The Jardines Ángel del Sol VCA is found in a remote forested area located in the San Martin department, in northeastern Perú. The area was firstly populated by in the 1980s by migrant farmers from the highland provinces, which had to migrate because of land scarcity and the expansion of mining. These farmers settled into the area as there was plenty of free, fertile land available, which was ideal for the cultivation of coffee. Originally, the land was covered by primary forest, that was…

The area is located within the Municipality of Sento Sé, State of Bahia, Brazil. The region is semi-arid with an annual rainfall under 1000ml.  94% of the VCA is covered by native vegetation – the caatinga - which provides a habitat for threatened animal species including jaguars, pumas, armadillos, anteaters, Lear's macaws, and stingless bees. Much of the biodiversity here benefits from proximity to the neighbouring Boqueirão da Onça National Park which covers 346.908 ha. As a wildlife…

The Green Circle Bee-landscape covers an area of over 20,000 ha and is situated in and around the Dutch cities of Leiden, Zoetermeer, and Alphen a/d Rijn, in the province of Zuid-Holland which happens to be one of the most densely populated parts of the globe with 1,300 people per km2. The aim of the programme is to reverse the general loss of important pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and butterflies in the landscape. This is being done through the creation of a region-wide network of…

Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot is an area with beautiful mountains, lochs, islands, and hundreds of miles of coastline, home of Scottish heritage, and unique landscapes. This has also become the country’s basement of the leading renewable energy developers. The place is home to world-class on-shore and off-shore wind tower manufacturers CS Wind, with The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), the world leader in marine science research that is aiming at the conservation of the area…

The marine waters of Kuruwitu in the Vipingo area of Kenya are a very important biodiversity hotspot along the Kenyan coast. The distinct coral reef ecosystem plays host to diverse coral assemblages populated by many species of ornamental fish and endangered sea turtles. The various ecosystems support many species of birds, fish, mammals, plants and other organisms, some of which are endemic. The locally managed marine area (LMMA) is managed by the Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare Association…

Before being bought and protected by Bush Heritage Austrailia in 2001, Carnarvon station was a cattle station for 140 years. The site sits in the Brigalow Belt bioregion – one of the most extensive, fertile and well-watered areas in northern Australia. The Brigalow Belt covers 1.6 times the area of Victoria but has been mostly cleared of vegetation. Species once dominant on the more fertile plains have been reduced to small patches. Landscape-scale conservation is now only possible in the…

The Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve is located in the southern corner of Zimbabwe bordering the Gonarezhou National Park. It is home to Singita Pamushana Lodge, which surrounded by reserve is managed by the Malilangwe Trust (see additional info for more details on the Trust).  The reserve is dissected east to west by a range of rugged sandstone hills, within which over 80 ancient rock painting sites have been discovered. The Chiredzi River runs the length of the property from north to south, the…

Munyamadzi, in the Eastern Province of Zambia, is one of four unfenced, privately-owned game reserves in the Lower Luangwa Valley – the southernmost part of the Great Rift Valley complex. The Reserve is 18,500 ha of mixed habitat with 20 km of riverfront onto the eastern bank of the iconic Luangwa River. The Game Reserve was acquired by the current owners in 2008 and has been successfully managed as a wildlife conservation area since. At the beginning, wildlife populations were heavily…

Lizard Lane is a narrow, roughly 22ha strip of land to be developed and managed as an ecological heathland corridor to enhance the viability of local populations of amphibians and reptiles. It is situated in the municipality of Soest, the Netherlands. The corridor consists of mixed broadleaved-coniferous forest and heathland, with 6 different landowners. Currently, the land is managed by the owners, each of them having different management objectives. The remnant heathlands bordering the strip…

The privately owned Rancho La Merced National Wildlife Refuge is located on the Pacific Coast, near Punta Uvita and Ballena Marine National Park in Costa Rica. It has 506 ha of primary and secondary tropical wet forest, alongside pastures and mangroves next to Morete River and a beach. Rancho La Merced has been protected from hunting for many years and it is an active member of the Asociacion de Amigos de la Naturaleza del Pacífico Central y Sur (ASANA) or the Friends of Nature in South…

Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica is 1 of only 4 tropical fjords in the world and is an exceptional ecosystem that is home to magnificent animals like humpback and sperm whales, manta rays, bottlenose dolphins, corals, green sea turtles, snappers and hundreds of shark species. The gulf is surrounded by rainy forests, mangroves and sandy beaches and happens to be a nursery for the scalloped hammerhead shark, with thousands of baby sharks born there every year. Recent research suggests evidence of a…

Hotel Punta Leona is one of the most important private reserves in the Pacific zone of Costa Rica and plays an important role in biological conservation. Due to its unique geographic location and an important conservation plan, the reserve is one of the few remaining forests situated in the transitional zone between the Dry Forest of the Northwest and the Rainforest of the Southwest. The reserve is home to more than 330 species of birds as well as to various mammals, such as the white white-…

Sabi Sand Wildtuin, named after the Sabi and Sand Rivers that flow through the game reserve is located in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Situated approximately 450 kilometres (279.6 miles) from Johannesburg via Nelspruit and Hazyview, Sabi Sand shares a 50 kilometre (31.25 miles) unfenced border with the Kruger National Park. The reserve is well known for its exceptional leopard sightings, and is home to over 300 bird species, 145+ mammal species, 30+ amphibian species, 110+ reptile…

The Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation Area (VMCA) off the coast of south west England was designated in 1987 to help protect and enhance the rich and varied marine life of this internationally important site. The Helford VMCA aims to encourage people to become more involved with the marine environment and to work together to conserve it. There are a number of statutory…

The family-run Dingley Dell pork farm raises specialist pig breeds for the restaurant trade from their farm in Suffolk, England. Currently run by the third generation, brothers Paul and Mark Hayward, the farm places a healthy environment at the heart of their business strategy. Worried about the alarming decline in pollinators (approx 70% in some species), in 2016 the family decided to start a project called a million bees sustainability programme which aims to provide available food to…

Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region (K2C BR) is a region located in the north east of South Africa and covers parts of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces. It encompasses the Kruger National Park, alongside large tracts of private land under conservation in the east and the Blyde Canyon Nature Reserve in the west. Altitudinal ranges (from the Drakensberg Mountains in the west towards the Savannah in east); the diverse geology and associated rainfall differences across the landscape have…

Tetepare is the largest uninhabited island in the South Pacific and one of the last remaining unlogged islands in the Solomon Islands. Untouched since the mid-1800s, Tetepare harbors 12,000 ha of pristine rainforest and fringing reefs with some of the highest coral and reef fish diversity on earth. Although scientists continue to discover new species on the island, it plays host to at least 73 bird species, 24 reptile, 4 frog, and 13 mammal species, including several rare bat species, three…

Inside the 129,100 ha UNESCO Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve in State Brandenburg, NE Germany, two areas (together 700 ha) have been set aside for the conservation of the natural landscape, with the aim to restore several ecological functions, mainly associated with water. At the same, these reserves work towards a closer integration with the surrounding farmland by stimulating landowners to introduce more nature-friendly management practices and setting aside land for connecting the two…

Embaloh peat swamp and peatland ecoregion The Nanga Lauk Village Forest – Rimbak Pakai Pengidup/Forest for Life – supports a huge diversity of plant and animal species, many of which are threatened with extinction. The area is within the Heart of Borneo region, identified as a priority for Biodiversity Conservation because of the exceptional diversity of species it supports, and the high levels of threat they face from deforestation and forest degradation. The VCA forms part of the Embaloh…

AlVelAl is located in Southern Spain, roughly in between the cities of Granada and Murcia. The AlVelAl- territory covers parts of the autonomous communities of Andalusia and Murcia, which each have several provinces and comarcas -the local denomination for districts. The name AlVelAl relates to the first letters of the comarcas where the initiative started: Altiplano de Granada, Los Vélez and Alto ALmanzora. More recently the comarcas of Guadix and Noroeste de Murcia were added to the landscape…