Forthcoming Events Autumn 2007

Our newsletter with forthcoming events has hit in-boxes around the world - to make sure you don't miss out on our mailings, do sign up. To book any of the events - Get in touch.

Climate Change and Essex - Winner or Loser?
Wednesday 12th September - Little Baddow Memorial Hall - Doors open 7.30pm

Two charities, Wilderness Foundation UK and Little Baddow Conservation Society invite you to join us for an evening with Graham Game - "One of Britain's most experienced Environmentalists" to discover the implications for climate change here in Essex. Graham - a professional environmentalist for 30 years has worked on a wide range of campaigns for organizations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth - promises to give a forthright and controversial analysis of the problems and solutions.
Wilderness Foundation Members £2 Non members £5 include wine


Fundraising Quiz Night Friday 12th October
Widford Lodge School Chelmsford - 7.30pm

Join us for a fun evening of supper and a quiz in aid of Mabandla Village School, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. This school, in dire need of reconstruction, is part of the Zulu community visited by many of our UK trail participants who spend up to a week as part of a cultural and environmental experience. Future groups (students and adults) will be involved in the rebuilding programme as part of their volunteer commitments.
£10 including supper


Trekking to the South Pole of Inaccessibility
Wednesday 7th November - Troubadour Club London - 7pm

An evening with explorer Henry Cookson, a member of the first British/Canadian expedition to reach the rarely conquered Pole of Inaccessibility, the furthest point from the southern oceans in Antarctica. They are the first team to achieve this without mechanical aid. Learn about their experience man hauling and kite skiing their essential equipment across 1,7000km of wilderness at altitudes of up to 3500m, coping with temperatures of up to -50 centigrade. £40 including supper. The Troubadour Club has an excellent culinary reputation. Places are very limited so book early!

African adventure for Norwich city schoolgirl

In today's Norwich Evening News:

"A Norwich school pupil will be swapping textbooks for trekking in the African wilderness and playing football with Zulus.

Army cadet Lauren McKenna is off to South Africa in the autumn to learn about other cultures and raise money for a charity in the process."

The article continues:

"The teenager, who has been in the Army Cadet Force since she was 14, has raised £1,700 towards the trip, through sponsored walks, bag packing at supermarkets and washing cars.

Of that amount, £500 will go towards flights and the remaining £1,200 will go to the Wilderness Foundation charity in South Africa, which aims to preserve the country's natural wilderness.

Lauren said: “The money it makes from these trips goes to help young children who have lost parents to HIV/Aids and allows them to go to school and it also helps farmers get a fair income from their efforts.”

Full article: African adventure for city schoolgirl

Andrew Muir in Today's Herald

In today's Port Elizabeth Herald:

"CONSERVATION and ecotourism on the Wild Coast have received a huge boost in the form of a R46-million donation from the UN Development Programme."

....

Wilderness Foundation director Andrew Muir said he believed the launch of the project would be a key step in strengthening the case for ecotourism as the appropriate development option on the Wild Coast.

“It will put another layer in place which will support this approach.

“There is a fantastic opportunity here to create islands of excellence around Mkambati and the other provincial reserves (Hluleleka, Dwesa/Cwebe and Silaka) on the Wild Coast and to link them in a conservation corridor,” Muir said.

To read the full article, go here: http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n16_13062007.htm

Wilderness Foundation SA wins prestigious Kudu Award

The Wilderness Foundation South Africa has been recognised in the 2007 South African National Parks Kudu Awards - They specifically won the 'Contribution by Non-Profit' category.

As reported in the The Herald:

"The foundation‘s Imbewu programme, which helped the organisation win the award, has over the last 12 years used retired game rangers to guide youths from disadvantaged areas in wilderness areas, growing their environmental, self- and social awareness. Eight thousand youths have graduated from the programme." - Read the full article in here.

Here's the director of the Wilderness Foundation South Africa, Andrew Muir, accepting the prize:
Well deserved!

The Wilderness Foundation UK continues to support Imbewu through fundraising and awareness building. If you'd like to learn more about this (and other Wilderness initiatives) then do get in touch. Our UK office can be reached on +44 1245 443073 - If you'd like to make a contribution towards this work, please use the Donate/Raise Funds buttons in the right hand margin.

