Protected areas of Johor

The state of Johor in Malaysia is noted for its national parks and forest reserves which preserve virgin rainforests known for its biodiversity and endangered species of animals.
Mangrove swamps and coral reefs are also protected within these parks.
National parks.
Endau Rompin National Park.
Endau Rompin National Park is located on the Johor-Pahang border (). The park takes its name from the Endau and Rompin rivers that flow through the park. It is the second largest national park in Peninsular Malaysia after Taman Negara, covering 489 km2 with approximately 26 km of jungle trails within the park. The most famous trail is a 16 km trail that starts at Kuala Jasin and ends at Batu Hampar. Other sites of interest in the park are Opeh Guling waterfall, Buaya Sangkut waterfall and salt licks around Gunung Tiong. There are two entry points to the park with one at Kampung Peta and the other at Nitar. There are two other rivers, Selai and Jasin rivers, that flows through the park.
Gunung Ledang National Park.
Gunung Ledang National Park is situated 170 km from Johor Bahru and has an area of 107 km2 (). The park has two entry points, one in Sagil, Johor and the other in Asahan, Melaka. Gunung Ledang's peak, which is 1276 m above sea level is the highest point in the park and Johor. Gunung Ledang is also the 64th highest mountain in Malaysia and arguably the most climbed mountain in the country. Sagil waterfall, which is also in the park is a famous picnic site.
Tanjung Piai National Park.
Tanjung Piai National Park is situated on the southernmost tip of mainland Asia (). Its name is derived from an indigenous wild fern, piai raya ("Acrostichum aureum") and piai iasa ("Acrostichum speciosum"). It is famous as a feeding ground for migratory birds like the sandpiper, Eurasian whimbrel, common redshank, greenshank and grey plover. It has also been gazetted as a Ramsar site. Besides migratory birds, it is also a haven for mangrove crabs, mudskippers and crab-eating macaques.
Pulau Kukup National Park.
Pulau Kukup National Park comprises 15 km2 of mangrove and mudflats. It is situated close to Tanjong Piai National Park ().
Mersing Marine Park.
Mersing Marine Park consists of 13 South China Sea islands off the east coast of mainland Johor (). The islands are Pulau Harimau, Pulau Mensirip, Pulau Goal, Pulau Besar, Pulau Tengah, Pulau Hujong, Pulau Rawa, Pulau Tinggi, Pulau Mentinggi, Pulau Sibu, Pulau Sibu Hujung, Pulau Pemanggil and Pulau Aur. These islands are situated south of the more famous Pulau Tioman in Pahang.
Reserves.
Gunung Pulai Recreational Forest.
Gunung Pulai Recreational Forest is one of the smaller parks with an area of 80 square kilometres. It is a catchment area and the closest forest reserve to Johor Bahru. A popular attraction is Pulai waterfall. ()
Gunung Arong Recreational Forest.
Gunong Arong (274 meters) is the main feature of this park. It is 17 km from Mersing and 22 km from Endau. It also has a Forestry Museum on site. ()
Gunung Lambak Recreational Forest.
It is a recreational forest near Kluang. The main feature of the park is Gunung Lambak (510 m).()
Gunung Belumut (Moss Mountain) Recreational Forest.
Gunung Belumut (Moss Mountain) Recreational Forest () is based around the mountain, from which it gets its name. It is situated 32 km from Kluang. Gunung Belumut (1010m) has a 6 km path to the mountain's peak, which takes approximately four hours to reach. The park also has a unique rock formation, called Crown Rock (Batu Mahkota), which looks like a giant crown.
Gunung Panti Recreational Forest.
It is noted for its wild orchids and birds. Besides that, the southernmost mountain in Peninsular Malaysia is also in this park. ()
Sungai Sedili Besar and Sungai Sedili Kecil Wetland Preservation.
It is another wetland area for the protection of migratory birds. This freshwater mangrove swamp has an area of 1.5 km2.
Sungai Lebam Wetland Preservation.
Sungai Lebam is a vast mangrove swamp where clams and fireflies are conserved. Fireflies congregate at the Berembang trees in the swamp. This wetland is near Kota Tinggi and approximately 91 km from Johor Bahru.


Bas de Leeuw

Bas de Leeuw (born 1959) is a Dutch economist and sustainability expert. He is currently Managing Director of the World Resources Forum.
Career.
After graduation from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, de Leeuw held various positions in the Dutch Ministries of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure. In 1997, he started his international career and joined the United Nations Environment Programme. Based in UN Environment's Economy Division in Paris, he introduced programs at the nexus of sustainable consumption, lifestyle, advertising and resource management. He has set up and managed several new UN initiatives, such as the Sustainable Consumption Program, the Marrakesh Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production, the International Life Cycle Panel, and the International Resource Panel. He was Head of the Secretariat of the last two. He has also worked as a National Expert for the OECD on sustainable consumption policies.
In 2009, Leeuw became Executive Director of the Sustainability Institute, founded by Donella Meadows. The institute based in Vermont, USA, was later rebranded as Donella Meadows Institute and Donella Meadows Project.
In 2011 he led the spinoff of the Swiss-based World Resources Forum, which used to be an initiative of the interdisciplinary Swiss research institute for applied materials sciences and technology, Empa. He initiated the transformation towards an independent non-profit international organization that serves as a platform connecting and fostering knowledge exchange on resources management amongst business leaders, policy-makers, NGOs, scientists and the public. He introduced professional management and communication programs, such as the WRF Workshop Parade, nominated for the 2018 Audience Interaction Awards at the FRESH 18 Conference of the Meeting Design Institute. Apart from organising conferences the WRF has been managing or contributing to various international and regional coordination and research projects, such as Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI), and the EC Horizon2020 projects FORAM, CICERONE, RE-SOURCING and CEWASTE, and has set up MOOCS with UNEP IRP on decoupling resource use (Resource Revolution Trainer) respectively - with the Basel Convention Secretariat and other partners - on e-waste management (the E-waste Challenge).
De Leeuw is elected full member of the Club of Rome and has served on various advisory and steering committees, including the Advisory Board of Global Action Plan International, Green Cross Netherlands and the Council of the Union of International Associations (UIA). He is currently Strategic Advisor of the One Planet Network's 10-year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP) Sustainable Lifestyles Initiative Multi-Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SLE MAC) at UN Environment and a member of the UN Task Group on Catalysing Science-based Policy Action on SCP.
Publications.
De Leeuw's most cited publication has been on the use of life cycle thinking for sustainable consumption and production policies, World Behind the Product. Other publications include:


Phu Ruea National Park

Phu Ruea National Park () is a national park in Loei Province, Thailand. The park is centred on Phu Ruea mountain, a popular, scenic peak in the Phetchabun Mountains.
The Phu Ruea National Park was established on 26 July 1979.
Geography.
Phu Ruea National Park is west of Loei town in Nong Bua Sub-district, Phu Ruea District and also Tha Li District. The park's area is .
Phu Ruea mountain is high and experiences some of Thailand's coldest temperatures. In December and January temperatures here can fall below freezing. Phu Ruea means "boat mountain", a name inspired by the shape of a cliff at the peak.
Other peaks within the park include Phusun at and Phuku at .
Attractions.
The park's main attraction is the peak of Phu Ruea mountain offering views of the Mekong and Hueang rivers and into Laos.
The park has numerous waterfalls, the highest of which is the Huai Phai waterfall at tall. Pha Sam Thong is a large cliff.
Flora and fauna.
Types of forest in the park include mixed deciduous, deciduous dipterocarp, dry evergreen and coniferous. Plant species include orchids such as "Phalaenopsis pulcherrima", "Rhynchostylis retusa" and various "Vanda" and "Dendrobium" species as well as various rhododendron such as Rhododendron simsii and Rhododendron lyi.
Animal species include sun bear, northern red muntjac, sambar deer, dhole, black giant squirrel and Siamese hare. Bird life in the park includes red junglefowl, Siamese fireback, yellow-vented bulbul, greater coucal, plain prinia, coppersmith barbet, Asian barred owlet as well as Brown-throated sunbird. The endangered big-headed turtle is present in the park.


