is making a brilliant contribution in bringing together scientific expertise with social realities. We also need to realise that nothing really happens without prayer. In truth, we may be technically super-advanced, but often we are ethically pre-historic!”

The Brazil team hopes to establish a field study centre in this remnant of the once vast coastal forest, near São Paulo.

Among the 200 people who came from all over this vast country were senior scientists drawn to hear the President of World Vision Brazil, Ariovaldo Ramos, and Prof Sir Ghillean Prance who reflected on his forty years of field work in Amazonia and the significance of his Christian commitment over the decades of work, often in extremely difficult circumstances. Now plans advance towards the establishment of the first field study centre, almost certainly in the Mata Atlântica, and programmes in some of the poorest communities elsewhere in the country.

The NEW Czech Centre

The Czech centre now has a new roof – and other renovations will be undertaken during the next few years.

We want to thank all those who have recently contributed to the appeal to raise £75,000 / €113,000 / US$ 146,000 to complete the purchase of Krupárna, in Eastern Bohemia. By the end of December well over one third of the amount had been given (mainly by our UK supporters) and the owner has allowed us a little more time to raise the rest, saying he wants the purchase completed by September 2007. We still need to find £46,600 / €70,000 / US$ 91,000. If you would like to help, please contact the International Office.

A NEW partnership with Conservation International

Conservation organisations of all persuasions have recognised in recent years that it is human choices and values which are often the major factor in determining the outcome of even the most local of projects. A number of studies have shown both the value, but also the limitations, of an approach to conservation that is purely technical or tactical. So it has been very heartening for A Rocha to enter into partnership with Conservation International on the Christian Communities and Biodiversity Project.

The three year programme, led by Ben Campbell who is based in CI’s Washington DC office, aims to engage Christian groups around the world in partnership with CI national staff so that they can give practical expression to their core beliefs about caring for creation. Another aim of the project is to work with Christian leaders in the United States who now wish to put their biblical convictions of stewardship into action in very practical ways, spurred on by the impact of climate change on poorer communities and the loss of species and habitats around the country.

Ben comments, “This is a timely partnership as many groups are waking up to the potential of working with people of faith. It builds upon some sound groundwork by fellow Christians in the USA and brings to the mix the excellent resources developed by Conservation International.”

NEW at www.climatestewards.org.uk

Visit the new website!

A Rocha’s Climate Stewards website provides practical suggestions for reducing your carbon footprint, carries the latest climate change stories from around the world, and enables you to offset your carbon emissions.

Just a year after we launched Climate Stewards in the UK, we have had so much demand from other countries that we are re-launching the website to operate in Canada, the USA, The Netherlands and Portugal. Thanks to a very generous donor we have been able to completely redevelop the site and have created a much more sophisticated calculator. Even if you have already offset your own emissions, have a look at the site for new ways to reduce them.

New tree planting in Ghana

Emmanuel and Daryl, who are co-ordinating A Rocha Ghana’s tree-planting programme for Climate Stewards.

The first Climate Stewards project is in Ghana, where tree planting will begin in 2007. We are working on plans for other projects in South Africa, Kenya, Peru and Portugal. If we can sell enough carbon offsets we hope to plant several thousand hectares of forestry over the next 5 years. The new woodlands will not only bring benefits to the atmosphere, but will also benefit the communities doing the planting and the wildlife that will adopt the new and restored habitats.

Jenny Bowles, who works for Climate Stewards in the UK, and Will Simonson, A Rocha’s Science Director, visited Ghana in November. They were helping to plan the implementation of the programme there, and Jenny has written a report for us:

Some of the Damongo children who are learning the importance of planting trees.

“A Rocha, A Rocha” the children chant joyfully as they notice Daryl Bosu – A Rocha Ghana’s man in Damongo – walking down the dusty high street.

A few minutes later Daryl is addressing a wide-eyed primary school audience. He repeats the same two words, “A Rocha”. In eager unison they respond with, “The Rock”. Then Daryl asks, “What happens when the last tree dies?” With one voice they call out, “The last man dies.”

Under Daryl’s enthusiastic guidance these children are learning about their environment. They recently enjoyed a trip to the nearby Mole National Park, and are now planting trees in their school compound. Each tree is tended by one child and protected from the scorching sun, trampling feet and browsing goats by a simple wigwam made of sticks. The youngsters ask searching questions – they take their tree-care seriously.

