Charity Name - Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation
Charity number 1188719
Registered address: 14 Lindsay Gardens, Tredegar, Gwent, NP22 4RP Wales
Trustees (on date report approved): Ms Tamlin Watson; Professor Joanna M. Setchell; Ms Andrea Dempsey, Dr Sian Waters, Ms Johanna Waters
Independent examiner : Mr Stephen Woollard
Trustees’ Report
The Trustees are pleased to present their report and the accounts for the year ended 5[th] April 2023 for Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation. The Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out above. N.B. Dr Sian Waters and Ms Johanna Waters joined the existing trustees in December 2022.
Structure, Governance and Management. The charity is governed by a constitution adopted on 27[th] November 2019. The Board of Trustees manages the activities of the charity.
Charitable Objectives
The CIO’s purpose is to encourage the protection of Endangered primates by:
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Developing conservation and research initiatives that are inclusive, fair and sustainable.
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Raising awareness nationally and internationally about the illegal primate trade with particular reference to the Endangered Barbary macaque in its natural habitat in Morocco.
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Communicating research findings.
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Providing capacity building and training to students and conservation practitioners in the UK and internationally with regard to primate conservation, particularly that of the Endangered Barbary macaque.
Acknowledgements
We, as a charity, are aware of the importance of having volunteers and supporters who are generous with their time and financial help. Their support helps us to conduct our work and we thank them for this.
Activities and Achievements
At the end of July, a catastrophic wildfire spread rapidly though a large part of Bouhachem assisted by high winds and tinder dry leaf litter. The fire burned for a week and wiped out 7,500 ha of forest, killing wildlife and livestock, destroying crops and damaging surrounding villages.
Sian Waters, was in constant contact with the BMCRif partners on the ground fighting the fire, evacuating villagers and monitoring the macaques post-fire. The BMCRif field team
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found that twelve groups close to our base were badly affected by the fire and survivors’ food sources had disappeared as the oak trees burned and all the acorns, invertebrates and fungi that the macaque find in the leaf litter and which sustain them through the winter had been destroyed.
Immediately post-fire Sian advised the BMCRif team to provide fruit and vegetables to the macaque groups they judged to be at risk of starvation. The macaques are not habituated to people and we did not want to risk future habituation to provisioning given the problems associated with this practice elsewhere. The team set up camera traps to understand if the macaques were eating the food and these showed us that they were accessing it.
To raise awareness about the fire, Sian Waters sent out a press release to various media outlets. The environment news website, Mongabey published the story https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/hundreds-of-iconic-barbary-macaques-feared-deadin-morocco-forest-fire/ and the story was taken up by Moroccan news outlets.
BMAC director Sian Waters and long-term volunteer, Lucy Radford visited Bouhachem in mid-October to better understand how we could help post-fire recovery of the forest and the macaques. We noted that the macaques outside the area affected by the fire were feeding on acorns. Acorns provide oil and protein in high quantities enabling the macaques to gain weight in preparation for winter. However, many of the oak trees were damaged by the fire in almost the whole of some macaque groups’ range. Sian Waters, suggested purchasing acorns from forest where macaque do not occur and feeding these to the macaques in the worst affected areas. The BMCRif team purchased a quantity of acorns and constructed multiple “feeders” placed in the trees to prevent the acorns being accessed by livestock and wild boar. Camera trap photos showed the macaques accessing the acorns via the feeders Both BMAC and BMCRif are satisfied that this was an effective way of supporting the macaques’ survival through the winter.
Future Plans
Sian Waters will attend the International Primate Society’s congress in Kuching Malaysia in August 2023 to present research work and conduct workshops on mitigating provisioning of primates by people, and mitigating the negative effects of infrastructure on primates. These workshops are both issues which affect Barbary macaque conservation in Morocco.
Sian Waters plans to return to Morocco in October 2023 to conduct a population survey of the Barbary macaque groups affected by the fire alongside the BMCRif team.
Financial Review
The financial results of the charity for the year are set out below. Donations doubled in 2022 due to the appeal for emergency funds to provide food for the macaques. BMAC donated funds to BMCRif after a request for assistance for funds to enable the continued purchase of acorns to feed to the macaques during the early spring.
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The CIO has few fixed costs and so no reserve is required to cover these in the event of closure.
