Fish and Wildlife Service Announces International Conservation Grants

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will award 105 grants totaling $5,798,791 to aid in the conservation of marine turtles, great apes, rhinoceros, tigers, and Asian and African elephants as well as to finance other conservation efforts and education programs in 47 countries on four continents, Director H. Dale Hall announced today.

Partners will contribute $8,778,220 in matching funds and in-kind contributions, raising the total to $14,577,011.

"Too much of the wildlife on our planet is literally under siege," said Hall. "Thanks to efforts like this, I believe we?re able to make a significant difference. The high level of interest and participation by our partners is a clear demonstration of public concern. I?m proud that the Service is involved.?"

The grants are awarded through the Service's Wildlife Without Borders Program and the African Elephant, Asian Elephant, Great Apes, Marine Turtle and Rhino/Tiger Conservation Funds. The funds were established by Congress to provide assistance for conserving species that face a variety of threats, including poaching, illegal trafficking, human conflict, habitat loss and disease, and to promote education in international communities.

The Service grants were applauded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), based at the Bronx Zoo. WWF's Ginette Hemley said almost all of the Service grant funding "goes where it should - to the field." John F. Calvelli, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at the WCS, said the Service's Wildlife Without Borders Africa Regional Program "builds technical capacity in countries that need it the most."

Grants in Latin America and the Caribbean will support projects that will benefit general biodiversity conservation as well as individual species such as the jaguar, spectacled bear, Hispaniolan parrot, West Indies whistling duck, golden lion tamarin and all species of marine turtles. Other Western Hemisphere nations receiving grants include Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Martinique, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands and the West Indies.

Projects in North America will provide benefits for Ramsar sites, areas that are considered wetlands of international importance and named after the city in Iran that was the site of an international wetlands treaty conference in 1971. North American grants will go to the Caddo Lake Ramsar Center in Texas to advance work related to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and to establish a Small Grants Program to help the Environmental Concern (on behalf of the U.S. National Ramsar Committee) designate new Ramsar sites in the United States.

Grants in Africa will benefit biodiversity conservation, surveys, environmental education, applied research, workshops, anti-poaching, community awareness and specific international law enforcement issues, including efforts to curtail bushmeat exploitation in Eastern Africa through community outreach, education and identification of alternative food sources. Projects will directly benefit species such as chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, African elephants, leatherback marine turtles and both white and black rhinoceros. The projects cover a geographic scope expanding over most of the region, including Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Grants in Asia will benefit the recovery of various wildlife populations by promoting anti-poaching activities, addressing logging issues, human-animal conflict and by supporting database collection, community outreach and national radio programming that features conservation issues. Species that will directly benefit from these projects include the Asian elephant, marine turtles, tigers, and black rhinoceros. Projects will cover a large geographic area including China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Oman, the Solomon Islands, and Thailand

For more information about the Service's international programs, visit http://www.fws.gov/ international/dicprograms/wwbp.htm.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 97-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 548 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com