CITES CoP18, Sri Lanka Geneva, May 2019

The largest wildlife conference in the world governing international trade in endangered species will be held in Sri Lanka Geneva in May 2019.

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Mambas in the Park (MTP)

Many members of the indigenous African communities surrounding Kruger National Park have never seen an elephant or a rhino. Descendants of families who were forced off their land during the creation of the Park, they are cut off from their magnificent wild heritage and the benefits of conservation by generational poverty and the legacy of apartheid. Enter Mambas in the Park (MTP), a program offered by GMFER in partnership with Transfrontier Africa and the Black Mambas. Recognizing that conservation initiatives are not sustainable without the participation of those who live in closest proximity to wild areas, Mambas in the Park brings members of these communities, especially children, into the park with the aim of fostering a life-long appreciation for wildlife. Help us bring more kids to Kruger!

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist

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The Music of Change

Shubert Mwarabu is a charismatic Tanzanian musician-activist who inspires young Africans to respond to the crises facing wildlife. The effectiveness and appeal of Shubert’s music has been noticed and amplified by Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and by National Geographic, among others. GMFER is working to help Shubert set up a dedicated recording studio in Dar es Salaam that will allow him to broadcast into the hinterlands, engaging more of the local population in storytelling and music relating to conservation. Shubert needs your help to make the studio a reality!

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A Mini Forest in Faridabad

From a barren area covered in trash, teenager Samarrth Khanna and his Mini Forest Brigade created a verdant space for people and wildlife in the middle of the city of Faridabad. Samarrth is the founder of “Society Empowered for the Welfare of Animals and Mankind” (S.E.W.A.M.), an organization that engages children and others in understanding and appreciating animals and the environment via hands-on projects and education. GMFER partnered with Samarrth to help make the urban forest a reality, and will be providing ongoing support to the Mini Forest Brigade.

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Send an Urgent Message to CITES Reps @ CoP18

The earth and its creatures, human and animal are at a crossroads; climate change is upon us, as is the escalating loss of wild places; droughts, floods and dwindling wild habitat impose hitherto unimagined stresses on the last remaining populations of iconic wild creatures, cornering them into increasingly smaller fragments of degraded wilderness. In this climate, CITES must reject the call by member nations to assign our wild brothers and sisters a designation that dismisses their sentience, their culture, their splendor and their plight. They are not a “product”; they are fellow travellers who share our earth; the idea that humans and non-humans are indivisible constituents of the same web of life is an idea whose time has come.

“Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own – indeed to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come.”
– Wangari Maathai,Revolutionary Kenyan Social and Environmental Justice Advocate, Nobel Laureate