TWO HEALTHY RING- TAILED LEMURS AT DURRELL WILDLIFE PARK

The very distinctive ring-tailed lemur, with its striking banded tail, is probably the best known species of Madagascan primates because it has been studied for many years. Despite being widely seen in captivity, the ring-tailed lemur is threatened with extinction in Madagascar due to the rapid loss of its habitat.

Ring-tailed lemurs were the first lemurs to be kept at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust arriving way back in 1964.

Since then a great deal of expertise has been gained with this species and various others, and we continue to make an extremely valuable contribution to lemur knowledge and captive management. Image by Colm Farrington.

Check out: <http://www.durrell.org/index.cfm?page=73>

COP 10 PRESENTATIONS CONNECTED TO THE YOUTH ACCORD ON BIODIVERSITY

Nagoya, Japan- October 26, 2010

CEPA Fair from 14.15 to 15:00 located on the First Floor of Building 2.
BIODIVERSITYMATTERS.ORG- SECOND INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SYMPOSIUM FOR BIODIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL YOUTH ACCORD ON BIODIVERSITY

The youth will present the Youth Accord on Biodiversity in over 20 languages/ The youth will also collect signatures from visitors and participants and will display images from the first and second symposiums on biodiversity.



Nagoya, Japan- October 26, 2010

243. 2128 16:30 - 18:00
Room 210 - Bldg 2, 1st Floor PROTECT OUR WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL YOUTH WORK FOR BIODIVERSITY

Youth from fourteen countries have drafted an International Youth Accord on Biodiversity. This side event will showcase the Accord, and highlight youth biodiversity projects from around the world with various speakers and multimedia presentations. It will also include a framework for youth reporting their progress and next steps.

The Honourable Mauril Bélanger

The Liberal Member of Canadian Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier- The Honourable Mauril Bélanger has given us a quote of support for the work we are doing:

“It has often been said, rightfully, that today’s youth represent our future. It is therefore very encouraging to see young people engaged in protecting and promoting biodiversity. May you be successful!"

Nyssa Haynes-holder's Drawing

Nyssa Haynes-holder's image from the 2009 Youth Symposium on Biodiversity- Nice art!
She lives in Barbados.

EcoMentors Event- Toronto, CANADA

Chafic Bouchakra attended the Ecomentors Conference at Brown Collage this past weekend. He collaborated with some great people as well as found a lot of potential partners for the Youth Accord. It was a great Conference and he recomends others to go to it next year as it was quite informative. Oh did I mention it was free and we got free return travel from Ottawa to Toronto! Great conference! much fun!

My Vermont Trip

For 7 days I got to go to the Adirondack in Vermont and see a totally different part of our world's nature. The trees were growing on rocks and fresh water springs were coming from the mountains. It is really something very special to see.

CHECK OUT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE MOVIE "THE COVE"

Academy Award® Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan.  What they find is absolutely horrifying.  Check out http://www.thecovemovie.com/

QUOTE OF THE DAY

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~John Muir
Image below of the Great Auk (Extinct July 3, 1844) (CMN Collection- Ottawa)

SO LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT OUR OCEANS

For the first time in human history, technology is allowing us to explore the darkness and crushing pressure of the deep seas- to reveal the strange ecologies that exist here. The deep-sea humpback anglerfish (Melanocetus johnsonii) is the ugliest fish I have ever seen. It is the size of a tennis ball and it loves to eat. The females are much larger than the males. Millions of light-producing bacteria exist in the lure on its nose. This model was made by Mike Leveille from Ottawa, Canada.

THE PASSENGER PIGEON

John James Audubon while of a trip to St. Louis, during the entire 3 day travel, he observed a continuous flock of pigeons overhead, with no beginning and no end. The flock flew over head unbroken for three days. Audubon said their droppings fell like snowflakes. He tried to count them but after a brief while, he realized they were to numerous to count. In less than 100 years there were no more. (Specimen above from the CMN collection- Ottawa)

http://www.ulala.org/P_Pigeon/Pigeon_Stories.html

Visit to Liberal Member of Canadian Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier- The Honourable Mauril Bélanger

We were very pleased to visit the Liberal Member of Canadian Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier- The Honourable Mauril Bélanger.  He was very interested in the work the youth have been doing in connection to the Youth Accord on Biodiversity and the upcoming visit to COP10 in Japan.  He took the time to read through the Accord and he will continue to keep an eye on our work. Both Chafic Bouchakra (Publicity and Partnership coordinator) and Mike Leveille (Director of Biodiversitymatters) were present at the meeting.

From June 8-10, I attended the UNESCO International Conference on Biological and Cultural Diversity. I learned a lot, and made my first two interventions, adding to the Proposed Joint Programme of Work on Biological and Cultural Diversity Lead by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and UNESCO (the part about promoting and developing non-formal intergenerational transmission of knowledge was me!)

