Kate Mannle, Partnership Associate, recently attended a conference held by the International Marine Conservation Congress. Many of Rare’s upcoming conservation campaigns will aim to protect marine-life, coral reefs, and ocean habitats. Read Kate’s blog about the conference and Rare’s focus on marine conservation.


Rare staffers Kate Mannle, Khanh Nguyen, Sonita Reese, and Brooke Sadowsky at a special symposium on conservation solutions.

Some of the world’s leading experts in marine conservation recently gathered in Washington, D.C. for the International Marine Conservation Congress. A number of Rare staff attended the conference, held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va, in preparation for the launch of next year’s Pride campaigns. Two of Rare’s regional field offices will be focusing on threats to marine ecosystems in the Coral Triangle — countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor Leste and in the English speaking regions of the Western Pacific and Philippines. The conference allowed Rare staff to attend talks on the latest research in coral reef ecology, designing marine protected area networks, and solutions to marine conservation threats.

Rare was also invited to present a poster drawing on the results of our partners’ Rare Pride campaigns titled, “Conservation Successes in the Western Pacific,” at a special symposium held at the Natural History Museum. The event theme was, “Beyond the Obituaries: Success Stories in Ocean Conservation at the Natural History Museum” and aimed to bring together innovators in the conservation community that have had real world success in marine conservation.  The symposium was facilitated by renowned marine ecologist and Director of the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Dr. Jeremy Jackson.

Alistair Harris, Research Director for Blue Ventures, and Sean Southey, VP of Rare’s Pride English Program discuss Blue Venture’s research in Velondriake, Madagascar, a community managed marine protected area network and site of Gildas Andriamalala’s current Rare Pride campaign.

I was also fortunate enough to attend a pre-symposium workshop with Khanh Nguyen, Rare’s Partnership Manager for the Pride  English Program, who designed and presented Rare’s poster. The pre-symposium workshop brought together the symposium presenters to discuss what constitutes conservation success. While there were many different perspectives in the room and some disagreement from this distinguished group on what constitutes conservation success, from changing one person’s attitude to huge social movements to the complete recovery of ecosystems, most agreed that there is a huge need to change people’s behaviors and unsustainable practices. The discussion and the conference highlighted the need for Rare’s Pride campaigns to me even more.

Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, sums up the seven final campaigns that graduated from Rare’s training center at the University of Kent in England. Paul also introduces us to Tublai Ililau of Palau who focused on the re-seeding various species of Giant Clams.

The seven graduating Pride campaign managers with Paul Butler, on the night of their presentations.

The evening was drawing to a close, the audience at the University of Kent in Canterbury had been enthralled by the stories of our seven campaign managers who had returned to finalize their reports and plot strategies for campaign follow up. The seven ladies came from the islands in the Caribbean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans as well as Belize in Central America. We had heard stories of how they had overcome challenges to reach deep into their communities to change attitudes and practices; and had listened to songs, watched videos and been entertained by Olivia’s Stork Dance and Brooke’s butterfly fish mascot.

While each campaign manager talked passionately about their campaigns, they also spoke with pride about their homes, and as each began their presentations with slogans drawn from their tourism departments, there seemed to be a competition, as to whose was the more beautiful…… “It’s Better in the Bahamas”, “You Better Belize It”,   “Saint Lucia – Simply Beautiful”. One thing was for sure, most in the audience would rather had been in any one of the seven countries that they represented than in England on a cold, wet, dark evening!
 
Last up to talk about her conservation campaign was Tublai Ililau from Palau in the Pacific’s Micronesia. I can say, hand on heart, that after Saint Lucia (my adopted homeland), Palau has to rank as the most beautiful place on Earth – just take a look at the Rock Islands on this site and you’ll see why!

Beautiful Palau.

Rare has worked with Palau and the Palau Conservation Society for more than a decade and has had the pleasure of supporting three campaigns on that island. In fact, Tublai’s immediate supervisor, Yalap, Yalap, is a former campaign manager and his cousin was Noe was one too! So Tublai follows in a long line of local heros. Reflecting the magnificent marine environment of her homeland, Tublai’s campaign focused on promoting coastal conservation and the Giant Clam.

Tublai with her supervisor Yalap Yalap who ran a Pride campaign in 2001. Yalap was a part of the first groups of conservationists to undergo Pride training at Kent. 

Palau is home to seven of the nine species of Giant Clam, which like many marine species around the world have been over-harvested. Much of Tublai’s work focused around Melekeok, one of the nation’s 16 states. 

