 Hello everyone this is Ashley here from Ecosystem Restoration Camps and this is the update for February 2020. So keeping with the theme of making these video updates each month I am going to be telling you about what has been happening in the movement and getting you excited for what's happened and what's to come. So since we last did a video we have now partnered with 23 projects that have become camps. If you look on our camp map on our website page on our home page you'll see all of the camps and where they're located and the camp pages are being added as we go so check them out some really cool projects happening there. We have also been invited to take part in a consultation with the UN about the decade for ecosystem restoration and to input into their strategy which is really exciting. The Camps, Camp Villa Organica in Mexico and Camp Mundo Nuevo in Colombia have finished their latest experiences and they've done some really cool things. Camp Villa Organica have been removing invasive species from existing trees they've been planting mesquite and agave which are two pioneer species that grow really well in arid conditions which is also a part of the agave project that Regeneration International is doing that involves regenerative agroforestry with agave so you can make regenerative mescal which is really cool. We have a blog post about that on our website if you want to read more it's a really cool idea. They have been learning how to make different types of compost they have been learning about how to grow food regeneratively and just generally doing a lot of lovely sightseeing and getting to know Mexican culture more and then Mundo Nuevo in Colombia they have the campers have been creating a tree nursery by going into the surrounding tropical forest and taking seeds to plant into a nursery they will then grow the trees and plant them out in the patches of land that have been degraded by cattle farming. Those areas are now covered in something called elephant grass which is an invasive which they've been removing and they've also been creating swales to make sure the water doesn't run off. So that's also really great and the camp has had a really great time and both camps will be planning another camp in the next few months so watch out for the website to see the new dates if you're interested in going to one of those. Camp Via Soleil in France is one of our new camps and they have planned a camp in April from the 18th to the 24th of April. The schedule in the handbook is being created at the moment so if you're interested register your interest on the interest form on the Camp Via Soleil webpage on our website and we'll send you the handbook and schedule when they're ready and that will give you an idea of the activities but I can tell you what the activities are going to be now. They're going to be learning how to create a Johnson's Sue bio digester which is a really effective form composting. You're going to learn how to create biochar and what biochar is used for and all its benefits. You're going to be learning about water retention, creating some water retention structures. You're going to be creating pollinator habitats and then there is some natural building involved as well with the natural buildings on the site that need to be restored and then some really fun activities like canoeing down the river and local wine tasting. So if you're interested in that camp like I said go onto the website and you can let us know that you're interested and we'll get back to you. We also had a lot of amazing media coverage over the last month and a half. We had a video released by Business Insider which is really amazing. That's featured our work and sent out to a large audience. We have been featured on the Green Dreamer podcast so if you type in my name Ashley Brown into the Green Dreamer podcast you can learn a lot more about our work during that interview as well. It's really fun to do and then the ecologist has also published an article about our camp in Mexico so we've had a lot of great media coverage recently which is really exciting and we've also been working really hard on our online course which is set to be launched on the 15th of March. So again keep your eyes peeled for news about that. So yeah very busy time. I'm going to keep this video short because shorter is easier and more digestible but I hope you enjoyed this update and we're really excited that you're excited about Ecosystem Restoration camps. Until next time, bye.