• On 29th March, Jaleela al-Salman, Vice President of the Bahrain Teachers Association, was arrested at gunpoint in her bedroom in front of her children. Many of her colleagues have since been arrested and released but are still awaiting trial on the claims of having illegal messages on their BlackBerrys and ‘inciting hatred towards the regime’.
• On 12th June, 63 students of the Bahrain University and Polytechnic were expelled following peaceful demonstrations and updates on Facebook. They have also been banned from enrolling in other universities in Bahrain, effectively ending their academic future in Bahrain.
• On 2nd August Jaleela went on hunger strike along with the President of the Bahrain Nursing Society, in protest at their illegitimate detention.The Bahrain Teachers’ Union has been dissolved and a new one put in place with teachers ‘more amenable to the regime’.
• A 20-year-old student teacher at the Bahrain University, Ayat al-Gormezi, was imprisoned and tortured by the Bahraini security forces for nine days after reading a pro-democratic poem on Pearl Roundabout in March this year. Her case became high profile, and international media support has helped lead to her release. By taking action we can give other victims of the current persecution a public voice.

Give a voice to Bahraini teachers and students and take action now .

You can help these victims by demanding that the King of Bahrain and the Bahraini government immediately address this issue and enable everyone to learn free from fear of persecution in Bahrain.

We are calling for:

• the immediate release of all teachers, students and activists detained in Bahrain
• the reinstatement of the students expelled from their learning institutions
• the reinstatement of dismissed teachers and their salaries, and the reinstatement of the scholarships of the persecuted students
• the enablement of every person to learn free from fear of persecution in Bahrain
• the fundamental rights and dialogue of teachers and students to be respected.

You can find out more about the situation in Bahrain at www.campaignforeducation.org/bahrain

For them, we may be their only safety net. For them, a $15 donation may be the difference between life and death.

Food for Orphans provided 600,000 meals to hungry orphans last year. Our goal is one million in 2011.

Thank you for helping to feed hungry orphans. Your donation is greatly appreciated.

• $15 per month will feed one orphan every day
• $30 per month will feed two orphans every day
• $60 per month will feed four orphans every day
• $120 per month will feed eight orphans every day
• $600 per month will feed 40 orphans (an entire average-size orphanage)

To make a telephone donation, call toll-free 1-888-219-0779. Food for Orphans is a 501(c)3 organization and your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent provided by the IRS.
If you wish to mail your donation, please send it to this address:

Food for Orphans
PO Box 26123
Colorado Springs, CO 80936

We send our thoughts and condolences to all those affected by this unbelievable natural disaster.

As the flood waters recede and the clean-up begins, there will be a lot of assistance needed in these areas. Conservation Volunteers will be assisting the residents of the eastern states in the recovery efforts, and we need your help. We anticipate that there will be a need for restoration projects such as repairing fences, restoring tracks and trails, habitat restoration, tree planting and wildlife surveys, among many others.

Click here to donate to our flood recovery programs.

GVN Foundation

GVN Foundation was founded in 2005 to provide financial assistance and help implement sustainable development projects to local community organisations around the world. Whether that is building a school for orphans of HIV/AIDS or providing emergency food supplies to victims of natural disasters, GVN Foundation work to provide communities with the resources they need.

The GVN Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization in the United States and was granted Special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in July, 2009.

Our Vision

The vision of the GVN Foundation is to support the charitable and educational work of local community organizations in various countries through the distribution of financial, in-kind and material donations.

Our Network

The GVN Foundation is currently fundraising to support programs through our partner organizations in ten countries, such as Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, Romania, and Vietnam. The network continues to expand with new programs being researched and assessed.

Our Partners

At The GVN Foundation we believe in the idea of ‘local solutions to local problems,’ therefore we work with local community organizations in each country. We believe that local communities are in the best position to determine their needs, and we provide resources to help them achieve their goals.