Tublai explained that in 1994 a Marine Protected Area had been established in that state, but it had little community recognition (few even knew of its existence), and regulations governing its protection were unenforced or unknown. Through Pride, and working with the Vice Speaker of the State Legislature, Tublai built community recognition for the site and support for its rigorous protection.  Due to Tublai’s efforts the tide has changed, and today fishermen vigorously support its existence to the extent that they have begun re-seeding  the area with young Giant Clams. First 700, and just prior to Tublai’s return a further 3,000 are planned to be seeded! The community hopes to establish an underwater trail so that people from all over the world can share in their pride and joy.

Tublai shows off some of her education materials about the various species of Giant Clams in the waters of Palau.

Tublai herself has plans to expand her campaign to other States in Micronesia and to build upon the foundation she has set. She said, “I never thought what we achieved would have been possible! It was great!!”

Students help spread the campaigns slogan of Tublai’s campaign and wear pins of the giant clam to show their support.

“It was great” not only summed up Tublai’s work, but also the work of all seven campaign managers – the final graduating class from Kent. Hard work, dedication and a recipe for success, that’s what it takes; and with the opening words from Cathleen’s introduction, the audience could clearly see that “Global conservation is indeed in local hands,” and very capable ones at that! 

Each of the seven campaign managers live in some of the most important, richest biodiversity sites on Earth — whether it is the marine environments of the Pacific or in the wetlands of Belize and they all are dedicated to protect them!

Cathleen from Mauritius says she’s fed up with people knowing her island only from the saying “as dead as Dodo,” and she plans to do everything in her power to ensure that is the last species to go extinct in her patch of paradise.

Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, blogs about Cheryl Calaustro who got the word out about her campaign via the media, appearing on a multitude of TV and radio programs. Cheryl lit up the TV screens in her native Guam talking about her Pride campaign and the endemic Guam Rail. Read more about her campaign!

Cheryl with the endemic Guam Rail, the flightless bird that her campaign focused on.

Cheryl Calaustro, from Guam, works with the Guam Department of Agriculture. Her Go Native, Protect Our Island of Guam” campaign focused on the Guam Rail, a flightless bird endemic to Guam. Guam is one of those classic examples of where an invasive species has devastated natural ecosystems and left the forests of the island silent.

Vince Stricherz, birding expert, writes, “Birds typically make up a small part of the life of a forest, but they are important for pollination, spreading seeds around the forest and controlling insects that feed on plants. Guam, an island 30 miles long and five to 15 miles wide about 3,800 miles west of Hawaii, lost most of its native birds after the brown tree snake was introduced by accident from the Admiralty Islands following World War II. The snake has few predators on Guam, so its population density is quite high — estimated at more than 3,000 per square mile — and some individuals there grow to an unusual size of 10 feet long. Before introduction of the brown tree snake, Guam had 12 species of native forest birds. Today 10 of those are extinct on Guam, and the other two species have fewer than 200 individuals. Though Guam has some non-native bird populations, few other birds moved in when native species died out, and none of them live in the forest. That leaves few birds to consume tree seeds and then drop them away from the trees”.

Guam, a small Island with vast forests and grassland.

Much work and considerable emphasis has been placed on the snake, and awareness levels on the island are high. In her pre-project survey, Cheryl found that 54 percent of respondents were aware of the threats posed by the Brown Tree Snake, but only 5 percent were aware that feral cats posed threats too. Cats are especially problematic for the flightless Guam Rail or Koko, which thanks to a successful captive breeding program escaped extinction and is the subject of a re-introduction program.

Koko, Cheryl’s mascot helped her get the word out about the endemic Guam Rail.
Few respondents knew about how they could help or about feline neutering (23 percent). Bringing awareness to this issue was to become the focus of Cheryl’s campaign. In addition to the usual Pride campaign collateral, Cheryl utilized the mass media. Her campaign appeared on 10 TV programs, four radio programs, and in the press frequently.

She spoke to more than 6,500 young people and even developed a Guam Rail facebook page to reach the island’s youth. She spoke excitedly about her program, but also noted that while knowledge and attitudes have indeed changed, the questionnaire survey results were not as high as she had hoped. She wondered if communities were receiving confused messages, as her campaign was running simultaneously with another Pride campaign. Cheryl showed a fabulous video of kids singing a song, that moved those listening to her presentation and concluded with the words that “success comes in all shapes and sizes, and is not always reflected in statistics”. Cheryl remains committed to building upon her work and will “keep on trying”….

