Latest News

You can now subscribe to a RSS feed featuring new RSG projects and updates. RSS is a syndication format that lets you keep up with changes on your favourite web sites.

 Subscribe to the Rufford Small Grants News and New Projects feed

Find out more about RSS on the BBC web site.

Environmental groups are applauding this week’s promise by President Michelle Bachelet to covert Chile’s entire coastline – one of the longest in the world – into a whale sanctuary. Written by Benjamin Witte

Recent poll suggests 97 percent of Chileans support whale sanctuary.

Environmental groups are applauding this week’s promise by President Michelle Bachelet to covert Chile’s entire coastline – one of the longest in the world – into a whale sanctuary.

“We’re very content with the president’s announcement because this will create a government policy that favors whale conservation,” Bárbara Galletti, president of the Center for Cetacean Conservation (CCC), told the Patagonia Times. “It’s something that’s lacking right now. We need a legal framework that supports our long-term work with these animals.”

“This is a huge stop forward in terms of marine conservation,” she added. “For the first time the country, which has focused exclusively on extracting (marine resources), is putting forth a vision that involves taking advantage of its resources through conservation strategies, such as eco-tourism.”

The CCC is an environmental NGO committed to protecting the numerous species of whales and dolphins that occupy Chilean waters.

Bachelet made the announcement Wednesday as part of her annual May 21 State of the Nation speech. During next month’s annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), she promised, “Chile will condemn the capture and killing of whales for scientific purposes.” The IWC gathering, to be held in Santiago, will take place throughout the month of June.

“Furthermore, we will send Congress a bill declaring Chile off limits for whale hunting,” said Bachelet.

The whale sanctuary plan was first proposed last year by the National Confederation of Chilean Artisan Fishermen (CONAPACH), which partnered with the CCC and Ecoceanos, a Santiago-based environmental NGO, in lobbying Chilean government authorities. A law already in place outlaws whaling through 2025. CONAPACH’s Whale Sanctuary for Chile proposal would extend that law indefinitely.

In recent months the initiative has received almost universal backing, with the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and even the Navy throwing their weight behind it. Some 120 environmental groups around the planet also support the proposed sanctuary. A recent Adimark poll, furthermore, suggests that an overwhelming 97 percent of Chileans back the idea.

“This is a huge triumph for the people of Chile and a strong international signal by the host country of the International Whaling Commission gathering,” said Ecoceanos Director Juan Carlos Cárdenas. “This demonstrates the effectiveness of the combined effort by environmentalist and artisan fishers, who in demanding the creation of a sanctuary were able to attract the support of 97 percent of the Chlean public.”

According to Cárdenas, nearly 50 percent of the world’s whale species pass through Chilean waters on a regular basis. Every year, furthermore, Chile hosts a sizeable population of blue whales, which come to feed and reproduce off the northern coast of Chiloé. Nearly hunted to extinction during the last century, blue whales – the world’s largest creatures – are still very much endangered.

By Benjamin Witte ( benwitte@santiagotimes.cl This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Read more about her RSG project that assisted Barbara in this achievement at http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/barbara_galletti_and_vern...

As part of his Ocean Messengers Project investigating dolphins in the Algoa Bay, off Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Rainer witnessed some incredible scenes and was able to prove with spectacular footage a specialized hunting technique of southern hemisphere ORCAS.

For years he was looking for the proof of rumours and stories by fishermen that always between April and May the Orcas would come to Port Elizabeth to hunt for Dolphins.

He has secured a Rufford Small Grant and invested private funds and effort into the research and finally succeeded! The Orcas came already into the Algoa Bay around 12 April. They are quite difficult to find. Planes don't help - only riding around by boat and a well experianced skipper.

Rainer said ‘What I have realized during the last two months was that the common dolphins were more and more difficult to find’. Yesterday (2nd May) after an all day search he succeeded!

A small group of common dolphins come towards the boat, once they were close enough he realized that they were really very exhausted and tired. "Normally we also have big groups of more than 1.000 common dolphins and not 50 dolphins only" .

