70 years of IUCN - #NatureForAll

By Marcela Torres

Since 2017, I have been a proud member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). The organization is celebrating the 70^th anniversary of its creation on October 5, 1948 in Fontainebleu, France by governments and civil society organizations with a shared goal to protect nature.

Also created in 1948, the CEC was IUCN’s first Commission. Its more than 1,100 voluntary members contribute their expertise in education, social communication and behavior change communication to create a culture of conservation. The Commission drives change for the co-creation of sustainable solutions through leading communication, learning and knowledge management in IUCN and the wider conservation community.

Among its many contributions, the CEC is supporting IUCN’s global #NatureForAll movement, which was formally launched at the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Hawaii and is driven by a growing coalition of partners who represent a variety of sectors.

#NatureForAll aims to build support and action for nature conservation among people from all walks of life by raising awareness and facilitating experiences and connections with the natural world. Want to learn more about the movement? Check out this great video for inspiration!

Happy anniversary IUCN and CEC!

Living #NatureForAll

Hernán Torres (1946-2017): A Great Nature Lover

by Marcela Torres

It was January 2000 and my dad and I were sitting on top of a rocky promontory in Torres del Paine National Park, in southern Chile, withstanding the strong cold Patagonian winds that pierced through our parkas, gloves and hats. But we were on a mission: To photograph the elusive Andean Condor.

We were fortunate enough to stay at a park ranger post, where the staff gave us tips on the best spots to find the Condor. Since this is a scavenger bird, they suggested we take with us some really stinky cat food that would surely do the trick of attracting it to us.

Following their instructions, we trekked for hours through the tall grasslands of the “pampa” to reach one of the hills they had recommended. It was a rocky mount, completely barren, but after climbing it we discovered it provided a great lookout point. There we sat, with our stock of smelly cat food, and waited, and waited, and waited…

As we waited, I remembered how we came to be there on the first place. In 1982, the BBC produced one of my dad’s favorite documentaries, “The Flight of the Condor”. Mind you, he got a copy and played it over and over again. Being just a girl, I was more into cartoons and Michael Jackson videos, but I ended up liking this incredible film about a bird that is a national symbol in most Andean countries, including Chile, where we lived.

In fact, it wasn’t the first time I had enjoyed a national park with him. My dad had been Regional Director for CONAF, the agency in charge of Chilean protected areas, in Arica between 1974 and 1985. As a child, I traveled with him many times to Lauca National Park, in the high Andes, during his field visits. He taught me about the Vicuña, the Flamingos, the Vizcacha, and the Condor.

It was so much fun that I never paid attention to the cold and loved accompanying him while he photographed nature, which was his passion. When I turned nine, he gave me my first camera, a Polaroid that I still have, and taught me how use it. I was so happy that I took pictures of everything!!

Thanks to him, my family and I enjoyed living in Ann Arbor, Michigan; San José, Costa Rica; New Haven, Connecticut; and Arlington, Virginia. This gave us some unforgettable experiences, such as camping around the Great Lakes and visiting all of the beautiful national parks in these areas.

Torres del Paine had always been on my wish list. So, when he offered to take me in 2000, I said yes immediately! And there we were, waiting for the condor…

A couple of hours had gone by and we had almost lost all hope when suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge bird appeared flying straight towards us. It was a Condor! We quickly ditched our gloves and grabbed our cameras, getting ready to take great shots of this amazing animal. But in only a few seconds it was right on top of us!

As it came, and we realized how low it was flying, we instinctively leaned back until we lay flat on the rock.  It was such an awesome sight, having this massive bird glide only a meter above us, that we completely froze. We could see all the details of its belly and the long wings. When we snapped out of our awe, we realized we had not taken any pictures! So, we quickly rolled over on our bellies and started shooting with our cameras to try to catch at least a glimpse of the Condor. It was too late! We were only able to capture a tiny speck that was quickly flying away from us towards higher altitudes.