Wildlife Protection Society of India

The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) was founded in 1994 by Belinda Wright, its Executive Director, who was an award-winning wildlife photographer and filmmaker till she took up the cause of conservation. From its inception, WPSI's main aim has been to bring a new focus to the daunting task of tackling India's growing wildlife crisis. It does this by providing support and information to government authorities to combat poaching and the escalating illegal wildlife trade - particularly in wild tigers. It has now broadened its focus to deal with human-animal conflicts and provide support for research projects.
With a team of committed environmentalists, WPSI is one of the most respected and effective wildlife conservation organisations in India. It is a registered non-profit organisation, funded by a wide range of Indian and international donors. The society's board members include leading conservationists and business people.
Programs.
The WPSI works with government law enforcement agencies throughout India to apprehend tiger poachers and traders in tiger parts. WPSI also makes every effort to investigate and verify any seizure of tiger parts and unnatural tiger deaths that are brought to their notice.
WPSI maintains a network of undercover agents and informants who gather intelligence on the illegal trade in endangered species. WPSI's informers and agents are especially active in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Sundarbans area.
In November, 2008, in one notable case, the notorious tiger poacher, "Dariya", was arrested by the Katni Forest Department, with information and assistance provided by Wildlife Protection Society of India. Senior field investigators also maintain contact with personnel in lower courts, which is where most wildlife offences are tried. They liaise continuously with informers, forest officials and the police. They are involved with elephant poaching and ivory trade investigations.
The WPSI Wildlife Crime Database has records of over 15,300 wildlife crimes involving more than 400 species that are targeted by wildlife traders and poachers. Data on wildlife crimes is received and processed daily with specially developed computer software. Important leads are verified and passed on to enforcement authorities for further action. In 2008 WPSI significantly expanded their database on tiger poaching and trade and related wildlife crimes. This data assists enforcement agencies in detecting wildlife crime and aids the apprehension and prosecution of criminals.
WPSI conducts Wildlife Law Enforcement Workshops for enforcement agencies. Since 2000, it has undertaken over 25 workshops in 12 states across India. WPSI has given specialist presentations to the SVP National Police Academy, the National Institute of Criminology, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Indian Revenue Service, the Wildlife Institute of India, tiger reserve authorities, and enforcement training centres.
WPSI supports conservation projects for species as varied as the tiger, otter and sea turtle. Among these projects are: Support to Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Trade & Wildlife Crimes Grassroots NGO Support Network, Support to Corbett Tiger Reserve & Adjoining Forests, Support to Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, WPSI Tiger Protection Awards, Award for Information that Leads to Seizure of Tiger Parts, ‘Operation Kachhapa’, Conservation of the Olive Ridley Turtle, ‘Corridor to Survival’ - Landscape Conservation Plan for Elephant Management, Human-Elephant Conflict & Elephant Mortality in North Bengal, a film campaign on Otter Conservation, Indian Cranes and Wetlands Working Group and Animal- Human Conflict Management. They provide support to prosecution of wildlife court cases, public interest litigations, wildlife law publications and the Millennium Digest (1950-2003) on Wildlife & Ancillary Laws. They were instrumental in the resettlement of Van Gujjars outside Rajaji National Park. They have conducted research on Interactions between the Ladakh urial & livestock, interactions between snow leopard prey species & livestock, development of pugmark-based population monitoring, human-leopard conflict in Pune District, Maharashtra and effects of forest resource extraction on biodiversity.
WPSI is actively involved in all of India's major wildlife conservation issues and have been in the forefront of media campaigns to highlight the importance of wildlife protection. WPSI prints and distributes educational posters about tiger and wildlife conservation and laws. The posters target the general population, highlight the need for conservation and encouraging the protection of wildlife and spelling out penalties for poaching and trading. More than 40,000 posters have been distributed by state forest departments and local NGOs in seven languages - Hindi, English, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Bengali and Malayalam.
Some of the WPSI publications include: Shatoosh - The Illegal Trade, , WPSI-Ranthambhore Tiger Census, May 2005, India's Tiger Poaching Crisis, Tiger Poaching Statistics of India, A God in Distress: Threats of Poaching and the Ivory Trade to the Asian Elephant, Fashioned for Extinction: An Exposé of the Shahtoosh Trade, Handbook of Environment, Forest and Wildlife Protection Laws in India, Wildlife Crime: An Enforcement Guide (English & Hindi), Signed and Sealed: The Fate of the Asian Elephant, The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 - A Hand Guide With Case Law and Commentaries, A Brief Guide to The Wild Life (Protection) Act (English & Hindi), The Wild Life Protection Act - 1972 - as Amended with effect from 1 April 2003, Warden Alert (Newsletter on wildlife protection issues, English & Hindi editions) and Kachhapa (Newsletter on sea turtle conservation issues, in English).
They have produced documentary films including: Bones of Contention (a short film documenting the crises faced by wild tigers in India as a result of poaching and the illegal trade in tiger parts.), Birds of the Indian Monsoon (a 45-minute film on the lives of Kepladeo Sanctuary's birds), The Killing Fields: Orissa's Appalling Turtle Crisis (a documentary on the mass slaughter of olive ridley sea turtles along the coast of Orissa) and “…And Then There Were None” (a short documentary film which investigates the rampant poaching of otters in India).


Alexandrium

Alexandreion (Greek), or Alexandrium (Latin), called Sartaba in the Mishna and Talmud and Qarn Sartaba in Arabic, was an ancient hilltop fortress constructed by the Hasmoneans between Scythopolis and Jerusalem on a pointy barren hill towering over the Jordan Valley from the west. It was likely named after Hasmonean king Alexander Jannæus (104-77 BCE).
Name.
The fortress called "Alexandreion" in Greek, simplified to "Alexandrion" (and Latinised as "Alexandrium"), is mentioned by Josephus in his "Antiquities of the Jews". It was mentioned in the Mishna and Talmud as "Sartaba" and is now called "Qarn Sartabe" (lit. "Horn of Sartabe") in Arabic.
History.
Alexandrium was constructed by the Hasmoneans near the border with Samaria to accommodate a military garrison, as well as to guard political prisoners. It is later mentioned during Pompey the Great's conquest of Judea as a stronghold of Aristobulus II: "...as he passed by Pella and Scythopolis, he came to Corem, which is the first entrance into Judea when one passes over the midland countries, where he came to a most beautiful fortress that was built on the top of a mountain called Alexandrium, whither Aristobulus had fled/"
The Alexandreion was restored by Herod the Great, a task he assigned to his brother Pheroras. Herod gave it the character of a palatial desert fortress, similar to those he built or rebuilt at Masada, Herodion and Machaerus. Herod used the fortress as a prison for his political opponents, holding his 2nd wife, Mariamne and her mother, Alexandra there in 30 BCE. It was also the burial site of Alexander, son of Herod, and Aristobulus, two of his sons whom Herod had executed at Sebaste in 7 BCE.
Alexandrium was finally razed by Vespasian or Titus during the Great Revolt.


Oranienbaum, Russia

Oranienbaum () is a Russian royal residence, located on the Gulf of Finland west of St. Petersburg. The Palace ensemble and the city centre are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
History.
In 1707, four years after Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg, he gave the grounds near the seaside to his right-hand man, Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov.
Menshikov commissioned the architects Giovanni Maria Fontana and Gottfried Schädel, who built his residence, the Grand Menshikov Palace from 1710 to 1727 (not to be confused with Menshikov Palace in Saint Petersburg, built by the same architects around the same time). The central part of the Palace is connected by two galleries with two domed Japanese and Church Pavilions. The Lower Garden, decorated with fountains and sculptures, and the Upper Garden were laid out at the same time. The Palace is located near the Lower Park, whose composite axis is a channel leading to the sea. This channel is an imitation of one designed by Peter himself at his nearby residence of Peterhof Palace.
Menshikov was deposed shortly after Peter's death, and died in exile, and the palace passed out of his family. In 1743, Oranienbaum became the summer residence of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovitch, the heir of Empress Elizabeth (the future Emperor Peter III). Over the last ten years of Elizabeth's reign, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli reconstructed the Grand Palace, adding beauty to its decor.
From 1756 to 1762, the architect Antonio Rinaldi built the Peterstadt Fortress ensemble on the bank of the Karost River for Grand Duke Peter Fedorovitch. In 1762, Empress Catherine II ordered the construction of the suburb residence called "My Own Countryside House". For that purpose Rinaldi built the Chinese Palace (1762–1768), a mix of Baroque architecture, Classicism and Chinese motifs, the "Katalnaya Gorka" (roller coaster) Pavilion (1762–1774), a cupola pavilion, and the Gates of Honor with the tower crowned by a spire.
From the outside, the Chinese palace is a relatively simple building, single-storey except for the small central pavilion, painted in a mellow combination of ochre and yellow. The seventeen rooms inside, decorated by Rinaldi and other leading artists and craftsmen of the day, feature pink, blue and green scagliola, painted silks, and intricate stucco work. Rinaldi's parquet floors are wonderfully ornate, using several types of rare Russian and imported wood.
Among the highlights of the Chinese Palace interiors are the Glass Beaded Salon, the walls of which are hung with 12 panels of richly coloured tapestries depicting exotic birds and fauna. The fine white glass beads that form the backdrop of the tapestries give the whole room a diaphanous, shimmering quality that was designed to be particularly effective in the glowing twighlight of the White Nights. The full influence of Chinoiserie is in evidence in the Large Chinese Salon, where the walls are covered with marquetry paneling of wood and walrus ivory depicting oriental landscapes, and large Chinese lanterns hanging in the corners. The room also contains an English-made billiard table with superb wood carving.
The Upper Park was laid out from 1750 to 1770.
The palace was the site of two opera premieres to libretti by Metastasio in the middle of the eighteenth century, "Amor prigioniero" (one act, composed by Francesco Araia, 1755), and "Semiramide riconosciuta" (three acts, composed by Vincenzo Manfredini, 1760).
In the 19th century Oranienbaum became a noble manor. During World War II, Oranienbaum suffered to a much lesser extent than other suburbs of St. Petersburg, since defense was deployed here on the so-called “Oranienbaum Bridgehead”. However, the ensemble became desolate in the post-war period, and its serious restoration began only in the late 1990s. Restoration Of Oranienbaum has been a slow process. Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof restorations were given higher priority, and that is one reason Oranienbaum is a less-visited attraction.
For the city which grew up around the palace see Lomonosov, Russia.


Queensland Ranger Association

The Queensland Ranger Association (QRA) represents and promotes the interests of Park Rangers in the state of Queensland, Australia.
Purpose.
The objectives of the Association include -


