Welcome, I'm sorry that there has been a six-month gap since my last newsletter but that does not indicate that the trustees are any less dedicated to keeping Jo's memory and her mission alive. There have been many loose ends to sort out and the world around us all continues to be in a mess.

Our New Treasurer 1

Jo's Exmouth Memorial Unveiling 5th & 6th March 2

Standard Grants 3rd Round 3

Joanna Toole GloLitter Partnerships Award 3

The Joanna Toole Ghost Gear Solutions Award 2021 4

GGGI’s Annual Joanna Toole Intern 4

The JTF finances - Fundraising and News 4

What's Happening in Ethiopia 5

Olivia Mandle, 14 years old 5

And finally 6

Note that not all the initiatives mentioned in this newsletter are the responsibility of the Foundation.

Our New Treasurer

I wrote in my last newsletter that Vicky Toole a trustee and our treasurer, would need to relinquish the treasurer role when her baby was born. Happy to relate that I now indeed have a baby Granddaughter, Amaya, Jo's niece, and moreover, am pleased that Jo's friend and fellow professional-conspirator Nigel Gooding CBE has joined the JTF as treasurer and trustee.

Nigel is a former senior civil servant having worked for over 40 years in UK government on a range of key policy and delivery roles. His appointment is pending Charity Commission approval.

As Head of Marine Biodiversity, Nigel led the policy for the implementation of the UK’s first marine conservation zones. He was also UK Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission where he worked closely with Joanna on a wide range of whaling and other cetacean issues, including animal welfare. Nigel’s other roles in government included CEO of the Marine and Fisheries Agency and Head of UK Fisheries Policy and Negotiations.

Nigel was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the marine environment in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2019.

Nigel is also Chair of the Board of Trustees for Croydon Vision (Croydon Voluntary Association for the Blind).

We are grateful to Nigel for bringing his wealth of experience to the JTF. Thankfully, he hasn't collapsed under the weight of the admin functionality he's had to learn but the remote induction has taken time.

The photo shows Nigel & Jo taking their work seriously. We think this was taken by Claire on Jo's birthday.

Jo's Exmouth Memorial Unveiling

 5th & 6th March

This is a family project and not a Foundation one. If you've read previous editions of this newsletter you will know that it has been two years in the planning but now the end is in sight. Our official unveiling will be on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, just before Jo's birthday, 5th or 6th March (depending on the weather) and will be followed by a Fun -run, -cycle, -walk, or -swim. Anyone who can make it to Exmouth Devon is very welcome but please RSVP so that arrangements can be made to accommodate you chair@joannatoolefoundation.org

Standard Grants 3rd Round

There's been too long a gap since the last one but at our 19th Jan meeting your Trustees agreed the terms of the next round of JTF grants. For full details and an application form, please browse our website at the start of next month but this much can be revealed.

What the Joanna Toole Foundation will be seeking to achieve in this round is a long-term investment in the welfare of endangered species of wild animals. We will also be expecting applicants to have considered Climate Change as a possible factor both for the project-outcomes and for their own operations.

Joanna Toole GloLitter

Partnerships Award

Last month Ocean Conservancy’s Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced the following awardees of the GloLitter Partnerships Project’s Joanna Toole Grant:

ERACOMA and Women in the Maritime Sector in East and Southern Africa (WOMESA) in Kenya and Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in Jamaica. The grant was launched last year in memory of Jo and seeks to empower women working to address plastic pollution – particularly abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, also known as ghost gear or ALDFG – from the fishing sector in developing countries. Initiatives to address this threat were one of Jo's contribution to animal welfare.

The GGGI is a key strategic partner on the GloLitter Partnerships project that is managing the Joanna Toole GloLitter Partnerships grant and supporting the dissemination and implementation of good gear management practises and the Voluntary Guidelines for the Marking of Fishing Gear. You may read the full text of OC's press release here:

https://oceanconservancy.org/news/global-ghost-gear-initiative-imo-fao-announce-winners-joanna-toole-glolitter-grant/

Our thanks to friends in Norway, IMO, & FAO amongst whom I can single out Amporo Peraz for her loyalty to Jo's memory. A great tribute; in the next newsletter I hope to be able to show you some photos of the good work these women are doing. 

