Projects for Capacity Building Participants
In 2007/08, we are expecting approximately 200 Capacity Building Fellows to received training placements on the following Earthwatch field projects:
Africa
Lakes of the Rift Valley, Kenya (link)
Earthwatch has received further Darwin funding to build on the outputs and success of the original Darwin project at Lake Bogoria, by expanding methods and techniques to all key soda lakes in the Rift Valley. The East African soda lakes are collectively a vital habitat for Phoeniconaias Minor (lesser flamingo) and many other species. The post-project will enable lessons learnt at Lake Bogoria to be refined for local conservationists and communities throughout the Kenyan and Tanzanian Rift to build host country capacity for a coordinated trans-boundary programme of research, monitoring, and education, using P. Minor as a flagship species.
West African Manatee Conservation, Ghana
This project aims to significantly improve the conservation status of the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) at Volta Lake in Ghana over a 3-year period through research and reduction of hunting. This species is the least understood and probably most endangered of all extant Sirenians, and a unique opportunity exists to improve knowledge of its seasonal distribution, ecology and response to human impacts. This should lead to better management and conservation prospects for the species across its range. The project will increase awareness of, and reduce, human-manatee conflict in shoreline fishing communities, and enhance local, national and sub-regional capacity to protect this species. The West African manatee will be incorporated in the development of community-based ecotourism efforts at Volta Lake, offering economic and social benefits to the local inhabitants while simultaneously meeting conservation objectives.
South Africa's Hidden Species
Invertebrates are estimated to comprise 95% of all living organisms are a critically important component of biodiversity, contributing to the efficient functioning of ecosystems. Lack of awareness of their significance and exclusion in conservation activities is mainly due to the absence of adequate data which this project aims to address for a suite of invertebrate taxa in areas which have biodiversity conservation significance. One of these areas is Mkhuze Game Reserve where a local team of Birdlife Guides and a team of international African conservationists are to survey the distribution and abundance of diverse invertebrates using a variety of sampling methods such as insect traps, sweep nets, and quadrats, and assist with sorting and preparation of specimens.
Mount Mulanje Ecological Survey
The principal goal of this project is to monitor the ecosystem health of Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve. This will be achieved through the implementation of an Ecological Monitoring Programme (EMP), developed by the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT). The project aims to design and undertake Strategic baseline biodiversity and ecosystem surveys, and develop a robust long-term ecological monitoring programme. The Mount Mulanje EMP therefore consists of many different types of studies ranging from walking transects, to permanent sampling plots, the counting charcoal bags on roads, camera trapping, the use of remote sensing for fire assessment, and to the use of electronic weather stations for meteorological data recording. It is hoped that through the use of many different approaches an idea of how the Mount Mulanje ecosystem is changing over time will be monitored and used to influence management decisions.
Lemurs & Forests of Madagascar
The overall objective of this project is to study the recovery process of the southernmost population of black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata variegata) at Manombo Forest Reserve following extensive habitat destruction caused by Cyclone Gretelle in 1997 and in order to maintain the viability of the species. Fellows assist local guides with the collection of data on animal behaviour following a focal animal within a study group and undertake vegetation surveys to study forest structure and composition and food availability.
Coral and Coastal Ecology of the Seychelles
The project aims to conduct a baseline survey of the unexplored coral encrusted granite boulders, intertidal flats and mangroves surrounding Silhouette Island, Seychelles. The project will map richness and diversity of fauna in these habitats, highlighting communities and species of specific scientific and conservation interest.
Walking with African Wildlife
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa - This magnificent landscape of rolling savanna woodland was the last refuge for white rhinos a century ago. Now the historic, 900-square-kilometre park harbours a healthy population of 2068, as well as black rhinos, giraffes, elephants, kudu, impala, wildebeest, zebras, and others, a veritable ark of African biodiversity. All of these large herbivores, in their teeming numbers, have an impact on the structure and diversity of the ecosystem. An overpopulation of any one of them can mean massive destruction to their habitat and instability to the other wildlife populations it supports. The data collected will inform appropriate management interventions, ensuring the diversity of wildlife species in one of Africa's oldest wildlife reserves.