Tivoli, Lazio

Tivoli (, ; ) is a town and "comune" in Lazio, central Italy, about east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. The city offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna.
History.
Gaius Julius Solinus cites Cato the Elder's lost "Origines" for the story that the city was founded by Catillus the Arcadian, a son of Amphiaraus, who came there having escaped the slaughter at Thebes, Greece. Catillus and his three sons Tiburtus, Coras, and Catillus drove out the Siculi from the Aniene plateau and founded a city they named Tibur in honor of Tiburtus. According to another account, Tibur was a colony of Alba Longa. Historical traces of settlement in the area date back to the thirteenth century BC. "Tibur" may share a common root with the river Tiber and the Latin praenomen "Tiberius".
From Etruscan times Tibur, a Sabine city, was the seat of the Tiburtine Sibyl. There are two small temples above the falls, the rotunda traditionally associated with Vesta and the rectangular one with the Sibyl of Tibur, whom Varro calls "Albunea", the water nymph who was worshipped on the banks of the Anio as a tenth Sibyl added to the nine mentioned by the Greek writers. In the nearby woods, Faunus had a sacred grove. During the Roman age Tibur maintained a certain importance, being on the way (the Via Tiburtina, extended as the Via Valeria) that Romans had to follow to cross the mountain regions of the Apennines towards the Abruzzo, the region where lived some of its fiercest enemies such as Volsci, Sabines, and Samnites.
Roman age.
At first an independent ally of Rome, Tibur allied itself with the Gauls in 361 BC. Vestiges remain of its defensive walls of this period, in "opus quadratum". In 338 BC, however, Tibur was defeated and absorbed by the Romans. The city acquired Roman citizenship in 90 BC and became a resort area famed for its beauty and its good water, and was enriched by many Roman villas. The most famous one, of which the ruins remain, is the "Villa Adriana" (Hadrian's Villa). Maecenas and Augustus also had villas at Tibur, and the poet Horace had a modest villa: he and Catullus and Statius all mention Tibur in their poems. In 273, Zenobia, the captive queen of Palmyra, was assigned a residence here by the Emperor Aurelian. The second-century temple of Hercules Victor is being excavated. The present Piazza del Duomo occupies the Roman forum.
The name of the city came to be used in diminutive form as "Tiburi" instead of "Tibur" and so transformed through "Tibori" to "Tiboli" and finally to "Tivoli". But its inhabitants are still called "Tiburtini" and not "Tivolesi".
In 547, in the course of the Gothic War, the city was fortified by the Byzantine general Belisarius, but was later destroyed by Totila's army. After the end of the war it became a Byzantine duchy, later absorbed into the Patrimony of St. Peter. After Italy was conquered by Charlemagne, Tivoli was under the authority of a count, representing the emperor.
Middle Ages.
From the tenth century onwards, Tivoli, as an independent commune governed by its elected consuls, was the fiercest rival of Rome in the struggle for the control over the impoverished central Lazio. Emperor Otto III conquered it in 1001, and Tivoli fell under the papal control. Tivoli however managed to keep a level of independence until the 15th century: symbols of the city's strength were the Palace of Arengo, the "Torre del Comune" and the church of St. Michael, all built in this period, as well as the new line of walls (authorized in 1155), needed to house the increasing population. Reminders of the internal turbulence of communal life are the tower houses that may be seen in Vicolo dei Ferri, Via di Postera, Via del Seminario and Via del Colle.
In the 13th century Rome imposed a tribute on the city, and gave itself the right to appoint a count to govern it in conjunction with the local consuls. In the fourteenth century, Tivoli sided with the Guelphs and strongly supported Urban VI against Antipope Clement VII. King Ladislaus of Naples was twice repulsed from the city, as was the famous condottiero Braccio da Montone.
In the city there was also a Jewish community.
Renaissance.
During the Renaissance, popes and cardinals did not limit their embellishment program to Rome; they also erected buildings in Tivoli. In 1461 Pope Pius II built the massive Rocca Pia to control the always restive population, and as a symbol of the permanence of papal temporal power here.
From the sixteenth century the city saw further construction of villas. The most famous of these is the Villa d'Este, a World Heritage Site, whose construction was started in 1550 by Pirro Ligorio for Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este and which was richly decorated with an ambitious program of frescoes by famous painters of late Roman Mannerism, such Girolamo Muziano, Livio Agresti (a member of the "Forlì painting school") or Federico Zuccari. In 1527 Tivoli was sacked by bands of the supporters of the emperor and the Colonna, important archives being destroyed during the attack. In 1547 it was again occupied, by the Duke of Alba in a war against Paul IV, and in 1744 by the Austrians.
In 1835 Pope Gregory XVI added the Villa Gregoriana, a villa complex pivoting around the Aniene's falls. The "Great Waterfall" was created through a tunnel in the Monte Catillo, to give an outlet to the waters of the Aniene sufficient to preserve the city from inundations like the devastating flood of 1826.
Modern times.
In 1944, Tivoli suffered heavy damage under an Allied bombing, which destroyed the Jesuit Church of Jesus.
Geography.
Climate.
Tivoli has a Mediterranean climate with warm and dry summers and cool and wet winters.
Economy and infrastructure.
Tivoli's quarries produce travertine, a particular white calcium-carbonate rock used in building most Roman monuments. The water power of the falls supplies some of the electricity that lights Rome. The slopes of the neighbouring hills are covered with olives, vineyards and gardens; the most important local industry is the manufacture of paper.
Influences.
Tivoli's reputation as a stylish resort and the fame of the gardens of the Villa d'Este have inspired the naming of other sites after Tivoli: for example, the Jardin de Tivoli, Paris (France) and the Tivoli Gardens amusement park in Copenhagen (Denmark). The Wörlitz Synagogue in the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm (Germany) is a replica of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli.


Marmorpalais

The Marmorpalais (or Marble Palace) is a former royal residence in Potsdam, near Berlin in Germany, built on the grounds of the extensive "Neuer Garten" on the shores of the "Heiliger See" (lake). The palace was commissioned by King "Friedrich Wilhelm II" (Frederick William II of Prussia) and designed in the early Neoclassical style by the architects Carl von Gontard and Carl Gotthard Langhans. The palace remained in use by the Hohenzollern family until the early 20th century. It served as a military museum under communist rule, but has since been restored and is once again open to the public.
Building history.
The Marmorpalais was designed by the architects Carl von Gontard and (from 1789) Carl Gotthard Langhans, the designer of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
The Marmorpalais was reserved as a summer residence for the private use of the king, who had an artistic temperament. With this new construction the nephew and successor of Frederick the Great dissociated himself from his childless uncle, whom he disliked and who favored earlier Baroque and Rococo forms.
The red brick Marmorpalais was originally a two-story square building. A fine view of the surrounding gardens and lakes is possible from a round pavilion on the flat roof of the cubical structure. Among other buildings, the little castle on the Pfaueninsel in the Havel river was constructed as an eye-catcher. A stairway and gallery accessed from the roof lead into the belvedere. Sculptured putti carrying a basket of fruit decorate the tip of the pavilion. The palace got its name from the grey and white Silesian marble used for the decorative elements and partitioning structures.
Boat moorings could be approached by members of the court via a large terrace on the lake side of the palace, from which a stairway led down to the water. The king enjoyed extensive boat rides; even Charlottenburg Palace on the Spree river in Berlin could be reached by boat from here.
On the nearby lake shore is to be found the palace kitchen, which was built 1788-1790 by Langhans in the romantic style of a half-sunken classical temple ruin. An underground corridor provides a connection with an artificial grotto on the ground floor of the palace which served as a dining room in summertime.
The Marmorpalais is closely associated with Wilhelmine Enke (also spelled Encke), known popularly as "Beautiful Wilhelmine". As Frederick William II's mistress she had a great influence on the interior decoration of the palace; in 1796 she was made Countess Lichtenau.
After only a few years of use the palace was considered to be too small, and in 1797 construction started on two side wings designed by Michael Philipp Boumann. The architect connected these single-story, rectangular extensions to the right and left of the main entrance on the garden side of the palace with galleries in the form of quarter circles. The marble required to decorate these extensions was obtained by removing Frederick William's colonnades from Park Sanssouci and incorporating the pillars in the new building. This garden architecture designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff had originally stood on the main boulevard connecting Sanssouci Palace and the New Palace.
When the king died in November 1797, just the shell of the extensions had been completed. His son and successor, Frederick William III of Prussia, being uninterested in the project, only had the exterior finished.
This was still the situation in the 1830s when Prince Wilhelm (William), later Kaiser William I, and his spouse Augusta moved into the Marmorpalais while they awaited the completion of their new residence at Babelsberg Palace (1833-1835-1849). His brother, King Frederick William IV of Prussia, known as "a royal nostalgic romanticist", commissioned the architect Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse to complete the unfinished interior structure and fittings for the two side extensions between 1843 and 1848. Frescos with scenes from the "Nibelungenlied" were added to the outside to decorate the colonnade walls.
The building's technical and sanitary facilities were updated when Prince Wilhelm (William), later Kaiser Wilhelm II, and his family lived in the Marmorpalais from 1881 until he acceded to the throne in 1888.
The last royal inhabitants of the Marmorpalais were Prince Wilhelm, eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and his spouse Cecilie, who lived there for most of the year between 1904 and 1917, when they moved to nearby Cecilienhof Palace, built for them in the "Neuer Garten".
After the German monarchy came to an end in 1918, the Marmorpalais was placed under the control of the Prussian palaces administration in 1926 as a result of a settlement between the Free State of Prussia and the Hohenzollern family regarding property claims. It opened as a palace museum in 1932, with restored interior furnishings from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Toward the end of World War II the palace suffered serious damage when the north wing was hit by an incendiary bomb, and the main building by a grenade. Its condition further deteriorated after the war, over a period of time when the Soviet Red Army used it as a venue for an officers' mess, beginning in 1946.
In 1961, the East German GDR Army Museum was established in the building. Inside, historic military equipment, uniforms and historic documents were on display and on the outside, cannon, a T-34 tank, a high-speed patrol boat, a MiG fighter airplane and a rocket were exhibited. The weapons were removed in 1989.
Starting in 1984, the National People's Army made plans for a fundamental restoration as the building continued to fall into disrepair. These plans came to fruition in 1988 and the work continued in late autumn 1990 after the return of the property to the palaces administration. Since 14 April 2006 all 40 rooms have been renovated and opened to the public. Repair of the exterior surface was completed in autumn 2009 after several years of restoration work.
The interior rooms.
Beginning in 1790, Carl Gotthard Langhans was commissioned with designing the interior rooms. Marble fireplaces and antique sculpture were a prominent feature in decisions about the decorative furnishings; these had been purchased in Italy for the Marmorpalais by the architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. This Saxon nobleman, who was already famous for planning and executing early Neoclassical buildings in Dessau-Wörlitz, had been invited to work in Berlin in 1787.
On the ground floor of the main building there is a vestibule leading to a stairway extending the entire height of the building. Behind it is a large room designed as a grotto and used in the summertime as a dining room. This room is situated on the eastern side of the palace and faces the lake. Because of its shady location and the calm, cool effect of its greyish blue marble paneling its occupants enjoyed a pleasant room climate. On either side of this middle axis there were six private rooms serving as royal living quarters.
Upstairs, the rooms are grouped around the central marble stairway. The largest room, the concert hall, extended across the entire lake side of the palace. It was later used as a salon during the reign of the German Kaisers. The furnishings and decorative architecture of the rooms reflected a taste for the Neoclassical style, the only exception being the so-called Oriental cabinet on the upper floor, which Langhans designed as a Turkish tent with a divan.
World Heritage Site.
Since 1990, the Marmorpalais has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin". The palace is administered by the "Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg".


