Global Guardians

In America, even icons aren't immune when millions of Dollars are at stake. The Mustang is symbolic of the far-west conquest. In the magnificent wide open country of Wyoming and Colorado, ranchers slaughtered herds of wild horses. They killed them rather than see them ransack meadows on which their cattle grazed. However, millions of Americans were nostalgic of the good old days in their country history when wild horses rode proud and free - they didn't want to see the Mustang vanish from the landscape. After much pressure, the local government came up with a very original idea. Public's support was crucial. Local inhabitants were asked to adopt hundreds of Mustangs, which had been previously bred and raised by prisoners.

Peru holds a rare and unique specie of frog, which is collected and sold across the world providing income to the local populations. These spectacularly coloured frogs are highly prized by collectors and they are also valuable for a chemical that they hold. Once isolated from the poisonous skin, this chemical appears to be six times more potent than a pain killer like morphine and is not addictive. There are probably many more useful compounds to be discovered from the skins of these frogs. A system for the sustainable production and exportation of poison dart frogs is being set up to stop illegal collection.

The wolf (canis lupus) never had good press in Europe . After being hunted for several centuries, it is now protected in the name of biodiversity conservation and 500 of them now live in Italy. The Abruzzo Park is home to around 50 of them and the Park's challenge is to study their behaviour and diet, which has not been well documented in Europe (as opposed to northern America) and to manage the potential conflicts that could arise between wolves and bears and the shepherds, who are the base of the traditional economy there. A tool for that is what they call the " white weapon " : a powerful white dog that is raised with the sheep herds to learn to protect them from possible attacks. The Abruzzo mastiff is so renowned that it is even exported to other Italian regions and even Norway. The Park also created a special label for the local products in order to promote an environmental friendly local economy.

The wild chimpanzee is a very rare and endangered species and on the brink of extinction.The biggest population lives in Guinea and was under serious threat. For several years a biologist and her team helped the local villages find new markets for their agricultural product, to make them financially independent. In return she has used the local hunters' expertise to locate and study the primates. Today the local wild chimpanzee is no longer endangered and this has proven one of the most successful campaigns of promoting coexistence.

Caimans have become a very useful source of revenue in this poor region of Argentina called Chaco. The gauchos and local farmers of this wetland region are paid to provide useful information about the caiman nests located on their land. The egg harvest happens in January-February with the help of the local people, often on horse. The eggs are then put in the incubator near the breeding centre and the hatchlings bred for one year. Part of the hatchlings are released back in the wild, for repopulation, part of them sold for their skin. This system promotes directly caiman conservation and provides an alternative source of revenue for the local people.

This EP0focuses on a sustainable development program which will involve the Massa warriors in the management of the world famous Massai Mara game reserve which is in a pitiful condition. Half of the park revenues will pay for road building, anti-poaching patrols and administrative costs, while the other half will go to the local council.