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ENVIROBRIEFS, June 2007


SPRING UPDATE

Dear Friend of Natural Partners,

I’m pleased to report on five exciting initiatives that have advanced rapidly in the past months. Four are centered on the Atlantic Rainforest, home to some of the planet’s richest but most vulnerable biodiversity (ranked a top 25 conservation “hotspots” worldwide). Less than 7% of the forest remains standing; and of course much less in pristine condition (see Map).

The fifth initiative is a new one with WWF-Mexico, which will be to better protect the small area of fir forest in the mountains west of Mexico City, where the famous Monarch Butterfly hibernates and breeds during the winter months (November – March).

  • Projects ready for sponsorship campaigns. We have completed project design work for 2 projects with our Brazilian partners Apremavi and Instituto Rã-Bugio and are now preparing to launch corporate sponsorship campaigns for them:
  • The Apremavi/NP project will fund creation of ‘ecological corridors’ to protect some 125 square miles of Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil’s south, while promoting adoption of sustainable technologies by local farmers that provide them additional income. Estimated project cost: $4,400,000.
  • Rã-Bugio/NP project is for the purchase and protection of a 2000-acre parcel (about 3 square miles) of primary forest in an excellent state of conservation. Estimated project cost: $250,000
  • In addition, Instituto Iracambi has developed a project with us to create ‘forest corridors’ to connect fragments of the Atlantic Rainforest around the Serra do Brigadeiro State Park, the largest reserve of Atlantic Rainforest in the State of Minas Gerais. A sponsorship campaign is planned later this year.
  • Brazil Training / Corridor-building Program. With the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPÊ) -- Brazil’s leading training institute for environmental NGOs-- we are developing a curriculum of courses for the design, finance, and implementation of Atlantic Rain Forest corridor-building projects. The ultimate objective is to join ‘remnants’ to build corridors thereby ensuring the survival of threatened species. Courses will cover essential skills including
    • Strategic Planning
    • Community-based project design
    • Proposal writing & fundraising strategies
    • Project monitoring & evaluation
  • Monarch Butterfly Winter Habitat Program ( Mexico). The Monarch Butterfly migrates each winter to a few patches of mountain forest west of Mexico City, where it hibernates and breeds each winter (November – March) before heading back north to the U.S. and southern Canada. Although some 56,000 ha. are now officially protected as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, illegal logging has continued, resulting in significant losses of the Monarch’s winter habitat. Natural Partners is discussing a fundraising initiative with WWF- Mexico that would allow them to expand their work with local communities, including the hiring and training of local people as forest rangers and tour guides and the development of more orderly, lower-impact eco-tourism to the area.

We will soon be launching fund-raising campaigns for these projects. Look for updates on our website. We hope you will consider lending your support for these projects in such critical, endangered biomes. If you would like to help or want more information, please don’t hesitate to drop me a note. Thanks for caring—there are no second chances for the Atlantic Rain Forest and the Monarch habitat. The time to act is now!...


William Dent
Executive Director
wdent@npartners.org