Claire Kremen

Claire Kremen is an American conservation biologist. She is a professor of conservation biology at the University of British Columbia, having formally worked at the University of California, Berkeley.
Early life and education.
Kremen graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Biology in 1982, and from Duke University with a PhD in Zoology in 1987.
Career.
Upon completing her PhD, Kremen spent 10 years working for nonprofit organizations in conservation biology. She studied the impacts of Deforestation in Madagascar, on species distributions with a Web-based biodiversity database. Kremen eventually returned to North American and accepted a faculty position at Princeton University for four years before becoming a professor of environmental science, policy and management at University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley).
During her early tenure at UC Berkeley, Kremen also served as a member on the Committee on Status of Pollinators where she led the first global study on crop production that is reliant upon animal pollination. In recognition of her research, she was named a 2007 MacArthur Fellows Program, which came with an unrestricted $500,000 award for the next five years. In the same year, Kremen was also awarded a Hellman Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for her project "How does Biological Diversity Promote Ecosystem Services: a Mechanistic Study of Almond Crop Pollination in a Changing California Landscape." As an associate professor of environmental science, policy and management, Kremen led a study in 2011 which concluded that farmers could become more cost-efficient if they relied less on renting honey bees. In recognition of her academic achievements, Kremen was elected a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 2013 and appointed Editor in Chief of the journal "Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems."
In 2019, Kremen left UC Berkeley to become one of the first University of British Columbia (UBC) President’s Excellence Chair in Biodiversity Studies at the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. While serving in this role, she was awarded an honorary degree from the American Museum of Natural History in "recognition of her extraordinary contributions to science, education and society." In 2020, Kremen was the recipient of the Volvo Environment Prize for "exploring the way to a sustainable world."


High Coast

The High Coast () is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand, and Örnsköldsvik. It is notable as an area for research on post-glacial rebound and eustacy, in which the land rises as the covering glaciers melt, a phenomenon first recognised and studied there. Since the last ice age, the land has risen 300 meters, which accounts for the region's unusually tall cliffs. The High Coast is part of the Swedish/Finnish High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site.
History.
The area known today as "Höga Kusten" has historically been known as the "Ångermanland Coast".
In 1974, the term "High Coast" () was coined in connection with a report on the area.
In 2000, UNESCO put the area on the World Heritage List: "The High Coast site affords outstanding opportunities for the understanding of the important processes that formed the glaciated and land uplift areas of the Earth's surface."
In 2006, the High Coast was joined with the Finnish Kvarken areas.
Geography.
The relief of the High Coast is that of a large scale joint valley terrain that dissects uplifted remnants of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain.
Attractions.
The most popular places to visit in the High Coast of Sweden are Skule Mountain, Skuleskogen National Park, and the islands Ulvön and Trysunda.
The High Coast of Sweden is considered to be excellent for hiking and has been cited as one of the best hiking regions in Sweden.
Both outdoor magazines (such as Utemagasinet and Outside) and daily newspapers (such as Svenska Dagbladet) rank the High Coast Trail as one of the best of Sweden's hiking trails.
The Höga Kustenleden is a 128-kilometer long trail along the High Coast. For day hikes, Skule Mountain and Skule National park are popular. The High Coast Hike (Höga Kusten Hike) is an annual event considered suitable for both experienced and new hikers.
The Höga Kusten Bridge is an impressive gateway to the region, while there are a number of picturesque islands and fishing villages in the area.


Kumbhalgarh

Kumbhalgarh (literally "Kumbhal fort") is a Mewar fortress on the westerly range of Aravalli Hills, in the Rajsamand district near Udaipur of Rajasthan state in western India. It is a World Heritage Site included in Hill Forts of Rajasthan. Built during the course of the 15th century by Rana Kumbha. Occupied until the late 19th century, the fort is now open to the public and is spectacularly lit for a few minutes each evening. Kumbalgarh is situated 82 km northwest of Udaipur by road. It was the most important fort in Mewar after Chittorgarh Fort.
In 2013, at the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Kumbhalgarh Fort, along with five other forts of Rajasthan, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the group Hill Forts of Rajasthan.
The chief Architect who build this fort was Architect Mandan and he had also documented his style of work in his text, Rajvallabh. At the end he dedicates the book to King Rana Kumbha.
The fort is among the largest fort complexes in the world, and the second largest fort in India after Chittor Fort.
History.
The early history of the fort could not be ascertained on account of lack of evidence. The earliest name of the fort is believed to be Machhindrapur, while Sahib Haqim, a historian, named it Mahore. The original fort is believed to have been built by King Samprati of the Maurya Age on account of strategic importance during the 6th century. The subsequent history till 1303 AD till the invasion of Alauddin Khilji is obscure as the fort was insignificant at that time.
Kumbhalgarh in its current form was built by Rana Kumbha who was the Rana of Mewar from the Sisodia rajput clan. Rana Kumbha took the aid of the famous architect of the era, "Madan". Rana Kumbha's kingdom of Mewar stretched from Ranthambore to Gwalior and included large tracts of what is now Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Out of the 84 forts in his dominion, Rana Kumbha is said to have built 32 of them, of which Kumbhalgarh is the largest and most elaborate.
Kumbhalgarh also separated Mewar and Marwar from each other and was used as a place of refuge for the rulers of Mewar at times of danger. A notable instance was in the case of Prince Udai, the infant king of Mewar who was smuggled here in 1535, when Chittor was under siege. Prince Udai later succeeded to the throne. The fort remained impregnable to direct assault.
Ahmed Shah I of Gujarat attacked the fort in 1457, but found the effort futile. There was a local belief then that the Banmata deity in the fort protected it and hence he destroyed the temple. There were further attempts in 1458–59 and 1467 by Mahmud Khalji, but it also proved futile. Akbar's general, Shabhbaz Khan, have taken control of the fort in 1576 on the orders of Man Singh I after the Mughal victory in the Battle of Haldighati. But it was recaptured by Pratap in 1585 through Guerilla warfare when Akbar was far away in Lahore. In 1818, an armed band of "sanyasis" formed a garrison to protect the fort, but was convinced by James Tod and the fort was taken over by the British and later returned to Udaipur State. There were additions made by Maharanas of Mewar, but the original structure built by Maharana Kumbha remains. The residential buildings and temples are well-preserved. The fort is also known to be the birthplace of Maharana Pratap.
Architecture.
Built on a hilltop above sea level on the Aravalli range, the fort of Kumbhalgarh has perimeter walls that extend , making it one of the longest walls in the world. The frontal walls are fifteen feet thick. Kumbhalgarh has seven fortified gateways. There are over 360 temples within the fort, 300 ancient Jain and the rest Hindu. From the palace top, it is possible to see kilometers into the Aravalli Range. The sand dunes of the Thar Desert can be seen from the fort walls.
According to popular folklore, Maharana Kumbha used to burn massive lamps that consumed fifty kilograms of ghee and a hundred kilograms of cotton to provide light for the farmers who worked during the nights in the valley.
Important structures in the fort.
Lakhola Tank is the most notable tank inside the fort, constructed by Rana Lakha during 1382–1421 CE. It is located in the Western side of Kelwara town and measures in length to to in width. The tank had a depth of during independence and since then has been raised to . Aaret Pol is the gate on the western side, Halla Pol with an downward slope from the entrance, Ram Pol and Hanuman Pol near Bavadi are the major gates of the fort. There are inscriptions on the foot of idols in Hanuman Pol detailing the construction of the fort. Badshahi Bavdi is a stepped tank, have been built after the invasion of Shahbaz Khan in 1578, the general of Akbar the Great to provide water to the troops. Most buildings are visible from the Ram Pol, which is considered an architectural specimen.
A Ganesh temple built on a platform and is considered the earliest of all temples built inside the fort. Neel Kanth Mahadeva temple is located on the eastern side of the fort built during 1458 CE. The central shrine of Shiva is approached through a rectangular enclosure and through a structure supported by 24 huge pillars. The idol of Shiva is made of black stone and is depicted with 12 hands. The inscriptions indicate that the temple was renovated by Rana Sanga.
Parsva Natha temple (built during 1513), Jain temple on the eastern side and Bawan (52) Jain temples and Golera Jain temple are the major Jain temples in the fort. Mataji temple, also called Kheda Devi temple is located on the southern side of Neela Kanth temple. Mamdeo temple, Pital Shah Jain temple and Surya Mandir (Sun temple) are the other major temples inside the fort.
Culture.
The Rajasthan Tourism Department organizes a three-day annual festival in the fort in remembrance of the passion of Maharana Kumbha towards art and architecture. Sound and light shows are organized with the fort as the background. Various concerts and dance events are also organised to commemorate the function. The other events during the festival are Heritage Fort Walk, turban tying, tug-of war and "mehendi mandana" among others.
Six forts of Rajasthan, namely, Amber Fort, Chittor Fort, Gagron Fort, Jaisalmer Fort, Kumbhalgarh and Ranthambore Fort were included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list during the 37th meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Phnom Penh during June 2013. They were recognized as a serial cultural property and examples of Rajput military hill architecture.