Ecology and Conservation of the white-necked rock fowl in Ghana
This project is a partnership between Earthwatch, Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) and Ghana Wildlife Division that will facilitate sharing of UK scientific expertise to provide field research and training opportunities to assist conservation of the vulnerable white-necked rock fowl in Ghana. The project will: a) enable Ghana to meet its obligations for conservation of rock fowl under the Convention of Biological Diversity (specifically Articles 7, 8, 10, 12, 13 & 17), b) build capacity for rock fowl conservation across the range of the species in Ghana and beyond, and c) establish a community-managed sanctuary for viable rock fowl populations in Ghana.
Samburu Wildlife and Communities, Kenya
On this Conservation Research Initiative, fellows will participate in Wildlife Habitats of Samburu comparing crucial wildlife habitats both within and outside protected areas to improve conservation and in Grevy's Zebras: Ecological Monitoring on Pastoral Land, Wamba which is establishing the ecology and habitat use of endangered Grevy's zebras to limit impacts from human activities. The projects are aimed at reducing competition between wildlife and local communities and teams work in the unprotected Wamba Division and in the protected Lewa Wildlife Conservancy conducting field surveys of wildlife and vegetation and help to determine the population status and habitat needs of threatened Grevy's zebras.
Eastern Europe
Belarus Wetlands
Wetlands in Belarus are extensive and various and bogs make up 14% of the country. Bogs are extremely important as they improve the gas composition of the atmosphere, carry out climate regulation, and regulate the character of flowing and subsoil water levels in vast contingencies to bog territories. Globally, the last two centuries have seen a period of artificial reconstruction of nature, during which the bogs of Belarus were mostly destroyed. Peatlands contain more than 20% of the world's carbon and up to 70% of all carbon stored in biotic systems. Western Europe has lost most of its natural peatlands and it is important to conserve remaining peatland in countries such as Belarus where significant areas of the habitat remain.
The long-term goal of the project is to find comprehensive and effective systems of conservation for the raised bogs of Belarus. Course participants are taught the practical research skills and simple techniques to sample, survey and monitor a range of habitats, plants and animals. In additional to this, training is given on a range of environmental education techniques to enable participant to raise awareness of conservation in a wide audience and, more specifically, to learn how to devise and adapt hands-on activities and thought-provoking games which illustrate a variety of ecological concepts to schoolchildren and other audiences.
Asia
Mangroves of Sri Lanka
The primary objective of the project is to restore community managed mangrove stands at selected sites around the coast of Sri Lanka and for these to help sustain livelihoods and improve knowledge on how restoration processes of mangrove forestation can best be managed to create coastal protection and maximise the ecosystem through sediment accretion and otherwise so as to ultimately provide direct benefits to the people of Sri Lanka.
In response to the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, this three-year project will use scientific research methods to examine and identify appropriate planting regimes to address the blanket replanting that has been done since the tsunami without consideration of appropriate species, densities and combinations. The project will plant a total of 45,000 mangrove trees over the three years. The project aims to rebuild mangrove forestation in three key areas in Sri Lanka; study the benefits of different species and planting densities on coastal protection and ecosystems, including in terms of protection from ocean waves and flooding; and compare results with an existing Earthwatch mangrove forestation project in Kenya and share the learning there and elsewhere in the interest of increasing knowledge of coastal protection, including against future tsunamis.
Malaysian bats
Since the mid 1990s, Malaysia has been losing its rainforests at a rate of 2.4 percent a year to logging, agriculture, and resort development; and with the rainforest, Malaysia is losing bats. Today, 34 species in Malaysia are listed on the IUCN Red List of threatened and endangered species. The rainforest bats are particularly vulnerable, as they are adapted just for forest living. Their short, rounded wings allow them to weave in and out of dense vegetation and their sophisticated echolocation allows them to home in on insects in the dense vegetation. Not only are bats a key component of Malaysian biodiversity, they also provide valuable pollination and seed-dispersal services and do a booming business in insect removal.
The expedition will take place in a no-tourist area of the reserve, where only rangers, scientists, and indigenous Orang Asli people are allowed. The project will involve monitoring bat diversity and population sizes and identifying roosting sites and patterns. Participants will assist in harp-trapping, examining, and banding bats at one of five different sites, radio-tracking tagged bats to roosting sites, and mapping key habitat features.