Last up was Tublai from Palau – an island archipelago that ranks right up there on my personal list of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, introduces us to Brooke Nevitt — an environmental education and outreach coordinator who led a Pride campaign in the Northern Mariana Islands. Read about how Brooke networked with teachers, government agencies, and nonprofits alike to get coral reef education into school curriculum, and into the minds of students.

Brooke Nevitt brings hands on experience to corel reef education.

Brooke Nevitt from Saipan in the Pacific’s Northern Mariana Islands focused her presentation on the need for partnerships. Her campaign’s focus was on the island’s reef ecosystem and marine protected areas (MPAs). In her pre-project survey 50 percent of respondents did not know that Saipan had an MPA. This is pretty remarkable since this tiny island measures only seven miles by 14 miles actually has a total of three MPAs! She asked the question, “If people are unaware of something, how can they be expected to cherish and protect it?” Brooke needed to get the word out! 

Brooke’s ”symbol of Pride” Primo  was embraced by children and adults all over the island.

Over the course of her two-year campaign, she reached out to several target audiences; but she focused her talk on her efforts to engage children, and through them, their parents. But even working with a “captive audience” of young students she faced barriers. How could coral reef education be incorporated into lesson plans when environmental education was not in the curriculum at all? How could she engage kids in conservation when teachers lacked the base knowledge to teach nature or about the marine ecosystem? How does one devise a classroom lesson about coral reefs when their true beauty can only be seen in the water?

Brooke’s answer was to foster partnerships and solicit the help of individuals and groups who could help her. The result was teachers training camps, where lesson plans about coral reef conservation were designed and eventually embedded into the national curriculum. 

Children from Brooke’s community with a poster from her conservation campaign.

Through her partners she was able reach out to the community further. The Island’s Department of Environmental Quality and Coastal Management developed materials on reefs and reef ecosystems; MANI, a local NGO, funded teachers camps and student field trips. Teachers now get credits for attending the teachers camps and these credits accrue toward their professional development.

Beautiful CNMI.  Due to Brooke’s campaign, students will learn about the island’s marine ecosystems and the Marine Protected Areas.

Ten schools and 400 children were involved this year in a coral reef education program and this program is scheduled to expand next year. Brooke concluded that with partnerships in place, and enthusiastic support from the schools and Education Department, the scene is set for expansion. She hopes to continue with the campaign and expand it to neighboring Island, Rota, which was a site of an earlier Pride campaign that focused on the importance of Rota’s terrestrial ecosystem.

The symbol of Brooke’s campaign was the endemic Yellow-Crowned Butterfly Fish nick-named Primo. Her mascot visited during the presentation, much to the delight of the university audience.

Senior Vice President of Global Programs, Paul Butler, celebrates the success of Shelly Cant and her Pride campaign to protect the Pintail Duck in Big Pond, Bahamas. Read how Shelly rallied her community to take Pride in their environment.

Shelly Cant, Pride campaign manager in Big Pond, Bahamas

Shelly Cant, who ran her conservation campaign in the Bahamas, took the stage. She talked about the implementation process of the Pride campaign and gave specific details about her wetlands campaign. Shelley noted that the results of her pre-project questionnaire survey really surprised her.

She found that the people did know about the island’s wetlands and were supportive of greater protection being afforded to them (83 percent); but they did not know “how they could help” or what they could do! Shelly noted that this simple exercise in information-gathering had helped her to define her campaign. Had she gone on the assumption that the public knew little, then time and resources may have been wasted relaying the “knowledge” that people already had; rather than focusing on actions that people could take!

Some of the wetlands that Shelly and her Pride campaign are trying to protect.

The project planning also helped Shelly identify the most significant threats facing the islands’ wetlands – these include irresponsible and unplanned development, illegal dumping, and invasive species. Because dumping is illegal, Shelly found it difficult to identify the “who” that lay behind the threat and therefore target them specifically. She and her agency, the Bahamas National Trust, decided to focus on the communities that live around the wetlands and to foster a sense of Pride for the wetlands that lie on their doorstep. With this, they hoped that the community members would become more active in reporting illegal activities, as well as in activities like clean-up, reforestation, and the removal of invasive species.

The campaign focused on getting these communities to “adopt a wetland,” and used the endemic Bahamas Pintail Duck as its emblematic species. Shelly said, “people seem to find ducks cute, and this species is our own!”  By the time of her return to Kent, seven wetlands had been adopted, three corporations had come on board, and the campaign seemed to have taken on a life of its own.

 
Shelley worked with schools and did puppet shows about the Bahamas Pintail Duck and preserving and protecting the wetlands of the Bahamas.