Wilderness on VideoJug: How to build a one-person shelter

Last spring we wrote about the 'Bushcraft in practice' some of our volunteeers did with Natural Pathways - We've also featured a couple of How-to videos from a service called VideoJug. Now we've combined the two:



VideoJug: How to build a one-person shelter

If you're interested in getting all the skills to get by in in the outdoors locally then get in touch with Geoffrey at Natural Pathways - If you want to learn in a Wilderness setting, then why not have a look our Wilderness Training Course that runs regularly in South Africa. Please contact our office if you'd like to learn more or book a place - info (at) wilderness foundation.org.uk or 08081786931/+441245443073.

Sustainable use of Biological Diversity: African Regional Workshop Summary

Here at the Wilderness Foundation we take a particular interest in the African continent, that's where our roots are - that's where many of our journeys are. Thus we thought the workshop summary below might be of interest:

"The African Regional Workshop on Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity convened from 12-15 December 2006, in Nairobi, Kenya. Organized by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), Bioversity International, and the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the workshop was attended by 33 participants, including 13 designated representatives of CBD parties from the African region as well as representatives of UN and specialized agencies, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), indigenous and local community organizations, research institutions and farmers federations.

The Workshop was organized in response to the request of the seventh meeting of the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP-7) to the Executive Secretary to convene a series of technical expert workshops on ecosystem services assessment, financial costs and benefits associated with conservation of biodiversity, and sustainable use of biological resources, in order to initiate a process for the implementation of the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (Addis Ababa Principles). The Workshop was also requested to explore the applicability of the Addis Ababa Principles to agricultural biodiversity.
The Workshop addressed agenda items on issues including: a review of the Addis Ababa Principles and recommendations on their application to agricultural biodiversity; ecosystem services assessment; and financial costs and benefits associated with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. On Tuesday, participants agreed on organizational matters, and heard presentations from the CBD Secretariat, partner organizations and others. In the afternoon, participants began discussing the application of the Addis Ababa Principles to agricultural biodiversity, heard presentations, and decided on a methodology for their work during the week, including convening in informal working group (WG) sessions. On Wednesday, participants heard a presentation on Decision V/5 (Agricultural biodiversity), and worked on establishing guidelines for the agricultural sector grounded in the Addis Ababa Principles in three parallel WGs, one consisting of the francophone representatives."
- Full text on the ISSD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) website here.

This website also has a useful brief history of related processes including a section specifically on Africa:

AFRICAN RELATED PROCESSES
Africa has a large heritage of biodiversity forming the region’s natural wealth on which its social and economic systems are based.
A significant proportion of these biodiversity resources are either endangered or under threat of extinction. African governments have created ministerial processes and programmes of action to ensure the sustainable development of Africa’s natural resource base, of which the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity form a significant component.

AFRICAN CONVENTION ON THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES: The African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (the Algiers Convention) was adopted by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at its fifth ordinary session (September 1968, Algiers, Algeria). A revised Convention text was adopted at the second Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly (July 2003, Maputo, Mozambique). The main features of the Convention include that: conservation imperatives must be considered in development plans; conservation areas must be established and maintained; endangered species must be given special protection; land resources and grasslands must be rationally utilized; and conservation education must be instituted at all levels.

NEPAD ENVIRONMENT ACTION PLAN:
The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, a permanent forum of African environment ministers, guided the development and subsequent adoption of the Environment Action Plan of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development NEPAD) at the second Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly (July 2003, Maputo, Mozambique). The action plan is organized into clusters of programmatic and project activities to be implemented over an initial period of 10 years. It includes programmes on: biodiversity, biosafety and plant genetic resources; land degradation, drought and desertification; Africa’s wetlands; invasive alien species; conservation and sustainable use of marine, coastal and freshwater resources; and cross-border conservation or management of natural resources.
- More on the ISSD site here.

Walk the Talk...

