By AFOP, February 3rd 2012

The Pantanal in South America is the world’s largest wetland spanning through Brazil’s Matto Grosso do Sul region and extending to parts of Bolivia and Paraguay. During the rainy season, 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged, offering the chance for aquatic plant and animal species, and many others to thrive. The wetlands are extremely important for both people and animals and are home to nearly 5,000 plant and animal species and 8 million people according to WWF.

In a new report released on World Wetlands Day by WWF-Brazil, which examines the ecological threats in the Paraguay River Basin of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay, environmental degradation including that caused by cattle ranching is threatening areas of the Pantanal, particularly the highland and plateau areas. The Ecological Risk Index (ERI) devised by Mattson & Angermeier (2007), featured in the WWF report, lists the main threats to the region as hydroelectric plants, the creation of roads and waterways, mining, gas pipelines, dams, agriculture and urbanisation.

Only 11% of the Pantanal region is currently protected with some environmental laws, making the vast majority of the wetland vulnerable to human activity, particularly driven by the economic boom in the area which has led to an expansion of settlements, road building and port building. Currently 75% of the basin is covered by vegetation but in Brazil’s Cerrado region 54% of land has been deforested and in the Atlantic forest, 48% of forest cover has been lost.

WWF- Pantanal: protecting the world's largest wetlands

(CC) Image by Leyo

By Guest Blogger Jen Samuel, February 1st 2012

Guest blogger: Jen Samuel is a writer and poet. She works as the managing

editor of the Windsor-Hights Herald newspaper in Princeton, New

Jersey. To contact her, send an e-mail to jenpoetess@gmail.com.

The end of January marked the National Marine Fisheries Service declaring the Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered species. The Atlantic sturgeon, a native fish of the Delaware River, is now part of the federal Endangered Species Act. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists the Atlantic sturgeon as critically endangered. It is a beautiful and unique ancient animal.

“The Atlantic sturgeon, acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus, is a large,long-lived, late-maturing, slow-reproducing migratory fish with a distinctive long snout and armor-like plates,” said the Delaware Riverkeeper Network in a press release on NMFS’ Jan. 31 announcement. “It spawns in rivers such as the Delaware and migrates hundreds of miles to the ocean and back again. Mature adults may live as long as 60 years, reach lengths up to 14 feet and weigh over 800 pounds. The Delaware River once supported the largest known population of Atlantic sturgeon in the world.”

The Atlantic sturgeon is in immediate danger of extinction. Today, it is believed that there is a species populace of fewer than 300 spawning adults in the Delaware River. Yet, there were approximately 180,000 spawning adult females roughly 100 years ago.

The Atlantic sturgeon of the Delaware River is part of the New York Bight distinct population segment. The grouping includes all Atlantic sturgeon that spawn in watersheds draining to coastal waters from Chatham, Maryland to Fenwick Island, Delaware.

In its 2012 listing of the Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, the NMFS recognizes a number of threats harming the fish, including degraded water quality and fisheries bycatch.

However, according to the Delaware Riverkeeper, the NMFS explicitly identifies the Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project as a threat to the species: “[T]he location and scope of the project in the Delaware River, coupled with the lack of information on the precise location of spawning and other important habitat in the Delaware River, indicate that the project could be very harmful to the Delaware River riverine population of Atlantic sturgeon.”

Further, the NMFS also identified in its listing decision the impact of increased risk of vessel strikes upon the species as more larger ships are in occupancy of the Delaware River.

“Experts have identified our Delaware River Atlantic Sturgeon as being genetically unique, found nowhere else in the world but (the Delaware) River,” said Maya van Rossum, of the Delaware Riverkeeper. “The National Marine Fisheries Services has stated multiple times that the Delaware River Deepening project is a direct threat to their spawning habitat and the species.”

Ms. van Rossum continued: “We used to have so many sturgeon in our river that the Delaware was known as the caviar capital of the nation. Now we risk losing them forever. We simply have too few to spare for a make-work boondoggle like the Delaware River deepening. Morally speaking, extinguishing the Delaware River unique genetic line

is wrong.”

