Check out the prizes-

- 1st prize – £2,000 cash, or a luxury holiday for two
- 2nd prize – £1,000 cash
- 3rd prize – £500 cash
- 10 x runners’ up prizes of £50

Furthermore, the grand prize winner will win an additional £500 cash prize for their chosen charity.

The draw will be made on Friday 9^th August so there is plenty of time to win, make sure you pick up your tickets today!

Check out the pictures of schools enjoying assemblies and supporting Size of Wales!

Nigel joins us from Keep Wales Tidy where he’s been helping to deliver Size workshops through their Eco Schools program. Size of Wales Director Claire Raisin says:

‘Nigel’s passion and enthusiasm for Size over the past year has been unrelenting. The fantastic feedback that we’ve received from schools following his visits is a testament to his skills. We’re delighted to welcome him on board.’

Nigel is looking forward to developing the programme, and encouraging a deeper engagement with the project in schools and communities across Wales. He also can’t wait to get out to new schools to get them excited about tropical forests!

‘I’ve been astonished by the level of enthusiasm for the project when I’ve visited schools’ says Nigel. ‘They recognise that Size is much more than a charity- we are seen as an agent of change. Schools are very proud to become part of this uniquely Welsh voice for the preservation of rainforests and I’m greatly excited by the opportunity to mobilise community interest that my new role brings’.

‘Now we’re looking forward to Go Green Day 2013. Last year the children had such fun dressing up in green, you could tell they really knew they were making a difference. The fact that the whole country Goes Green on the same day really unites Wales too.’

Make sure you put Go Green Day in your diary- Friday 18^th October 2013. Check out photos from Go Green Day 2012.

If you know a school who would like to join the fun- get in touch for your free assembly and workshop with Nigel. Find out more and see our useful resources here.

The Welsh Mountain Zoo and their famous lemurs were the inspiration behind this relationship. Thousands of people visit the zoo, based in Colwyn Bay, every year. Visitors, staff and friends of the zoo have been getting up to all sorts and raising funds for forests through Size of Wales. The money they raise has been helping the New Protected Area project based in Madagascar, protecting wild lemurs and their habitats.

Bangor University students decided to make the most of this truly Welsh-Malagasy connection when they got involved with Size of Wales too.  Students from The Horticultural Society, Geography Society and Bangor BEES Society all wanted to help rainforests. Post-grad students from Madagascar also joined in as did staff from the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography.

Working together, these supporters organised a popular Malagasy evening at the Welsh Mountain Zoo where guests could enjoy traditional food, music and dancing from Madagascar as well as meeting the local lemurs. The sold-out do tickled guests taste-buds with some Malagasy specialities such as Tsaramaso (beans), Ravitoto (crushed cassava leaves) and Lasary (carrot and cabbage salad). The evening ended with an Afrindrafindrao — a traditional Malagasy dance! See pictures of the evening here.

The event raised £1,489 and between them the Welsh Mountain Zoo and the group of students have raised over £4000 in the last year!

We rely on this sort of support to help our forest projects. Well done and a huge thank you to all involved. Keep up the good work!

Watch the video from the event and find out more about the project.

Find out more about how your business or organisation can support Size of Wales.

We have loved all your enthusiasm and continual commitment to tropical forests; Size of Wales wouldn’t be what it is without our wonderful tribe members!

Now for the good news, we promised prizes for the best tribes and here they are.

Up for grabs are:

- Fun day out surfing, kayaking and coasteering with TYF in Pembrokeshire.
- Overnight trip to Skomer Island
- Dinner at the Glasshouse Café, Pembrokeshire.
(big thanks to the Wildlife Trust for South and West Wales for these last two)

And the winners are….

Best Individuals: Dyfi Valley tribe

Best Organisation: TYF tribe

Best Students: TSD/CCL tribe

We’ll be getting in touch with the winners very soon. Sorry to everyone who missed out, but we hope you feel happy in the knowledge that you’ve started a movement and helped protect tropical forests the size of Wales!!

What next? Make sure you Protect your Patch of Wales!

Watch this video to see the difference you’ve made, and please do keep supporting it.

I’ve got some good news to share with you – we’ve managed to block a plan to mine in a sacred forest!

You may remember that there was a proposal to mine in the Mrima forest. This was really worrying because the forest is rich in wildlife, a globally important area for birds and also a sacred forest for the Mijikenda people.

Over the last two years WWF and WWF Cymru supported through Size of Wales, has been working with local groups to oppose the mining plan.

We’ve raised a number of concerns, including the importance of the forest for wildlife and culture, the amount of water that would be required and also how the consultation was carried out.

Now the government-owned National Environment Management Authority has refused to issue the company with the necessary license, saying:

“…the authority is of the view that the proposed project will not enhance sustainable and sound environmental management. Consequently, the authority is unable to issue an EIA license under the Act. You are hereby advised to explore alternative site.”

We’re really pleased that our campaigning has paid off – for now at least.

Now we are planning to plant more trees in Kwale, restoring forest sites and planting in water catchment areas, on farms and at local schools.

