Kruger Park E-times 3

Kruger Park e-Times September / October 2009 - e3

Learn to Love Vultures Captive Lion Hunting Appeal Dismissed

Is August the New September in South Africa?

Why Female Water Buffalo Have Horns, Impala Do Not photo: Pieter Strauss

Newsclips 25th Big Birding Day Hopes to Attract Garden Birding Enthusiasts Between midnight on Friday 27 November and midnight on Saturday 28 November this year, birders throughout South Africa will pit their spotting skills against each other, and contribute to bird conservation at the same time. The Sappi BirdLife South Africa Birding Big Day, a highlight on the birders’ calendar for the last 24 years, will include ‘Garden Birds’ as a separate category. It is hoped this new category will get a growing number of backyard birders interested the annual Birding Big Day. “This is the 25th Birding Big Day and, as before, our serious birders throughout South Africa can help by doing the bird count and also contribute in a tangible way to the conservation of our country’s magnificent birds”, says Mark Anderson, executive director of BirdLife South Africa. “This year we are also asking participants to consider their carbon footprint and to bird-watch within a smaller radius, when they enter the traditional category”. Anderson says that participation in the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2 (SABAP2) Category for serious birders is encouraged, as this information is particularly useful for conservation planning and climate change studies. The rules for this category follow the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2 protocol (www. sabap2.org). Participants need to be registered atlasers, with Animal Demography Unit observer numbers. With more than 15% of South Africa’s birds listed in The Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, many require urgent conservation interventions. BirdLife South Africa currently has several vitally important projects which aim to improve the conservation status of our country’s threatened birds. These include albatrosses and petrels, the African Penguin, bustards and korhaans and the Southern Bald Ibis.

African Population Now One Billion Africa’s population has reached one billion as the continent’s population grows by about 24 million a year, according to a report published by the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau, jointly with the US government aid agency USAID. It is expected that the African population will double to nearly two billion by 2050. Although population growth has slowed in North African countries such as Egypt and Tunisia, on average women in subSaharan Africa have more children than women elsewhere. “While globally the average woman has 2.6 children, in sub-Saharan Africa she has 5.3 children (which is down from 6.7 children in around 1950), the world’s highest,” the report said. Worldwide, 62 percent of married women of childbearing age use contraception, but in Africa the figure is 28 percent, according to the report, which also revealed that sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s most youthful population, “and it projected to stay that way for decades.” In 2050, the African continent is expected to have 349 million youth, or 29 percent of the world’s total, a sharp rise from the nine percent of the world’s youth in 1950, the report noted.

While less than 60 percent of youth go to secondary schools worldwide, that figure is less than 30 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report. It also pointed out that HIV prevalence appears to be on the decline in Africa, although the rate of infection is still much higher than elsewhere. Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world, with 26 percent of people aged between 15 and 49 being HIV positive. Although Africa has a seventh of the world’s people, it has a quarter of the world’s refugees, the report said, adding that global population numbers are on track to reach 7 billion in 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion in 1999. Virtually all of the population growth is in developing countries, while the growth of the world’s youth population is shifting into the poorest of those countries, according to the report. The population change will shape the prospects of regions and countries over the next half century, it further noted. As a companion to the bureau’s 2009 world population Data Sheet, the report provided data and analysis on world population trends, youth, gender and the environment. - BuaNews

Amphibian Experts Target Deadly Frog Fungus The world’s leading amphibian experts have come together and for the first time identified two major conservation initiatives to stop amphibians going extinct. A new coalition of organizations, the Amphibian Survival Alliance, will be set up to focus on containing the spread of the amphibian chytrid fungus and protecting habitats which are home to amphibians that occur nowhere else in the world.

Amphibians are the most threatened group of animals in the world, with one in three of the 6,000 recognized amphibian species at risk of extinction. The alliance, proposed at the first Amphibian Mini Summit, at the Zoological Society of London, brings together amphibian specialists working in the wild and those in zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens.

The Kruger Park e-Times is published regularly to keep you updated on conservation, science, sustainable development and tourism issues in and around South Africa’s national parks, transfrontier parks and other environmental hotspots. Send your comments and contributions to: [email protected]

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photo: Ziggy Hugo

High Court Dismiss Captive Lion Hunting Appeal South Africa’s Bloemfontein High Court dismissed the application for appeal against a court judgement that captive bred lions must be free roaming on a large area and self-sufficent for two years before they can be hunted. On September 14, this year, Judge Van der Merwe and Judge Rampai dismissed, with cost, the application made by the South African Predator Breeders Association, Matthys Christiaan Mostert and Deon Cilliers.

The original application was launched on May 4, 2007 taking the Environment Minister to court over certain aspects of the Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations which came into effect on February 1, 2008. Amongst others, the applicants challenged the inclusion of lion as a listed large predator and the 24 month period in which captive bred lions had to fend for themselves in an extensive wildlife system before they could be hunted.  The ap-

plicants argued that the regulations would have a particularly great impact on the captive bred lion industry in the Free State and North West provinces with adverse impacts on the operations of the second and third applicants. The Applicants may still petition the Chief Justice for Leave to Appeal. The department of environmental affairs indicated it will now focus on achieving its original intention of listing lions as a large predator subject to TOPS regulations.

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. Aldo Leopold

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Newsclips Fire at Golden Gate National Park In the early hours of Tuesday, September 15, 2009 a fire raged at the rest camp of the Basotho Cultural Village in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Nine of the 24 units in the rest camp have been destroyed. The cause of the fire is as yet unknown. Park Manager, Johan Taljaard said that the fire seems to have begun between 02h00 and 03h00. The current unconfirmed observations indicate that the fire started among the units on the left hand side of the camp between the road and the reception area. “It is not clear how this fire started and we will have to wait for the results of the forensic investigation report,” said Taljaard. He also confirmed that the rest camp will be closed until further notice, but the other areas of the Village, like the museum, will still be operational The Basotho Cultural Village saw its first visitors in December 2008 and has been a popular attraction for visitors to Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

New Filming and Photography Permit Tariffs for SANParks South African National Parks (SANParks) has revised its procedure and tariffs for commercial filming and photography in the national parks under its management. This new tariff schedule has been approved by the SANParks Executive Committee and is in line with the Filming and Photography Policy that was approved by the Board in 2008. The implementation of the new tariffs and the new procedure at the beginning of August this year came after an intensive review of the permitting process. The result is a significant increase in permit fees for commercial filming and photography in the parks, and an internalising of the permit-issuing process for most of the national parks, where previously, this was outsourced to a service provider.

New R5.5million memorial added to Phalaborwa tourism package Matome Sebelemetsa Work is nearing completion on a R5.5 million memorial precinct that will commemorate past and present Limpopo heroes who shaped the South African landscape. The Freedom and Memorial Precinct, which is being built in the Namakgale informal settlement in Ba-Phalaborwa, is scheduled to open in October. “The commemorative precinct will relate to the history of the area and will immortalise the memory of those heroes who fell during the struggle, as well as those who are still alive,” said spokesperson for the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, Elliot Ramachela. He said the precinct would consist of a museum and contain a collection of names, pictures and autobiographies of people who played a major role in shaping the BaPhalaborwa community’s political, social and economic history as well as a heroes’ grounds featuring a water fountain. A committee has been researching, consulting and compiling the names of community builders and liberation heroes whose works will be documented. Norman Mashabane, the late husband of International Relations and Co-Operation Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, is one

of the local struggle heroes whose works are expected to be documented in the museum. He died in a car accident in October 2007 and was buried in the area. The memorial precinct is being built on the site that was once known as Freedom Square during the struggle for liberation. “Community activists and unionists used to meet there to plot the downfall of the apartheid regime,” explained Ramachela. In addition to honouring local heroes, the project forms part of the municipality’s efforts to create employment and business opportunities through heritage and tourism. More than 50 jobs have been created during the construction stage, and when completed, the memorial precinct will boost the local economy and empower small, medium and micro-enterprises. Thabitha Malatjie, who runs a spaza shop near the memorial precinct, expressed excitement about the new development as it will bring more people to the area. “I will soon be serving food and drinks here. I am expecting to see many tourists coming to our township. I am very excited,” she said. Ba-Phalaborwa municipality borders the Kruger National Park, and the Phalaborwa gate is one of the busiest entrances to the world-famous reserve. - BuaNews

