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Cranes prosper only if we embrace the needs and dreams of the peoples living with cranes on this planet, which is nearly everywhere: China, Vietnam, India, Afghanistan, Siberia, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Japan, Mozambique, France, the United States, Southern Africa, Cuba, and elsewhere. Birds know no boundaries, and so to be successful in our mission to save cranes, we must transcend cultural and political differences.
ICF staff in Wisconsin work worldwide to help cranes and ecosystems, but we also employ "field" staff who help coordinate our international programs in Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
By supporting our International Programs, you will enable our team of dedicated ‘craniacs’ to respond to the needs of people and cranes all around the world.
Donations to ICF’s International Programs would support, among others, the following activities:
- A program focusing on the economic development of rural people living near the Cao Hai Nature Reserve in China that links this development to conservation activities at the reserve. This initiative is now expanding into a training program to teach other conservationists about conducting this type of effort in additional conservation areas of China and Asia. (In early 2004, ICF’s work in Cao Hai was featured on the public television series, the Visionaries. To order a copy on DVD, please email supportICF@savingcranes.org or phone 1-608-356-9462 ext. 101
- Conservation planning for four nature reserves in three provinces of northeast China, including strategies for involvement of local people in reserve management and for restoring natural water flows to wetlands suffering from water diversions for human uses. In addition, we are working on an education program at five nature reserves in northeast China.
- Participation of American educators on summer expeditions to the Amur region of Russia, located approximately 20 miles from the Russia/China border. While in Russia, the teams conduct environmental education and sustainable agriculture programs at a summer camp in Muraviovka Park, the first private nature park in Russia since 1917.
- Collaboration with local and national governments to create a management plan for Ang Trapeang Thmor, the first wetland conservation area in Cambodia. Our aerial surveys of these wetlands led to the discovery of great numbers of waterbirds in the open forests of the northern third of Cambodia, including the largest remaining populations on earth of the endangered Eastern Sarus Crane and the endangered Giant Ibis.
- Studying the complex connections among wildlife, water, and human welfare along Zambezi River in Africa, whose waters are critical to the survival of the endangered Wattled Crane as well as millions of farmers, fishers, and other rural people. A series of dams and other major water projects, however, has disrupted the natural cycles of flooding and drought to the detriment of cranes, other wildlife, and human communities. Using the Wattled Crane as a flagship species, ICF is devising strategies for restoring the natural productivity of Zambezi’s magnificent wetlands.
- Safeguarding the West African subspecies of the Black Crowned Crane, which is seriously threatened in many parts of its range including northern Nigeria (where it is virtually extinct), the Inner Niger Delta of Mali (where possibly less than 50 remain), and the Senegal Delta. The key strongholds remaining are the floodplains of northern Cameroon and Chad and the coastal rice-growing zone of western West Africa. One of the most pressing needs is to address the root causes and solutions to the crane trade in Mali.
- Providing support to WWF-Pakistan to further the conservation activities of Ahmad Khan, an MS degree recipient from the University of Wisconsin thanks to sponsorship from ICF, to assess impacts of both traditional and gun hunting on cranes in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Ahmad also is working to establish a Crane Working Group of Pakistan and will prepare a Crane Conservation Action Plan for Pakistan in collaboration with local governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and community members.
- Collaborating with the Iran Department of the Environment to protect and manage critical habitat for Siberian Cranes at three sites along the Caspian Sea. ICF also is assisting with development of public education and awareness programs and coordination with local and international non-government organizations. In addition, we are investigating the possibility of increasing Siberian Crane numbers by leading captive-reared Siberian Cranes behind hang gliders from Russia to Iran.
- Expeditions to Cuba for educators, biologists, and others to research and study the endangered Cuban Sandhill Crane and the neighboring Isle of Youth, which hosts the largest population of these birds.
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