Jane Davenport, senior attorney at the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, stated: “As of today, federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as private parties like shipping companies, are on notice that each and every Atlantic sturgeon in the Delaware River will be protected by the ESA’s wide-ranging prohibitions against killing or harming it or degrading its habitat. Congress gave public interest groups like the Delaware Riverkeeper Network the explicit right to enforce these protections through citizen suits in federal court, a right we fully intend to exercise as necessary to protect

this ancient fish.”

It is time to protect this species and fight for its survival. The Atlantic sturgeon has an innate right to exist on this planet in peace as an evolved living creature of the Delaware River in America.

For more information on the listing, visit www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/atlsturgeon/.

For more information on the Delaware River and its many inhabitants, or to learn how to take action, visit www.delawareriverkeeper.org.

Image by USFWS

By AFOP, January 28th 2012

A combination of factors including deforestation, expansion of plantations, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade are threatening the very survival of orangutans in Borneo. With habitat loss, orangutans and humans come into conflict, particularly when orangutans may venture on to plantations in their search for food and shelter.

Recently, workers from the UK-based Four Paws Animal Rescue working at the Samboja orangutan orphanage, located on the east coast of Borneo island were alerted to news of systematic killings of orangutans. News surfaced that plantation owners were paying locals $105/ £67 to kill any orangutans encroaching on farmland. Workers scouring parts of Borneo did not find any surviving orangutans from the alleged killings but did discover a mother and baby orangutan clinging to each other for life, surrounded by armed men.

The visibly terrified animals were rescued minutes before they were about to be ruthlessly slaughter for the high bounty. The animals were then taken away from the plantation and cared for by Four Paws workers, until being released back into the wild. Just before releasing the orangutans, the mother was equipped with a radio transmitter, which will allow animal rescue workers to monitor their progress in their new home.

Orangutan populations have declined significantly in the last 100 years from 230,000 a century ago to around 7,500 in Sumatra and 55,000 in Borneo today. In a study published in PLoS One science journal and conducted between 2008-2009, researchers in Borneo interviewed 6987 respondents in 687 villages to determine the rates of orangutan killings. The results revealed a staggering 750-1800 orangutans were killed within a year. Orangutans are killed for different reasons, as bush meat, because they are sometimes considered pests and intruders on plantations and so that their body parts can be sold as tourist trinkets.

Luckily for this mother and baby orangutan they were saved just in time, however many other orangutans have not been so lucky in the past.

Four Paws- Four Paws releases rescued orangutans into a safe forrest area

PLoS One- Quantifying Killing of Orangutans and Human-Orangutan Conflict in Kalimantan

(CC) Image by Lionel Leo

By Guest Blogger Jade Patterson, Oxfam- January 27th 2012

Get together with friends and support women living in poverty all over the globe

There are around 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide; more than two-thirds of them are women and girls. Statistics like these reflect the bleak reality of life for millions of women in the developing world. Entrenched attitudes deny them their rights, effectively keeping them poorer than men. As a result, whole communities fall further into poverty.

This March 8th 2012, International Women's Day; Oxfam is encouraging people to get together with friends and support women worldwide. Your 'get together' can be anything from a dinner party, to busking, to a Zumbathon. By asking for a small donation (eg. for a pudding party, you could have a 'bring a donation and a dessert' policy!) we can help some of the most vulnerable women and girls in the world. Oxfam puts women's rights at the heart of all we do, so you know that the money you raise will go to those who need it most.

Your fundraising enables Oxfam to carry out vital projects to support vulnerable women. For instance, the money you raise could provide maternity care for women to ensure they have a safe pregnancy and birth. Other essential projects include providing business loans for women to work their way out of poverty, and empowering young girls through education. Just $212.08/ £135 trains 5 teachers who between them teach over 250 girls, encouraging them to stay in school. By educating these girls they provide a whole generation with skills to work their way out of poverty.

For more information or to register as an event host visit www.oxfam.org.uk/womensday, why not also view and share our video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_WlLsqs8E

© Image by Oxfam