Eco-Tourism Park to be completed in 2010 Nthambeleni Gabara An Eco-Tourism Park at the Tshikuyu Village in Limpopo will be completed in January 2010 just in time for the thousands of soccer fans who will descend on the country for the biggest soccer spectacle ever. The R30 million project, which started in 2007, will play a vital role in providing accommodation to tourists who will be visiting the Kruger National Park during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond. The park will consist of modern and stylish chalets, an administration block, a conference hall, swimming pools, a restaurant, ladies bar and a curio shop. Local Economic Development Manager

at the district municipality, Mukundi Mushaphi said since the start of the project, several jobs were created for locals. “The project has already created 93 temporary jobs in construction and it will further create 200 more jobs in the fields of security, cleaning, game ranging, maintenance and other services.” Herbivorous wild animals such as the kudus, impalas and zebras will be conserved at the park, except the big five. A cultural village will also be established where different types of cultural dances will be performed to entertain tourists. Cultural paintings, sculptures and other types of art creation will be sold at the cultural village. - BuaNews

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Learners Visit Vulture Restaurant Talented learners from the Ba-Phalaborwa area were invited by the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) and the Kruger to Canyons Birding Route to visit the vulture restaurant on Grietjie. On Saturday, September 5, entrance was free of charge to create publicity for the International Vultures Awareness Day. On arrival at the vulture restaurant at 09h00 the fresh carcasses that had been put out early that morning had not attracted any vultures yet. There was nonetheless great birding around the bird-hide where many species were spotted by the excited learners. After several hours of birding with the help of Birdlife SA, SAEON and SANParks staff, no vultures had arrived yet and Brenden Pienaar, manager of the Kruger to Canyons Birding Route, took everyone down to the picnic site where he taught learners about the role and the importance of vultures in the ecosystem. While the learners asked interested questions, 30 to 40 vultures came soaring overhead towards the vulture restaurant. Everyone quickly went back into the hide, but unfortunately most of the vultures disappeared again while some waited in the trees around the carcasses. After waiting

for another hour there was no sign of the vultures starting to feed, and everyone went home. Another joint effort between SAEON and Kruger to Canyons Birding Route on the environmental education front was completed successfully. The vulture restaurant can be visited

by the public on Saturdays and by larger groups on appointment. It is advisable to contact Ian Owtram on 0832868281 before visiting. Entrance fee is R30.

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Newsclips Birding tourism in South Africa still in its infancy Birding and birding-related tourism are growing at an unprecedented rate on a global level. Despite an abundance of natural birding assets, South Africa has yet to realise its full potential when it comes to birding tourism. Birding tourism has important conservation and community benefits as well as significant economic spinoffs for South Africa and BirdLife South Africa is assisting the country in achieving these. Birders are typically affluent, well educated, eco-minded and travel widely in the pursuit of their hobby. Their use of community guides in the pursuit of their hobby has the potential for significant community gains whilst their support of conservation organisations bodes well for the future protection of habitats and species. Birding tourism has proven to be worth significant economic value in certain countries. According to a paper published by Cagan Sekercioglu in 2002, Costa Rica enjoyed an annual economic windfall of USD400 million due to birding tourism. South Africa has an enviable combination of different biomes, high bird species diversity, the presence of 122 important bird areas, well developed birding routes and birding facilities. The 900 bird species that can be found in Southern Africa amounts to some 35% of Africa’s bird species of which 52 are endemic to South Africa. South Africa could be in the prime position to attract large numbers of foreign birders to our shores. However, according to Martin Taylor of BirdLife South Africa, this is not the case. An ongoing research project being undertaken by the Department of Trade and Industry has indicated that birding tourism in South Africa is in its infancy and there is room for significant growth in the market.

Cradle and birthday of dog identified Previous studies in the field have indicated that East Asia is where the wolf was tamed and became the dog. It was not possible to be more precise than that. But now researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to zero in on man’s best friend.
  “For the first time in world history it is possible to provide a detailed picture of the dog, with its birthplace, point in time, and how many wolves were tamed,” says Peter Savolainen, a biology researcher at KTH.
  Together with Swedish colleagues and a Chinese research team, he has made a number of new discoveries about the history of the dog.
  These discoveries are presented in an article in the scientific journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, where it is claimed that the dog appeared 16,000 years ago, in Asia, south of the Yangtze River in China.
  This is a considerably more specific date and birthplace than had previously been put forward.
  “Our earlier findings from 2002 have not been fully accepted, but with our new data

there will be greater acceptance. The picture provides much more detail,” says Peter Savolainen.
  The time for the emergence of the dog conforms well with when the population in this part of the world went from being hunters and gatherers to being farmers, which was 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
  According to Peter Savolainen, the research indicates that the dog has a single geographic origin but descends from a large number of animals. At least several hundred tamed wolves, probably even more.
  “The fact that there were so many wolves indicates that this was an important, major part of the culture,” says Peter Savolainen.
 He adds that the research findings provide several exciting theories. For example, the original dogs, unlike their later descendents in Europe, which were used as herders and guard dogs, probably ended their lives in the stomachs of humans. The paper can be viewed at http:// mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/msp195, courtesy of the author, P. Savolainen. photo: Lynette Strauss

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Waxy homes, children’s treats Lynette Strauss While Spring 2009 has officially arrived, many deciduous trees in South Africa’s northern Lowveld are still in their winter garb. Despite a rather dry winter, the grey landscape boasts streaks of splendid autumn browns, reds and greens where some mopane trees seem forever rooted in their autumn shine. A closer inspection of these leaves this time of the year reveals strings of whitish waxy ‘bubbles’. These come off easily when scratched, setting tiny bugs scurrying around on the leaves. Guin Zambatis, curator of the Skukuza Biological Reference Collection in the Kruger National Park, suggests these little critters are Arytania mopane from the family Psylidae. Not much is known about the small sap sucking insect. Botswana-based researchers, W Mojeremane and AU Lumbile wrote in their paper on the characteristics and economic values of the mopane tree, Colophospermum mopane, that the sweet wax produced by the mopane psyllid is eaten by people in Botswana, especially children. The mopane tree is an important natural resource for many rural communities in Africa. The leaves are eaten by domestic animals, even after falling to the ground as it retains its nutritional value. It is also popular with antelope and elephants. According to Mojeremane and Lumbile, the wood is used primarily for cooking, heating and lighting. “The wood also makes a very good charcoal. Mopane fire produces copious amounts of slow burning, intensively embers which can last for several hours or days

depending on the size of the wood.” The ash is used a fertilser and mopane poles are highly valued as building material for houses and animal enclosures. The wood, which is hard and rather difficult to work with, is used to produce furniture and for carving. In their book, Making the most of indigenous trees, Fanie and Julye-Ann Venter, note that an extract from the bark is used in tanning leather. The leaves, bark and roots are used medicinally and the gum, exuded from heated wood, is used to “treat wounds that are slow to heal.” Apart from the mopane psyllid, the tree is also host to the more well-known mopane worm, Gonimbrasia belina, the larvae of the moth, Imbrasia belina, and a very popular and nutritional food source in rural areas. These worms are eaten roasted or dried. A tiny bee, Plebina denotia, which produces edible honey also finds a home in mopane trees. photos: Lynette Strauss

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Conservation Headlines Mapungubwe land claim valid One of the largest land claim cases to date - the Machete royal family’s bid for Mapungubwe, a World Heritage Site while not yet settled, has been approved as valid, the Land Claims Commission said on Wednesday. The Limpopo Land Claims Commission spokesperson Motlatsi Lebea said: “The claim has not been settled, but it has been approved as being a prima facie valid claim. “The three parties, the commission, the community and Sanparks, are working together to see how the issue of the claim is going be resolved,” he said. Lebea said “a lot of investigation” would still take place before the claim could be settled. Earlier, Beeld said the claim involved Mapungubwe - earmarked to become a transfrontier national park between Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe - and 56 surrounding farms. - SAPA