We stayed there a while, letting the experience sink in. It had been so amazing! Finally, we grabbed our cameras and the stinky cat food and walked back to the park ranger post. At night, while we sat with the rangers around a fire sharing a “mate” (muh-teh) –a typical Patagonia herbal tea-, they laughed at our adventure.

Our common love for nature led us to co-author two editions of the Guide to Chile’s National Parks (1999and 2004), in Spanish, and to work together in the development of the firstsustainable visitor center in a protected area in Chile, in Los FlamencosNational Reserve, between 2005 and 2006. That experience made me decide to study my Master in Ecotourism at James Cook University, in Cairns, Australia, in 2009.

My dad always supported my endeavors and often contributed with photographs for my blog. He was a member of several professional associations and chaired for many years the IUCN South American Camelid Specialist Group, promoting the conservation of the vicuña until the end of his life. I will continue contributing as well, honoring his memory.

He passed away on Saturday, February 18, 2017. It is still so recent that it’s hard to believe… I still feel him close… He will be with me forever… And my love and gratitude for all that he taught me will remain…

HERNÁN TORRES BIO

Hernán held a Master of Environmental Studies from Yale University and a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources from The University of Michigan, both in the United States. He was Regional Director for CONAF (1974-1981 and 1984-1985); team leader for protected areas management plans at the CATIE, in Costa Rica (1986-1988); Protected Areas Specialist of The Nature Conservancy’s Caribbean Region Department (1995-1998); and an accomplished international consultant in protected area planning and management, sustainable development, ecosystem services and biodiversity, working with multilateral agencies, such as the UNDP, UNEP, World Bank and RAMSAR, and actively participating in IUCN initiatives until the end.

Let’s Help Protect the Vicuña!

© Hernán Torres

by Marcela Torres

A ray of hope shone from Hawaii to South America last week when the General Assembly of the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) approved Motion 103: Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) conservation and the illegal trade in its fibre. The aim is to achieve that the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which will be held in South Africa between September 24 and October 5, demands its members to strengthen controls to half the poaching and illegal trade in its fibre.

The Vicuña: A Successful Conservation Case

The Vicuña is one of the four South American camelids that inhabit the High Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. During the 1970s, the species was on the brink of extinction due to excessive hunting for its fibre, considered the finest one in the world, on top of those obtained from cashmere goats and alpacas.

Thanks to the efforts made by conservation organizations and the governments of the countries within its area of distribution, which in 1979 signed the Convention for The Conservation and Management of the Vicuña, all trade in live animals, their fiber and other products of the species was banned. As a consequence, its populations successfully recovered.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Peru requested authorization to trade fiber obtained by indigenous communities from animals that are sheared live and then released, using an ancient Inka technique called “chaku”. Thus, the sustainable management of the species began, together with the export of its fiber to countries such as Italy, Scotland and Japan, an example that was later on followed by Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

Poaching Reappears After Four Decades

Obtaining vicuña fiber is difficult. Each adult sheared adult vicuña produces barely 200 grams of fiber, every two or three years. Because of that, in addition to being the finest fiber it is also the most expensive, with prices ranging between USD $300 and $500 per kilogram.

Companies focused on luxury clothing in countries like Italy, England, Germany and the United States buy vicuña fiber to manufacture articles such as coats and men’s suits, which are sold at approximately USD $20,000 and USD $40,000, respectively. However, over the past years, it is suspected that China has entered the market, although in an illegal manner, promoting a black market for vicuña fiber that would allegedly be paying up to USD $1,000 per kilogram and being supplied through poaching of the species, particularly by criminal groups operating in Bolivia.

Approximately 5,000 vicuñas have shown up dead and skinned over the past five years. But the killings have increased significantly since 2014 to date, endangering once more the survival of the species and threatening the livelihood of High-Andean communities that carry out a sustainable management of the vicuña with great efforts.

How can these killings be stopped?

Fortunately, civil society and the scientific community have raised their voices over the past year to call attention to this issue and request worldwide help to solve it, from petitions through Internet sites -such as www.thepetitionsite.com and www.care2.com- to a statement made by the IUCN’s South American Camelid Specialist Group (GECS by its acronym in Spanish).