So he realized these had been separated by something! Shortly after he saw the first of 5 Orcas: 3 adults one 2 year old and one baby! More astonishing was the fact that they were playing with a common dolphin! Teaching the baby how to hunt!

The parents breached over and with the dolphin to show the baby how to kill and survive. He was able to film a lot of the action in HDV (Sony FX1)- which has been converted to these pictures.

Even a scene in which the dolphin swims sideways towards the boat, approaches the boat at 2 meters distance, and then is pushed away by the Orca. In the next second another big male breaches with the dolphin and kills it.

Then the Orcas eat the dolphin. After this he followed the Orcas and managed to snorkel with them, he also took some, images under water, the visibility was about 20 meters with lots of plankton around.

In one scene the mother swims past with the baby, like she wants to show it to Rainer, and opens her mouth threatening him not to come closer. The male, in another scene swims full speed towards Rainer, and dives below and under him..Stunning images

The Orcas spend about 2 weeks already within Algoa Bay. Studies with Scientists are planned and a documentary of the complete event from where they come and where they go to is in planning.
Producers are welcomed to contact Rainer on info@expert-tours.de to find out more.

For more information on his RSG project go to http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/rainer_schimpf_0

In 2009, the Rufford Small Grants will have been supporting grass-roots conservation projects for 10 years. Our awards scheme is only small in name - since we began we have supported over 1,000 projects worldwide.

We would like to mark this occasion with a review of our work. We would like to hear from past RSG recipients to know how a Rufford Small Grant made a difference to your long-term conservation work. In what way did it enable your research to progress? What significant conservation findings came about as a result of your RSG project(s) that have had an impact on the conservation world? We would particularly like to hear from our early RSG recipients and know what stage their work is now and how it developed following their final report to us.

Please send a short summary together with up to three photos as jpeg attachments to sian@rufford.org by the end of June 2008. We look forward to hearing from you.

ABC News is airing on 17th March in the US on this Chilean blue whales project. Watch the story on "World News" at 6:30 p.m. and on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET

You can also read a related article on: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4464998&page=1

We are pleased to announce that with immediate effect applicants will be able to apply for up to £6,000 for a first or second RSG and up to £12,000 for a Booster Grant towards their nature conservation project. Those applications already submitted will remain in the £5000 / £10,000 band. All other criteria remains the same.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Forums section on the Rufford Small Grants website. We hope this will give a great opportunity to grant recipients and others to exchange views and experiences of working on nature conservation projects around the world.

Initially, forum posting is available to grant recipients only, but we anticipate opening up access to all in the future. Anyone can view the discussions on the forums. If you are a grant recipient and would like to participate in the discussions please request a user account here.

Iregi Mwenja's pioneering survey of the newly discovered population of de Brazza's monkey in Mathews range of Samburu Kenya has been published in the PC journal of the IUCN/ SSC Primates Specialist Group. Read the article here; www.primate-sg.org/PDF/PC22.new.neglectus.pdf

The Rufford Small Grant Foundation's contribution was fully recognised in the article. The publication of these findings by PSG is a clear testimony that the Rufford Small Grants Foundation is able to identify and supports critical primates conservation project on the world.

Read more about Iregi's RSGF work at www.rufford.org/rsg/projects/iregi_mwenja and on his blog at www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/samburumonkeys

The trustees of the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation are pleased to announce that, due to the phenomenal growth of the Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation (RSGs), from April 2007 a new charity has been established specifically for the development of this grants scheme.

The Rufford Small Grants Foundation will seamlessly continue the work of the RSGs.

The new organisation will run in exactly the same way and the process and decision making will continue in an identical format.

Within the eight years of the RSGs being part of the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, in excess of 900 projects in over 95 countries have been supported. As these grants continue to go from strength to strength the new Foundation will continue to build on its success.

Jane Raymond Grants Administrator jane@rufford.org
Josh Cole Grants Director josh@rufford.org

The Rufford Small Grants Foundation is excited to announce the new 'Innovation Award'.

This Award is available to a new, substantial project which could have ground breaking effects in nature conservation in the developing world. For this we are offering a 'one-off' grant of up to £50,000.

In the first instance, ideas should be submitted via email to josh@rufford.org.