By Kelsey Maber, Jennica Leet & Brittany Polchies
Are you interested in seeing majestic shots of our forest in New Brunswick and abroad in places like Nicaragua? Want to find out what folks in New Brunswick are doing at home and around the world to conserve and restore our forest?
We hope you can join us for the Visual Forest Feast on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 6:00pm at UNB’s Forestry and Geology Building, Room 203 . This must-attend event is being held in celebration of national forest week and is part of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s first ever 5 Days for the Forest event. The event will include photographs of Nick Hawkins, an award-winning conservation photographer and UNB Fredericton grad. He will take us on a journey through the Indio Maiz in Central America and the Acadian forest of New Brunswick. The night will also feature Community Forest International’s film Kokota: Islet of Hope. Oh, and pizza, there will be pizza by Milda’s!
To get a taste of what the New Brunswick photographer will be presenting, you can check out his website at www.nickhawkinsphotography.com where you can see some of his incredible work. Nick is a wildlife photographer and photojournalist whose work focuses on natural history, science and conservation related issues. His work is vital to conservation as his photographs story the experience of wildlife and the impressions that human activity has left on it. If the conservation of wildlife or nature photography is your passion, join us for an unforgettable visual trip from the largest continuous stretch of primary rainforest left in Central America in Nicaragua to the Acadian forest of New Brunswick.
“Much of the deforestation in Central America is done illegally, with governments often having little capacity to defend protected areas against colonists and timber mafias. In Canada, large scale deforestation and poor industry practices are promoted as legal, albeit unsustainable operations. We often think of deforestation as occurring mainly in the tropics, but Canada is a world leader in the deforestation of primary forest ecosystems at a time when it is in our best interest to protect these remaining areas and the biodiversity within them while focusing on how to better manage the areas we have already harvested,” says Nick.
The photo presentation will be followed by a short film by Community Forests International (CFI) entitled Kokota: Islet of Hope, which focuses on Tanzanian communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change who are planting trees and organizing to find solutions for their communities. CFI’s communications director, Zach Melanson, graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and has spent four summers planting trees in both Ontario and B.C. Zach is also an avid mycologist and photographer. He has completed a Permaculture Design Certificate in India. Zach will lend his various skills to the discussion with Nick enriching our understanding of what is being done to conserve forest and fight climate change both locally and globally.
“Forest conservation is a matter of international interest and priority as forests provide one of our best tools in the global fight against climate change. As the devastating effects of a warming planet are being seen worldwide there is a growing need to enhance forests’ capacity for sequestering and storing carbon. We must unlock the power of our remaining forests, insuring that they remain healthy and intact while promoting reforestation and lending support and resources to countries fighting against deforestation” says Nick.
Don’t miss out on the multi-sensory experience that this night will offer. Join us for a slice of Milda’s delicious pizza and a visual trip that will ignite or further fuel your passion for conservation!
When: Wednesday, Sept. 21, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Where: Forestry & Geology Building, Room 203, University of New Brunswick in Fredericton
More info: www.conservationcouncil.ca/5daysfortheforest
Contact: forest@conservationcouncil.ca
Thanks to the Atlantic Council for International Co-operation for the support!