The Wilderness Foundation supports the work of the Centre for Human Ecology - we thought this new initiative might be of interest:

"CHE and Openground take the sustainability message into the wilds - A new training course gets people out of the seminar room and into the mountains to explore sustainability and social justice. 'Walk the Talk' is a journey into Scotland's wild places where participants will be inspired by the natural world and will develop practical strategies for organisational change. Designed to support organisational learning in businesses, public agencies and more-than-profit organisations, Walk the Talk is a collaboration between Sam Harrison of Openground and Osbert Lancaster of the Centre for Human Ecology. Sam is a human ecologist and outdoor educator experienced in the transformative power of wild places. Sam explains "The power of Walk the Talk is way beyond a simple outdoor team building exercise. We leave behind dry facts and prophesies of doom that are so often the staple of the training room. Actively experiencing the natural environment inspires new thinking about our relationship with the ecosystems on which we - and our organisations - all depend." Osbert is the executive director of the Centre for Human Ecology. "If sustainability is already part of your organisation's strategy, Walk the Talk will take you to the next level," explains Osbert, "and if you're just starting to explore the issues it will start you on your journey with a clear view of the landscape and the tools to starting mapping the route ahead."Walk the Talk is currently in development, with pilot courses planned from April 2007."
- Further information is available on the CHE website here.

The Wilderness Foundation knows from direct experience how powerful learning in a wild setting can be - the Wilderness Leadership School in South Africa has over the years run a host of Opinion Leader Trails, including a programme for tailor made for South African MPs.
- Read Andrew Muir's '99 article on this in the International Journal of Wilderness.

Wilderness Foundation in The Herald

"A SANParks environmental education programme is raising awareness in an attempt to turn local communities into guardians of indigenous forests and commercial plantations.

A joint programme between Mountain to Ocean, the Wilderness Foundation and SANParks, the Khula Nam programme targets children living in communities near plantations." - Read the full story here.

Wilderness Foundation Founder on ITV: 7.30 pm Sat 9th Dec

ITV are screening a new series called Extinct airing at 7.30pm this Saturday 9th December.

The first programme will feature the tremendous work that Ian Player - founder of The Wilderness Foundation UK and Wilderness Leadership School - instigated to save the White Rhino from extinction. Operation Rhino, based in the Imfolozi Game Reserve in South Africa, translocated the Imfolozi White Rhino across the world to save the species.

This was what Rhodes University said about Ian Player when they conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa:

"If one were to single out one person who is single-handedly responsible for whatever wilderness not only South Africa but many other countries in the world have left, it would have to be Ian Player. A generation or more before it became fashionable, Ian Player had the vision and commitment to see that environmental and conservation issues affected all South Africans and to lobby for these concerns to be amongst our national priorities. Where there was no responsible body to take up the cause of the environment, Ian Player created one! He has been actively involved for fifty years in programmes as varied as – literally – saving the white rhino from extinction and the establishment of the world-renowned Wilderness Leadership School.

Ian Player has probably done more for environmental conservation in Southern Africa than any other individual. He is an elder statesman of conservation, both nationally and internationally and has over many years brought much credit to our country. Amongst the first of South Africans with his background to see how much we all have to gain by sitting at the feet of those who have living indigenous knowledge of the land and all its denizens – and not too proud or too imprisoned by his socialisation to seek it, Ian Player has, in his turn, been instrumental in educating and influencing generations of conservationists on three continents. He has provided an outstanding example and role model of service and dedication to a cause on which the future of the human race and indeed, the planet as a whole may depend."

To read the full citation: (Word Doc on the Rhodes University website).

Dates for 2007 - Wilderness Training Course

Time to plan for the new year! Here are next dates for the Wilderness Training Course:

• January 10th-31st 2007


• February 7th-28th 2007


• March 10th-31st 2007

Learn more about the course here.

Please contact our office if you'd like to learn more or book a place - info (at) wilderness foundation.org.uk or 08081786931/+441245443073

Andrew Muir in today's Herald

In today's Herald:

"THE Wilderness Foundation has called for a joint security and outreach programme to be launched, led by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, aimed at realising the “huge potential” of Settlers Park Nature Reserve.

Addressing a function yesterday to celebrate the park‘s 50th anniversary, foundation director Andrew Muir said the reserve was the icon conservation area in Mandela Bay – which was itself unique as having the greatest mix of plants and animals of any municipality in the country.

“We need to make Settlers safe for anyone to visit. We should be doing the Guinea Fowl Trail in our thousands, and we are not, because we do not feel safe. We‘re calling on the municipality to find a way to do this. We will walk beside you and help in any way we can.” - Read the full story here...

