US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE GRANTS TO CONSERVATION

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More Than $3.5 Million In Conservation Grants Go To 54 Countries To Help

Conserve The World's Imperiled Wildlife

By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

 

 

Aug 31, 2006, 07:25

 

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Contacts

 

Ken Burton 202-208-5657

------------------------------

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will award more than $3.5 million in

international conservation grants to 54 countries to help conserve imperiled

wildlife throughout the world, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced

today.

 

 

 

Matching funds and in-kind contributions from nearly 100 partners, including

American and international not-for-profit organizations and foreign

governments, will raise the total to nearly $9 million.

 

 

 

" Partnership is the key to addressing the serious and persistent threats

faced by hundreds of species of wildlife throughout the world, just as it is

the key to conservation here at home, " Kempthorne said. " These grants,

coupled with the contributions of our partners, will make a huge difference

in conserving habitat and reducing the threats of species around the globe. "

 

 

 

Near the top of the list are grants of nearly $2 million under the Great Ape

Conservation Fund, with matching funds of more than $2.3 from 20 partners,

that will promote the conservation of chimpanzees and gorillas in Cameroon,

the Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Rwanda, and gibbons in Vietnam and

Bangladesh, and orangutans in Sumatra and Indonesia.

 

 

 

" People and wildlife compete for the same living space, " said Service Dale Hall. " The challenge for us is to identify ways to accommodate

the needs of people as well as the needs of wildlife. "

 

 

 

Grant support for Cameroon, the Congo, Gabon and Rwanda will help improve

law enforcement designed to protect gorillas, aid in research, and promote a

system to reintroduce gorillas to their natural habitat in the Congo and

Rwanda.

 

 

 

Gorillas remain severely endangered throughout all of their range and have

suffered from intense poaching, a loss of habitat and catastrophic disease

outbreaks.

 

 

 

Under the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, the Service is awarding

grants to promote a program in Malaysia to reduce domestic trade in tiger

parts. The Bengal tiger of Bangladesh will also get help, along with the

Indian rhinoceros in Nepal, where poachers are a continuing threat. Grant

money will be used to build support for the arrest of poachers and rhino

horn traders, to create an awareness-raising program for the judiciary on

wildlife law and the need to protect wildlife and an education program for

young people on the importance of rhino conservation.

 

 

 

Like the gorilla, the one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal has also suffered from

high levels of poaching, made worse by that country's long-running conflict

between government forces and rebels. During a two-year period, 67

rhinoceros were killed and the demand for rhino horn on the Asian medicinal

market remains high.

 

 

 

Service grants under the Elephant Conservation Funds will support diverse

efforts to promote elephant conservation ranging from the establishment of

anti-poaching programs to educational initiatives.

 

 

 

Projects in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Belize, Nicaragua and Chile will

help conservation work involving an array of species including the jaguar

and puma in Belize, the tapir in Brazil and the iguana on Andros Island in

the Caribbean. Other work will involve the training of wildlands managers,

educational programs and teacher training workshops.

 

 

 

A grant to Russia will provide assistance to 32 of that country's nature

reserves and parks, including help in improving law enforcement and working

conditions for employees. Species that will benefit include the critically

endangered saiga antelope, and the Far Eastern leopard, along with the

Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, cranes, storks and some rare plants.

 

 

 

The grants, awarded through the Service's Wildlife Without Borders-Regional

programs and the Multinational Species Conservation Fund programs, provide

support for efforts targeting a variety of international species

conservation initiatives. The programs benefit imperiled wildlife and fund

projects that address the root causes of imperilment to wildlife. The grant

programs are authorized under treaties and laws that include the U.S.

Endangered Species Act, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds, and

the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western

Hemisphere.

 

 

 

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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System,

which encompasses 545 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 their 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.

 

* *

 

*(For a detailed list of grants, go to

http://www.fws.gov/home/feature/2006/grantslink.pdf)*

 

* *

 

*-fws*-

 

*For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,*

 

*visit our home page at**http://www.fws.gov* <http://www.fws.gov/>

 

 

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