Mango will operate 24 hours a day in 2010 MANGO has announced that it will operate 24 hours per day over the 2010 World Cup period next year.The service extension will include an extended schedule, charter operations as well as support services such as a call centre and Guest Services facilities open at all times.  According to the airline it expects a “massive uptake” in bookings following the final draw, due to take place on December 4, when match venues will be confirmed.“Mango has planned substantially for the event. Mango will not be increasing its fares simply to cash in on the influx of tourists. Instead, I believe this is an opportunity to showcase our country and not to leave visitors returning home with a negative perception,” says Nico Bezuidenhout, Mango CEO. An updated schedule for flights over the tournament period is expected to be released by mid-November. + SA Tourism Online

SA ‘promotes rhino killing There is a way of thinking within South African environmental authorities that promotes the killing of rhinos rather than protecting and respecting them, Animal Rights

Africa said on Monday. This is according to a report by Animal Rights Africa (ARA), which has been involved in a war of words with SANParks over the management of rhinos in South Africa over the last couple of months. “Whether, SANParks likes it or not, the public have a right to be concerned, to express this concern and to expect transparency and accountability from government agencies,” said ARA spokesperson Michele Pickover. ARA said that despite SANParks “angry kneejerk response” there was little doubt that there was national and international concern about the current protection and management of the animals in South Africa. Pickover said by allowing SANParks to use “sustainable use” to trump issues of conservation, government conservation agencies seem to be interpreting their mandate as custodians in a way that was debatable. She said the ARA report “Under Siege: Rhinoceroses in South Africa”, which also collated information relating to the hunting, trade and poaching of rhinos, revealed a worrying trend. ‘Under siege’ The report shows enormous suffering by animals, a lack of centralised statistics and data, an uncoordinated response from authorities, insufficient enforcement and resources to adequately protect the rhino population, and “a general way of thinking that promotes killing instead of protection and respect”. The report says it was now “abundantly clear” that not only were rhinoceroses in South Africa facing one of the worst threats ever as a species but that they were under siege. It further states that South Africa has become the conduit of most of the rhinoceros horns leaving the African continent. The report suggests an end to all rhino hunting in South Africa because it had been proven to be as great a problem as poaching. It further suggests re-examining the entire Cites report procedure because it was clear that limited and inaccurate information was submitted, and to open the government policy of “sustainable use” and trophy hunting to public debate. ARA also wants South Africa to impose an immediate moratorium on all capture, sale, translocation and hunting of rhinos in South Africa.- SAPA

Stiffer penalties for poaching in Zimbabwe The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources   has announced new penalties for the poaching of wild animals, birds and fish with the fine for poaching rhinos pegged at a staggering US$120 000. The new penalties have been introduced following the repealing of Statutory Instrument 65 of last year. According to Statutory Instrument 92 of 2009, Parks and Wildlife (Payment for hunting of animals and fish) Notice, 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in terms of Section 104 (a) of the Parks and Wildlife Act, Chapter 20:14 declared that: “The amount specified in the second section of the schedule (below) shall in respect of the species and animal and fish specified in the first column of the schedule, be imposed in terms of section 104 (1) of the Act.”Below are some of the animals and fish and the penalty/compensation a poacher will pay if convicted of killing the species. Failure to pay will attract a “suitable” prison term in line with the value of the animal or fish. Rhinoceros (Black) US$120 000, Rhinoceros (Square lipped) US$120 000, Pangolin US$500, Monkey US$300, Lion US$5 000, Kudu US$5 000, Elephant US$20 000, Fish Eagle US$100, Guinea Fowl US$50, Water Buck US$500, Zebra US$1000, Buffalo US$6000, Sable US$2000, Ostrich (egg) US$500, All Fish (dried/smoked per kg) US$3, Springbok US$500. The Zimbabwean

In the kingdom of the ant, a mighty curiosity rules Dr Andersen, of the CSIRO, took out a prestigious prize at the Charles Darwin Symposium for his hard work, his leadership - and his dedication to the humble, but rather incredible, ant. He likes to point out how much the ant punches above its weight. If you put all the Earth’s land animals on a giant scale, he says, ants would comprise 30 per cent of the load. And for every hectare of Australian bush there would be up to 20 million ants in residence. Forget the ‘roo - Dr Andersen says

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Conservation Headlines it’s ants that put Australia on the map. “We’re the kingdom of the ant. The sheer abundance of ants here; it’s mind-boggling both in numbers and in different types.” Dr Andersen - who has built the world’s largest collection of Australian ants - is a world leader in using the ant as a “bio indicator” for land management. “(They) are so important in the environment and to the health of it ... because they’re so well connected with all other things in the ecosystem,” he said. His work has been instrumental in antmonitoring programs used by anyone from mine operators and graziers - even to South Africa’s Kruger National Park. He has done much to bring ants to people’s attention - spending many a night in bed staring at different species. “The insect world in general is not familiar to people and a lot of that is because they don’t have common names,” he said. So he came up with a list of common names, which does much to de-mystify an ant previously only lumped with a Latin name. There’s the Michelin ant (which is “fatwaisted”), fierce gremlin ants (that look like “aliens”), Snuggle-pot ants (“cute” and uniquely Aussie) and the buck-toothed bull ant (needs a dentist). Dr Andersen last night received the Charles Darwin Research and Innovation Medal in recognition of the contribution his work has made to the Territory and its people. http://www.ntnews.com.au

Ivory dealer loses appeal Bloemfontein - A Northern Cape man’s appeal against a conviction of being an accomplice in the unlawful dealing of two ivory tusks was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Tuesday. The court gave judgment in the appeal by Herman Zurich against a finding of the Upington Regional Court of being an accomplice to the unlawful dealing in two ivory pieces.
Zurich, an attorney at the time of the offence, was convicted on the basis of evidence of an undercover police agent, Jaco Oberholzer, in a covert operation called Rhino.
During the appeal, the admissibility of Oberholzer’s evidence was challenged.

Bogus arrest
Zurich submitted that evidence against him was tainted

by an abuse of the legal process when the police, in order to make Oberholzer appear credible, staged a bogus arrest of him.
The undercover agent then appeared in the Upington Magistrate’s Court on false charges of unlawful dealing in diamonds.
This afforded Oberholzer the opportunity to seek legal representation from Zurich, who then introduced the police agent to the seller of the two ivory pieces.

Methods not unlawful
On Tuesday, the SCA held that although the investigative methods used by the police were unacceptable, it was not unlawful as far as Zurich was concerned and did not render the trial against him unfair.
The SCA upheld the conviction on one count of being an accomplice to the unlawful dealing in two ivory pieces.
Earlier, the Northern Cape High Court sentenced Zurich to a fine of R5 000 or imprisonment for nine months with a further imprisonment for nine months conditionally suspended for three years on the conviction. News 24

Search for distressed elephant The uproar over a cow elephant in distress at a game reserve abutting the Kruger National Park took another turn on Tuesday, with the animal having wandered off into the bush.
“We can’t locate it right now. It was well enough to have walked away,” Djuma Private Game Reserve owner Jurie Moolman told Sapa.
Djuma is one of more than a dozen lodges and reserves that make up the 65 000 hectare Sabi Sand Reserve, which shares an unfenced 50km border with the Kruger.
On Monday this week, the group Animal Rights Africa demanded the reserve’s owners help an apparently suffering cow elephant, which had been spotted on one of the reserve’s live webcams.

Birth complications

According to the group, the elephant had suffered for over two weeks with what appeared to be birth complications. Moolman said on Tuesday it had only become clear at the end of last week that the elephant was in distress. The reserve had “a policy of non-intervention when it comes to animals in distress not caused by humans”. In the case of the elephant, it had been obvious the distress was not caused by humans.
“It is not clear if the animal is in fact experiencing a miscarriage or whether she

is constipated. It is amazing how much is read into a few video clips,” he said.
However, the Sabi Sand Reserve’s ecological committee had decided to intervene in the case of this particular animal.
 “To this end, Dr Roy Bengis of Kruger National Park was asked to dart the animal and ascertain what she is suffering from,” Moolman said.

