***** BIG MATCH FORTNIGHT HAS NOW ENDED AND TARGET REACHED - MATCHED FUNDING NO LONGER AVAILABLE *****

How donations up to the target of £5,000 can be multiplied four times!

To enable donations to this appeal to be multiplied by four, I am combining a matching scheme that my employer Ecclesiastical, part of the Benefact Group, runs with World Land Trust’s (WLT) Big Match Fortnight.

So for every £1 raised on this JustGiving page between 2 and 20 October 2024* (both dates included), up to my £5,000 fundraising target, my employer Ecclesiastical will double this to £2 and WLT will double this again to £4.

* closing date has been extended from 16 October.

Why I support World Land Trust

WLT are an amazing charity with a track record of saving threatened habitat for wildlife. They focus on saving land which is of most value in terms of biodiversity and endangered species but is under threat of being destroyed.

The money from this appeal will go to WLT’s conservation partner, Nature and Culture in Ecuador to establish a new Provincial Protected Area in Orellana, Ecuador. This appeal is a unique opportunity for WLT to protect a huge area of the Amazon in Ecuador which otherwise would be under threat; an estimated 747,000 hectares / 1.85 million acres (that's roughly the size of Somerset!)

This can only be achieved by working very closely with the indigenous people and local governments, helping them to realise their own plans to ensure the long-term sustainability of their forests. This will include understanding which areas need the highest levels of conservation protection.

This protection is crucial, as this area is under severe threat from forest clearance for agriculture expansion (beef, palm oil and soya), mineral mining and oil and gas extraction. Between 2018 and 2020, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) reported that Ecuador lost 275,000 hectares of forest. The Orellana Province is among Ecuador’s top four provinces with the highest deforestation rates.

A strong influence on my support is Sir David Attenborough, one of WLT’s patrons, who is quoted on the WLT website as saying:

This Year's Appeal

The area of the Amazon that this appeal will protect is vary varied, with 14 of the Ecuadorian Amazon’s 25 different ecosystem types. These include Amazonian Bamboo Forest, Evergreen Forest, Flooded Grassland, and Amazon Alluvial Floodplains. Collectively, they are home to an extraordinary diversity of highly threatened species, including the elusive and Endangered Amazonian Manatee.

The Ecuadorian Amazon contains a large proportion of Ecuador’s overall biodiversity. For instance, 700 of Ecuador’s 1722 bird species, 174 of Ecuador’s 676 amphibian species, and 206 of Ecuador’s 404 mammal species. Many species are highly threatened, and several are IUCN classified as Endangered, including the Amazon River Dolphin, Giant Otter, White-bellied Spider and Arrau Turtle. The region also contains many species new to science, like the Tiputini Velvet Worm described in 2024 and thought to be Ecuador’s first newly described velvet worm for over 100 years.

Two of the standout bird species that will benefit from the protection of their habitat is the Agami Heron (categorised as Vulnerable) and the Orange-breasted Falcon (categorised as Near Threatened).

Agami Heron. Photo: Greg Baker

Red-breasted Falcon: Roberta Goodall

Please see WLT’s website for more details of this appeal: https://www.worldlandtrust.org

Sponsored Birdwatch

On 11 October, or a few days either side if the weather looks bad, I will be going on an all-day birdwatch to see as many species as possible between dawn and dusk. This is the seventh year that I have done this, with my species count increasing from 72 in the first year to 92 in 2022, before dipping back to 89 last year. I will try to beat 92 again this year and hopefully see something that I haven’t seen on my previous birdwatches. This will also be the seventh year that Ecclesiastical have provided matched funding allowing donations to go so much further.

Donations of any size will make a big difference – if I can raise the full £5,000, the matched funding will increase this to £20,000 towards WLT’s appeal.

Thank you so much for any donations you are able to make.

Andy