The Joanna Toole Ghost Gear

Solutions Award 2021

Consequent on several constraints, Ocean Conservancy/GGGI operated a compressed process for the 2021 award. It was decided to award $20k to each of two projects that had been the subject of strong applications to OC in 2020 and which fit the 'Ghost Gear' criteria but didn't succeed at that time. We will have to wait for their press-release before identifying the organisations.

This has been the last year of World Animal Protection's sponsorship for this annual award and many thanks to those at WAP, past & present, who pushed this.

The Trustees have held a meeting with Ingrid Giskes the Director of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. A new funder is already in place for the 2022 round and it has been agreed that the JTF will take over the funding starting in 2023.

GGGI’s Annual Joanna Toole Intern

The second Joanna Toole Intern, Natalie MacDonald, completed the field portion of her internship with the Center for Coastal Studies in October, and started with Ocean Conservancy mid-November. She has been a wonderful addition to their team, and carries on Joanna’s legacy of a deep love for animals.

Natalie authored a short blog, which can be found here:

https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2021/12/02/welcome-new-joanna-toole-intern/

What's Happening in Ethiopia

These are family projects not Foundation ones but I think you will be interested. Ethiopia is in the news frequently and very little of it good! As for the Community Project, the Family representatives were taken to the village nearest to the crash site in November and reassured that work was continuing. It is much needed. These photos show the existing water supply and schoolroom.

I think that my link to the humanitarian project photos in the last

newsletter was faulty so here it is again: Link

to Tullu Fera community project

The actual crash site memorial is a separate project, although I have urged them to find ways of cooperating. Ethiopian Airways is said to be concluding a design competition

Olivia Mandle, 14 years old

The Joanna Toole Foundation does not usually get involved with social media campaigning but this is a good campaign and one that my Jo would have supported so I have signed it on behalf of the Joanna Toole Foundation and Olivia will mention Jo and the JTF on her website.

On 29/12/2021 16:42, Olivia Mandle wrote:

Hi Joanna Toole Foundation,

I'm Olivia Mandle, I'm 14 years old and live in Barcelona, Spain. I consider myself a climate warrior and an animal rights activist. I am recognized as a Mini-Hero by the Jane Goodall Institute and its educational program Roots & Shoots, and this past November, I had the great pleasure of receiving the International Award for my projects and my fight for animals from the Jane Goodall Global Institute.

I have a campaign on the Change.org platform with the hashtag #Noespaisparadelfines, where I ask the Spanish Government for a Law Prohibiting Dolphin Parks in Spain including the Canary Islands. Currently I have more than 102,000 signatures, but they are not enough to get Spain to stop being the Biggest Prison in Europe for dolphins and cetaceans.

In October I achieved that an important number of Senators approved and registered a Motion of Law in the Spanish Senate. This was a very important step, but it is not enough. Currently the powerful lobby of dolphin parks and aquariums is putting pressure on the Government so that the Motion does not go ahead. I am waiting to go to the plenary session of the Government together with some renowned biologists, to be able to fight and continue working to pass a law just as France has recently done and as many countries have already passed: Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Costa Rica, Chile, and India.

This law would not only allow future dolphins and cetaceans to be born, grow, reproduce and die in their habitat and in freedom, but it would also set a precedent for other types of animals in captivity. We must put an end to this terrifying triangle: "capture - trade - shows".

Now, I NEED YOUR HELP.

I would love to count on your organization’s support for my campaign. If you could please sign, support and share it as much as possible within your organization and with your followers across all media platforms that you use. We need to put the maximum amount of pressure on the politicians to make this law possible.

Dr. Jane Goodall always says: “Only TOGETHER can we make a difference.” The more people who join my campaign, the stronger we will become, and the sooner we will put an end to dolphin parks in Spain and set a precedent for those in other countries.

Here is the link to sign the campaign, as well as my social media profiles:

https://chng.it/f4KKgCMWV7

Instagram / Twitter: @oliviamandle Web: www.oliviamandle.com

Wishing you a happy, healthy and SUSTAINABLE 2022! Thank you very much,

And finally

Magawa, the landmine-sniffing hero rat, dies aged eight.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59951255

Jo would have been really impressed; she got annoyed when visitors would criticise her for keeping rats. Her house-mates in London should be thankful the pet rats didn't survive long enough to move in with her!

When I first heard about such capabilities, I suggested that she set up in business as a rat-trainer! Things would have been very different.

ENDS