Miho no Matsubara

 is a scenic area on the Miho Peninsula in Shimizu Ward of Shizuoka City, Japan. Its seven-kilometre seashore is lined with pine trees. It is the location of the legend upon which the Noh drama "Hagoromo" is based; on the second Saturday and Sunday of October, the city of Shizuoka holds a Hagoromo Festival and a performance of the Noh drama takes place near the pine tree of the legend.
It was designated as a National Places of Scenic Beauty of Japan in 1922. In 2013 the pine groves were added to the World Heritage List as part of the Fujisan Cultural Site.
Overview.
"Miho no Matsubara" is renowned as a seashore with green pine trees and sand spanning over seven kilometers. It has a great scenic view of Mount Fuji and the Izu Peninsula across Suruga Bay. Due to its natural environment, it is designated as one of along with its three pine groves. Additionally, it has been selected as one of the top 100 white sand beaches and green pine groves of Japan. It has an old pine tree dating back 650 years called "Hagoromo no Matsu" and is said to be where the angel wearing a "Hagoromo" floated down. The Miho shrine nearby preserves a piece of her plumage.
Miho no Matsubara is known as the site of the legend of "Hagoromo" ("The Feathered Robe"), which is based on the traditional swan maiden motif. The story of Hagoromo concerns a celestial being flying over Miho no Matsubara who was overcome by the beauty of the white sands, green pines, and sparkling water. She removed her feathered robe and hung it over a pine tree before bathing in the beautiful waters. A fisherman named Hakuryo was walking along the beach and saw the angel. He took her robe and refused to return it until she performed a heavenly dance for him. As the angel could not return to heaven without her robe, she complied with Hakuryo's request. She danced in the spring twilight and returned to heaven in the light of the full moon leaving Hakuryo looking longingly after her. (See Arthur Waley, Hagoromo. "The No Plays of Japan". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922.) A statue of Hakuryo watching the dance is at the entrance to the park.
On the second Saturday and Sunday of October, the city of Shizuoka holds a Hagoromo Festival near the site of the old pine tree. The Noh play Hagoromo is performed by firelight (Takigi Noh) and also creative dances in honor of the French ballet dancer Hélène Giuglaris are performed. Giuglaris (1916–1951) loved the story of Hagoromo very much but never saw the Noh performance, nor did she visit Miho during her lifetime. Nonetheless, her dying wish was, "Bury my hair near the Hagoromo pine tree at Mihonomatsubara beach". Above the Mihonomatsubara beach, overlooking the pine tree and the sea, is a monument to Giuglaris, and a lock of her hair lies beneath it. The monument shows Giuglaris holding a Noh mask, and below her figure is a poem written by her husband, Marcel Giuglaris, who visited Miho four months after Elene's death with a lock of hair and her dance costume
 English translation (anonymous):
 The wind of Miho's
 Breaking waves
 Speaks of She in Paris
 Whose life Hagoromo took away.
 If I listen, my days
 Will take flight.
Present.
Miho no Matsubara no longer has white sands. The sands are now uniformly black, perhaps from the volcanic rock that first formed the peninsula. One local resident's story is that the Abe River provided the white sand that made Miho such a scenic spot. During construction of the nearby Shinkansen line, too much of the Abe River's white sand was used. Over time, the sea swept away the layers of white sand and no new sand was available to replenish the sand carried out to sea.


Laguna Blanca National Park

Laguna Blanca National Park () is a National Park in the west of the , close to the town of Zapala.
The park around the lagoon was created in 1940 to protect the lagoon and particularly the population of black-necked swans ("Cygnus melancoryphus"). It has an area of 112.5 km². The lagoon is situated in the Patagonian steppe, surrounded by hills and gorges.
It has important aquatic bird fauna, of several species and in great number.
The lagoon used to host the largest known subpopulation of the endemic Patagonia frog ("Atelognathus patagonicus"), but this has been extirpated by introduced predatory fish; the species survives in isolated ponds in the buffer zone of the national park.
Near the lagoon is the Salamanca cave, historically inhabited by humans, where rock paintings, typical of northern Patagonia, can be seen. Other mapuche and prehistoric human artifacts have been found in the park.
Climate.
The park has an arid and windy climate with a large diurnal range. During summer, the mean temperature is with temperatures that can exceed during heat waves. In winter, the mean temperature is with minimum temperatures reaching . Snowfall can occur during the winter months. Rainfall is low, averaging between per year, most of it concentrated in winter.


Marismas de Alba Natural Park

The Natural Park of the Marismas de Alba, the Alba Marsh or the Xunqueira de Alba ("in Galician"), is a natural park and wetland in the city of Pontevedra in Spain, and one of the few Marshes in the Ria de Pontevedra. It is a park used as a place for walking, cycling and observing the fauna and flora.
Location and access.
The park is located at the mouth of the Rons river in the Lérez river – Ria de Pontevedra in the south of the civil parish of Alba, a few metres from the northern part of the city of Pontevedra. Just cross the bowstring bridge of the Currents to find the entrance to the park, in Domingo Fontán Street. It is bordered to the east by the neighbourhood of A Santiña and the Portuguese Way and to the west by the AP-9 motorway.
History.
There was no idea of how to use the marsh until the end of the 1970s, when, due to the lack of industrial land in the municipality of Pontevedra, it was decided to drain it and turn it into an industrial area. There were also plans to build a new football stadium or even a theme park.
However, the San Benito Association of the civil parish of Lérez, claimed part of the land as a space belonging in common to the inhabitants of Lérez, which saved this area of great natural wealth from destruction. In 1981, a court in Pontevedra ordered the construction of an industrial and commercial area to be built there to be stopped.
As the Alba Marsh was in a serious state of degradation, the Spanish Ministry of the Environment decided to recover it. The rehabilitation of the marsh was planned by the socialist government of Felipe González and was inaugurated in 2000, with Mariano Rajoy as vice-president of the Spanish government.l.
In 2001, the Pontevedra City Council took over the maintenance of the Alba Marsh. The town council cleaned the river, pruned trees and recovered or replaced diseased specimens, mowed meadows and selectively removed weeds, among other works.
In 2012, the nature park was declared the first Natural Area of Local Interest (ENIL) in Galicia.
Description.
Three areas can be distinguished in the park: the marsh, the scrubland and the muddy plain at the mouth of the Rons River.
The marshy area of the nature park remains subject to the flow of the tides and thus, every six hours, a part of it goes from being covered by water to being exposed.
In this habitat, which is of great landscape and ecological importance, 17 Trees, 14 species of Shrubs, 4 climbers or creeping plants and 80 herbaceous plants have been inventoried. There are more than two hundred varieties of plants and trees (including Acacias, orchids, Chicory, Willows, eucalyptus, poplars, ash trees) and some seventy animal species listed. There are also many rushes, hence the Galician name "xunqueira" (rush). There are a total of 115 different species of flora present in the park, such as sea thrift, sea plantain, sea fennel, callitriche stagnalis or broad-leaved cattail.
It is an environment that is home to a wide variety of natural species, both birds and animals, such as Water birds, butterflies, dragonflies, Amphibians and small Mammals. For this reason, the park and the marsh are currently protected. There are three viewpoints in the park to observe the birds in their natural habitat.
A survey carried out between 14 April and 30 September 2020 detected up to 73 different bird species in this nature park, including Little egrets, Common firecrests, European kingfishers, Common moorhens, Pallid swifts, Sedge warblers, European pied flycatchers, Eurasian sparrowhawks, Scarlet ibises or European turtle doves. A total of 142 birds were seen and recorded in this natural area.
At one of the entrances to the park is a "dog play area" opened in 2010, which consists of a large metal enclosure where dogs can run and play freely.


Harnas Wildlife Foundation

Harnas Wildlife Foundation is an organization located in Namibia, approximately 300 km east of the capital Windhoek. Harnas is one of the few wildlife orphanages and medical centers in the world to take in abused, injured, and captured wild animals from Namibia, Botswana, and southern African nations, saving hundreds of animals per year.
Its mission is to protect life; done through the responsible and effective management, regulation and understanding of the resources necessary for this task.
History.
Harnas Wildlife Foundation has been on the forefront of nature conservation and wildlife tourism for over 34 years.
The farm was originally fenced as a cattle farm and acted as such as main source of income for its residents until fairly recently. It all started in 1978 when Nick and Marieta van der Merwe saved an abused vervet monkey from its captors for five Rand and some bread.
This monkey was the beginning of a long line of animals that found refuge at their farm, Harnas. Shortly thereafter a zoo in South Africa went defunct and its lions were given into the care of the Van der Merwe family. To cover the ever-increasing costs of food, new enclosures and medical treatment, all of which the family had financed until then through profits from their cattle, Harnas opened its doors to visitors and contributors.
This wildlife refuge became a reality, and over the years expanded to become a major role player in conservation and wildlife campaigns. The site now comprises enclosures, voluntary headquarters, safari tours, guest farm and a huge surrounding conservation land around the main hub. Once fit and able to leave the main enclosures, the previously injured and traumatized animals are set free in this wilderness, to roam as they would in their natural habitat.
Locations.
Harnas Wildlife Foundation currently operates from Gobabis area.
Harnas Gobabis
Harnas Gobabis is the main contact point between man and animal. The original farm and location for all operations and projects like the animal clinic, Cheeky Cheetah Day-care centre, adult literacy project, a running lodge, lapa and various research stations. There are various animal enclosures, free roaming game camps and grazing camps for domesticated animals such as cattle and goats. The farm is roughly 10 000 hectares big and situated in the central Kalahari, a region that is mostly flat savannah locally known as sand-veld.
Animals.
There are many types of animals that take refuge at Harnas and a population of feral animals on site.
This overview is only one indication of the diversity of animals at Harnas Wildlife Foundation and is not a complete list.
Harnas Lifeline Project.
Which is the primary soft release area, also used to gather vital information on semi wild animal in a natural environment.
Adult literacy program.
At Harnas Wildlife Foundation, 90% of the employees are people from the San community and through the years we have realized that it is not only the animals that needs to be taken care of. We have established an adult literacy program to teach members of the San community basic useful life and job skills so that no matter where they may migrate to, they are educated to take care of themselves. The program is open to any member of the community and lasts around 6 months. Woman learn skills in arts and crafts, jewellery making, housework and needlework and men are equipped with knowledge of welding, building and woodwork. Upon completion each member receives a certificate showing their ability in the specific training area and stating their completion of the course.
Cheeky Cheetah Kids Project.
When the Van Der Merwe family were looking for schools for their own children, they realized that they had the ability to provide the basic education and general skills for not only their own, but for many of the San people that they employ. The Cheeky Cheetah day care center was established to provide the children day care with the necessary education, food and to equip them with the basic knowledge to, when they reach the right age, be able to adapt and attend a primary school.
After 5 years the school consists of a fully furnished school with of one big classroom, showers, toilets, and an outdoor play area.
Children are further helped by being placed in public schools where they are continuously supported through financial support; paying of school, hostel and other fees, as well as clothing, food and other needs.
International patronage.
The international patron of Harnas Wildlife Foundation is Angelina Jolie.


