On the small island of St Helena in the South Atlantic – one of the most remote places on earth – lies Britain’s last remaining natural cloud forest, boasting around 250 unique species and representing over a sixth of the UK’s total endemic biodiversity.
Black Cabbage woodland – Sarah Havery/ RSPB
The St Helena Cloud Forest Project – one of the most significant and critical conservation projects underway on the planet – aims to improve, restore, and properly utilise and protect this area of global significance, and women are leading the way.
Vanessa Thomas-Williams MBE has spent over 30 years saving St Helena’s plant species from extinction.
Vanessa Thomas-Williams – St Helena Cloud Forest Project
Having worked in conservation from a very young age, including a stint at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Vanessa developed a passion for St Helena’s critically endangered plant species. Vanessa works within the St Helena Government’s conservation section securing and restoring some of the rarest flora in the world. Working alongside a dedicated and experienced team, she is one of the key players delivering the biodiversity pillar of the Cloud Forest Project, aimed at improving, restoring, and creating cloud forest habitat and conserving associated species, to safeguard an internationally important wildlife hotspot.
From the St Helena National Trust, another leading woman in St Helena’s conservation sector is Liza Fowler. As the Cloud Forest Invertebrate Specialist for the St Helena Cloud Forest Project, Liza has over a decade of experience researching and conserving St Helena’s endemic invertebrates.
Liza Fowler – St Helena Cloud Forest Project/ What The Saints Did Next
In Liza’s words: “The Cloud Forest is a very important biodiversity hotspot with approximately 120 unique invertebrates. This is a great project which will not only protect our endemic flora and fauna for the future, but also ensure our water security.”
Liza’s role includes surveying sites for invertebrates in the Cloud Forest, monitoring specific endemic invertebrate species to learn more about their ecology, as well as liaising with overseas entomologists. Liza works with invertebrate consultants from leading organisations including the Natural History Museum in London and the Species Recovery Trust.
Heading up the research element of the St Helena Cloud Forest Project is Dr Rebecca Cairns-Wicks, Coordinator of the St Helena Research Institute.
Dr Rebecca Cairns-Wicks – St Helena Cloud Forest Project
After completing her PhD on St Helena in 1995, Rebecca has dedicated her life to protecting St Helena’s endemic species and habitats. She has been instrumental in securing several species at risk of extinction, establishing legacy conservation projects, and helped set up the St Helena National Trust.
Rebecca’s role within the Research Institute delivers key objectives of the socio-economic pillar of the Cloud Forest project. Rebecca forms strong relationships with academic institutions around the world to
develop and support valuable and wide-ranging research into the Cloud Forest’s known endemic species, interactions with invasive species, impacts from plant diseases and other under-studied areas of research.
St Helena Cloud Forest – St Helena Cloud Forest Project
These women have changed the face of conservation on St Helena in their respective fields. They, along with their teams, are now pulling together with the common goal of restoring and future-proofing Britain’s last remaining natural Cloud Forest on the beautiful island of St Helena for generations to come.
- More information: https://www.sthelenatourism.com/st-helenas-cloud-forest-project/
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