A stick wigwam, built by a child to protect her tree.

This commitment is timely. Climate Stewards is launching a carbon-offsetting project in Ghana. With infectious enthusiasm Daryl and his colleague Emmanuel Akom are coordinating a national programme of planting trees to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, building on existing A Rocha links with schools, universities and communities.

One village keen to join in the planting is Larabanga, a remote rural community of 1000 people, about 400 miles north of the capital, Accra. The original vegetation was destroyed by bushfires, fuel-collection and over-grazing – the consequences of long dry seasons and poverty. The ‘Assembly Man’ (village leader) welcomed the Climate Stewards team very warmly. He regards the tree-planting project as a lifeline for his struggling people. Climate Stewards is committed to ensuring its projects benefit local communities and wildlife, as well as the global climate.

Such projects are a real source of hope, but their impact on global warming will not be enough to avert disaster unless we in the rich countries also reduce our own emissions. Will our commitment match that of the children from Damongo?

NEW A Rocha groups

In February 2006, Brazil became A Rocha’s 16th National Organisation. Now three more groups are working towards joining the A Rocha family once they have built up a network of supporters and clarified their priorities:

Switzerland

Swiss Alps

Steve Tanner, who lives near Lausanne, writes, “Swiss Christians have recently become more and more concerned about the environment, as evidenced in journals, conferences, sermons, workshops and action groups. A French-speaking A Rocha Initiative Group was founded in September 2006, when twelve of us met in Geneva. We are currently working to identify possible conservation and education programmes to fit the specific needs of western Switzerland. We are also starting to network within the church and environmental organisations. Our goals for 2007 are to organize a conference on ‘Christianity and Environment’ and to strengthen our team and vision. We hope to launch an A Rocha project during 2008.”

New Zealand

Kristel van Houte-Howes, one of an A Rocha work party uprooting weeds on Maungatautari Ecological Island, New Zealand, in December.

The new Initiative Group is led by Richard Storey, a former team member with A Rocha Lebanon, who has been building up a net- work for several years. He writes, “We held our second planning meeting in December. We now have a set of goals and a mission statement! We decided that locally we would be known as A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand to reflect our place in the Pacific and our intention to develop in partnership with Maori. We decided to begin running practical days (tree planting, field trips, etc.) even while we are establishing ourselves, as this will help us bring people together and develop partnerships with existing conservation groups. We also decided to organise a colloquium in May 2007 to discuss concepts, theology and practice of “Christians in Conservation.” We’ll apply for official adoption by the International Trustees at their April 2007 meeting, but have much work to prepare for that. Our first major event will be a stand at a big Christian music festival in late January.”

Uganda

The first step to launching A Rocha in Uganda was taken in October 2006, when a large group was challenged by the Rt Rev Dr Zac Niringiye to repent of misusing the environment, “We’ve worked it but not taken good care of it!” he declared. Ugandan scientists highlighted the challenges: receding water levels in Lake Victoria, dramatic loss of forests, the need for a proper waste disposal system, and disease due to environmental degradation. This new A Rocha initiative is mainly due to one young Ugandan woman, Sara Kaweesa, who says, “When I finished a Master’s degree in Vienna I was looking for something to do that would not only give me satisfaction but also be useful. I did not want to just get a job, do it, drive a nice car etc - I wanted to make an impact.” She first made contact with A Rocha in March 2005, when she presented her study on the Hamerkops at Cambridge, England, and now she expects to do a PhD in Biodiversity Management as well as co-ordinating the new Initiative Group.

NEW leadership for A Rocha

We're delighted to announce that Dr Marie Connett Porceddu has accepted our invitation to become the first Chief Executive Officer Designate of A Rocha International. Dr Connett Porceddu brings a huge amount of experience in both scientific research and management. She has a PhD from Cornell University in Botany, which followed a biology degree with a plant taxonomy and conservation focus, and an MBA from the University of South Carolina in Business Management. Her professional experience includes ten years in forestry in Australasia and the Americas, motivated by the desire to foster efficient forestry practices without damaging neighbouring natural habitats. She is currently the Deputy CEO of CAMBIA, an international, independent non-profit research institute based in Canberra, which fosters innovation and a spirit of collaboration in the life sciences for the benefit of all peoples, especially those in less developed countries.