Sabbioneta

Sabbioneta (Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a town and "comune" in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, Northern Italy. It is situated about north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2008.
History.
Sabbioneta was founded by Vespasiano I Gonzaga in the late 16th century along the ancient Roman Via Vitelliana, on a sandy bank of the Po (whence the name, meaning "sandy" in Italian); he was its first duke, using it as a personal fortress and residence.
It was also during this period that it became a minor musical centre; composers such as Benedetto Pallavicino (c. 1551-1601) were employed here by Vespasiano Gonzaga, prior to his moving to the main Gonzaga city of Mantua.
Located on an alluvial ground between the Po and Oglio rivers, as well as along the route of the ancient Via Vitelliana, it occupied a strategic position in the heart of the Po Valley. For Vespasiano Gonzaga, Sabbioneta was to be above all a fortress and, at that time, the power of its walls certainly made it one of the most well-equipped bulwarks in Lombardy of Spanish domination.
Sabbioneta was above all the capital of a small state placed between great regional states: the Duchy of Milan to the west, ruled at that time by the Spanish governorate; the Duchy of Mantua to the east, over the River Oglio, governed by ancient line of the Gonzaga, cousins of Vespasiano; the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza to the south of Po, under the domain of Farnese family, supportive of Gonzaga himself.
The territory of the small state of Sabbioneta was mainly concentrated in the eastern extremity of the diocese of Cremona and it represented a necessary crossroads both for trade midway along the Po and for communications between the lowlands of Brescia and Emilia Romagna. The most prosperous period in the history of this city was in its reconstruction years, in which it was under the dominion of Prince Vespasiano I Gonzaga, which also became his residence. Sabbioneta has been honored with the “orange flag” eulogy of the Touring Club of Italy.
Main Sights.
The territory features the church of St. Anthony Abbot in the district of Villa Pasquali, designed by Ferdinando Galli-Bibbiena and built by his son Antonio Galli, and the small sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vigoreto that in ancient times was annexed to the convent of the Capuchins. Outside the gunnel city, the district banks of Vespasiano I Gonzaga are also reported: a system of artificial raised parts that enclose the city of Sabbioneta and a wide part of the adjacent council territory, marking a vast ring-like circuit of about twenty kilometers.In 2008, Sabbioneta was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a recognition of its perfect example of practical application of Renaissance urban planning theories.
Sabbioneta is also known for its historic Jewish Ghetto and Synagogue, and in particular for its Hebrew printing-press. In 1551 Tobias Foa set up the press; he had, however, published certain "anti-Christian books" and his career was "forcibly ended". His work and possibly his type were taken up by a Christian printer, Vicenzo Conte.
Vespasiano Gonzaga's town, designed according to the Renaissance principles of the Ideal City, included:
The church and the summer palace contain frescoes by artists of the Campi family of Cremona.
World Heritage Site.
On 7th July 2008, Sabbioneta, together with Mantua was declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site due to its exceptional nature as a newly founded city built in just over 30 years by the will of Prince Vespasiano I Gonzaga. According to UNESCO, Sabbioneta represents a perfect example of the application of Renaissance theories on how an ideal city should be designed.
The vicissitudes that immediately occurred after the death of Vespasiano, especially the long-standing question of the succession of the small duchy, which divided the heirs for almost a century, as well as the Austrian dominion first and the Napoleonic one later, deprived the city of important buildings, such as the fortress, the armoury and the lunettes placed outside the city wall.
Pillage and confiscation deprived the city of some prestigious features, firstly, the confiscation of the antique collection to the Academy of Mantua in 1772 by the Teresian decree and the burning of the "Sala dei Cavalli" in the Palazzo Ducale in 1815. The church heritage remains conspicuous, promoted and redeveloped by a policy of recovery and enhancement over the last 25 years.
References in Art.
According to the American lawyer and writer Richard Paul Roe, the play "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" by William Shakespeare was not set in Athens but in Sabbioneta, known as “little Athens” ever since its foundation.
Cinema and Television.
In 1970 in Sabbioneta shooting of the film "The Spider's Strategem" by Bernardo Bertolucci was made. On the occasion of the film, the village takes on the imaginary name of Tara. Inside the Gallery of the Ancients and in some rooms of the Palace Garden, some scenes of "'Tis Pity She's a Whore", were filmed in 1971. More recently (1980s) in Sabbioneta the shooting of the RAI television show "I Promessi Sposi" ('The Betrothed') was also filmed: in particular, amid the columns of the Gallery of the Ancients, scenes of the plague were shot.
Also for the French film Marquise, released in 1997 under the direction of Véra Belmont, some scenes were shot in Sabbioneta, as well as for the 1999 film "" by Salvatore Maira, in which the Teatro all'Antica was used.
The second season of the television series "I Medici", broadcast in 2018, used Sabbioneta in some scenes to represent Renaissance Florence.
Sources.
Paperback: 332 pages; Publisher: SugarCo (1990);


List of threatened mammals of Brazil

There are more than 700 species of mammals in Brazil, and according to Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and Ministry of the Environment, about 110 species and subspecies are threatened and one is extinct. Brazilian definition of "threatened species" uses the same criteria and categories established by IUCN. Among the 12 mammal orders which occur in Brazil, eleven have threatened species, except Lagomorpha (which has only one species in Brazil, the Brazilian cottontail). Although the rodents have been the most diverse order of mammals, the order with most species on list is Primates (34 species).
The actual list of threatened species was published in "Diário Oficial da União", on December 17, 2014. Even though some species have been removed from the list, (for instance, the humpback whale), the number of threatened species has increased in comparison with the former list (which had had 69 species). The Brazilian tapir, the white-lipped peccary, the short-eared dog and many rodents have been included in the list. Many of them are just regionally threatened. In spite of using the same criteria, ICMBio list often shows a different conservation status than IUCN. That is because both assessments have been done in different moments and by different researchers.
Most of Brazilian mammals are vulnerable species. In contrast with the former list, one species is considered extinct (Vespucci's rodent) and two might be extinct in Brazil (black-shouldered opossum and candango mouse; "probably extinct" - PEx).
Threatened mammals of Brazil - ICMBio (2014).
Order Didelphimorphia (opossums).
Family Didelphidae
Order Pilosa (anteaters and sloths).
Family Bradypodidae (Three-toed sloths)
Family Myrmecophagidae (Anteaters)
Order Cingulata (armadillos).
Family Dasypodidae
Order Chiroptera (bats).
Family Furipteridae (Smoky bats)
Family Natalidae (funnel-eared bats)
Family Phyllostomidae (New World leaf-nosed bats)
Family Vespertilionidae (Vesper bats)
Order Primates (monkeys, marmosets, tamarins).
Family Atelidae (howlers, spider and woolly monkeys, muriquis)
Famlily Callitrichidae (tamarins and marmosets)
Family Cebidae (capuchins and squirrel monkeys)
Family Pitheciidae (titis, saki monkeys and uakaris)
Order Carnivora (cats, dogs and relatives).
Family Canidae (dogs)
Family Mustelidae (otters)
Family Felidae (cats)
Order Cetacea (whales and dolphins).
Family Balaenidae (whales)
Family Balaenopteridae (rorquals)
Family Delphinidae (dolphins)
Family Iniidae (river dolphins)
Family Physeteridae (sperm whales)
Family Pontoporiidae (river dolphins)
Order Sirenia (manatees).
Family Trichechidae
Order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates).
Family Tapiridae (tapirs)
Order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates).
Family Cervidae (deers)
Family Tayassuidae (peccaries)
Order Rodentia (rodents).
Family Caviidae (cavies)
Family Cricetidae (New World rats and mice)
Family Ctenomyidae (tuco-tucos)
Family Echimyidae
Family Erethizontidae (New World porcupine)


Cultural Triangle Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park

The Cultural Triangle Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo National Park (Triángulo Cultural in Spanish) is a multidisciplinary project involving archaeologists, architects, restaurateurs, and biologists. It is situated in Peten, Guatemala. The project does not only work in one archaeological site, but in a region of including three gigantic sites and 14 sub enters – the most populated area of the Mayan Classic.
History.
The project, founded in 1994, started with over 300 Guatemalan workers and 12 scientists. The first work carried out was at Topoxte, an island within the lake of Yaxha. Here you find the only exposed architecture of the Post classic in the whole Peten. One of the temples, so called Temple C, was near to its collapse. That’s why the team restored it during the first two years. Today the island is one of the principal points of interest in the Peten and the cooperative of the project brings many tourists by boat to the island.
Yaxha, a Mayan city constructed at the shore of the lake with the same name is the biggest site in the area. Between 1994 and 2008 a multitude of important buildings was restored here. The urban organization around the enormous sacred roads (sacbes) is understandable and visible again; now it’s possible to observe a variety of temples, palaces, ball-courts and observatories in state of restoration and from the top of Temple 216 one can admire a view over the whole site, the rainforest and the lake.
In 1997 the work was amplified to the site of Nakum. This site, north of Yaxha, is a Mayan oasis within the dense rainforest. Furthermore it’s the site with the highest number of restored buildings after Tikal. The architecture shows strong influence from Tikal as the pyramids are very steep carrying temples and roofcombs.
As the archaeological work and the restoration at Topoxte, Yaxha and Nakum have nearly finished, in January 2009 most of the workers have been moved to the site of Naranjo. This site will be the centre of future investigation to find new information about the Cultural Heritage of the Mayans and to prepare another important site for tourism.


Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo National Park

The Jaramillo Petrified Forest National Park is a protected area of petrified forest located in the Deseado Department, in the northeast of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. Formerly part of the site was a natural monument, established in 1954 and known as the Petrified Forest Natural Monument, covering about . This area has remnants of a forest preserved in stone, that had been growing on the site before the upthrust of the Andes some 150 million years ago. In December 2012, further land was added and the protected area was reclassified as a national park with a total area of .
The site.
Until recently the site covered an area of . However the National Parks Administration acquired two adjacent areas and included them in the protected area, forming a unit of . The park is in the Patagonian steppe ecoregion where the climate is cool and dry in summer, and cold and fairly dry in winter, with less than precipitation and strong westerly winds. The fossilised trees were first discovered in 1925 and have been the subject of much research since. Many sections of trunk are preserved and lying on the surface of the ground, some being in diameter and others as long as , and fossilized cones from the trees have also been found.
History.
About 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period, the area occupied by this national park had a stable climate with abundant moisture. Dense forests with giant trees grew here, among which were "Araucaria mirabilis", an ancient relative of modern species of "Araucaria", a kind of evergreen conifer.
This changed at the start of the Cretaceous period, when volcanic eruptions, which coincided with the start of upthrusting of the Andes mountains, buried some of the Patagonian territory in ash and lava. Part of the forests covered by ash were subjected to the processes of petrification. This process requires the fallen tree to be in an oxygen-free environment which preserves the original plant structure and general appearance, but which periodically gets inundated by mineral-rich water, replacing the organic structure with silica and other minerals. The end result is petrified wood.
Some of the fossilised trees were tall and in diameter. The site is of particular interest because it shows that the climate of this part of Patagonia was much wetter before the Andes intercepted the humid airflow from the west.
Climate.
The climate of the park is characterized as being cold, arid, and windy with large temperature swings between day and night. Mean temperatures range from in summer to in winter. Temperatures can reach up to in summer while in winter, they can drop to . The park receives of rainfall per year, which is mostly concentrated in the summer months. Snowfall can occur during winter.
Flora and fauna.
The vegetation in the park is mostly low spiny shrubs adapted for living in arid environments; these include "Caesalpinia gilliesii", "Berberis microphylla", "Arthrophyllum rigidum", "Chiliotrichum diffusum", "Mulinum spinosum" and "Fragaria chiloensis". The flightless lesser rhea is known from the park and mammals present include the guanaco, the dwarf armadillo, the culpeo fox and the South American gray fox.


Bob Beck

Robert E. Beck Jr. (September 2, 1944 – May 24, 2008) was a zoologist and conservationist, who worked to save Guam's indigenous native birds from 1982 to 2003. Beck championed the fight to save Guam's native birds, such as the Mariana crow, rufous fantail, Guam flycatcher, Guam kingfisher and the Guam rail, known locally as ko'ko' in Chamorro, which are under the extreme threat of extinction due to the non-native brown tree snake and habitat loss. The rufous fantail and the Guam flycatcher listed above are now extinct in the wild in their native Guam. However, the captive and wild populations of the Mariana crow, Guam rail and the Micronesian kingfisher have increased, due in large part to conservation efforts by Beck.
Early life.
Bob Beck was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on September 2, 1944. His parents were Robert E. Beck Sr. and Ruth Powles Beck. Beck graduated from Hagerstown High School in 1962. He obtained his bachelor's degree in education with a concentration in zoology from the University of Maryland. He completed his master's degree in zoology with an emphasis on genetics and population biology at the University of Maryland, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Tennessee. He started his career as a school teacher in the Montgomery County, Maryland, public school system.
Guamanian bird conservation.
Beck moved to Guam in 1974 and initially worked as a school teacher for several years. He eventually left teaching to become a zoologist with the Guam Department of Agriculture, Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources.
Beck was considered to be instrumental in capturing the remaining native birds on Guam, such as the Guam rail or kingfisher, whose numbers had been decimated due to the accidental introduction of the brown tree snake. Beck, a former Guamanian Department of Agriculture Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources wildlife supervisor, established captive breeding programs on Guam. For example, Beck established a stable breeding population of Guam rails, or ko'ko', in captivity and released them on the neighboring island of Rota, in the Northern Mariana Islands. Wildlife biologist Gary Wiles was quoted in the Pacific Daily News as crediting Beck for saving the species, "Bob was one of the first to begin organizing catching the birds so they could be brought into captivity, held there and bred. He started a captive population. We still have Guam rails today because of his efforts."
Beck was also a driving force for the establishment of captive breeding programs for native Guam rails in zoos throughout the United States. The Guam rail breeding program initially began at just three zoos, the Bronx Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo and the National Zoo in Washington D.C. However, the program has been expanded to include seventeen zoos nationwide, including the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans and the San Diego Zoo. There are now over 120 individual Guam rails at the program's facilities on Guam and thirty-five Guam rails on the mainland United States.
Bob Beck stayed on Guam and remained involved in his programs following his retirement in 2003. He died in Tamuning, Guam, on May 24, 2008 at the age of 63. He was married to his wife, Patricia Rossett, from 1978 until 1992. The couple had two children, Erik R. Beck and Joanna R. Beck.


Gros Ventre Wilderness

The Gros Ventre Wilderness ( ) is located in Bridger-Teton National Forest in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Most of the Gros Ventre Range is located within the wilderness.
U.S. Wilderness Areas do not allow motorized or mechanized vehicles, including bicycles. Although camping and fishing are allowed with proper permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no logging or mining, in compliance with the 1964 Wilderness Act. Wilderness areas within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas also allow hunting in season.
Etymology : In French, Gros Ventre means big belly / big stomach.


Maruia Declaration

The Maruia Declaration was a public petition calling for the immediate phasing out of the logging of virgin native forest in New Zealand.
In October 1971 the New Zealand Government proposed to harvest large areas of native South Island lowland beech forest with half the cleared area to be converted to exotic "Pinus radiata". The native forest harvesting prompted the formation of new environmental groups such as the Beech Forest Action Committee (later the Native Forest Action Council, the Maruia Society and then the Ecologic Foundation). On 4 July 1975, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand and the Beech Forest Action Committee started the Maruia Declaration as a public petition demanding an end to native forest logging and legal recognition of native forests.
In 1977 environmental groups presented the petition to Parliament carrying 341,160 signatures. It repeated and expanded on previous recommendations in 1937 by Captain Ernest Valentine Sanderson that the New Zealand Government establish protected forests and that commercial forestry would be compelled by legislation to manage the forests as a perpetual crop without interfering with their scenic value. The Declaration set out the groups’ forest conservation objectives and became the basis for a continuing public campaign against natural forest logging.
The six principles set out in the Declaration were:


Egyptian House, Penzance

The Egyptian House is a grade I listed building in the Cornish town of Penzance. It is built in the style of Egyptian Revival architecture and has been in the ownership of the Landmark Trust since the 1970s. The current building dates from 1835–36.
History.
The building is at 6–7 Chapel Street, Penzance. An older building on the site was owned by Richard Hitchens of Madron and later, John Fleming, (described as Perukemaker). The site or building was put up for auction on 3 April 1835 by James Tregarthen, a master mariner of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly and was purchased by John Lavin, a mineralogist of Penzance.
There is some dispute over the architect and the date of build. George Clement Boase (1890) writes that the Egyptian Hall was built by John Lavin, and a deed of 1850 states that he occupied 6–7 Chapel Street and ″... some time since erected and built by him″. In "Reminiscences of Penzance" (1883) the house was built in about 1839, ″... which was built in imitation of the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London ... Laws (1974) writes that John Foulston of Plymouth may be the architect. Foulston designed the Classical and Mathematical School, Ker Street, Devonport in 1823 which the Penzance building closely resembles. There is an assertion that the Chapel Street building is an exact copy of Peter Robinson's 1811–12 museum in Piccadilly, London, which is not correct. Although an 1883 account (see above) states that it was an ″imitation″. Robinson rebuilt Trelissick the seat of Thomas Daniell in 1824–25.
In his "Guide to Penzance", published in 1845, J S Courtney describes the building as "... the astonishing gaudy and eccentric Egyptian House recently built by John Lavin, mineralogist and Egyptologist". Mineral collectors visited the building to see and purchase from Mr Lavin's collection. His son, Edwin Lavin, in about 1865, sold the collection for £3000 to Baroness Burdett Coutts who donated it to the University Museum, Oxford. In 1878 and 1879, the property is described as ″The Library″ in weekly advertisements in "The Cornishman" newspaper, and states that Mrs Daves stocks ″a large and complete stock of berlin and other wools, stationery, useful and ornamental articles″. Mrs Daves moved her business to nearby Queen Square in March 1882.
The building was later neglected and in the 1960s hardly noticed. In 1973 scaffolding, which had been erected for several years, was removed to reveal a refurbished building and a new exterior colour scheme of brown and creams. The architect Paul Pearn of Plymouth concluded, that these were the original colours after stripping layers of paint from the elaborate mouldings which were mainly of coade stone. The building was fully restored under the ownership of the Landmark Trust.


List of invasive species in Texas

Numerous non-native plants have been introduced to Texas in the United States and many of them have become invasive species. The following is a list of some non-native invasive plant species established in Texas.