Because of the Bahamas Pride campaign led by Shelly the community around Big Pond adopted their wetland and have begun cleaning it and replanting vegetation. The next step is to rehabilitate another key wetland site and reconnect it back to the sea, nearly a century after it was enclosed!

Senior Vice President of Global Programs, Paul Butler – the first Rare Pride campaign manager − takes a look at Olivia Carballo-Avilez’s Pride campaign in Belize. Initially facing apprehensive community members, Olivia’s persistence made a lasting conservation impact in the communities surrounding the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. Read how!

Olivia proudly shows off her poster of the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary and the posterchild of her campaign, the Jabiru Stork.

Olivia Carballo-Avilez works for the Belize Audubon Society and focused her campaign on the important wetland area of Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary and on the Jabiru Stork – the largest bird in Central America. Olivia spoke of the challenges of being a conservationist in areas where traditional values and behaviors do not always align with conservation goals of sustainable development. This is an area where people want (and need) economic development, as much as they do pristine resources. Olivia’s challenge was to use her campaign to encourage the area’s cattle farmers to pen their cattle and prevent them from straying into the wetland area where their dung raises nutrient levels in the water leading to algal blooms and eutrophication. Other wetland areas have been degraded by land clearing and over-grazing.

Initiating a culture of sustainable grazing was a goal of Olivia’s Pride campaign. She worked with farmers in the area, encouraging many to adopt sustainable practices. 

Olivia noted that while visiting the community early on in her campaign, she had her vehicle’s tires slashed and was left stranded in the village. While not common, I have seen this before. Several years ago a campaign manager in Indonesia had his life threatened, while another in the Philippines was run off the road by a logging truck. Conservation takes passion, commitment and guts!

Olivia went on to talk about more positive aspects, including some of the steps she took to try and change the hearts and minds of the residents around Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. Several times she took local village leaders on a flight over the wetland (their first time on a plane) so they could see the area they lived in and some of the environmental impacts affecting it. Many of her materials (posters, her Pride mascot, and her Pride song) were equally well received. She spoke of going into a house and seeing a poster proudly displayed in the living area, and of children mobbing her mascot, Jimbo Roo the Jabiru.

Her campaign promoted ten ways that cattle farmers could help and encouraged them to sign pledges to adopt these practices – and one third of the resident farmers did. These “early adopters” will hopefully pave the way for more as Olivia continues to work in the area on these issues. But, due to her efforts in the past two years, trust in conservationists rose from 25 percent (pre-survey) to 50 percent (post-survey). Olivia concluded her presentation saying that on her last visit to Crooked Tree she was welcomed with a hug and not a cutlass.

Jimbo Roo the Jabiru Stork was the mascot for Olivia’s campaign and a favorite among many in the community. Clicke here to see a video of Olivia and her mascot!
Click here to listen to Olivia’s Pride song about Jimbo Roo!

A highlight of Olivia’s presentation was her dancing in front of the audience to her song! It was magnificent! Next up to present was Shelly from the Bahamas…

Click here to view a multi-media slideshow of Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Featuring photography from Jason Houston.

Rare’s Senior Vice President of Global Programs, Paul Butler, continues to blog about the most recent graduates of the Rare Pride program. Here he focuses on Feria Narcisse-Gaston of St. Lucia and the symbol of her Pride campaign, the Saint Lucia Iguana.

Feria in her native Saint Lucia, known to some as the “land where the iguanas are found.”

Much of the previous week had seen the seven graduating Pride campaign managers preparing for the evening’s graduation event. They had returned to the University of Kent at Canterbury in the UK from “the four corners of the earth” with samples of their Pride materials and data collected from their post-project surveys. Under the guidance of our Pride program managers, the materials were reviewed and then each campaign manager was given training on presentation techniques.

Cathleen, who led the Mauritius Pride campaign, competently kicked off the evening and introduced each graduating Pride campaign manager. She talked about how similar, yet diverse they all were. The seven come from three oceans — the Pacific: Palau, Guam and CNMI; the Atlantic/Caribbean: Saint Lucia and the Bahamas; and The Indian Ocean: Mauritius. And, with the exception of Olivia, they are all from islands. Olivia is from Belize – but with its small population, and being completely surrounded by Spanish-speaking territories, it is an island all the same, even if it’s not completely encircled by the sea. The returning students are also all women and all have faced challenges in reaching out to their communities.

The Pride campaign managers then presented their work. Each described one step in the campaign planning and implementation process, using their own work as an example, and drew upon the experience of the others as well.

