About The Five Flamingo Books
Jonnie Wild, author of the Five Flamingo books, is passionate about conservation. He donates all his profits from the books to wildlife conservation project Reforest Africa.
It all began when his two children inspired him to get involved in conservation back in the 1980’s. They’d been upset after an episode of Blue Peter which had shown the deliberate burning of an area of rainforest in Africa and the devastating impact it had on the wildlife that lived there.
Jonnie promised them that if they planted one tree, he would plant 999,999 and replace the forest. And that’s just what they did.
Trees For Life
At the time, Jonnie was chief executive of the family firm, Bettys and Taylors. And so in 1990 he and the company launched Trees For Life, pledging to plant a million trees. By 2007 the scheme had passed the three million mark. He also founded the Yorkshire Rainforest Project, with a mission to save an area of rainforest the size of Yorkshire. After retiring from his role as CEO of Betty’s and Taylors, in 2011, conservation became Jonnies life.
The next generation…
Through his charity he is working with 11 different PhD projects. These projects are looking at deforestation and the impact of tree planting including in the Yorkshire Dales in flood defences.
He is also passionate about getting the conservation message across to the next generation. He hopes that his books and this website will inspire children to learn more about wildlife and conservation.
Have a look at all the free resources on the website, including crafts, outdoor activity ideas, a mini bug guide, a garden bird guide and loads more!
Partners Organisations
United Bank of Carbon is a not-for-profit collaboration between businesses and environmental scientists, which protects and restores forests and other greenery, through environmentally and socially-responsible partnerships with local communities.
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Reforest Africa is a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to develop and implement techniques for ecological restoration, conservation and monitoring of African forests for wildlife and people. Their initial focus is on high biodiversity regions in Tanzania.
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The CIRCLE institute (Centre for the Integration of Research, Conservation and Learning) is jointly funded by the University and Flamingo Land with the purpose of protecting habitats and species both locally and internationally.
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The Udzungwa Forest Project (UFP) is a conservation project based in southern Tanzania. The main emphasis of the project is on the monitoring and management of indicators of forest conservation and the sustainability of human natural resource use.
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