Wandered off 

In the meantime, the cow elephant had wandered off into the bush.
 “Staff are looking for her at the moment. Between Sabi Sand and the Kruger National Park, we have between 10 and 15 people trying to find her,” he said.
Moolman said he was shocked and amazed by the “vitriolic attacks” launched against himself and his staff in connection with the incident.
 “Our policy of non-intervention is crucial to our management of these reserves.”
“It seems nobody has asked themselves the obvious reductio ad absurdum that their insistence upon intervention leads to: What if lions kill a buffalo cow with a young calf, and then do not kill that calf, but use it to teach their cubs how to hunt?”

Intervention

“Will I be asked to rescue the calf ? Is it even necessary to discuss how wrong this intervention would be?”
 “This whole incident has left me cynical about these organisations and what they are actually trying to achieve,” Moolman said.
On Monday, SANParks general manager of media, Reynold Thakhuli, said the parks’ policy was that if an animal was in pain and it could be helped, they would intervene.
 This could not be done for example, if an animal fell off a cliff and would not be able to heal. In such cases they would dart the animal and then euthanise it.
SANParks had arranged to have the elephant darted and examined.
 In a statement on Tuesday, the National Council of SPCAs said it had been in contact with Moolman and “advised him of our grave concerns for the welfare of this animal”.
It said Moolman had confirmed serious efforts were being made to find the elephant.
 “We trust that the best interest of the elephant will be taken into account and that humane and ethical considerations will form the basis of decisions taken in respect of this elephant,” it said. - SAPA

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Newsclips 109 elephants die as drought hits Tsavo More than 100 elephants have died due to effects of drought in the sprawling Tsavo National Park. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) disclosed that the elephants died of hunger and poacher attacks. Tsavo Conservation Assistant Director Jonathan Kirui said the the elephants died between July and this month. “We have so far lost 109 elephants in the past three months and the number is increasing every day due to drought and poaching activities,” said Mr Kirui on the telephone. He continued: “Drought related elephants and hippos deaths have been on the increase in the park as water and pasture continue to decline.” He added: “The animals’ body condition is also worsening especially for elephants, buffalos and hippos due to lack of pasture and water.” Speaking to The Standard yesterday, Kirui warned that if it did not rain soon wildlife would be wiped out affecting tourism in the world-famous park. Kirui said KWS has started giving hippos hay to save them from death. Elsewhere, the KWS personnel arrested four suspected poachers and impounded several ivory as a crackdown on poaching activities intensified in the park. Kirui said two of the suspects were arrested at Chakama in the Tsavo East with 63kg of ivory while the other suspects at Kishushe with eight kilogrammes of the trophies. The Director said the prolonged drought has encouraged poaching and warned that anyone found would be dealt with according the law. Separately, the Drought Management Officer Parkolwa Mustafa said scores of livestock have died in Kishushe, Maktau, Ghazi and Paranga in Taita and Kidong, Salaita and Mahandakini in Taveta because of the drought. In his monthly brief on drought, the official said some herders had migrated to Msambweni and Kwale districts. - Kenya Standard

Spot a Saddle-billed Stork and Support Science Join the Endangered Wildlife Trust and SANParks in a photographic survey of Saddle-billed Storks in the Kruger National Park. The survey started on 1 September 2009 and will run for a full calendar year. This survey forms part of a research project that will be conducted over the next three years on the population status of Saddle-billed Storks, one of Kruger’s rarities, and one of the “Big Six” birds. “Census operations on any species within the boundaries of the Kruger National Park are important to help us get an idea of that species’ status within the context of biodiversity management,” says Marcelle van Hoven, the project’s coordinator. “The last Saddlebilled Stork survey conducted in 1993 suggested that there were less than 60 of these birds left in the Park.” Saddle-billed Storks (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) are distinctly identifiable by their large size (they stand about 150 cm tall), sharply contrasting black and white plumage and yellow lappet (saddle-like structure) on the bill. The males have a dark eye with two small yellow wattles at the base of the bill, while females have a yellow eye.

These birds can also be individually recognised by the details of the front edge of the black band across the red bill. Side-on photographs of all the birds, from both the left and right angles, will be used in identification during the survey. Saddle-billed Storks are classified as Endangered in South Africa. They breed slowly and are dependant on extensive wetland habitats, which are under increasing pressure from humans. The flow regimes of rivers passing through the Kruger National Park are expected to change in response to catchment developments outside the Park, and this, together with the removal of artificial water impoundments within the Park, may have a negative impact on this species. In South Africa, Saddle-billed Storks are largely confined to the north-eastern tropical lowland with the majority of the population residing along the riverine habitat in the Kruger National Park. They normally occur in pairs, are strongly territorial and remain in the same area for years. Visitors who spot a Saddle-billed Stork are asked to take a clear photograph of both sides of the bird’s face and bill and to record information about the sighting including the date, time, location, name of nearby water source, bird’s gender, juveniles present and any other notes that might be relevant. A Saddle-billed Stork census weekend is also planned in the Kruger National Park for later this year, where photographers with the powerful lenses can contribute to this project. Send all sighting details and photographs to [email protected]. This project is sponsored by Tinga Private Game Lodge and Custom African Tours & Safaris. photo: Lynette Strauss

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Is August the new September? Become a CLIMATE BUDDY and help us find out … Everyone in South Africa seems to have noticed that the weather is unusual for this time of year. Depending on where you live and who you’re asking, it’s either hotter, colder, wetter or drier than anyone can remember. So, as spring becomes the new summer, the question being asked by researchers at the Ndlovu Node of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is what exactly is happening? It seems that the global climate is changing, and the heat is definitely on. Average temperatures world-wide have increased by almost 1oC in the last century and are predicted to rise by another 5oC by 2100. How is the natural world responding to a changing climate? Mounting evidence from studies in the northern hemisphere reveals that deciduous trees are leafing, flowers are blooming and migratory birds are arriving one to two weeks earlier than they did 30 years ago. In essence, spring has sprung but it’s all happening just a little too soon. By monitoring the timing of biological events (known as phenology) in plants and animals locally, researchers at the Ndlovu Node are attempting to understand and respond to the impacts of climate change on South Africa’s biodiversity. “As the timing of important events shift, we anticipate problems for the completion of life cycles in certain organisms; the loss of synchrony between interacting species (especially between plants and their pollinators), resource limitations and changes in the competitive advantage between species,” says Dr Dave Thompson, manager: biodiversity research at the SAEON Ndlovu Node. Thompson predicts that these problems will have a negative impact on the composition and organisation of the natural world around us. “It is important to realise that the need to understand and manage climate-related changes is much broader than simply wanting to be environmental good Samaritans,” he explains. “Consider for a moment the impact of failed insect pollination on fruit and crop production – it will have a disastrous effect on food production.” One of the biggest challenges that climate-change biologists face in understanding the response of organisms to the en-

vironment, is that the effect of recent weather events can mask the effect of long-term climate change. The impact of these very different factors on plants and animals can only be separated by analysing large amounts of data recorded over decades and ideally sourced from many different localities. Unfortunately this is exactly the sort of data that is sorely lacking in South Africa.

Your help is needed In order to address this shortfall, SAEON is asking for your help in two new citizen science projects – Climate Buddy and Turning a new leaf – which complement the Bird’s eye view migration monitoring project launched in 2007. “We are calling on members of the public, from individuals and families to groups such as schools and environmental / conservation bodies, to participate in observing local biological events that are likely indicators of climate change,” says Thompson. “The depth and breadth of data that can be collected by an organised group of enthusiastic volunteers will allow researchers to conduct studies that would have otherwise been logistically impossible,” explains Thompson. “Every pair of eyes – and every record – counts.” You don’t have to be an expert to participate in the monitoring projects being run by the Ndlovu Node. Bird’s eye view simply asks that people be on the lookout for the first arrival of easily recognisable migrant bird species in their area, and then to catalogue the arrival dates with SAEON. The two projects launched this season focus on the timing of important and conspicuous plant life cycle events and are geared more towards the keen gardener

and amateur botanist. Climate Buddy is concerned with monitoring the opening dates of flower buds in spring, while the Turning a new leaf project aims to track spring leafing and autumn leaf drop in deciduous trees. “We welcome observations from anybody in any part of the country who is keen to be involved,” says Thompson. If you would like to receive more information about becoming a citizen scientist and joining SAEON’s network of observers, or if you have already been collecting this environmental information, please contact Dr Dave Thompson on +27 (0) 13 735 3534 / 35. Alternatively, queries about specific projects can be directed to birds@ saeon.ac.za, [email protected] or [email protected]. Observer registration forms can be downloaded from http://ndlovu.saeon. ac.za and returned via email, fax (+27 (0) 13 735 3544) or post (NRF / SAEON Ndlovu Node, Private Bag X1021, Phalaborwa, 1390). photo: Lynette Strauss

