Top 20 Conservation Organisations on Twitter - April 2012

We have finally got round to publishing the April edition of Twitters top twenty conservation organisations to follow. This time round we've been a bit more thorough in our selection and have based them on the following criteria (i) number of followers (ii) twitter activity (iii) RT's from followers and (iv) recommendations from Ibex Earth's own followers.

You can follow Ibex Earth on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IbexEarth

Top 20 Conservation Organisations on Twitter - April 2012

In no particular order:

1. @worldlandtrust *
2. @officialZSL (Zoological Society of London)
3. @RnfrstAlliance (Rainforest Alliance)
4. @UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
5. @mwsrp * (Maldives Whaleshark Research Programme)
6. @EDGEofexistence
7. @gaiafoundation *
8. @wwf_uk
9. @ARKive
10. @faunafloraint (Fauna & Flora International)
11. @JaneGoodallInst (Jane Goodall Institute)
12. @TreesforCities *
13. @21CenturyTiger
14. @gorillacd (Wildlife Direct)
15. @conservationorg (Conservation International)
16. @IUCN_forests (the International Union for Conservation of Nature)
17. @amazingspecies
18. @savetherhino
19. @TigersAlive
20. @polarbears

* Denotes an Ibex Earth 'Environmental & Conservation Partner'

Premier of The Lost World Film, 13th September 2011

On Tuesday 13th September Ibex Earth will premiere 'The Lost World' at the Royal Geographical Society - a fifty minute documentary about Mount Roraima, the South American plateau that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write his famous adventure novel 'The Lost World' and has most recently been accredited with being the major influence behind Disney Pixar's 2009 animated blockbuster 'UP'.

The film will be introduced by Michael Palin and will see the launch of a joint conservation initiative between Ibex Earth and the WWF to raise funds to prevent unsustainable/unregulated tourism, illegal goldmining and the introduction of foreign animal and plant species to Mount Roraima and the Guiana Highlands.

To book your ticket for the evening please visit www.lostworld.eventbrite.com - tickets are priced at just £15.00 or visit http://www.ibexearth.com/ for further information.

A short video of The Lost World Project is available via the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nsTbssZzP0

Some strange country of nightmares...

Everard Im Thurn - the first explorer to reach the summit of the lost world - described the landscape he discovered as “some strange country of nightmares”, because the flat upper surface of Mount Roraima had been sculpted into an extraordinary wasteland of twisted stone adorned intermittently with pools of standing water, sediment floored drainage channels or pockets of low-growing vegetation and valleys lined with sparkling quartz crystals. This ancient landscape has remained little changed for millions of years.


The prominent rock formations of the tepuis are diverse and complex, and often bizarre and intricate. 

Towering rock arches, immense mushroom-shaped masses, and gigantic columns — sometimes many meters tall and often supported on thin, narrow bases — are among the rock features that make up the diverse landscapes of the surfaces of the tepuis. On many of the lost worlds, gigantic mazes of rock pinnacles continue across the summits for kilometres, forming huge labyrinths of stone.

Often the rock labyrinths are criss-crossed with ravines, so their exploration is both difficult and slow. As a result, most remain little explored, and haunted with the beliefs of local Pemon Amerindians who regard the plateau summits as the lands of the god and spirits. As many of the rock formations may resemble shapes, animals and even faces, it is easy to understand this revered spirituality!

To book your ticket for the Premiere of The Lost World Film on Tuesday 13th September 2011 please visit www.lostworld.eventbrite.com - tickets are priced at just £15.00

WWF's work on Mount Roraima

Mount Roraima and the work of the WWF

Mount Roraima is part of the Pakaraima Range of mountains in the west-central region of Guyana and is an eastern extension of widespread highland savannahs and rainforests which lie mostly in Venezuela and extends into Suriname and northern Brazil.


The site has some unique bio-geographical characteristics that support its designation as one of the areas identified for protection in Guyana. The area is known for its rich diversity of species and endemism. The mountain tops host some of the highest plant endemism in South America. Birds, reptiles, and amphibians are abundant on the slopes.

There are also a number of indigenous communities in the area. The livelihood activities of the communities depend mainly on hunting, fishing, slash and burn agriculture, and mining.

In October, given the bio-physical uniqueness of the Mount Roraima region and its strong influence on the socio-economic activities and cultural values of the local population of the region, WWF Guianas and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Guyana formed a partnership to undertake preparatory work for the establishment of Mount Roraima as a protected area.

We need to halt deforestation within a decade...

WWF - we need to halt deforestation within a decade...

As the latest United Nations climate change talks reach their final stages, CARE International, Greenpeace and WWF are calling on the world’s governments to show leadership and unite on efforts to halt forest loss by 2020.

The details of a global mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) were under negotiation at the climate talks this week.

Yet, REDD+ alone will not save the world’s tropical forests and stop runaway climate change unless further urgent action is taken to reduce emissions in all countries, said CARE, Greenpeace and WWF. The organizations are calling on governments to commit to ambitious goals that set the scale and urgency for halting forest destruction. In addition, demand for biofuels, animal feed and beef should not lead to more forests being converted to agricultural land, said the groups.

“We are spending precious time designing a complex system of rules for REDD+. These are necessary to protect the rights and livelihoods of the millions of poor men and women who depend on forests,” commented Raja Jarrah, CARE’s Senior Advisor on REDD+.

“But this is only part of the story. With no ambitious commitment to cut global emissions, it is like treating a patient’s lung disease without asking him to stop smoking.”

While considerable progress has been made on working out the details of REDD+ in these UN climate talks, negotiators must not shy away from making the big commitments that will ensure REDD+ is successful in halting forest loss and tackling climate change, the groups said. This will also put the world on the path to a future built on low carbon economies.

“In Bonn, developed countries including the United States have been calling on developing countries to monitor, report, and verify (MRV) their emissions. But what we actually need is for all countries to be transparent about how their policies, including for public and private finance, are supporting the drivers of deforestation,” said Roman Czebiniak, Senior Policy Advisor for Greenpeace.

Industrialized countries also have a critical role to play in providing adequate, predictable and sustainable financing for REDD+, said the organizations. The needed finance to support REDD+ actions should be addressed at the UN climate change talks in Durban South Africa at the end of this year.

“The world must step-up with the money needed to support forest countries’ efforts to end forest loss,” said Gerald Steindlegger, WWF’s Policy Director on Forests and Climate.

“Investing in maintaining our forests is essential to people and nature.”

So then what skills do you need to track a forest elephant?

Désiré Deontegeo, who used to be a poacher in the rain forests of Cameroon, turned his skill to a good cause. He works as a forest tracker for the conservation organisation WWF. In this video Desire desribes the skills needed to track a forest elephant. The elephants are darted in order to be fitted with a radio-satellite transmitter. The resulting data is used for purposes of forest conservation