The Pelorus Foundation
This week marks the launch of The Pelorus Foundation, a new conservation charity with a mission to protect, preserve, and promote ‘at risk’ wildlife and environments across the planet.
Currently incubated by experiential travel company, Pelorus, The Pelorus Foundation is a stand-alone, registered charity, with a dedicated team and board of trustees to ensure it delivers far more than a traditional travel company foundation. Fundraising for these projects will be secured through a variety of channels from annual membership, individual donations, legacy funding and Pelorus fundraisers.
The first of these will see Pelorus co-founder Jimmy Carroll taking part in the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, as part of a four-man team taking on the gruelling row from La Gomera to Antigua, departing on 12 December 2020. This 3,000 mile mental and physical test will hope to break the world-record set in January 2018 (29 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes). All funds raised by Carroll will be donated to The Pelorus Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to protect hundreds of square miles of wilderness by 2025 and the foundation aims to achieve this by creating, and building on, projects that accelerate the pace of change towards a more sustainable future. The Foundation will support a spread of marine and land-based programmes, in partnership with local charitable partners, to tackle core sustainability issues such as wildlife crime, marine conservation, and forest protection. These will be selected for their ability to make the greatest impact on the degradation of flora and fauna, and to empower and employ local communities.
Current projects identified for support by The Pelorus Foundation are:
Fighting Wildlife Crime The last decade saw an estimated 1,000 rangers die in the line of duty. These Rangers are on the frontline for wildlife crime prevention in Africa and provide the most effective solution in mitigating the dominant driver of species extinction. The Pelorus Foundation will help to expand Africa’s ranger community and assist in crucial conservation projects to help save wildlife and avert crime. A target of £20,000 will fund one Ranger’s training programme and support them to achieve vital work such as management of the Black Rhino population in Namibia’s Onguma Game Reserve, or game scout skills development and environmental monitoring in the Serengeti.
Establish an Adaptive Reefscape In the Mesoamerican region lies the world’s second largest barrier reef system where some of the last healthy populations of critically endangered coral remain. The reef faces the dangers of climate change, pollution and overfishing. The Pelorus Foundation has teamed up with a local partner, along with local communities, to ensure that the coral reefs in Honduras have enough fish to support a healthy marine ecosystem that will thrive for generations. A target of $25,000 will make a transformative contribution towards a designated patrol boat and trained staff to remain in the marine protected area for the next year.
Yacht Conservation Covering 71% of the Earth’s surface and producing half of the oxygen we breathe, the ocean is critical to our health and well-being, and yet throughout centuries of sea exploration, only 9% of the ocean’s species have been discovered. The deeper the water, the more restricted our knowledge of its health and functionality becomes, hence the pressing need for scientists to access some of the world’s most remote areas. The Pelorus Foundation will address this by pairing marine scientists and conservation experts with private yachts to conduct vital research. Pelorus client support is fundamental in the advancement of ocean access, marine research and global knowledge to enhance the ocean’s prosperity. Not only this, but Pelorus guests will have the chance to take part in these fascinating research projects as part of their journeys.
Protecting Endangered Forests Working in partnership with The World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced programme, the project enables travel organisations to offset the emissions caused by the trips they plan. Through conducting a carbon balance audit, The Pelorus Foundation is able to measure the impact of multiple aspects of a trip and therefore determine the precise cost of offsetting and funding projects specifically aligned to the Carbon Balanced programme.
Pioneering New Sea Check Research The Pelorus Foundation has pioneered a research project in The Red Sea, Sudan’s southern atolls and Eritrea’s unchartered waters to examine ocean health, pelagic species and monitor human intervention in collaboration with local partners. No project of this scope has ever been attempted in the region and will be a fascinating experience for diving enthusiasts to participate. The practises created tools used and data gathered will be the first in over a decade in this region and becoming the foundation of an extensive ocean health monitoring system.