Award Opportunity for Social Change

We keep an eye out for award and funding opportunities for the alumni of the Wilderness Leadership School to help them put the skills gained to make an impact for the environment.

Here's one just in - (we heard about it through the London Social Enterprise Network) and added a few highlights:

The Be Cause Awards (UK)

UnLtd, the charity which supports social entrepreneurs has announced that it has launched a new award scheme in partnership with Bebo, a social networking website. The “Be Cause Awards” is a new scheme to inspire people to make a difference in their community. Using the Be Cause toolkit, applicants can put together a robust plan for a social action or social enterprise project and then enter it for a monthly Be Cause Award. If your idea meets Be Cause criteria, applicants can be in the running for a £1,000 award to help get a project off the ground. Applicants can nominate their project for an award, or if other in the Bebo community can enter it if they think it's a good idea.

Every month a panel of experts from UnLtd and Bebo will select five projects from all those nominated that have the potential to make a positive impact on society. The whole Bebo community will then be asked to vote for the best project over a two-week period. The project which receives the most votes will be awarded the £1,000 award, as well as receiving ongoing support and advice from UnLtd in order to maximise the potential of the project. Every year a Judges Choice Award of £5,000 will be given to the project with the best ongoing potential. In addition, everyone who takes part in the Be Cause Awards will be eligible for further support and funding from UnLtd if the projects show enough promise to be expanded and developed.

For more information, go to: http://becauseuk.bebo.com/

We hope alumni and others will go for it!

A Freakonomics Quorum: How to Save the African Rhino?

The African Rhino is an animal close to our hearts - first of all because it is an incredibly impressive sight up close when on a Wilderness trail but also because of the efforts of Dr. Ian Player, our founder. Without his efforts leading Operation Rhino in the sixties it is doubtful if there'd be any White Rhino left today.

Rhinos are still under pressure in many areas of Southern Africa and thus we welcome the fact that economists have taken an interest in their preservation. As Dr. Player, has many a time commented:

"Conservation without funds is just a conversation"

... and thus it is particularly interesting when representatives from the the 'dismal science' weigh in with their opinion:

A Freakonomics Quorum: How to Save the African Rhino? - Is an article by Stephen J Dubner, (co-author of the interesting and somewhat controversial bestseller Freakonomics, on the blog of the same name), drawing on input from a number of leading characters from both the conservation world and economics. The recommendations are varied, drawing on the contributors respective backgrounds and experience. One observation is certainly without doubt:

"There is no one best rhino conservation strategy that works in all countries."

If you're interested in helping with Rhino conservation then get in touch with our friends at http://www.savetherhino.org/ - If you'd like to safely encounter a Rhino in Wilderness, get in touch with us.

You can also find an interview with Dr. Player (PDF) in the Travel Africa Magazine archive where he talks about Operation Rhino amongst other things.

Wilderness Medicine

We've talked briefly about Wilderness Medicine previously in the context of the International Mountain Day - And we specifically mentioned the Wilderness Medical Society's Annual Meeting . If you're a first-aider, medic or doctor and you want a professional viewpoint then you can follow one blog report here - Wilderness Medicine and Global Health - here's a brief preview:

"Auerbach is giving the opening speech focusing on the development of wilderness medicine over the past twenty years as well as the areas of medicine this specialty combines, such as mountain medicine, disaster medicine, rescue and survival, travel medicine, human complications from animals, insects and plants, and including many other sub-specialties"

We hope there'll be more posts to come.

Here's another take, from the US based Outside Magazine blog - The first two stories are up:

• Wilderness Medicine: Bees and Dog-Sized Spiders
• Wilderness Survival and First Aid: When You're Lost

How to really make a difference

Here's a question:

"Everyone seems to be going green these days – politicians, celebrities, ordinary people. But what about people who want to go beyond small lifestyle changes and learn how to really make a difference?"

One answer, and a good one we think, can be found in this article (originally from The Scotsman) about the Centre for Human Ecology.

