The Blue Turtle arrives at St Helena
Winner of JNCC’s Overseas Territories and Crown
Dependencies Nature Conservation 
Award is
announced
29 March 2011
A forest restoration project on one of the
most remote inhabited islands in the world will today be presented
with a major UK conservation award. But this is no ordinary forest
and no ordinary island – for the trees are endangered and are found
nowhere else in the world and the island is St Helena, an Overseas
Territory of the UK.
Flying the flag for the International Year of
Forests – the St Helena Millennium Forest Project will be presented
with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s Blue Turtle
Award for nature conservation in the UK Overseas Territories
and Crown Dependencies.
The eastern half of St Helena was once covered
with a huge swathe of native forest known as the Great Wood. During
the 1700s most of the native trees had succumbed to the combined
effects of felling for timber by settlers, browsing by goats and
rooting by pigs; and by the twentieth century only a few of the
native Gumwood trees survived. These Gumwood trees are found
nowhere else in the world, and like other trees endemic to St
Helena, are all threatened with extinction. At the initiative of
the local community, the St Helena Millennium Forest project was
launched with the goal of reinstating native forest on degraded
wasteland. Over 250 hectares of land has been set aside for
restoration and since 2002 over 10,000 Gumwood trees have been
planted.
JNCC’s Overseas Territories and Crown
Dependencies Programme Manager Tony Weighell, one of Award’s
judges, said: “I want to congratulate all involved in the St Helena
Millennium Forest Project. There are many examples of communities
working to conserve and manage biodiversity in the Overseas
Territories and Crown Dependencies and this is exactly the sort of
innovative, community-based initiative that should be
encouraged. For 2010, it was the unanimous choice of the
judging panel. But St Helena provides important lessons for our
management of forests globally – it’s better to protect and
conserve our forests now than to attempt to restore them
later.”
Defra is playing an increasingly important
role in supporting biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories and
Crown Dependencies. Presenting the award on behalf of JNCC,
Environment Minister Richard Benyon said:
“Our Overseas Territories are a precious
repository of unique biodiversity and often serve as home to some
of the world’s most vulnerable species. Recent events in the South
Atlantic have shown the fragility of such habitats and our duty to
protect them has never been clearer.
“The St Helena Millennium Forest Project is an
excellent example of how a community can come together for the sake
of a better environment and a greener future. I’m delighted to see
the excellent efforts of conservationists working in our Overseas
Territories getting well- deserved credit.”
Rebecca Cairns-Wicks, President of the St
Helena National Trust said: “The Millennium Forest is a genuine
community initiative, with hundreds of our islanders already
planting endemic trees. Visitors and overseas supporters are also
able to donate a tree, leaving a personal legacy to this story of
ecological recovery. The St Helena National Trust has a long-term
vision and commitment to the project which will expand and improve
the ecological diversification of the forest and develop the site
as a leading environmental tourism attraction.”
Notes to editors:
- The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the statutory
adviser to Government on UK and international nature conservation,
on behalf of the Council for Nature Conservation and the
Countryside, the Countryside Council for Wales, Natural England and
Scottish Natural Heritage. Its work contributes to maintaining and
enriching biological diversity, conserving geological features and
sustaining natural systems. Its work includes a specific programme
aimed at providing support to nature conservation in the UK
Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
- The Blue Turtle Award 2010 will be presented to Councillor
Raymond Williams, Chair of the St Helena Agriculture and Natural
Resources Committee, at the CPA Rooms, Westminster Hall, Houses of
Parliament, London, on 29 March 2011 at 18:00. Richard Benyon MP,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries
will present the award on behalf of JNCC.
- The 2010 Blue Turtle Award received nominations from seven of
the UK crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. The award was
presented based on the following criteria: nature conservation
benefit/added value; innovation; community involvement; and links
to a specific project, or demonstrating long-term commitment and
dedication. The work or project must also have been in place for
over a year.
- The UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have an
amazing wealth of biodiversity. Of globally threatened species
identified in the 2004 IUCN Red List, 74 critically endangered
species occur in the UK Overseas Territories (compared to 10 in
mainland UK) along with 49 endangered species (12 in mainland UK)
and 117 vulnerable species (37 in the mainland UK). Many of
these species are endemic and so are found nowhere else in the
world
- The Overseas Territories also hold regionally or globally
important concentrations or assemblages of species. For
example, Ascension Island supports the second largest green turtle
rookery in the Atlantic; Gough Island (Tristan da Cunha) has been
described as, arguably, the most important seabird island in the
world; and the reefs of the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian
Ocean Territory) are some of the most pristine and best protected
in the Indian Ocean (and account for some 1.3% of the world
resource). One of JNCC’s priorities is to provide advice on the
conservation of biodiversity in the UK’s Overseas Territories and
Crown Dependencies.
- The Gumwood tree Commidendrum robustum is St Helena’s
national tree and is included as endangered in the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is one of several endemic
trees found on St Helena (and thus nowhere else in the world). All
these endemic tree species are threatened with extinction and one,
The St Helena olive Nesiota elliptica became extinct in
2003 when the last plant in cultivation died (the last wild plant
died in 1997). Others are reduced to just a handful of individuals
surviving in the wild and/or cultivation. The Millennium Forest
Project, by increasing the number of Gumwood plants in the wild,
helps to reduce their risk of extinction and enables the plants to
function again as part of a native forest
habitat.
- To organise interviews with representatives
from the St Helena Millennium Forest Project, contact the JNCC
Press Office:
Tel: +44 (0)
1733 866839 or
Councillor Raymond Williams recieves the Blue
Turtle Award, on behalf of St Helena's Millennium Forest
Project, from Defra Minister Richard Benyon @ David Ward