What is needed most is to stop the illegal sale of vicuña products. On the one hand, as consumers we are responsible for making sure that what we buy is duly certified. In addition, we must report any informal sale offer we encounter, since it will most likely be part of a black market that promotes killing protected wildlife.

At an international level, it is crucial that the CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP17) accepts Motion 103 of the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress and commits to, among other things, ensure that the Parties to the CITES that have vicuña fiber and products derived from it identify, mark and register them appropriately, to guarantee their traceability to their origin, adopting and applying the relevant legislation with extensive controls, in order to prevent the illegal trade in these items and that States within the species’ area of distribution, importing countries as well as consumers increase their collaboration.

Let’s hope that the CITES will hear the global outcry to save the Vicuña!

Tourism Initiatives to Save the Earth

Turtle hatchling in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

© www.viceroyzihuatanejo.com

by Marcela Torres

If you’re still not convinced that the tourism industry can actively help save our planet, you’ll be surprised by the initiatives we’re covering in this week’s blog in anticipation to this year’s Earth Day celebration, on April 22nd. From recycling to hands-on conservation projects, tourism companies and not-for-profit organizations across the world are contributing to conserve the environment for future generations. Hopefully, you will be inspired to play a part!

Just a Drop

Did you know that 1.4 million children die every year from diarrhea because of unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation? That is 4,000 children per day. “I started to think about how I could encourage businesses in the travel and tourism industry to give back to the places in which they operated – thus improving the lives of children and their families,” says Fiona Jeffery, who launched Just a Drop in 1998 at the World Travel Market (WTM), in London. 

Fiona named the charity ‘Just a Drop’ to reinforce that it only takes a small amount of money to help prevent the unnecessary loss of life that occurs many developing countries due to the lack of safe, clean water. Until now, Just a Drop has funded projects in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, providing water and sanitation to marginalized communities. 

To ensure sustainability of the projects, the organization works with beneficiary communities from start to finish, building local capacity and directly linking funders to specific projects in the field, so they can see very clearly the difference their support has made. 

In fact, Fiona is also the Chair of the WTM, where she has promoted the celebration of World Responsible Tourism Day (WRTD) since 2007, stressing the unique opportunity the tourism industry has in helping reduce poverty and conserve natural and cultural resources throughout the planet. “We have the means and the responsibility to help the local communities of the places that we visit,” she states. 

Clean the World

Have you ever wondered what happens with the bits of bar soap you leave behind in hotels when traveling? Well, Shawn Seipler and Paul Till did. They were shocked to find out how many bars of soaps are thrown away and how much they could help prevent millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses every day. So, they created the Florida-based Clean the World Foundation in 2009.

What do they do? They collect, sort and process discarded soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion product donations from participating hospitality partners and hygiene products from manufacturers. They recycle these product donations at the facilities in Orlando, Florida, and then deliver these recycled products to domestic homeless shelters and impoverished countries suffering from high death rates due to acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.

Until now, Clean the World has put over 9.5 million soap bars and 200,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner back into human use, while eliminating over 600 tons of waste. Check out their video to learn more!

Saving Turtles and More

Many tourism businesses are undertaking initiatives to conserve wildlife throughout the world. In Mexico, for example, several eco-resorts have successfully developed marine turtle conservation programs –some of them since the mid-1990s- in which guests, staff and local community volunteers help move turtle eggs to a protected area on the beach and then release hatchlings to find their way to the sea.

And in the State of Queensland, in Australia, tourism companies with permits to operate in public protected areas collaborate with local authorities to monitor the environmental conditions of the places they visit. Among other things, they record visitor numbers, campfire facilities, road kills, number of species and feeding sites and any disturbance they encounter during their trips. This helps park authorities to act quickly in case of any emergency and keep updated information on the sites.

These are just a few examples, among many others carried out in other places. Are you feeling inspired? I bet you are! So, get out there and find out what you can do to save our beautiful planet and leave it even better for the next generations.

Happy Earth Day!

This entry was originally posted by the author on April 20, 2012.