In the coming weeks I’ll post brief summaries of A Rocha’s world wide work in order to provide examples of the A Rocha vision in action as we begin providing more tangible conservation opportunities here in Santa Barbara at our project site (aka Center).

A Rocha France is located Les Tourades in Provence. Protecting the nearby Marais des Baux is a priority. The first phase of work there involved a consultation with all the landowners and other users of this wetland, was completed in 2008. The second phase, begun in November, is focused on guiding four wetland owners as they redefine their land management for better biodiversity and economic results.
A second center, Les Courmettes in the Côte d’Azur, opened its 600 hectares (1500 acres) to the public
in spring 2009, primarily for environmental education. Within four different ecosystems over a 600m altitudinal range, visitors can focus on the realities of pollution and climate change. migration routes. However, there is intense, indiscriminate hunting. During the last three years, the team undertook
a community conservation project (in partnership with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon)
to identify and conserve new Important Bird Areas (IBAs). As a result, eleven new IBAs were declared by BirdLife International following the assessment of over 30 national sites and over 3,000 hours of field monitoring.  A huge new national bird database was established, site management committees were formed at each new IBA and over 70 local participants were trained in bird identification and site monitoring.

-taken from A Rocha’s 2008/2009 International Review