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Anti-hunting groups have misfired David Mabunda On May 10 and 17 this year, The Sunday Independent published two articles based on an earlier interview I had graciously agreed to on Eleanor Momberg’s request. The publication of the interview in two segments elicited vitriolic and venomous attacks on my personal integrity after comments I made were misinterpreted by my detractors as reflective of SANParks’ policy on the sustainable use of natural resources. Contrary to what was said by my critics, I never wrote any article or opinion piece for The Sunday Independent. The interview was about my personal history and put forward a wide variety of positions and perspectives on conservation matters. Regrettably my critics cooked a storm in a teacup over the “juicy bits” - culling and sustainable hunting. I’m left wondering what crime I committed that warranted the “blitzkrieg” response from the regional director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Mr Jasson Bell-Leask (“Pitfalls of an outdated approach to conservation management”, May 24) and Animal Rights Africa (ARA) represented by Michelle Pickover and Steve Smit (“SANParks is hiding behind indefensible excuses”, May 31). IFAW and ARA, although different in their architecture and gearing, are joined at the waist in opposing any form of sustainable-use practices and culling of animals, including elephants. They seem to be too focused, obsessed even, on issues that only form a relatively minor part of managing a complex and diverse conservation organisation like SANParks in the 21st century and the importance of compliance with one of the main objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) - to ensure that biodiversity conservation translates into access and benefit-sharing for the socioeconomic upliftment of poor communities living adjacent to protected areas. Their morbid views lead to inappropriate investment into trendy “conservation initiatives” of one kind or another to discredit successful state conservation institutions and liken its leadership to the apartheid-era conservation managers. A strong, financially viable and functional state conservation institution is not in the interest of any animal rights and welfare NGO because its independence from donor funding to execute its primary functions

limits opportunities for animal rights and welfare NGOs to influence the conservation policies of the state. The references to “failed conservation policies or outdated approaches to conservation” are nothing but grand public relations stunts. Let me repeat my earlier responses to the lie peddled by our detractors that SANParks is allowing Kruger Park animals to be hunted on community-owned land adjacent to it. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have done no such thing. We are a responsible national custodian of the national park system. The fact that the Timbavati game reserve (as part of the Association of Private Nature Reserves) hunts certain quotas in terms of the historical agreement that was entered into with the previous SANParks leadership is a truism inherited from the past. The matter has been contested in the High Court and the said court, based on evidence before it, ruled in favour of Timbavati. My advice to the antihunting lobby is to take this matter to the Appeal Court rather than levelling false accusations at SANParks. It is clear to all and sundry that this is an anti-hunting campaign directed at a soft target. I categorically deny that SANParks is “pushing the agenda of the powerful commercial hunting industry”, and certainly I’m not their apologetic spokesman. Why would I take such a burden when I already have the huge task of managing one of the largest and most complex conservation agencies in the world? Hunting is a legal land use in this country in certain designated areas, bar national parks, and indeed there is a tiny band of hunters who are bringing the industry into disrepute through their unethical practices. It is not for SANParks to “police” these shenanigans but to refer any such repugnant deeds to law enforcement agencies. The entire debate on hunting is being addressed by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs and should not be directed to SANParks. Our mandate does not have a single reference to “hunting” in it. I’m not a hunter myself and no dead animals “grace” my lounge - but I’m not opposed to those who hunt. It is their democratic right to do so just as it is the democratic right for people to associate with animal rights NGOs in this country. The public has been left with a mistaken image of our policy on the sustainable use

of resources which was deliberately misconstrued to fit the ARA and IFAW attacks on SANParks. We were accused of killing South Africa’s heritage. The Protected Areas Act of 2003, • as amended, excludes any form of extractive use including mining and hunting in national parks. We can’t even dig river sand for construction, maintenance and renovation of infrastructure work or “harvest” firewood. Park managers have to source such commodities from outside the parks. Our sustainable-use policy is premised on the international prescripts of article 10 of the CBD which calls on all parties to: • Integrate consideration of the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources into national decision-making systems; • Adopt measures relating to the use of biological resources to avoid or minimise adverse impacts on biological diversity; • Protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation; • Support local populations to develop and implement remedial action in degraded areas and where biological diversity has been reduced; and • Encourage co-operation between its governmental authorities and its private sector in developing methods of sustainable use of biological resources. The mainstay of sustainable use in national parks is ecotourism activities, which underpin our objective of using tourism as a conservation strategy In 2000 we joined our communities outside Kruger Park and repaired public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools, clinics and boreholes after floods that had disrupted the lives of the local communities. Communities constitute BEE partners in our luxury lodge concessions businesses. We have created medicinal nurseries for indigenous use in line with traditional and cultural practices to support communities where there is no (medical) doctor. We are the biggest sponsors of food security gardens and allow communities to supply our restaurant outlets with their produce. Our entire procurement and commercial activities account for a large slice of sustainable use. We educate approximately 150 000 learners per annum in all the parks at huge cost. continued on pag 13

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Anti-hunting groups have misfired continued from page 12 We offer bursaries and scholarships for university studies and employ the graduates in the various careers available. Our track record in implementing sustainable use is broad and has no peer. We are assisting adjacent communities to set up buffer zones for ecotourism purposes in Community- Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) outreach programmes. Recently we have provided the Mjejane community with animals worth over R40m for its ecotourism venture in the Hectorspruit area. None of these animals will be hunted. In the 2006/07 financial year we commissioned an independent study of the economic impacts of the existence of national parks through Urban Econ, peerreviewed by the University of Pretoria. The study found that SANParks created approximately 100 000 jobs directly and indirectly through various industry sectors such as construction, tour operating, travel and car hire, retail outlets, lodges in private nature reserves surrounding national parks, various procurement opportunities for small SMMEs etc. It would be interesting to see what animal rights and welfare NGOs have done for our society besides megaphone politics in newspaper columns and radio stations. Perhaps ARA and the Southern Africa regional IFAW want to emulate the “success” that IFAW and the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) achieved in Kenya in 2004 when they successfully lobbied the president not to sign an important amendment to the Wildlife Act (World Economics Vol 8, No 2 AprilJune 2007). Hunting and sustainable use policies were banned in Kenya in 1977 with the heavy lobbying of animal rights and welfare NGOs, thus triggering unintended backdoor plundering of wildlife for the bush meat trade. This led to private land owners having

little interest in practising wildlife economics in the same manner as the private nature reserves do in South Africa. In general, wildlife in Kenya has declined by between 60 percent and 70 percent (World Economics Vol 8, No 2, April-June 2007).

The proposed amendment to the Wildlife Act to provide for greater participation of wildlife landowners who owned rangelands, and to address the issue of compensation for the loss of human life and damage to property, thus transformed conservation management practice. The amendment came from the floor of the House, went through all the required procedures, debates and public consultations, including the Attorney-General’s office, and was properly voted on by parliamentarians. However, the foreign animal rights and welfare NGOs were able to hijack the entire consultative process by shipping in renta-mob crowds who successfully reduced everything to an endless shouting match about the amendment being a ploy to “reintroduce hunting andsustainable use” in Kenya. IFAW launched a massively wellfunded

publicity campaign in newspapers and on TV with posters in Nairobi and the international airport. Noticeable by their silence were the established progressive international conservation NGOs, including the WWF, African Wildlife Foundation and the IUCN, all of which have regional offices in Kenya. They were frightened off by IFAW’s publicity campaign and the threat of being labeled as advocates of “killing animals for fun”. No one has any objection to IFAW or ARA holding an opinion, but one can and must question the lengths they are prepared to go to achieve their objectives. I argue that such objectives are not in the interest of conservation in Africa but to please their masters in the northern hemisphere. As Deepak Lai elegantly puts it: “Foreign NGOs claim to speak on behalf of the world’s poor but in fact speak the language of the world’s rich and invariably seek their own agendas and purpose rather than those they purport to help. Through their financial strength and access to political elites, especially in poor countries, they are able to subvert the representative democratic process and insinuate foreign minority views into what are supposedly parliamentary majority voting systems.” (Lai, 2006, Reviving the Invisible Hand: the case for classical liberalism in the 21st Century. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.) I thank the South African government for its commitment to fund conservation in this country, thus saving us from the vagaries of the likes of IFAW and other animal rights and welfare organisations as is the case in other African countries where these NGOs rule the roost. ARA might argue that it is indigenous to Africa, but its links (as displayed on its website) with the international animal rights fraternity place it squarely in the realm of this new form of colonialism and imperialism. The current leadership at SANParks was raised and shaped between the hammer and the anvil of the liberation struggle, and as such it will not support policies that are at odds with the protection of the dignity of conservation, indigenous people and the national heritage for the equitable benefit of all and make national parks the pride and joy of all its citizens. Dr David Mabunda is the chief executive officer of South African National Parks photo: Lynette Strauss