Human footprint and the trail less travelled

We previously talked about an article in Science covering research by The Nature Conservancy on how much true wilderness there really is left in the world...

Here's a brief update with a great visual illustrating the shipping lanes and road networks of the world. If you click on the image you'll be able to see a bigger version on the National Geographic website - who also have further coverage of the human footprint in their archive:

• Tracing the Human Footprint in National Geographic Magazine
• Aerial Survey Documents Africa's Last Wild Places
• Human "Footprint" Seen on 83 Percent of Earth's Land
  

The Amazon, Sahara, Southern Saudi Arabia, Siberia, Eastern China and the middle of Australia appear to be the only places resistant to the human footprint on a large scale... Most of those areas are deserts. One of our favourite efforts in this field is that of our friends at Bush Heritage Australia. If you're in the UK but would like to help them, get in touch with our office.

We also have some great reading material on deserts around the world - amongst others by Sir Wilfred Thesiger, our late patron.

The odd one out from list above is of course the Amazon which is everything but dry - and for the first time ever, the World Wilderness Congress will convene in South America and we expect an inreased focus on this great forest.

"The WWC is the longest running public international environmental forum. It is a conservation project that creates coalitions, establishes timelines, sets objectives and achieves practical outcomes. Established in 1977, it has convened on eight occasions in 30 years to review progress, debate issues, announce results and celebrate the importance and vitality of wild nature." - More on Wild's pages about the WWC

Last but not least it shouldn't be forgotten that our sister organisation in South Africa, is holding the fort (or the boundary rather) in a number of areas, most famous of which is the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve. And if you'd like to take walk on a trail less travelled ... Then read more about our minimum impact wilderness experiences.

Lewis Windfarm development threatens Golden Eagles

BBC News reports that the proposed wind farm development being considered by the Island of Lewis Council may pose a serious threat to Golden eagle numbers. An environmental statement produced by the wind farm developer Scottish and Southern Energy (SEE) reports that three birds could be killed a year. The Golden eagle is detailed on the Amber List of birds of conservation concern and is granted the highest level of protection under UK law. There are estimated to be sixty breeding pairs of Golden Eagle on Lewis.

Campaigners opposed to the wind farm development have also raised concern about the potential of peat slides occurring in the area where the wind turbines would be erected.

"The eagle kill is pretty horific, as is the threat of peat slide," said Catriona Campbell of anti-windfarm group Moorland Without Turbines.

The RSPB have also commented on the danger - not only to the Golden eagle but also to sea eagles in the area.

To read the full article visit BBC News Online : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6259516.stm

You may also be interested in the following links:

• Scottish and Southern Energy
• RSPB
• Moorland Without Turbines

The Wilderness Foundation UK will continue to raise awareness of the potential threat posed by wind farm developments created in areas of wilderness, wild land and where damage would be caused to important wildlife habitats.

Speaking of Wilderness

We welcome enquiries for speaking engagements on the subject of Wilderness.

Jo Roberts, our director, is a seasoned speaker and debater, whether radio or conference keynote, at local or international level.

Hiker, backpacker, author and broadcaster ...and Wilderness Foundation Trustee, Cameron McNeish, also undertakes such engagements. Here are two of his Wilderness dates for your diary:

Saturday Sept 29: Wild Scotland - A Spirit of Place; Arran Walking Festival, Isle of Arran
Tuesday Oct 2: Wild Scotland - A Spirit of Place; Inverness Book Festival, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness

You can also read The Wilderness World of Cameron McNeish (and find more talk dates + book him directly for your own event) - RSS feed here (if you're new to RSS feeds, watch this superb Common Craft video explaining RSS in Plain English - Then head over and give Google Reader a go and don't forget to add our feed too.

These are just two of the many great speakers we have on hand - Get in touch with our office if you need a passionate Wilderness speaker and we'll find the right person for your audience.