Tilgate Nature Centre

Tilgate Nature Centre is a small BIAZA-accredited zoo located within Tilgate Park in Tilgate Forest, South-East Crawley, United Kingdom.
History.
Tilgate Nature Centre was formed in 1966 by Crawley Borough Council to breed ducklings for introduction into the three lakes at Tilgate, namely Campbells, Silt and Titmus. Its focus changed over the years and it now houses an impressive animal collection including reindeer, owls, raccoon dogs, coati, parrots, mongooses, otters, snakes, tarantulas, lizards and various invertebrates. Tilgate Nature Centre is actively involved in breeding programmes for threatened species such as the Northern bald ibis, and has also been involved in re-introduction programmes; most notably the fen raft spider (Dolomedes plantarius) from the UK.
Attractions.
The centre is open to the paying public with attractions such as public talks, feeds and presentations, "Animal Adoptions", "Meet the Meerkats", "Junior Keeper for a Day" and "Tapir Time" experiences. They also offer educational visits for schools and animal-themed birthday parties for wildlife-loving youngsters.
On 2 April 2016 visitors witnessed the opening of the new Australasian Zone which includes a kangaroo and wallabies, emus, galah cockatoos and kookaburras. The Madagascan Zone which includes a serval, ring-tailed lemurs and a variety of reptiles, opened in Easter 2017. The Americas Zone, featuring a Brazilian tapir, capybaras, macaws and more,opened in April 2018.
Conservation.
Many endangered species are kept at Tilgate Nature Centre, which has taken on an important role in conservation, protecting endangered species from extinction due to rapid changes affecting their natural habitats. Tilgate Nature Centre has become nationally important for maintaining breeding groups of these animals to preserve a variety of endangered wild species. Critically endangered animals include Northern bald ibis, Utila spiny-tailed iguana, Laysan duck and swift parakeet.
Awards.
In 2020, Tilgate Nature Centre received a Gold STAR Award (Switch To A Reusable) for Sustainability and Zoostainability, from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA)


Brad Farmer

Bradley Paul Farmer (born 16 December 1959) is an Australian advocate, author and conservationist. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia on the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours List for a lifetime of voluntary service towards coasts, conservation and communities.  His first environmental campaign, aged 12, was on the Gold Coast where he grew up.  He continues to be an adviser of coastal conservancy in Australia and elsewhere.
Australia's tourism agency, Tourism Australia, has appointed him as a "Beach Ambassador" and as a "Friend of Australia".
Along with being widely published in journals, magazines and newspapers over four decades, he wrote his first book at 25, a "Surfing Guide" "to Australia".  His most recent best-selling book in 2012 "Australia Best 101 Beaches" was a benchmark publication examining all 11,761 Australian beaches, together with co-author Emeritus Professor Andy Short OAM.   He regularly produces the only authoritative list of Australia’s Best Beaches, which in 2020 he introduced for the first time, inland beaches to include rivers and lakes.
Writing since a teen, he studied journalism and arts for only one year at the University of Southern Queensland.  He has worked, lived or travelled to over 40 countries. He joined his first political party at 14 and has been active in public affairs ever since. While his advocacy has taken him around the world extensively, from Washington DC to Canberra, he maintains a Special Projects role, a title bestowed by former Australian Democrats Leader, Senator Cheryl Kernot during his time in the Australian Parliament.  He now heads United Relations Advocacy & Special Projects.  His roles in politics have ranged from a federal policy and media adviser, departmental spokesperson to a strategic campaign tactician.  He has also held senior executive posts in ASX listed companies, particularly facilitating environmental and cross cultural relations between Sino and Aboriginal bodies.
He founded the Gold Coast Greens with the famed environmentalist Dr Bob Brown in 1993 and achieved a record result in his first political campaign in the seat of Currumbin, Queensland, site of the Farmer Family Park, he considers this his home region.  He is the founder of many not-for-profit groups and initiatives including Surfrider Foundation Australia and Ocean Care Day.
He was instrumental in the formation of Coastcare as a founding adviser on the Federal Marine and Coastal Community Network.  He introduced World Surfing Reserves in California in 2009 modelled on his successful 1993 initiative, National Surfing Reserves. There are now almost 40 Surfing Reserves around the world enshrining iconic locations of cultural and environmental significance.   His advocacy has also included influential legislative and societal measures around Indigenous advancement, disabilities, antidiscrimination and mental health.  He is the founding Executive Officer of both Suicide Prevention Australia in 2001 (Life Member) and Postvention Australia, the national organisation for those bereaved by suicide.  He was the inaugural Chair of the Postvention Australia National Reference Group from 2018.
While he has spent many years at sea, he gained national and global prominence in late 1990 as part of a Greenpeace International investigative maritime expedition to the frozen Soviet Artic nuclear testing site at Novaya Zemlya aboard the mothership, MV Greenpeace.  He worked for Greenpeace out of Amsterdam for around two years in his late twenties. He and the ship's multinational campaign crew were taken prisoners at gunpoint and detained by the KGB and released a week later by USSR Presidential pardon.  The action and global headlines led, in part, to a fresh Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
He attributes this watershed to a deeper lifelong commitment to addressing ecological issue and promoting a broader global awareness of threats to coastal and marine environments including the communities within proximity. He has led a national dialogue since 1991 on the need for a national approach to coastal zone management in Australia and in his semi-retirement is drafting a "Coastal and Marine Bill" for the Australian Parliament. He was honoured with the "International Power of One Award" in 1994 at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography for his pioneering role in coastal conservancy.  Since 2010, each year, he has been an Australia Day Ambassador travelling throughout NSW and the NT.
He remains unmarried, aligning to long held Theravada Buddhist traditions.  His family arrived as free settlers from Scotland into Moreton Bay north of the Gold Coast in 1842 while on his father’s side, his relationship to Byron Bay dates back to his Irish great, great grandfather who settled there in the late 1800’s.


Protected areas of Indonesia

Protected areas of Indonesia comprise both terrestrial and marine environments in any of the six IUCN Protected Area categories. There are over 500 protected areas in Indonesia, of which 54 National Park are covering 16.4 million ha, and another 527 nature and game reserves cover further 28.3 million ha. The total protected land area represents over 15% of Indonesia's landmass. Marine Protected Areas comprise over 15.7 million ha representing ca. 5% of territorial waters.
History.
In 1916 the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies introduced the Natural Monuments Ordinance, which led to the gazetting of 43 nature reserves in the following decade. The first two large reserves were Ujung Kulon (1921) protecting the Javan rhinoceros and Lorentz (1923) protecting indigenous tribes. In 1932 through the Ordinance on Nature reserves and Wildlife Sanctuary a new legal framework for protected areas has been established. By 1940 a network of 101 nature monuments and 35 wildlife sanctuaries has been created.
After Indonesia's independence, legislation to establish game reserves was introduced in 1967, while national parks have been first defined in 1982. During the Suharto era the extent of protected areas has been increased to cover 10% of the country's land area. In a major expansion in 2004, nine new national parks were created covering over 1,3 million ha.
National parks.
There are 54 national parks in Indonesia, of which 9 are predominantly marine.
Of these 6 are World Heritage Sites, such as the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra that includes three parks. Seven national parks are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and 5 are wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar convention.
Marine parks.
As of 2012 Indonesia had over 100 marine protected areas covering an area of 15.7 million ha, of which 32 where managed by the Ministry of Forestry while the rest where managed by local governments. In 2009 the president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared a target of reaching 20 million hectares by 2020. In 2010 Indonesia also set out a longer term target to further increase the coverage of its marine protected areas to 10% of its territorial waters, or 31 million hectares.


Durban Metropolitan Open Space System

The Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D'MOSS) is a system of green corridors in the city of Durban, South Africa. Implemented in 1982, the system links a number of significant conservation sites and nature reserves, allowing a path for the free movement of fauna and flora.
D'MOSS is managed by the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, the metropolitan body that oversees the greater Durban area. As of 2015, the system represents one-third of the eThekwini Municipal Area, at 74 500 hectares. The objective of the project is the conservation of natural areas, while providing recreation facilities for the public.
D'MOSS manages a number of nature reserves and parks in the Ethekwini Metropolitan boundaries:


Mahango Game Park

The Mahango Game Park (also known as the Mahango Game Reserve) is a protected area in Namibia within Bwabwata National Park.
It is situated at the country's eastern border with Botswana in the flood plains of the Okavango River basin, close to the Popa Falls on the river. The Caprivi Strip encloses the western part of the park. It was established in 1986 and covers an area of . With over 300 species of birds, it has been designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. About two thirds of the bird species found in Namibia are located here as it includes both wetland and tropical terrestrial species of birds.
Geography.
The park is located in the western end of the Caprivi Strip and forms part of the large flood plains of the Okavango River basin in north-eastern Namibia between Andara Mission bordering Botswana. Topography of the park is in the elevation range of 500 - 1,000m. The Okavango Swamps starts from this park area and is known as the panhandle region. The Okavango River flows into Botswana forming the Okavango Delta in that country.
The park is subject to a dry season lasting from April to November and the rainy season from mid-November to April. The annual rainfall incidence varies between 550 and 600 mm and 80% of it occurs during the rainy season. The monthly average maximum temperature is reported as 30 °C.
Flora.
Vegetation consists of 38% shrubland and 62% grass land. Riparian forests are an important form of dense vegetation against the dry woodlands in the higher reaches of the river valley and reed beds, swamps, and open flooded grasslands of the flood plains. In view of this varying vegetational pattern, the park is rich in flora; with a reported 869 species from 88 families. The important riparian woodland species are "Garcinia", "Sclerocarya," "Diospyros", "Acacia" and "Grewia". The species reported from the desert areas are "Pterocarpus", "Ricinodendron", "Ziziphus", "Baikiaea" and shrubs of "Baphia." The flood plains have "Phoenix" and baobab ("Adansonia"); the baobab trees in the park are very large. One of the more commonly found trees in the park is the baobab.
Fauna.
It has very rich diversity of mammal species; 99 species are reported, including elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, and hippopotami. Some of the key species which are under the threatened list are "Lycaon pictus pictus" (EN), "Loxodonta africana" (VU), "Kobus leche", and "Lutra maculicollis" (VU) found mostly in aquatic environment; "Loxodonta africana" and "Kobus leche" also migrate to neighboring countries. There are 71 aqua faunal species and five species of amphibians such as "Phrynomantis affinis".
Avifauna.
The avifaunal species consists of wetland birds such as "Egretta vinaceigula", "Bugeranus carunculatus", "Ardeola rufiventris", "Pelecanus rufescens", "Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis", "Microparra capensis", "Vanellus albiceps", "Vanellus crassirostris", "Glareola pratincola", "Macronyx ameliae" and "Circus pygargus". In the riverine habitat, the bird species of importance are "Glareola nuchalis" and "Rynchops flavirostris", and in the fringing riparian vegetation "Scotopelia peli" and "Gorsachius leuconotus" species have been recorded.