Tellus Conservation

🌳 Call for Submissions: Tellus Conservation's Next Carbon Reforestation Project 🌳 Tellus Conservation is excited to announce a call for project site submissions from national parks, conservancies, and other environmental NGOs working on the ground for our next Carbon Reforestation Project. We're seeking submissions for projects with potential ARR (Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation) of 10,000 hectares or more. We work globally with a mission to rapidly protect and restore ecosystems at scale by providing long-term, sustainable finance. Criteria: ▶ Type: ARR project with potential for REDD+ alongside. ▶ Size: Minimum of 10,000 hectares of potential ARR. ▶ Location: Global. ▶ Governance: Strong governance structures and community involvement are essential. If you have a project that meets these criteria, we want to hear from you. 📧 Submit your one-page proposal to info@tellusconservation by 20th September 2024. #Reforestation #CarbonSequestration #Conservation #Sustainability #EnvironmentalImpact #CarbonCredits #NatureCredits

The Tellus team has recently returned from Upemba National Park in South East DRC where we are working with Forgotten Parks Foundation (FPF) to develop two market based programmes in and around the park. Upemba is vast national park, straddling 13,000 sq/km of rolling savannah, gallery forest and wetlands. Its beauty lies in its variety. A short walk through the rolling grasslands and into the deep valleys cloaked in Miombo forest can feel like a different world. Like many protected areas in sub-Saharan Africa Upemba is under intense pressure from illegal activity including poaching, mining and fire. Indeed the park is now largely devoid of large mammals after years of illegal poaching. However FPF in partnership with the ICCN is working hard to provide the governance and management to turn this trajectory around. Tellus is proud to be working with places like Upemba to help facilitate sustainable, long term financing to the most precious places on our planet. To learn more about our work in Upemba and elsewhere please get in touch.

Yesterday we brought nine Ukrainian National Park directors and their teams to Kyiv for a large equipment, vehicle and tool handover. These parks have been without vehicles since the illegal Russian invasion - all government vehicles were transferred to the military in the rush for resources. The equipment is to enable ecological work, in particular the removal of invasive pine species that is problematic across the country and damages the fragile wetland and steppe ecosystems. We are proudly advocating the view that protecting Ukraine’s nature is not an ‘and / or’ situation weighed up against the country’s humanitarian and military needs. Instead, it is an ‘and / and / and’ situation. Ukraine desperately needs all the help it can get across the broadest of spectrums and we should not allow nature to become yet another casualty of Putin’s war.

This week we hosted a lunch for fifty 'Friends of Tellus' in celebration of our Ukraine programme at the The Fishmongers' Company in London. It was a special opportunity to bring a diverse group of people together who have all been instrumental in making the project a success. We heard from our co-founders, Jody Bragger and Angus Aitken and Ukraine based staff, Nataliia Bohdan and Nastia Drapaluk, about our multi year conservation programme in the country which supports nine national parks across operational, ecological, equipment and infrastructure support. We were also fortunate to have talks by Iryna Stavchuk and Levison Wood FRGS HonD who have both been big supporters of our programme. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us!

As the first of the winter snow fell last year across Ukraine we began our multi-year support programme to nine Ukrainian National Parks. 🇺🇦 The equipment being delivered in this photo is a generator. They have become important pieces of infrastructure as the country enters the winter months with variable power supply after sustained missile strikes across its electricity network. They will allow the park staff to continue their work even in sustained outages. This equipment was delivered to Kamianska Sich which is a reserve that lies on the Dnipro River. During the initial invasion it was occupied by Russian forces and also bore witness to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. Heavy fighting occurs in close proximity to the park and staff continue to work in dangerous and fast moving conditions. Our programme supports nine national parks across four key areas - ecological, operational, equipment and infrastructure and aims to bridge the funding gap caused by Russia’s illegal invasion. The parks we work with span Ukraine’s varied ecosystems and are located across most regions of the country.

What does developing a carbon project actually look like? 🎥 Here's a sneak peek of some of the work we've been doing in Bombo Lumene, DRC, as part of our feasibility study for a carbon project there. There was a lot of sitting with and meeting local communities to understand their situation, their needs and their concerns. There was also a lot of trekking to some beautiful old growth forest areas and to some areas recently laid waste thanks to unsustainable charcoal production (see end of video). There was a lot of rain and some heroic efforts to not get stuck in the mud. 🌳 Join us on our journey as we develop this carbon credit project that will fund conservation action in Bombo Lumene as well as improving livelihoods of neighbouring communities. #SustainableFuture #FondationBomboLumene #TellusConservation

Exciting News from Tellus Conservation 🌍 We are thrilled to announce our latest venture: a groundbreaking project in collaboration with Environnement Sahel. This initiative integrates environmental management with community empowerment. It marks the beginning of a new era in community conservancies in Chad. 🌳 Our Goal: We aim to create over 10,000km² of new, community-managed protected areas, focusing on rehabilitating and safeguarding vital forest ecosystems. This project isn't just about conservation; it's about fostering peace, security, and sustainable development for the local communities. 🐘 Protecting Biodiversity: Our efforts will directly contribute to the protection of crucial biodiversity hotspots, including habitats for endangered elephants and giraffes around Lac Fitri, as well as vital international wildlife and bird migration routes. 💚 Community Impact: Approximately 270,000 people in and around the community areas will benefit socio-economically, gaining improved land tenure security and access to ecosystem services that over 20 million people depend on downstream of the Chari-Logone watershed and Lake Chad. 🌱 Sustainable Financing: A key aspect of this project is its potential to generate high integrity carbon credits (both avoidance and removal) ensuring long-term sustainable management and conservation efforts. 🤝 Collaboration for Change: This project is a testament to what we can achieve together. By partnering with Environnement Sahel and the local communities, we're setting a new standard for conservation efforts that prioritise both nature and people. Environnement Sahel has a five year collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Environment in Chad for the environmental management of these areas. 🔗 Stay tuned for more updates and visit www.tellusconservation.com & www.environnementsahel.org for more information. #Conservation #Sustainability #CommunityEmpowerment #Chad #TellusConservation #EnvironnementSahel Photos @HenryBailey

We are excited to be working alongside the Forgotten Parks Foundation in Upemba National Park (UNP) on the BIRA programme: Africa's first biodiversity accelerator. The accelerator aims to support FPF as they continue their work restoring and protecting Upemba National Park (UNP) in the DRC, one of the oldest national parks in Africa. The accelerator aims to create opportunities in carbon (REDD+) and biodiversity markets, nature-based tourism, agriculture, and non-timber forest markets. To learn more about this exciting partnership and to read more about the programme click the link below: https://lnkd.in/dzx-XxWw

A Tellus co-authored paper, an interim assessment of the damages to Ukraine's protected areas, was published today in Parks Journal. The ongoing illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only a humanitarian disaster but is an ecological crisis in a country that is home to 35% of Europe's biodiversity. Read more about the motivations for our work in the country below:

Last week the Tellus team had the pleasure of hosting Levison Wood FRGS HonD at our project in Ukraine. Levison and his team are busy filming a new documentary series and we were honoured to be featured and to be able to showcase Ukraine's incredible national parks and the dedicated park staff that work hard to protect these places during the ongoing war. Thanks for joining us Lev and we look forward to the final cut!