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Abe appointed as new leader for Kruger National Park Ve l a p h i Abraham S i b i y a (known as Abe) has been appointed by the board of South African National Parks (SANParks) as managing executive of the Kruger National Park (KNP). Sibiya has been officially acting as the Managing Executive: KNP since December 2008. He holds a BSc degree from the University of Witwatersrand with Botany and Zoology as his major subjects, as well as a BSc (Hons) in Wildlife Management from the University of Pretoria. Sibiya has 25 years experience in the field of Conservation Management, with special emphasis on park development and management as well as ecotourism management. Besides having been exposed to conservation management practices outside of the country, he also held a number of executive management positions in the Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism Authorities over a period of 10 years. Having grown up in the Lowveld area of Mpumalanga, Sibiya understands, and appreciates, the culture of the province and its peoples. He also loves the local landscape, its incredible flora and fauna, and the associated tourism products and what these mean, not for the province, but the whole nation. SANParks chief executive, David Mabunda, said that KNP is the flagship of the South African National Parks and so it was important to appoint to its helm a person who would be able to understand and appreciate its complexities. “We wish Mr Sibiya all the best in his new challenge as well as strength to steer this mighty ship well into the future. With the current economic climate, SANParks has never been in greater need of strong leadership to continue building its economic stability,” said Mabunda.

Koedoe Update The latest articles published in KoedoeJason focus Trollip on vegetation and plant communities Theo Mostert, author of Plant communities of the Soutpansberg Arid Northern Bushveld, describes the plant communities of this area in detail. Main ecological drivers of the vegetation structure and species composition of these communities are discussed and some conservation recommendations are made. Eight plant communities were identified and described as Commiphora tenuipetiolata Adansonia digitata short open woodland, Ledebouria ovatifolia-Commiphora mollis short bushland, Phyllanthus reticulatus- Acacia nigrescens short bushland, Tinnea rhodesiana-Combretum apiculatum short bushland, Dichrostachys cinerea subsp. africana-Spirostachys africana low thickets, Themeda triandra-Pterocarpus rotundifolius short closed grassland on steep basaltic slopes, Cyperus albostriatus-Syzygium cordatum sandveld wetlands, and Sesamothamnus lugardii-Catophractes alexandri tall sparse shrubland. These plant communities are event-driven ecosystems, predominantly influenced by frequent droughts, exposure to desiccation and unpredictable rainfall events. The complex topography of the Soutpansberg further contributes to the aridity of these ecosystems. The classification and ordination analyses show similar groupings in the vegetation of the Soutpansberg Arid Mountain Bushveld. The results from this study will alter existing regional vegetation maps profoundly. The described plant communities of these arid event-driven ecosystems should be used as benchmark examples of the region’s primary vegetation. Conservation and management planning should be based on these vegetation units The classification, mapping and description of the vegetation of the Rooipoort Nature Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa by Hugo Bezuidenhout is an investigation into the plant ecology of this Reserve Reserve.

It came about from a need for a scientifically-based wildlife management plan and for more knowledge on vegetation. The main aim of this study was therefore to classify, describe and map the vegetation of the reserve. The floristic data were analysed according to the Braun-Blanquet procedure using the BBPC suite. The data analysis resulted in the identification of 15 communities that can be grouped into ten major community types. This resulted in five ecology-based management units, which could assist with the compilation of an ecologically sound management plan for the reserve in order to achieve sustainable utilisation of the natural resources. The Rooipoort Nature Reserve is one of the oldest and largest private nature reserves in South Africa and as such deserves to be conserved and protected. The riverine and pan vegetation communities are considered to be endangered and are in need of special conservation and protection. The results suggest five management units, which will assist in the compilation of an ecologically sound management plan for the RNR, in order to allow sustainable utilization of natural resources. For more information on our services, please visit: Website: w w w. openjournals. net or http:// www.koedoe.co.za/ index.php/ koedoe/article Email: [email protected] photo: Lynette Strauss

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Trees “vital for food security” Countries tackling food insecurity and climate change adaptation can greatly benefit from agroforestry - integrating fleshy plants and trees into their farming systems, environmental specialists say. Sub-Saharan Africa has a history of food insecurity brought on by meagre rains, land degradation, declining soil fertility and bad management of resources, among other factors. “How do we, in a world of more than six billion people, rising to perhaps over nine billion, feed everyone while simultaneously securing the ecosystem services such as forests and wetlands that underpin agriculture, and indeed life itself in the first place?” Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), posited at the second World Congress on Agroforestry in Nairobi. “We can empower people - not to wait for others to do something for them - but to take the initiative, one tree at a time,” Steiner said. “Trees are one of nature’s most ingenious answers to many of our problems.” Agroforestry helps supply fodder, fruit and nuts as well as trees and shrubs that produce gums, resins and valuable medicines. Steiner said agroforestry may have many roles to play in the new landscape of rewarding countries for their natural or nature-based services. “Firstly it offers the potential for maximizing sustainable food production in the zones surrounding natural forests while also boosting biodiversity and other ‘natural infrastructure’. “Secondly, it offers an opportunity for timber production and thus alternative livelihoods to meet perhaps a supply gap that may emerge under a fully-fledged REDD [Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation] regime. “Thirdly these agroforestry areas can also potentially secure flows from carbon finance in their own right.”

Better REDD REDD is a strategy to help local communities conserve forests, including funding these efforts through governments and market-based mechanisms, such as trading the carbon stored by forests as credits to greenhouse gas-emitting industries. Trees such as the Faidherbia albida, a leguminous acacia-like tree, are especially

useful. “Faidherbia goes dormant at the beginning of the rains and deposits abundant quantities of organic fertilizer on to the food crops to provide nutrients and increase yields, totally free of charge,” said Dennis Garrity, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Director-General. “They are fertilizer factories in the food crop fields.” The leaves and pods of the Faidherbia, which are adapted to a wide array of climates and soils from deserts to humid tropics, provide fodder in the dry season too. Garrity said: “The much higher food prices... have exacerbated the pain of hunger in hundreds of millions of households. The standard solutions just aren’t working. The question is, what are we as agroforestry scientists going to do about it? What are we going to contribute to sustainable solutions?” With shrinking forests, he said, “the rising demand for tree products will have to be met from farm-grown sources. Clearly, agroforestry science has much to offer in overcoming the food security challenges in Africa, and elsewhere in the world.”

Tree cover According to a 24 August report   by ICRAF, “tree cover is a common feature on agricultural land”, and represents over one billion hectares of land. “Agroforestry, if defined by tree cover of greater than 10 percent on agricultural land, is widespread, found on 46 percent of all agricultural land area globally, and affecting 30 percent of rural populations,” stated the report. Namanga Ngongi, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said: “Seventy-five percent of Africa’s farm lands are degraded, and deforestation is taking place at four times the global average, destroying 1 percent of our forests every year.” Agroforestry alone could remove 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next 50 years, meeting about a third of the world’s total carbon reduction challenge, according to ICRAF studies.