To learn more about the Wilderness Foundation SA's programmes, visit their website here: http://www.wildernessfoundation.co.za/

The Wilderness Foundation will be at Resurgence - Saturday 16th September

If you are attending the Resurgence event Saturday the 16th of September, come and see us at our stand where you can learn about:

• Our trails in the UK and Africa
• Our campaign work - including wind farms
• Our upcoming events including an evening in partnership with Save China's Tigers
• How to support us and how to join us

We hope to meet you there!

BBC Radio 4 - Alaskan Wilderness on Excess Baggage

Today's edition of the weekly Radio 4 programme Excess Baggage had a journalist from the Scotsman on the panel who shared some of his experiences of Alaska:

Guy Grieve gave up his office job at a Scottish newspaper to spend a year alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Once in Alaska he cleared trails, built a log cabin, coped with dehydration, survived temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees, came close up to black and brown bears and trained a team of dogs. He wrote the story of his adventure in a book entitled Call of the Wild.

The most recent World Wilderness Congress was of course also in Alaska, and whilst we're in that corner of the globe, this Live Grizzly Bear Cam from National Geographic may be of interest if not entertainment: "Watch the world's largest gathering of brown bears on a live Webcam‚ as grizzlies at Alaska's McNeil River Falls fish for salmon on the run".

New BBC Radio 4 blog - Planet under threat

BBC Radio 4 has launched a new blog that may be of interest:

"It's part of a new series called Planet Earth Under Threat, which will go out at the end of the year. The programme team share their experiences as they go on location and they want to know your views, whether you're a committed environmentalist or a climate change sceptic."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/planetearthunderthreat/

BBC Radio 4: The Last Great Wilderness

Just in case you missed 'The Last Great Wilderness' on Radio 4:

"Less is known about the forest canopy than the depths of the poles, yet the forest canopies are thought to house 40% of all terrestrial biodiversity and are the main interfaces between life and the atmosphere. Up until recently the canopy has been relatively inaccessible but now, with the help of giant cranes with low environmental impact, the canopy’s secrets are being unveiled. The Last Great Wilderness builds up the first accurate picture of this “the most important biotic regulator on earth”. Flora, fauna and the relationship with the atmosphere are all under scrutiny. Many species, systems, and relationships of the canopy are still mysterious and much is still to be discovered." - Full story here, with Listen Again link to Programme I and II...

The Foundation's focus is usually at ground level but we encourage sensitive exploration of all wilderness areas for preservation purposes.

uMzi Wethu Training Centre Press Coverage and Premier Speech

From The Herald today:

"PREMIER Nosimo Balindlela yesterday launched the first uMzi Wethu Training Centre, which is aimed at equipping Aids orphans with the skills to work in the booming eco-tourism industry.

The initiator of the project, the Wilderness Foundation, says there are more than 800 000 Aids orphans in South Africa, and about 80 000 child-headed households resulting from the disease in the Eastern Cape alone."

http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n20_21042006.htm

You can read Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela's full speech here.

Read more about the project here (and below) - If you're based in the UK and would like to support the project, get in touch - 08081786931

Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Displaced Youth in South Africa

The much anticipated Umzi Wethu (Xhosa for “our home”) Training Academy opened in Port Elizabeth, South Africa 20 April 2006.

This ground-breaking project has been developed over the past three years by the Wilderness Foundation South Africa (WFSA). WFSA has led a consultative process bringing together experts from a wide range of specialist areas to address the enormous issue of youth orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and devastated by poverty. Professionals in child clinical psychology, youth welfare, and education, and local community groups and game reserves came together to develop a program that will enable displaced youth to learn life and employment skills enabling them to participate in the growing ecotourism industry of South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.

The Eastern Cape is an area of very high biodiversity and great wildlife carrying capacity, and ecotourism is growing at a pace of 10% a year. Its 29 parks and 20 private game reserves are generating jobs that on average pay twice minimum wage but demand skilled labor. However, the AIDS pandemic is having a big impact on Eastern Cape (EC) ecotourism potential. HIV/AIDS hits people in their most productive years of life. About 3% of the EC Parks Board staff is lost each year to HIV/AIDS. In the hospitality industry as a whole, it is estimated that 24% of staff are HIV-positive – the highest ratio in an industry, next to mining. Yet to date the tourism and hospitality industry has not collectively addressed the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Umzi Wethu will provide the certified vocational training and learnerships (internships) that qualify AIDS orphans and vulnerable youth for guaranteed jobs in private game reserves and parks, secured by WFSA partnerships.