Awareness Raising
Volunteer, Lucy Radford designed and published a new website for BMAC
https://barbarymacaqueconservation.org/
Sian Waters continued to communicate information via Facebook posts. She received a number of reports regarding the illegal possession and exploitation of Barbary macaques in Morocco. Sian communicated the information to the BMCRif team who assisted in the confiscation of some of these macaques in 2022/23.
Sian Waters gave a presentation on BMAC’s work at the Afro-Eurasian Monkey Workshop which took place in June 2022, at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Sian presented an update on the effects of the wildfire on the forest and the macaques at the winter meeting of the Primate Society of Great Britain held at Twycross Zoo in December 2022.
Sian also attended the 1[st] International conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence in March 2023. She co-hosted a workshop on human-wildlife interactions in conservation translocations.
Sian and Lucy contributed to an information sheet providing advice on why primates make bad pets. The information is produced by the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group Section on Human-Primate Interactions https://human-primate-interactions.org/publications/
Publications by BMAC trustees and volunteers (names in bold)
Alexander S, Waters S, Aldrich BC, Shanee S, Clarke TA, Radford LM , Hansen MF, Gnanaolivu SD, Dempsey A . 2023. The past, present, and future of the primate pet trade. In: T McKinney, S Waters, M Rodrigues (eds.), Primates in Anthropogenic Landscapes , pp. 247266. Springer.
El Harrad A, Chetuan M, Waters S, Chetuan A, Radford LM . 2022. Barbary macaque presence in the Rif mountains, north Morocco Primate Conservation 36:125-129.
McKinney T, Waters S , Rodrigues M. 2023. Primates in Anthropogenic Landscapes : Exploring Primate Behavioural Flexibility Across Human Contexts, Springer.
Waters S, El Harrad A. 2023. Wildfire kills Endangered Barbary macaques in Bouhachem mixed oak forest, Morocco. Oryx. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/wildfire-kills-endangered-barbarymacaques-in-bouhachem-mixed-oak-forestmorocco/6EF4933E4F118892C1C10482F1AFF76E
Waters S , Watson T , Ferris ZJ, et al . 2023. Dogs, primates and people: A review. In T McKinney, S Waters, M Rodrigues, (eds.), Primates in Anthropogenic Landscapes , pp. 61-81. Springer.
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Barbary Macaque Awareness and Conservation
Income and Expenditure Account for the year 6[th] April 2022 – 5[th] April 2023
RECEIPTS
| RECEIPTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| £ In | £ Balance | |
| Balance frompreviousyear | 16,160.54 | |
| Donations | 16,042.28 | |
| Total | 32,202.82 |
| PAYMENTS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| £ Out | £ Balance | ||
| 32,202.82 | |||
| Stipend for Sian Waters (for work conducted before her appointment as a trustee) |
2,600 | 29,602.82 | |
| Equipment | 400.85 | 29,201.97 | |
| Postage | 23.25 | 28,178.72 | |
| Attendance at scientific conferences | 789.40 | 28,389.32 | |
| Visit to Morocco bySian Waters & LucyRadford | 644.85 | 27,744.47 | |
| Assistance for BMCRif(Incl. bank transfer fees) | 6,331 | 21,413.47 | |
| Website expenses | 73.74 | 21,339.73 | |
| Totals | 10,863.09 | 21,339.73 | |
| Balance brought forward from previous year Balance in hand at year end STATEMENTS OF ASSETS and LIABILITIES Bank Balance in hand |
£16,160.54 £21,339.73 £21,339.73 |
Approved by the Trustees and signed on behalf of the trustees by: Trustee: Tamlin Watson Date: 31[st] May 2023
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Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
| Report to the trustees/ members of On accounts for the year ended Set out on pages |
Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation | Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation | Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5thApril 2023 | Charity no (if any) |
1188719 | |
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I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 5/04/2023.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
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the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
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the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
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I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
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Date: 11 June 2023
Signed:
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Name: Stephen Woollard
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Chair of Trustees Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust (charity SC027481) Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if Trustee, & Chair Ethics Committee, Dudley & West Midlands Zoological Society any): (Charity 507221)
Address: 8 Rorrie Terrace, Methven,
Perth, PH1 3PL
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
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Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
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