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Falklands Conservation's Twenty-Fifth Anniversary By Alison Inglis Environmental and wildlife charity Falklands Conservation celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2004. Originally founded in 1979 as the Falkland Islands Foundation by Sir Peter Scott and local conservationists Roddy and Lily Napier and Ian Strange, the charity has been involved with some fascinating developments and programmes. Over the last 25 years, Falklands Conservation has instigated and conducted much valuable research work around the Islands, providing baseline information on some of the most important species. The earliest project was Seabird Monitoring, which has developed into a complex research programme for penguins and albatrosses. Since 1998 the Seabirds at Se Programme has worked to assess the distribution and importance of areas around the Falklands for seabirds, and in more recent years worked closely with the fishing industry to reduce seabird interaction and mortality connected to fishing. To mark the anniversary year, a wide programme of public events and celebrations and schemes have been planned. The anniversary year officially began on 31 January, with a public launch by Robert Napier, Chief Executive of the World Wildlife Fund, hosted by His Excellency Governor Pearce at Government House. This will be followed by a Campers Bash on West Falkland, a golf tournament, a further Campers Bash at Fitzroy, the annual Charity Ball in September, concluding with a large open-air party towards the end of the year. Last year's Charity Ball raised over £8,500 and helps to provide core support for research projects and the Watch Group. A spokesperson for Falklands Conservation said, "Each event will focus around a different aspect of Falklands Conservation's work and attempt to raise funds for five key environmental projects, namely the Seabirds at Sea Programme, the Watch Group and education, protection of sensitive flora and rat eradication." However, the organisation does not just seek to benefit local wildlife. The Polar Bear Walk in October last year was a great day out for many local families, with a fantastic turn-out of over 200 people, most of whom were sponsored to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. The total raised was £2,660, the second highest figure raised for the WWF Polar Bear Campaign by any single group worldwide. As part of the twenty-fifth anniversary, several changes are being introduced on a local level. The spokesperson said, "In order to give members more voice about what Falklands Conservation do and how they operate, members meetings are to be held four times a year. These will be based around a presentation of some aspect of current work, followed by an open discussion. There will be an agenda made public before the meetings and members will be invited to raise subjects of interest or concern. It is hoped that this will open better channels of communications into the organisation from the members and also inform the public about current conservation issues and projects. Both staff and trustees will be present at the meetings and it is hoped that this will lead to more involvement of local members." Another exciting new development is the introduction of the Local Grants Scheme. Aimed at landowners and farmers, the scheme aims to provide funds to carry out small environmental projects, from building a hide, creating a nature trail or production of signs for tourist areas, to the creation of artificial nests on ponds to attract higher numbers of breeding waterfowl. Conservation Officer Becky Ingham said, "The scheme will hopefully allow people to identify small conservation projects on their land that will make a difference. We hope that this will enable people across the Falklands to carry out work that leads to long-term benefits for wildlife, visitors and farmers." The funds are derived from the legacy bequeathed to Falklands Conservation by the late Mrs Joan Kenneally. The Lyn Blake Award is available to members of the Watch Group, and has been developed in memory of the late Lyn Blake. It will be centred on West Falkland, where a small group of selected Watch members will be taken each year to carry out an environmental project. The first of these trips will be in spring 2004, when an expedition to Hawks Nest Ponds will be undertaken to conduct some surveys and carry out repairs to the shanty. The recipient of the Award will be chosen on their initiative and skills displayed on this expedition. A spokesperson said, "The Award is supported by Lyn's family in the Islands and is the only recognition for performance the Watch Group has available." The Watch Group is an important element of Falklands Conservation. With over 40 members aged between 8 to 12 years, this is the main way in which Falklands Conservation aims to educate future generations of Falkland Islanders about our wildlife. Since January Watch Group members have visited Port Stephens, Long Island Farm and Elephant Beach Farm, bird-watching, discovering the world of invertebrates, and learning about whale strandings. Late last year the Watch Group were looking at the effects of marine debris and how it effects the local environment and wildlife. Their campaign was so successful that they were noticed by the BBC Newsround Team in the UK, which in turn was so impressed about how much members of the Group care about their Islands and wildlife that presenter Lizzie Greenwood interviewed members on her way down to Antarctica in early December. In February this year Lizzie's piece on global warming was shown on Newsround along with the Watch Group interviews. Early this year the Falkland Islands also seized the opportunity to participate in John Ridgway's 'Save the Albatross' voyage. This put the Islands on the map for many people. Tim Reid of Falklands Conservation's Seabirds at Sea Team joined the trip. This historic and worldwide mission was intended as an international raising of awareness of the problems that seabirds in general and albatrosses in particular face, principally from the global fishing industry. A recent grant to Falklands Conservation from the British government has assured the future for the next two years of the Seabirds at Sea Team, working hard to prevent the steady decline of albatrosses and petrels around the Islands. Adoption by the Falkland Islands Government of the National Plan of Action will further help this cause, as has the British government's decision to ratify the international Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. This summer was the first year that research work was undertaken using the new research station on Steeple Jason. This new site will allow essential monitoring work to be carried out and regular counts to be made of this important seabird site. Work there highlighted yet another dramatic decline, with black-brow albatross numbers down from 156,000 to only 112,000 breeding pairs and rockhopper penguin numbers down from 89,000 to 35,000 breeding pairs. The work on the invertebrates of the Falklands continues, with Dr Alex Jones and his assistant and wife, Michelle, undertaking a further six weeks study in the Islands this summer. After weeks in the field, notably around the Hill Cove area, there are thousands of new insects to be identified and Alex is currently in the UK carrying this out. His new 'Guide to Insects of the Falkland Islands' will be published later this year. The work on Falklands plants continues, with a recent visit by Steve Alton of the Millennium Seed Bank helping to establish the collection of Falklands seeds. Eventually this will be held for posterity as the Falklands Herbarium, as a safeguard against losing these species in the wild. It would seem that as they look forward to the next twenty-five years, Falklands Conservation have much to celebrate. This article is based
on two pieces published in the Penguin News on 30 January 2004 and 16
April 2004 |
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