First to present was Feria Narcisse-Gaston from Saint Lucia who stepped up to the podium and spoke about the planning phase, one of the first parts of the Pride campaign. Having spent half my life in Saint Lucia, where I served as Conservation Advisor to the Forestry Department, I was all too aware of the complexities around her site in the northwest part of the island.

Her campaign focused on the dry littoral woodlands and beaches around the regions of Grand Anse and Louvet. These seemingly desolate areas are “off the beaten track,” and difficult to access by road. Yet, they have attracted the eyes of developers for many decades. With their long sandy beaches they are also areas where legal and illegal sand mining take place. More importantly, they are also home to a rich array of unique biodiversity: the Saint Lucia Wren, the Semper’s Warbler; the Rufus Nightjar, White-breasted Thrasher and the Saint Lucia Blackfinch. The beaches are the principal nesting site of the magnificent Leatherback Turtle and linking the terrestrial and shore biomes is the Saint Lucia Iguana – a species that feeds in the dry woodland forest, but lays its eggs in the warm beach sand. It was this species that Feria had chosen as her flagship species. Listen to Feria’s campaign song about the Saint Lucia Iguana!

Feria Narcisse-Gaston works for the Forestry Department and introduced her site by talking of the cultural importance of the iguana. Hewanorra, Saint Lucia’s original name, means “land where the iguanas are found.” The island came upon this name because of the iguana’s abundance at the time of the arrival of Carib Indians. Today, the species is gravely endangered, clinging on in remote dry areas like Grand Anse.

The Saint Lucia Iguana, the symbol of Feria’s Pride campaign.

Feria’s pre-project survey showed that people living around the site were totally unaware of the threats facing the area and of the legal status afforded to the iguana. Her campaign would strive to build this awareness in the hope that people would then speak up when development is proposed and recognize the environmental and economic value of northwest Saint Lucia.

Feria talked of the materials she had produced: posters, costumes, songs, comics and bumper stickers and how awareness of her key messages has increased significantly. Understanding of threats has risen greatly and knowledge as to the legal status of the Saint Lucia Iguana and other protected wildlife increased from 48 percent (pre-project) to 81percent (post project). Along with her colleagues, Feria recognizes that changing knowledge and attitudes is only the first step in reducing threats and generating sustainable conservation results. The changed attitudes must now be harnessed and used to argue passionately for sustainable development that brings jobs to local people, and which protects the land for water, wood, and wildlife, and not simply for the few who can afford a beach-side condominium.

Feria’s mascot greets children in Saint Lucia.

Feria’s presentation and the photos of her site, reminded me just how much I miss Saint Lucia. Next up was Olivia from Belize…
 

Rare’s Senior Vice President of Global Programs, Paul Butler, blogs about the last seven Pride campaign managers to receive their training at the University of Kent in England, Rare’s first training site. Paul reflects on the array of conservation campaigns that this institution has helped produce, as well as the origins of Rare’s Kent program which is permanently transitioning to Georgetown University in Washington. D.C.

The final seven Prirde campaign managers to graduate from the University of Kent. They are, Olivia Carballo-Avilez, Belize (top insert); Feria Narcisse-Gaston, St. Lucia (bottom insert); Cheryl Calaustro, Guam (standing, far left); Tublai Ililau, Palau; Shelley Cant, Bahamas; Cathleen Cybele, Republic of Mauritius; and Brooke Nevitt, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.


“Global Conservation is in Local Hands” was the theme of a graduation presentation that I attended Thursday, May 14th at the University of Kent in Canterbury, about six miles from where I live in the UK. It had been a long and busy day, putting together a talk that I’m giving at the International Parrot Convention later this month, while preparing an assessment to “evaluate” the on-going work of thirty campaigns that are active in the field, as well as trying to complete my half-yearly personal assessment plan, and respond to a cascade of emails. By the time 6 p.m. rolled around I’ll admit I was pretty tired; but that day was a special day and one that I literally had looked forward to all year long.

It is a time when a group of campaign managers return to their university to talk about the progress they are making toward their conservation goals, and about high and low points of their campaigns. Watching young people talk with passion and commitment about their sites and the complex issues they face always makes me proud to work for Rare and I feel privileged and fortunate to find myself in this job. That day was no exception. Indeed I was doubly excited as we had not one but two different groups of conservationists returning.

The event also represented a passing of an era, as it is the last time that we will run our program through the University of Kent, as we shift our English-language training center to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. – a stone’s throw away from Rare’s office in Arlington, Virginia. Having set up the Kent program back in 2001, there was certain poignancy about the occasion — watching the UKC lecture staff (Ian Bride, Bob Smith and others) who played such a key role in developing the initial curriculum, reflect on the fact that this is the last group of Rare Pride campaign managers that they are directly involved with.