This year we want to plant some 200,000 seedlings, most with support of WWF and Size of Wales. The rains have come early this year, giving us a head start for the busy year ahead.

We’re also looking forward to welcoming back visitors from the Great Primate Handshake organisation in Wales later this year to producing some more videos and show you what we do here.

Please donate what you can to help us keep up this essential work.

Over the last 6 months here at Good Energy we’ve been doing a range of activities to raise money for Size of Wales and Tree Aid with their Regreening Segou project – with the hope of reaching our £5,000 target. Helping this project is important to Good Energy as it gives help to those struggling most with the effects of climate change. The project trains villagers to manage their forests sustainably and repair their environment as well as being supported in setting up small enterprises selling what grows on the trees.

We’ve been Dragon Boat racing, reached 10,000 Twitter followers and had a raffle at our Christmas party with all proceeds going to Size of Wales.

Last summer a crew of Good Energy staff teamed up to race down the River Avon by the Good Energy office in dragon boats. It was part of the annual Chippenham Dragon Boat Race organised by the Rotary Club with a lot of local teams taking part in what was a fun, if rather wet day! We didn’t manage to win but we put up a good fight and raised money for the local Rotary Club charities, and for Size of Wales.

In November, we set the target of reaching 10,000 followers on Twitter and as an added incentive to reach this, for each new follower we pledged to donate £1 to Size of Wales. We needed 500 more followers and once we hit this back in December it meant £500 more in the fundraising pot!

The final activity of 2012 was the Good Energy Christmas Party raffle. With the help of some of our partners, we had a great selection of raffle prizes, from a signed Bath Rugby shirt to passes into National Trust properties. The money raised from the raffle tickets, has gone straight to Size of Wales.

We’ve got more activities planned for the rest of 2013 and look forward to another successful fundraising year with Size of Wales with the aim of reaching our £5,000 target.

Wales has become the first country in the world to help protect an area of rainforest equal to its own size!!

You did this! Without your support we never would have reached our £2 million target to help protect 2 million hectares of tropical forest.

Now I hear you asking, what’s next?

The good news is Size of Wales is carrying on! Over the next three years, with the support of our partners, we will be working to ensure the long term sustainability of the work and projects already funded.

This means you can still help. We still want to work with schools, businesses, communities and individuals to raise money and awareness for tropical forests.

Every penny you raise will still be doubled thanks to our partners generous match fund, and 100% of that will go directly to the rainforest as we still don’t have any admin fees, great!

We’ll be focusing our support on 5 of our current projects, which between them equal 2 million hectares, the Size of Wales. Tackling deforestation is still one of the most effective ways to counter climate change, let’s maintain our unique national response to this global problem.

So come on guys, let’s come together to help maintain an area of rainforest the size of Wales. Deforestation; Wales is now a part of the solution, not a measure of the problem!

Lastly, we’d like to say a massive thanks to Hannah Scrase who is sadly leaving us, and welcome our new Director Claire Raisin (who many of you already know as our Partnership Manager). Hannah made Size of Wales what it is, but she is now leaving us in Claire’s capable hands.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please get in touch with us at info@sizeofwales.org.uk

Thank you once again for your continual commitment & support. Let’s keep it going!

The Size of Wales team,
Claire, Lowri and Seb.

Following news of the military coup in Mali on Wednesday 21^st March, we were able to quickly make contact with TREE AID staff in Mali and establish that they are safe and well.  There is a curfew currently in operation but they anticipate TREE AID project work will continue as normal.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will report on any updates we receive.

Since the 1990s Mali has been known for being one of the most stable democracies in west Africa. Captian Amadou Haya Sanogo, who is emerging as the leader, appeared on Malian TV to announce an immediate curfew and appeal for calm after hours of gunfire overnight in the capital, Bamako.

For more news on the situation please visit the Guardian website 

Apologies for no Welsh translation.

Mali has been in the news a lot recently because of the growing conflict between anti-government groups including Islamic extremists and the Malian authorities. Whilst the Malian government had lost control of the North of the country over a year ago, the threat of Islamic extremist groups taking control of towns further south has forced the intervention of international forces led by the French.

TREE AID’s programme in Mali currently focuses on supporting poor communities in the Ségou and Mopti regions of the country through our Regreening Projects. Size of Wales supports this project in Ségou.  These projects are delivered with our Malian partner organisations – Sahel Eco and AMEPPE. Until recently, we have been able to make some progress on these projects but with fighting moving closer to Mopti, TREE AID and our partners had to suspend work on the project in that area. We are still able to continue work in Ségou which is further south and where it is still considered to be safe to operate.

We very much hope that the security situation in Mali improves in the near future and that work in Mopti can resume. Poor communities in these areas are dependent on the support of organisations such as TREE AID and the fighting only worsens their situation. We are completely committed to helping those communities and we are enormously grateful to our partner organisations and our team in Mali who work so hard to provide that support in such difficult circumstances. Of course, the safety of our partners and colleagues is also paramount.

We hope to be able to bring you better news on the situation in Mali over the coming weeks and months.

Read more

Apologies for lack of Welsh version.