Our Programs

The GVN Foundation is able to provide financial assistance to the local community organizations we support through our various programs and fundraisers:

• Eat So They Can
• General Program Donations
• Sponsorships
• Treks
• Emergency Relief
• Gift Certificates

UN Consultative status

In July 2009, GVN Foundation was granted Special Consultative Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Consultative status opens the door for GVN Foundation to actively engage with the ESOSC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with United Nations Secretariat, programmes, funds and agencies.

Website

For more information about the GVN Foundation, please visit their website at http://www.gvnfoundation.org

Rainforest Rescue provides an opportunity for you to ‘sponsor’ the planting of a tree or trees to help restore our rainforests.

The Daintree rainforests are of international conservation importance as one of the most significant regional ecosystems in the world.

Planting rainforest trees will help to restore our rainforests and protect the many threatened species of plants and animals that live there.

Daintree Critical Habitat for Endangered Species

Endangered Southern Cassowary.

The Daintree Rainforests are critical habitat for the endangered Cassowary. They are also vital habitat for the primitive Musky Rat-kangaroo, the rare Bennett’s Tree-kangaroo, endangered Spotted-tailed Quoll, and a myriad of smaller creatures little known to science.

The Daintree Rainforests are the last extensive areas of lowland rainforest still connected and linked as a continuum with the main rainforest to the west. The connectivity of these rainforests is integral to the long term survival and sustainability of these forests and their fauna.

The major threat to Daintree biodiversity is an increase in residential development. Increased development leads to more wildlife killed on roads, an increase in invasive weeds displacing native species and the further loss of wildlife through domestic dog attacks.

International Conservation Significance

Daintree Ringtail Possum.

The Daintree rainforests are of international conservation importance. They are considered one of the most significant regional ecosystems in the world.

The Daintree rainforest contains 65% of bat and butterfly species, 30% of frog, marsupial and reptile species and 20% of bird species in Australia. Unique animals found in the Daintree region include the critically endangered Southern Cassowary, Musky Rat-kangaroos, Ulysses Butterflies and Sugar Gliders.

The Daintree rainforests possess one of the greatest concentrations of primitive flowering plants in the world and contain more plant taxa with primitive characteristics than any other tropical forest.

They record the eight major stages of the evolution of land plants and in particular the origin, evolution and dispersal of the flowering plants (Angiosperms).

Of the 19 most primitive plant families world wide, 12 are found in the Daintree; a similar number of primitive families to that found in all the rainforest of South America.

The rainforests of Sri Lanka have been identified as one of the most important for biological diversity in the world. They are also at critical risk of agricultural development. Two thirds of the rainforest that existed 15 years ago have now been cleared for development.

Rainforest Rescue aims to protect Sri Lanka’s last remaining rainforests forever by reducing the pressures on rainforest resources through community education programs, property purchase and rainforest regeneration, thereby establishing sustainable livelihood for local residents.

Join Associate Professor Michael Mahony from the University of Newcastle and explore the fertile mountain forests of Australia’s Hunter region, collecting data that will help scientists understand how our frog populations might cope or flounder as they encounter chytrid infections. In the past Earthwatch volunteers have contributed to the exciting discovery of four new species of frog and have identified both healthy and struggling frog populations. Teams are now needed to find out why some frogs are dying while others are flourishing.

To celebrate this new partnership, we are offering a special annual Conservation Volunteers membership which will support important ongoing conservation activities and ensure a wild future for those species that need our help the most.

For just $70, new and renewing members will also receive a year’s subscription of their choice of Australian Geographic’s fantastic publications; either The Australian Geographic Journal (usual subscription cost $59.95) OR Australian Geographic Outdoor magazine (usual subscription cost $42) – plus a year’s annual membership to both Conservation Volunteers Australia AND the Australian Geographic Society.

As well as great armchair reading, your membership will directly support CVA’s practical projects around Australia and the work of the Australian Geographic Society, and you’ll also have plenty of volunteer opportunities on thousands of CVA projects running throughout 2010.