In 2001, Paul signs the MOU with Kent University. Rare’s Pride English Program was housed at Kent until 2009. The training program at the University of Kent has produced 47 Pride campaigns.


The first conservationists to be trained at Kent, along with Rare staff and Kent staff. Paul Butler is center.

It was a time to reflect on the 47 students that have passed through the doors at Kent. Campaign managers from countries as far as the fields of South Africa, Sierre Leone, Mauritius, Seychelles and Kenya in Africa; to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Fiji, Palau, Guam, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa in the Pacific; to China, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia and the Philippines in Asia, not to mention Belize and multiple islands throughout the Caribbean. With an 85 percent graduation rate and many managers being given “distinction” for their studies we can all be justly proud of the relationship that has served our respective institutions well, as it has conservation. Past campaign managers can reflect on protected areas they have established (in Fiji, Indonesia, Palau, and the Philippines to name a few) and behaviors changed, as well as the fact that the majority have continued in their conservation careers.

The evening began with a poster session and an opportunity for the audience to walk around and see materials produced by the seven campaigns that were presenting that evening. Posters, t-shirts, bags, bumper stickers, songs and costumes were displayed, while our Pride campaign managers shared their stories.

Cathleen shows off some of her campaign materials.

Rare staff included Sean Southey, Vice President of the Pride English Program; Ariela Rosenstein, Rare’s Training Manager; Adam Murray and Annalisa Bianchessi who are both Pride Program Managers or mentors to the conservationists; as well as Duncan Thomas and Lisa Matusiak who had been working with the campaign managers  to help them  analyze campaign results, craft their final reports and prepare for the evening. We were joined by Rosemary Godfrey who left Rare last year after playing a pivotal role in developing the Kent program, and was its first Pride Program Manager. We all filed into the lecture hall took our seats and were welcomed by Sean who set the scene talking about Rare, Rare Pride, and the returning conservationists who had completed their Pride campaigns: Cathleen Cybele (Mauritius); Shelly Cant (Bahamas); Olivia Carballo-Avilez (Belize); Feria Narcisse-Gaston (Saint Lucia); Brooke Nevitt (CNMI); Cheryl Calaustro (Guam) and Tublai Ililau (Palau). Sean talked passionately about the seven women and their work; then the lights dimmed, the screen lit up and Cathleen took the stage…

Nigel Sizer, Rare’s Vice President of Asia Pacific programs, recently traveled to Hunchun, China, located on the border between North Korea and Russia. Hunchun is the home of Jianmin Lang, a Rare Pride campaign manager who works for the Wildlife Conservation Society and is focusing on conserving Siberian Tigers. Nigel blogs about Lang’s conservation campaign, about the people of this remote region and the challenges of protecting the last few remaining Siberian Tigers.

Following flights to Bangkok, onwards to Beijing, and then another two hours flying north to Yanji, and finally a two hour drive, Rare’s China Director, Shiyang Li, and I arrived in the small town of Hunchun (pop. 250,000). Cool wind blew down from Siberia and low mountains near the Jilin Hunchun Nature Reserve. A very surly receptionist did not greet us on arrival, given we had the rudeness to wake her up in order to check-in.

The reserve covers an area of 108,700 hectares and abuts the border of North Korea in the south and Russia in the north. The target of the Pride campaign, which is in the final stages of planning, is saving the Siberia tigers that live in the reserve. There are thought to be between three and five of this, the largest of the big cats, at the site, about one quarter of China’s entire population of 20 of these huge predators. There are about another 100 tigers on the Russian side and the reserve serves as an important corridor.

The stunning landscape of Hunchun, China and North Korea in the distance.

The charismatic and incredibly committed campaign manager Jianmin Lang, known as Lang, made a clear and compelling presentation to us. He explained that the northern half of the reserve is the target for the campaign as this is the tiger’s habitat. Tiger activity has been recorded 196 times between 2002 and 2008. Camera traps have captured images of three different tigers, and tiger activities have been moving eastwards out of the reserve into other forest and land. Recently a tiger was caught on video by a military camera surveying the border.

The top threat to the tigers is being accidently caught in snares, vicious, simple wire traps, set by the hundred, illegally, in the reserve, to catch deer, wild boar and other species. It is thought that roughly one tiger per year comes to a sad, painful, slow death in the traps.

The Pride campaign in this area aims to dramatically reduce the number of snares being set, clean out the old snares, and engage the local communities as partners. Lang will encourage the community to patrol the vast area of forest and mountainside and keep wayward neighbors from indulging in hunting.

