Project News

Earth Island News

Earth Island Institute is proud to announce its two newest projects:

Mongol Environmental Conservation is dedicated to bringing together stakeholders to protect the environment, natural resources, and cultural heritage of Mongolia through education, advocacy, research, capacity-building, and the provision of financial and technical assistance. For more information, visit mongolec.org.

Plastic Pollution Coalition is dedicated to ending plastic pollution worldwide and its toxic impacts on people, animals, and the environment. For more information, visit plasticpollutioncoalition.org.

The cattle-ranching sector in northern Mexico’s Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve is transitioning from traditional, land-use-intensive practices — such as extensive grazing — to a more sustainable, bio-intensive semi-corralled form of management. A group of these ranchers also recently formed a dairy cooperative under the logo Mini Vaca and opened a storefront and women-run cheese factory in the area’s main town, Jalpan de Serra. Viva Sierra Gorda is helping to support this shift by training and educating agricultural and livestock producers in practices that help restore soils and microorganisms in the reserve. For more information, visit vivasierragorda.org.

Bay Area Wilderness Training is proud to announce a milestone: 10,000 youth outdoors! That’s 1,000 groups of 10 kids each, most of whom had never stayed a night outdoors in their lives. BAWT extends its thanks to everyone who has generously contributed time; funding; or blood, sweat and tears to make this truly amazing achievement possible. For more information, visit bawt.org.

WildFuturesWildFutures’ Sharon Negri released Cougar Ecology & Conservation
in December 2009.

Sharon Negri, project director of WildFutures, released her comprehensive book on cougars, Cougar Ecology & Conservation (University of Chicago Press) in December 2009 to much acclaim. For more information on the project and the book, visit wildfutures.us.

Female attorneys, advocates, law students, and members of the legal profession may apply to join any of the following 2010 Women’s Earth Alliance Advocacy Delegations: Defending Sacred Places in the Southwest Delegation in May; Protecting Water and Traditional Culture Delegation in July; and Promoting Energy Justice in the Navajo Nation Delegation in September. California CLE credit may be available. For more information and to apply, please contact Women’s Earth Alliance Advocacy Director, Caitlin Sislin at caitlin at womensearthalliance.org.

The Borneo Project is supporting three Penan communities as they organize preschools for early childhood education in their native language, train and empower local teachers, and offer literacy training to adults involved in territory demarcation, reforestation, logging-road blockades, and lawsuits. These skills are needed to help establish rights to ancestral lands. To support these crucial efforts, visit borneoproject.org.

The Red Panda Network’s new awareness campaign, International Red Panda Day, is aimed at improving understanding about the red panda among zoo-goers worldwide through a coordinated global campaign with zoo administrators. The network is also raising funds for local awareness campaigns in China, where in the past six months two red pandas were observed being sold. Over the next five years RPN plans to broaden its scope to focus on deforestation in general, incorporating work with different species in order to conduct Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects in marginalized communities around the world. For more information, visit redpandanetwork.org.

Project Coyote has been working to protect coyotes and other wild canids from two brutal practices: killing tournaments where prizes are awarded to hunters who kill the animals; and “penning,” a practice through which coyotes and foxes are captured, sold, and traded to hunting hound training facilities. In Maine, after pressure from Project Coyote supporters, Governor John Baldacci declared coyote contest events “inhumane” and “unacceptable.” In Nevada and Idaho, Project Coyote and a coalition of organizations brought attention to coyote and wolf derbies, gaining national media coverage. In Florida and Indiana, state wildlife commissions are considering banning or restricting coyote and fox penning and Project Coyote is working with other groups to end this brutal practice. For more information, visit ProjectCoyote.org.