Your CVA / Australian Geographic Society membership includes:

• The Conservation Volunteer, our national bimonthly magazine.
• Monthly updates on conservation projects across Australia.
• Free Nature Saturday guided bushwalks.
• The Australian Geographic Journal or Australian Geographic Outdoor magazine

To read about Conservation Volunteers Life Members – click here

It’s easy to join, simply:

Freecall 1800 032 501 or click here for the secure online membership form.

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will be encouraged by providing resource material found either on the Action for Climate Change website or recommended links from trusted sources.

Opportunities are being developed for individuals and businesses to help sequester some of their unavoidable emissions by funding a series of habitat forests under our Action for Climate Change Program.

Action for Climate Change: Habitat Forests – Selection Criteria

• Habitat forest sites will be selected initially for their positive contribution to biodiversity outcomes and the natural environment
• These sites will also capture and store quantities of carbon during the life of the vegetation being established.
• The establishment of indigenous vegetation will also assist these locations to have a higher ability to adapt to climate change
• Where possible, sites will also be selected to protect vulnerable species and vegetation communities
• Sites with some form of long term legal protection and management plans will be given priority in the selection process

All our supporters will be able to visit our habitat and carbon sites and participate in voluntary activities where appropriate.

All sites will be individually reported upon on the Action for Climate Change website.

We will always ensure that information about our Action for Climate Change Program is available and transparent.

Community volunteer days will also be made available for the sites and will be promoted via the Action for Climate Change and Conservation Volunteers websites.

Who is Conservation Volunteers?

Conservation Volunteers is Australia’s leading practical conservation organisation. In 2006 Conservation Volunteers also commenced operations in New Zealand.

Since 1982, Conservation Volunteers has fulfilled its mission to attract and manage a force of volunteers in practical conservation projects for the betterment of the environment.

Key information about Conservation Volunteers:

• welcomes more than 10,000 volunteers a year
• works in partnership to assist more than 2,000 priority conservation projects
• real conservation results, including planting more than 1 million trees per annum
• provides training to more than 1,000 individuals and groups per annum
• works in partnership with all levels of government
• assists Land managers in local Councils, Landcare Groups, National Parks, Friends of Groups, private landowners and Government agencies
• partners with many top businesses to tackle conservation priorities
• has representation in over 25 locations across Australia and New Zealand and 130 full-time employees
• Member of the IUCN (World Conservation Union)
• Federation of Youth Travel Organisations
• Founding member of the International Alliance of Conservation Volunteers
• Winner of numerous Banksia Awards
• Winner of the PM’s Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships
• Winner of United National Global 500 Award

Where does the Action for Climate Change program operate?

Action for Climate Change is conducting its activities throughout Australia and New Zealand in line with other Conservation Volunteers programs.

What am I supporting and what do I get when I join Action for Climate Change?

• The ability to support a series of habitat forests across the country
• A certificate acknowledging your membership and support towards the program’s annual targets
• Practical support to threatened species under threat due to dangerous climate change
• bumper sticker showing your support for this practical program
• regular updates showing the progress and results of the program
• ongoing invitations to visit habitat forest sites and participate in revegetation activities as a volunteer
• regular reporting of each site via the Action for Climate Change website in regard to the biodiversity and carbon storage outcomes

What is my funding used for?

Funding will be used to support the following:

• Provision of seedlings
• Site preparation
• Land manager/owner maintenance support
• Site coordination, mapping, record keeping and sequestration estimation
• Covering costs of community and volunteer plantings (transport, catering, tools, insurances, protective equipment and supervision etc.)
• Direct costs of projects assisting wildlife species suffering from issues caused by dangerous climate change such as rising temperatures, sea levels etc.
• Ongoing development of education support to Action for Climate Change supporters aimed at reducing initial emissions
• General administration costs of running the program

Can I support Action for Climate Change on a regular basis?

Yes – simply click on the ‘Donate Now!‘ button at the top of the page.

Are financial contributions to Action for Climate Change tax deductible?

Yes