Lang is undoubtedly one of the stars of Rare’s first group of Pride campaign managers in China. He works long hours, is well organized and strategic, and has a great team supporting him from the staff of the nature reserve.

Crucially, Lang also counts on tremendous support from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their local officers, Ms. Liang, who is working with him day-in day-out on the campaign.

Lang, Li Yong, Nigel and Shiyang with a billboard promoting tiger conservation

Click here for more info on Lang’s campaign!
The Shocking Case of Ms. Che Junxia

Che Jinxia is an attractive, friendly, 27-year-old mother who met us to share the traumatic tail of being mauled by an adult Siberian tiger. There have been four reported cases of tigers attacking people since the reserve was established. Three of the cases involved tigers wounded by snares. Che’s case is the only one involving a tiger that was apparently unprovoked and seems to have viewed the human being as prey. Below is her shocking account.

The stunning landscape of Hunchun, North Korea in the distance

“Two years ago, on May 19, 2007, at 5 a.m., together with my husband, I went out to the mountain to collect wild vegetables in the forest.  We separated from each other and he went down the hill and I went up, alone.  I asked my husband to go with me but he wouldn’t.

The tiger was watching me for half an hour I am sure, but I did not realize.  I was wearing an orange coat and collecting plants under a tree.

Suddenly the tiger made a noise and I saw it about 10 meters away.  In one pounce it was right in front of me.  Its head was this big (she gestures with her hands held about 50 cm apart) and its hair was all standing on end. I put my hands up in from of me to protect my face and throat.  I am sure it wanted to bite my neck.  I remember the tiger’s face right in front of mine, just 30 cm away. The tiger bit my hands and arms about six times and scratched my arms. I screamed repeatedly and the tiger suddenly ran away.

Marks the tiger left on Che’s arm.

My husband heard my screaming and came up the mountain, but when he arrived the tiger had gone. When it ran away I was afraid it would come back, and as soon as it had gone I started walking and then passed out.

I knew tigers live on the mountain but I had always been told they would never attack people, now I know that’s not true. Some people think that because of the clothes I was wearing it mistook me for a cow, but I am sure it watched me for a long time before it attacked, so I am not sure.

I spent two months in the hospital recovering. The bones in my arms and hands were broken.  Ever since then I have had nightmares, I will never go into the forest again, and I am even afraid walking around the village. I don’t go out at night.  I fight a lot more with my husband now and he says my personality has changed.  After this other people also went less to the mountain.

It is very dangerous living here, everywhere I go a tiger might jump out at me.  Maybe there are many more tigers than before.

Last week in the next village three cattle were killed and last night one of my relatives heard a tiger on the mountain.”

Che was clearly deeply traumatized. She said that she had wanted to get therapy, but that was not possible in this region — there are no qualified doctors. She talks with her husband and others and that helps. Her daughter hates tigers because one attacked her mother.

This was the only person who made negative references to tigers in all of the conversations over two days we spent in the villages. Our partners explained that tigers are generally viewed as very special, magnificent animals in Chinese culture.

Village Life

The villages around Hunchun and the reserve are tiny, rustic hamlets, with few young people who have headed off for more stimulating life in the towns or even to work in the factories of South Korea. It’s bitterly cold and snow-bound for about four months each winter. We were lucky to be visiting in spring. The trees were in fresh leaf, filling the valleys with a lime green hue, lush and full of life. It was hot in the sun-filled daytime and refreshingly cool at night. Later in the season the mosquitoes and flies will emerge, the valleys will be bursting with the late summer harvest, and huge piles of firewood will be set down in readiness for the winter.I interviewed the heads of two of the villages, two very different men engaged in remarkably different enterprises and making good livings:

Li Yong, Head of Guandaogou Village
Li’s main income is from raising frogs in a valley that he leases from the reserve. He has paid about $30,000 for the ten-year lease and harvests about 60,000 frogs each year, from which frog oil (a medicinal supplement like fish oil made from the frog uterus) is made and sold for about $600 per kg.  (Think about processing those frogs, by hand, for a summer job!)

There are 38 households in the village with 102 people, only one other family is in the frog business, the others are involved in bee keeping, cattle-raising, and logging. Several families are active in hunting for local consumption.

Wild boar are a pest and often destroy crops, foraging in groups of 20-40.  The government provides compensation.

Li supports plans to set up patrols as he wants to conserve wildlife.  He will select responsible villagers to participate in the patrols which will help to prevent other villagers from setting snares (he knows the families that do this), remove old snares, and stop outsiders from setting snares.