Carbon payback Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai suggested that subsistence farmers might be more willing to invest in farming trees if there were carbon credit revenue guarantees. UNEP recently launched a Carbon Benefits Project in the catchments of Lake Victoria, Niger, Nigeria and China, which seeks to find a standardized way of assessing how much carbon is actually locked away in vegetation and in soils under different landmanagement regimes. This has been a major challenge for African smallholders seeking to access the carbon market. Preliminary findings are expected within 18 months. According to Steiner, economic incentives are required to reverse deforestation and forest degradation. “...Simply locking away forests to secure their carbon as if they are the Queen’s jewels, or putting up the modern equivalent of a Berlin Wall between forests and people, is almost certainly folly and almost certainly a recipe for disaster,” he said. @ IRIN (http://www.irinnews. org/) photo: Lynette Strauss

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ESCALATED ANTIPOACHING ACTIONS STARTING TO YIELD RESULTS South African National Parks (SANParks) announced earlier this months that more poachers have been apprehended in recent weeks due to the increased efforts to stamp down on poaching of rhino and other high value wildlife in the Kruger National Park. In July 2009 SANParks announced that the organisation had lost 26 white rhino and one black rhino to poaching and an added 10.3kg of rhino horn through a violent robbery in the Addo Elephant National Park. “It is with sadness that we announce that since our announcement at the end of July we have lost a seven white rhino to poachers. However, the greatest news to come out of these despicable activities is that SANParks has since apprehended another six suspected rhino poachers and the recovery of five illegal firearms,” said Dr David Mabunda, the chief executive of SANParks. The new arrests bring the number of arrested suspects to 14, with 11 recovered illegal firearms. Dr Mabunda said that what is alarming about this information is that of the 33 rhinos (including 1 black rhino) poached this year 28 of them were illegally killed along the eastern boundary with Mozambique and all the 14 suspects arrested thus far were of Mozambican origin. “We intend to increase our efforts even more in ensuring that this scourge is routed out. Discussions have been started with Mozambican authorities to solicit their assistance in apprehending suspects and preventing illegal activities from proliferating on their side of the fence,” said Dr Mabunda. SANParks has pledged a sum of R5.2 million from its Park Development Fund which is aimed at improving anti-poaching interventions in the KNP. The funds are being used for increasing the number of field rangers by 57 people as well as buying more vehicles and a state of the Crime Information Management System. For other previous related articles on the matter please visit the SANParks website www.sanparks.org

Free access to park to cultivate community interest Lynette Strauss The 2009 SA National Parks Week was officially opened at Mopanie Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park on Monday, September 14. Keynote speaker on the day, minister of water and environmental affairs, BP Sonjica, says South Africa’s national parks are not just huge expanses of land, “but have a huge impact on our lives in so many ways.” “I believe that our national parks speak to the correct use of our resources for sustenance, but with the full recognition of the fact that such use needs to be sustainable as well.” According to SANParks, chief executive, Dr David Mabunda SA National Parks Week offers an opportunity for all South Africans to experience their national parks and develop a sense of pride which culminates to renewed and improved efforts by all South Africans, towards taking care of the country’s conservation resources. “Through this project, we also aim at building stronger constituencies and ambassadors of conservation and the environment.” After the official launch, the delegates were taken on a guided tour of the Masorini Heritage site, situated close to the Phalaborwa Entrance Gate. The week-long celebration of free access to parks by South Africans ran from 14 to 20 September. It does not include Boulders in the Table Mountain National Park nor any of the commercially driven activities in parks, such as open safari guided tours, “as these are driven as commercial vehicles to ensure the sustainability of parks, with some run independently by commercial tour operators.” “The survival of the South African national parks system and our natural and cultural heritage lies in the people of South Africa and this year we are focusing on involving young people and communities, to cultivate a knowledge of the importance of conservation and an appreciation for the country’s natural heritage”, added Dr. Mabunda. The Kruger National Park hosted a senior citizens groups for lunch in Skukuza on Tuesday and another group on Thursday. The concept was launched in 2006, to encourage all South Africans to visit national parks, based on the realisation that the majority of this country’s citizens were not accessing parks.

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Free access to park to cultivate community interest

Kruger National Park guides tell more about the rich heritage showcased at the Masorini Heritage Site, situated close to the Phalaborwa Entrance Gate

Minister BP Sonjica and Dr David Mabunda shopping at Mopane Rest Camp South Africa’s minister of water and environmental affairs, BP Sonjica and Dr David Mabunda, SANParks chief executive inspect the rangers’ drill squad during the launch of SANParks week 2009. photos: Lynette Strauss

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Learn to Love Vultures - or Lose Them BirdLife Partners in Africa and elsewhere have joined with raptor conservation and research organisations around the world to call for an “image makeover” for vultures. International Vulture Awareness was celebrated on 5 September 2009. This comes against a backdrop of recent reports of problems facing vultures in Africa and the ongoing ones in Asia. Across the Indian subcontinent, populations of three formerly very common species of vulture have declined by more than 97% as a result of consuming cattle carcasses contaminated with the veterinary drug diclofenac. There have been mass vulture deaths in East Africa associated with misuse of chemicals, huge population declines in West Africa due to habitat loss, and the disappearance of vultures from large areas of their formers ranges in South Africa because of the continued use of vulture parts in traditional medicine and sorcery. Other threats include power line collisions and electrocutions, disturbance at breeding sites, drowning in farm reservoirs, direct persecution and declining food availability. Vultures fulfill an extremely important ecological role. They keep the environment

free of carcasses and waste, restrict the spread of diseases such as anthrax and botulism, and help control numbers of pests such as rats and feral dogs by reducing the food available to them. They are of cultural value to communities in Africa and Asia, and have important eco-tourism value. “Indeed vultures provide a perfect example of the link between birds and people. Loss of vultures would mean loss of important natural services to people, for example the cleaning of the environment of animal carcasses and waste at no charge”, said Dr Hazell Shokellu Thompson, BirdLife’s Regional Director for Africa. “One major challenge to detecting and countering these threats is that there are very few people out there watching vultures, let alone counting them. Thus it is difficult to determine population trends and to detect declining populations”, said Paul Kariuki Ndang’ang’a, BirdLife’s Species Programme Manager for Africa. “The Asian Vulture Crisis has shown that without proper monitoring, a population crash can take place virtually undetected.” The BirdLife Africa Partnership is therefore urging people to notice the important roles that vultures play, and the crisis they

are currently facing. Organisations and individuals that have the capacity are encouraged to take action for vultures where feasible. Some of the main conservation actions that have been identified for vultures in Africa include: establishing a monitoring network for African vultures, establishing legal protection for the species in range states, eliminating the veterinary use of diclofenac and other toxic drugs in Africa, and carrying out education and awareness programmes, particularly targeted at farmers, to reduce persecution, unintentional poisoning and hunting for cultural reasons. Elsewhere in the world, Birdlife Partner Bird Conservation Nepal had a full programme of events including art and photo competitions, the launch of a vulture action plan, a half day workshop for conservation groups, a campaign to collect signatures for a petition calling for a ‘diclofenac-free zone’, school talks, and the publication of pamphlets to raise awareness of vultures and their plight. Israeli Partner the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel will be offering public lectures in all its birding centres across the country. Manufacture of the veterinary form of Diclofenac, was outlawed in India in 2006 after a successful advocacy campaign by BNHS (BirdLife in India) and RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), and although these veterinary formulations are disappearing, equally dangerous human formulations are instead being used to treat livestock. The Asian vulture programme recently had success after Critically Endangered Slender-billed Vultures Gyps tenuirostris  were bred in captivity for the first time, raising hopes that captive breeding has the potential to save this and other Critically Endangered Asian vultures. To find out more about International Vulture Awareness go to www. ivad09.org

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Phalaborwa Residents Commemorate Arbor Day Approximately 200 people participated in the Arbor Day festivities at the Lulekani Community Hall where residents from the greater Phalaborwa area celebrated arbor day on September 11, 2009. Rio Tinto, the Palabora Foundation and the Kruger to Canyons Birding Route hosted the event aimed at creating a better understanding and greater awareness of the importance of trees in our environment.

The Limpopo department of education catered for all attendants to the event, which included all thirteen Eco Schools in the BaPhalaborwa Municipality. The Kruger to Canyons Birding Route donated 30 indigenous trees to the participating Eco Schools, which will be planted on their premises during the next few weeks. “The Route has been involved in a longterm environmental education programme with the Eco Schools and will be including global climate change and carbon footprint mitigation as new modules to the existing programme” says Project Manager Brenden Pienaar. Whilst promoting tourism the route is also committed to ensuring that it does not have a negative impact on the environment.