She is a committed Christian who will bring a wonderful cross-cultural perspective to the post, as she is a national of Italy, the USA and New Zealand, currently lives in Australia and speaks French, Spanish, Italian and German, as well as her native English.

She will become CEO Designate from 1 March 2007 and after moving to France with her family will be appointed CEO later this year.

NEW international e-mail newsletter

If you’ve been receiving the international e-mail newsletter for a while, then you’ll notice a big change in February. The new style is briefer but it will alert you when the monthly webflash is up and link you to other new stories on our website from around the world, as well as job vacancies and volunteering opportunities.

It is sent out at the beginning of each month. If you’re not already on a mailing list, please request it by e-mailing the team in your own country, or, if you live in a country without a national A Rocha, contact the International Office. The newsletter can simply serve to keep you informed, but if you also use it to pray for A Rocha’s work, we’ll be very grateful.

Special Species: Clarke’s Weaver Ploceus golandi

A male Clarke’s Weaver in breeding plumage.

Clarke’s Weaver is one of the rarest birds in the world and its breeding site, or sites, have never been found. The race is on to locate nests and protect its threatened habitat before the species becomes extinct. Colin Jackson, Director of A Rocha Kenya, tells the story – and how you can help.

Clarke’s Weaver is found only in eastern Kenya, in the beautiful open woodlands dominated by Brachystegia spiciformis in the Watamu-Malindi area.

Most observations have been made in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, an area of 420 km2 protected under government law. Brachystegia is limited to 25% of the forest and so the weaver is found in only a very small area. Thankfully, despite continual illegal logging, the habitat is still in pretty good condition. However, whilst there have been many people studying birds in Arabuko-Sokoke, there has not been a single observation of the birds nest building, attending a nest or carrying food in the forest – though there has been one record of juveniles begging for food from adult females. We assume that the species must breed in the woodlands to the north of the Sabaki River – the Dakatcha Woodlands, which are a mosaic of Brachystegia on the white sandy soil and very dense Cynometra thicket on the red soils.

Ever since I came to Watamu, I have been visiting the Dakatcha Woodlands in search of breeding Clarke’s Weavers. The first expedition was in August 1998 when we saw no weavers at all. On the second trip we found them near the town of Marafa. This is an area of mature Brachystegia woodland and the canopy was quite thick though there was plenty of evidence of intense logging. We later camped at the edge of that section and had a feeding flock pass right through our camp. Since that time we have made various visits at different times of the year. The closest we have come to success was in March 2003, when we saw an adult female feeding a young bird. In May 2004 we found an unoccupied weaver nest, which we didn’t recognise, at the top of a tree. Its design eliminated all the other known breeding birds in the area and left Clarke’s Weaver as the likely constructor of it! However, until we actually find a Clarke’s Weaver at a nest, the mystery remains.

A large clearing in Brachystegia woodland, with the trees stacked ready to be burned for charcoal.

In 2005 the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK) awarded a small grant to cover the basic costs of a monthly survey to Dakatcha to look for breeding Clarke’s Weavers (and also any of the equally threatened Sokoke Scops Owls which may be there). We have managed four expeditions since then, in collaboration with the Ornithology Dept. of National Museums of Kenya and Nature Kenya, but have only found small flocks of the weaver on one of those visits. The extremely worrying issue is that the intense illegal logging has continued unabated and in the past year a worse threat has appeared – charcoal burning. With the logging there was a lot of natural regeneration in the open spaces created, but with charcoal burning a whole area of forest is swept clean and, very often, later cultivated.

A Rocha Kenya and our partners plan to continue the surveys and we still hope to locate breeding weavers. We have also begun working with the local communities to find alternative sources of income that will not destroy the forest. A Rocha plans to use Climate Stewards funding to develop a programme of reafforestation – so please use the Climate Stewards website (see above) to offset your carbon footprint and help us, in due course, to increase the chance of Clarke’s Weaver escaping extinction. We also want to work closely with the churches in the area, teaching the many local Christians about our responsibility to care for God’s world and especially helping them to look after the beautiful weaver which God placed only in our back garden.