Snares are mainly set in winter. A man will set between 30 and 200 snares and inspect them every couple of days. If they are caught they are fined, the last such case was in 2007, with a $400 fine paid. He will select the families most active in setting snares to become part of the patrol.

Mr. Dong Zixan, Head of Xiacaomao Village
Dong Zixan was born in Xiacaomao village 44 years ago. His parents and most of the others in the village came to this site in the 1950s fleeing famine in Shandong Province.  When he was born there were 10 families and now there are 60 — with 230 people total.  Young people leave because it is boring in the small village. He also complained that life is very dull, and he only has to work about three or four months on the farm and the rest of the time is idle. I told him he looked healthy, strong, and stress free which got a good laugh.

Xiacaomao village, where Nigel met and interviewed Dong Zixan.

His main income is from cattle.  He has 11 of them and sells the calves for fattening.  He has four hectares of corn and beans, and also collects wild vegetables in the forest. He earns about $700 a year from the cattle, and about $120 from the forest vegetables, and also sells some of the corn and beans.

There are about 400 cattle in the whole village grazing on about 400 hectares. In summer the cattle move out into the forest and this is when some are killed by tigers. He has never seen or heard a tiger, but his neighbors have.

Last year one of his cows was killed by a tiger and he is waiting for compensation. The government pays compensation, but it takes years and involves approvals at various levels from different agencies. Wild boars also destroy crops around harvest time, and he has been promised compensation for that too.

Two or three people from the village actively set snares, along with some outsiders. He knows who they are but it’s hard to catch them. Those who keep cattle hate the snares because cattle get trapped and die. Every year two to three cattle die like this. If he sees someone setting snares he reports it to the police or army.

Dong likes the idea very much of setting up village patrols to remove snares and prevent trapping.  Shiyang asked him if he could show us some snares.  He ran outside and came back with two old snares that had caught one of his calves. He also came back with a rusty old “break-leg” trap, now illegal in most countries, which he said was used for trapping wild boar. We set the trap and stuck a stick in it. It snapped shut with a terrifying thud. Dong told as that he has found much larger “break-leg” traps that he believes are intended for catching tigers, and he no longer takes volunteers out on patrols for fear they might step in one and lose a limb.

Nigel with Dong Zixan holding a break-leg trap for catching wild boar

Photographer Jason Houston and writer William deBuys are on the long trip home from the island of Borneo after two weeks exploring the social, environmental, and economic components of one of the world’s most iconic conservation stories: deforestation and orangutans in Indonesia.

After returning to Pangkalan Bun in central Kalimantan, and cleaning up and charging batteries (electricity was only available in Tempayung for a few hours in the evenings), we made plans to spend our last full day in Borneo at Tanjung Puting and Camp Leaky, the heart of orangutan conservation and a place where there are still examples of somewhat pristine forests.

Tanjung Puting is one of Indonesia’s great treasures and an environmental success story. Yet like so much of the other forested areas in Borneo, Indonesia, and throughout the developing tropics, it remains critically threatened by legal and illegal extractive industries. The river into the park should be blackwater, naturally stained by the tannins leaching from the peat forests, but it flows light chocolate brown, polluted from gold and zircon mining upstream. And illegal logging continues in the more remote areas of the park, threatening some of Borneo’s last stands of primary forest.

Rare Pride campaign manager Eddy Santoso draws with children during a school visit.

In the coming year Yayorin will combine their existing skills and experience in education and community outreach with Rare’s Pride methodology to more strategically target the conservation needs of the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. The forests of Lamandau are the focus of the European Union supported project “Promoting the conservation and sustainable management of the lowland forests of south Central Kalimantan” and it is currently the target of Yayorin’s Pride campaign.

Lamandau and the neighboring area that Yayorin, the Orangutan Foundation, Rare, and other partners hope to protect, with the help of a fast-developing international carbon trading market, are not pristine like Tanjung Puting. But the forest still stands in large enough pieces to be made viable for effective biodiversity conservation, and that leaves room for hope. The campaign will protect the forest that remains by rehabilitating adjacent areas where possible, and empowering the local communities to become beneficiaries of their own good stewardship of the forests they rely on. Yayorin and Rare believe that enough can be preserved and maintained to support the needs of both people of the forest and the orangutans.

Eddy talks with fellow Yayorin staff at a training as they prepare to survey a dozen target communities and six control communities around the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Their work, a fundamental step in a Rare Pride campaign, will establish a baseline of behaviors and values upon which to build the final campaign plan.

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