Circular 11 July 2011

Bruno meting some interesting

machete-waving relatives

Making local contacts

During June, Andrew made three trips into the region where we are focussing our conservation effort. On the first trip he travelled with two local Christians Benjamin Diaz (AKA Gringo) and Bruno. They travelled to the area east of the Los Palmares Reserve. Most of the people living in this region happen to be Gringos relatives, a fact that greatly helps us in terms of making contact with them. Meeting and developing a working relationship with locals is a key part of our work. We are convinced that successful conservation requires working with local people. A protected area is in essence a social space, socially conceived and preserved. 

An unexpected but welcome experience in ecotourism

Flooded palm savannah (note pink spoon 

bills roosting on the dead trees)

The second trip saw Andrew taking a couple of visitors from the UK to a region north of Los Palmares (our first experience with ecotourism!). The plan had been to drive through the area, but this changed after a giving a lift to park ranger Nicefaro Luna. He took them off-road and into some interesting birding sites on a property called Tortugas (aprox. 5000 hectares). Along with an amazing number of bird species they also saw fresh tracks of cayman, puma, ocelot, wild cat, capybara, crab-eating racoons and foxes.

Dr. Patterson and Nicefaro Luna bird watching

 Andrew later met the owner of Tortugas, Dalmacio Romano, a humble man  who is keen to protect the forest on this property that he and his brothers inherited from his father. Andrew was astounded when in a quiet moment together he whispered to him that he was a Christian and had for years been praying for someone to come and help him ensure that his land could be conserved.  Though we must not get overly excited, this experience has led us to do some careful thinking as this  may be a plot (or neighbouring ones) will probably be the area we will  focus on as the first acquisition.

Challenges with land titles

Gringo and Dalmacio

Andrew made a return trip to the Chaco with Marcelo (Land for Life board member) and Gringo to talk to Dalmacio and visit the area in more depth. Discussions with him revealed that the title deeds to the property are in the name of his deceased father, and this will make any transfer quite complex. This a typical situation in the Chaco and one that is sadly being exploited by unscrupulous lawyers keen to grab land off unsuspecting owners by offering their services to help sort out the titles.  In the meantime we are exploring ways in which Land for Life might help Dalmacio to receive and guide bird watchers as a means of generating an income. This would be useful experience for other local land owners to observe.

Bird monitoring project begins to fly

Fundación KAIROS has formally accepted to work with on the bird survey, and is currently engaged in publicising the project. As part of the initiative we are keen to hear from anyone who may be interested in joining a small group of people who can visit Argentina in July 2012 and spend 2 weeks helping establish baseline surveys. The trip will include extensive travel in the Chaco and meeting with local Christians.  Do get in touch if you would like further details.

Other news

 Andrew has been invited to speak about Land for Life and his experience in Argentina tot the Anglican Communion Environmental  Network (ACEN)  which meets in Lima from the  4th to 10th August.  He also has other trips with Compassion International which include the US, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Singapore. He will be in the UK briefly on the 20th and 21st August (St Albans) and again from the 26th to the 29th August (Cromer)

Family  news

We look forward to the school-winter-holidays which start on the 9th July Argentina´s day of Independence.  Volcanic ash has all but closed tourism operation down south, so we are looking for other options for a short break.  The kids are doing fine, but more than ready for a rest from their academic activities.

Prayer pointers

•    Give thanks for the amazing series of contacts made in the Chaco.

•    Pray for wisdom in ongoing discussions regarding the Tortugas property.

•    Pray for funding for the bird survey project.

•    Pray for the paperwork to register Fundación Refugio with Argentina´s tax system (complicated!)

Contact: andrewleake@gmail.com