The Eastern Cape Premier, Nosimo Balindlela, has recognized the unique contribution of this program and has become its official patron. She opened the skills centre and residential academy with a moving speech, describing Umzi Wethu as a “visionaryproject which will use our natural resources in a sustainable way to help young peoplecope with the way HIV and AIDS has affected their lives.” This underscored the WFSA belief that experiences in wild places have the power to transform and that theresponsibility for the future of our environment rests with the youth of today.

The launch reception was held at the newly renovated Umzi Wethu building. It was attended by:

· Nomsa Jajula, Provincial Minister of Health for the Eastern Cape, and Christian Martin, Provincial Minister of Public Works for the Eastern Cape. Both expressed an interest in working with the Umzi Wethu project moving forward.

· Ubuntu Education Fund, a township based community organization helping to select and counsel the Umzi Wethu youth.

· Africa Global Skills Academy, a firm designing the Umzi Wethu course that will ensure that all youth acquire three National Qualifications Framework (NQF) certificates during the program, and also receive some of the life skills training so essential for the adjustment necessary to undertake full time employment.

· Local game reserves committed to employing the trained youth.

· The Eastern Province Youth and Child Care Centre that helped WFSA secure the Umzi Wethu facilities and advised WFSA on youth care and social welfare issues.

· The Black Managers Forum, a network of successful business people expressing interest in participating in the mentoring program for Umzi Wethu participants.

· Contributors to the project including architects, advisors, private funders, potential sponsors, local businesses and other organisations who are keen to be involved with the Umzi Wethu project. As a result of the launch, funding was received from Volkswagen South Africa to outfit the residential academy with furniture, and WFSA continues to seek local and international donor support.

· WFSA board members from the United States and United Kingdom, as well as South Africa.

Timing of the event allowed 9 of the 15 youth selected for the first program phase to participate in the launch activities, experiencing their first opportunities as hosts. Dressed in matching Umzi Wethu t-shirts and trousers, they looked like any ordinary teenagers, hiding the fact that all have led very tragic lives, losing their families to the scourge of AIDS and growing up in town-ships with no hope or opportunity to realise their dreams.

Many of the speakers on opening day addressed the Umzi Wethu youth personally during speeches, charging them with added determination to succeed in their new career paths. The students were fired up about the facilities and services that were to be provided for them and expressed a keen desire to make the most of the opportunity that Umzi Wethu will bring. They shared their excitement about being able to financially provide for their extended families once employed in the promised secure job in an EC park or game reserve.

A reception with food and drink was then held in the newly renovated residential academy which will eventually be a home base for about 36 youth. The first intake of students is now settled into the new residential academy and undertaking their initial training courses. Within days of starting the program, for the first time in their lives, the students are beginning to dream about real possibilities.

Changing lives…for a better future through conservation.

Read more about the project here - If you're based in the UK and would like to support the project, get in touch - 08081786931

Thesiger photos on-line

Thesiger took thousands of photographs on his travels, some one hundred of them can be found at the University of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum.

New biography on Wilfried Thesiger

There is a new biography of one of the Wilderness Foundation's late patrons, Wilfried Thesiger - it has been reviewed in The Times by Ben Macintyre, who on a previous occassion when writing about Thesiger observed that:

You have to be an oddball to want to plunge into malarial swamps.

Indeed.

Also in The Times, Philip Marsden observed:

There is no doubt that Wilfred Thesiger was one of the most remarkable figures of his generation. He was a man who conducted his life in fierce and unfaltering pursuit of a single ideal. He travelled without concession to his own physical needs or safety in some of the most remote and dangerous places in the world. He did it almost continuously, for more than 40 years. From an initial pioneering expedition to the Danakil desert in the 1930s through to the 1970s, he was rarely still. He conducted countless, months-long treks in Morocco, Yemen, Iran, Kenya, the Himalayas, Ethiopia. He lived for two years in Darfur, five years in Arabia and seven years among the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq. – The Article can be found here.

Other reviews in Country Life, The Independent etc.