~Dayna

Check out CBC's OCEAN PLEDGE

Check out http://oneocean.cbc.ca/pledge/actions

The Birds of Macoun Marsh (St. Laurent Academy- Ottawa, Canada)

CONFIRMED BIRDS SEEN AT MACOUN MARSH (2003-2010)
1. Red-winged Blackbird
2. Cardinal
3. Gray Catbird
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Brown Creeper
6. Common Crow
7. Common Raven
8. Mourning Dove
9. Rock Dove
10. Mallard Duck
11. Black Duck
12. Oldsquaw Duck
13. Wood Duck
14. Green Teal
15. Merlin
16. House Finch
17. Flicker
18. Least Flycatcher
19. Crested Flycatcher
20. Goldfinch
21. Canada Goose
22. Grackle
23. Ring-billed Gull
24. Cooper’s Hawk
25. Black-crowned Night Heron
26. Great Blue Heron
27. Green Heron
28. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
29. Blue Jay
30. Junco
31. Killdeer
32. Eastern Kingbird
33. Kingfisher
34. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
35. Golden-crowned Kinglet
36. White-breasted Nuthatch
37. Red-breasted Nuthatch
38. Baltimore Oriole
39. Osprey
40. Eastern Phoebe
41. Virginia Rail
42. Common Redpoll
43. Robin
44. Solitary Sandpiper
45. Spotted Sandpiper
46. Northern Shrike
47. Pine Siskin
48. Chipping Sparrow
49. Fox Sparrow
50. House Sparrow
51. Song Sparrow
52. Tree Sparrow
53. White-crowned Sparrow
54. White-throated Sparrow
55. Savannah Sparrow
56. Field Sparrow
57. Lincoln's Sparrow
58. Starling
59. Tree Swallow
60. Hermit Thrush
61 Swainson's Thrush
62. Philadelphia Vireo
63. Red-eyed Vireo
64. Warbling Vireo
65. Turkey Vulture
66. Black-and-white Warbler
67. Wilson's Warbler
68. Blackpoll Warbler
69. Mourning Warbler
70. Yellow Warbler
71. Yellow-rumped Warbler
72. Black-throated Green Warbler
73. Black-throated Blue Warbler
74. Chestnut-sided Warbler
75. Canada Warbler
76. Northern Waterthrush
77. Purple Finch
78. Chimney Swift
79. Barn Swallow
80. Eastern Bluebird
81. American Redstart
82. Unknown Hawk (Photographed)
83. Sharp-shinned Hawk
84. Bohemian Waxwing
85. Cedar Waxwing
86. Downy Woodpecker
87. Hairy Woodpecker
88. Pileated Woodpecker
89. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
90. Pine Grosbeak
91. Mockingbird
92. Sora
93. Carolina Wren
94. Brown-headed Cowbird
95. Bobolink
96. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
97. Barred Owl (Image top)
98. Saw-whet Owl
99. Ovenbird
100. Snow Bunting

PETITION ON CARE2

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development is on the verge of destroying Europe's largest field genebank and replacing it with commercial cottages. The Pavlovsk experimental station outside St Petersburg holds more than 4,000 varieties of fruits and berries, and according the Pavlovsk station's director, "more than 90% of the collection is found in no other research station."

www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/727/967/951/?z00m=19875308

LEVEILLE FAMILY VISITS THE MIDDLE EAST (JULY, 2010)

Our Executive Director Mike Leveille, and his family, visited Lebanon in July.  Here are some species seen on their trip. 

OUR YOUTH ACCORD AMBASSADOR PRESENTS IN BELGIUM FOR GREEN WEEK

JUNE 2, 2010- Every year Friends of Europe is the exclusive partner of the European Commission and organizes a series of debates as part of the official programme. This year our very own Youth Accord Administrator, Kirsten Falkenburger (From Halton, Ontario) sat on the panel to discuss biodiversity and consumers.

SOME VERY INTERESTING BOOKS

Check out these fascinating books at a store near you!  Each one of these books is unique in their approach to environmental issues.  Some books are very hopeful while James Lovelock looks at our Earth "Gaia" as an unconscious living organism suffering from our ignorance and greed. 

YOUTH ACCORD DISPLAYED AT GRAND REOPENING OF THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF NATURE (MAY 22, 2010)

We were pleased to present our Youth Accord at the Grand-reopening of the Canadian Museum of Nature in May.

BIODIVERSITYMATTERS PRESENTS ACCORD TO DR. JANE GOODALL (APRIL, 2010)

We presented Dr. Jane Goodall with the Youth Accord on Biodiversity at Dominion Chamers United Church during the International Writers Festival this past April.

LAUNCH OF THE 2010 YOUTH ACCORD ON BIODIVERSTY- MARCH 3, 2010

This is really BIG! We are involved in an absolutely amazing project that literally networks across the globe! A group of international youth created a very important document that grew out of our international gathering last year here in Ottawa. This launching of the accord included Elizabeth Kilvert from Environment Canada, Tara Conroy from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and a young representative from Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots. We were also entertained by Paul Goulet and his critters (Also know as Little Ray). This amazing document has been translated into 25 languages. 71 countries are now represented with this document to date. We will present this at COP 10 in Japan in October.

Remembering Last Year's Biodiversity Youth Symposium

The Second International Youth Symposium for Biodiversity, saw 100 students (Grade 6 to 12) and their chaperones gathered in Ottawa, Canada, to celebrate Youth Initiatives in Biodiversity. The Symposium was organized by BiodiversityMatters, with partners St-Laurent Academy, Convention on Biological Diversity, HabitatNet, and the Canadian Museum of Nature. The Macoun Marsh Project, an award-winning youth biodiversity project of St-Laurent Academy, hosted the event, July 5-9, 2009.

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