Arbor Day was initially proposed by Sterling Morton in 1854, a journalist and newspaper editor, who particularly loved trees and lived near the Nebraska Territories in the United States of America. Succeeding the Arbor Day proposition at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, a tree planting holiday was proclaimed in 1872 and the celebrations soon spread around the world. In recent times the destruction of natural vegetation by human activities has contributed to increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The destruction of vegetation reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that is removed from the atmosphere and contributes to global climate change. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. The carbon dioxide is therefore trapped in the roots and stem of trees, thereby sequestrating the excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In light of these events, the best time to plant a tree was actually sixty three years ago, but the next best time to plant a tree is now.

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Analysis: Land reform - same problem, different approach South African President Jacob Zuma’s dilemma over what to do about land and agrarian reform is no different than it was for his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, but the approach of the country’s fourth democratic president is. Rectifying the racially skewed pattern of land ownership inherited from apartheid and the alleviation of rural poverty are among Zuma’s main priorities, according to analysts, and his first 100 days in office have reflected this. The administration of land and agriculture has been the remit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs since 1996, but Zuma has divided these responsibilities between the Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The jury is still out as to whether this approach will be more effective, but the track record of the past 15 years, when agriculture and land reform were the responsibility of a single ministry, is less than inspiring. Since the first democratic elections in 1994, the aim of redistributing 30 percent of white-owned farmland to landless blacks by 2014 has failed on two levels. Only five percent of commercial land had been redistributed, and there has been an “extremely poor level of support [by government] for new, small and cashstrapped farmers who have been settled on this land”, Ruth Hall of the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) noted in a policy brief.

 Land reform failing

“The Department for Rural Development and Land Reform estimates that half of all existing [land redistribution] projects have ‘failed’; most independent research suggests that this is an optimistic reading of its track record,” Hall said. Splitting land reform and agriculture into two portfolios appears at first glance illogical, as critics maintain they are implicitly linked, but Hall said in her brief that “land reform has been crippled” by combining them. “The blame for the dismal track record of production on redistributed farms must fall largely on the national and provincial departments of agriculture, which have simply failed to come to the party,” she said. “Despite the introduction of some agricultural support and funds for land reform

beneficiaries in recent years, the agriculture departments have remained biased in favour of commercial farming, and unsupportive of smallholder farming and the production systems of the poor.” Hall said the logic of separation acknowledged that there were two spheres of agriculture in South Africa - commercial and subsistence - and the agricultural department should “focus on commercial farming, rather than the new and poor farmers on redistributed land and in the former Bantustans, whose type and scale of farming and, therefore, needs might differ substantially.” The Bantustans were a creation of apartheid in which the black majority were to live in reserves comprising 13 percent of South Africa, with the white minority and the government owning the remaining 87 percent. In 1994 the Bantustans - only recognized by the apartheid government as independent states - were reabsorbed into South Africa, but the underdevelopment of these regions has remained a stark legacy. The ANC’s 2007 National Conference in Polokwane, capital of Limpopo Province at which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party unseated former President Mbeki as leader in favour of Zuma, putting him on the path to becoming the country’s president - adopted a policy of moving away from large-scale land redistribution to the creation of black small-scale commercial farmers. Hall said that although the strategic vision for the rural areas had yet to solidify, the thrust of rural poverty alleviation was expected to focus on the communal lands of the former Bantustans. “If the new priority is to be placed on supporting agriculture and small farmers, then there will need to be substantial and sustained investment in the agricultural training colleges, as well as related professions,” she commented.

 Willing seller, willing buyer

The redistribution of commercial farmland has been premised on the “willing seller, willing buyer” model, which has led to claims by government that farmers were inflating land prices, and counter claims by farm organizations that market-driven forces had increased land values, as has been the global trend. Zuma told local media this week that there must be an alternative to the willing

seller, willing buyer model to speed up land redistribution, but in reality there is little room to move. Hall said, “There is scope for engagement with large landowners to partner with government to support land reform, and to share the cost and institutional burden. Some headway has been made in this regard, but has tended to privilege large commercial projects for black shareholders, rather than making land available for small farmers.” There is a delicate balance between the large-scale commercial farmers, who provide South Africa with food security and surpluses for food insecure neighbouring states, such as Zimbabwe, and managing the uneven land ownership that continues to instil resentment among poor and middle-class blacks. PLAAS director Ben Cousins, a contributor to a green paper on land reform expected to be published later this year, told the South African daily newspaper, Business Day, on 21 August: “Government knows large-scale expropriation isn’t feasible, even if they pass the Expropriation Bill later this year. They realize that if you expropriate you’ll end up in the courts, so it won’t be cheaper or faster anyway.” Annelize Crosby, the legal and policy advisor to AgriSA, an umbrella organization for commercial farmers and agricultural businesses, told IRIN that high land prices were often a consequence of the government’s choice of land, which preferred citrus and wine farms with urban access and good road networks, rather than, say, farms in the karoo, South Africa’s arid central plateau. Also, government’s purchase of going concerns, such as dairy farms, rather than vacant land came at a premium because of the existing infrastructure, she pointed out. Crosby said AgriSA was “100 percent behind sustainable land reform”, and noted that in the relatively short time of Zuma’s presidency there had been some discernible differences in the approach of government departments towards commercial farmers. “It’s not a night-and-day difference, but a shift in attitude towards [commercial] farmers,” Crosby said. The Zuma administration has extended “a hand of friendship and is serious about a partnership ... Mbeki was not all bad, but the partnership never really got going.” (http://www.irinnews.org/) © IRIN. All rights reserved.

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Honorary Rangers Meet with Kruger National Park Management Members of the Honorary Rangers (HR), led by chairman of the national executive council, Janssen Davies, met with the managing executive of the Kruger National Park (KNP), Abe Sibiya and seven of his management team. Dr Sam Ferreira, mammal expert of the KNP, opened proceedings with a talk on the contentious SANParks rhino sales. Johan Malan of the game capture unit was on hand to expand on some of the technical issues. Sibiya led the rest of the meeting in discussing the way forward between the two organisations, particularly on how they could align the services that are offered and provided by the HR’s to fit in with what is actually needed and requested by KNP staff. The HR team comprised Piet Andjelkovic of the Bushveld region, Grant Coleman (Lowveld), Allison Esterhuizen (PEAP and Johannesburg regoin), Herculus Swart (Pretoria), John Brankin (NTC) and Andre van der Merwe (NEC financial portfolio). For SANParks, Dr Freek Venter, Wil-

liam Mabasa, Louis Olivier, Johan Malan, Mbongeni Tukela, Steven Whitfield and Vanessa Strydom held the fort. On 3 August 2009, seven members of the Honorary Rangers (HR) met with Mr Abe Sibiya, the Acting Managing Executive of the Kruger National Park (KNP) at Skukuza. Janssen Davies, Chairperson of the NEC of the HR’s led the HR delegation, and Sibiya was assisted by seven of his management members, Dr Freek Venter, William Mabasa, Louis Olivier, Johan Malan, Mbongeni Tukela, Steven Whitfield and Vanessa Strydom. Five of the seven HR ‘s were NEC members. In addition to the ‘wish list’ agreed upon by both organisations, Davies undertook to supply Sibiya with a list of the skills that is embedded in the HR corps, which will enable the Kruger management to draw from the depth of service that the Honorary Rangers could provide. Chairman of the Honorary Rangers’ national executive council, Janssen Davies.

Integrated Effort to Combat Rhino Killings in South Africa A meeting of the minister of water and environmental affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, deputy minister Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi and MECs responsible for environment portfolios in provinces has called for integrated anti poaching efforts to halt the growing number of rhinoceros being killed by poachers. The two-day meeting held in Kwa-Zulu Natal early in September 2009, gave its support to efforts by various conservation authorities to stop poachers in their tracks. The minister and the MECs expressed their political support to provincial authorities, but also called for an integrated anti-rhino poaching strategy incorporating all rhino range provinces and the department of environmental effairs. Since January this year a total of 84 rhinos have been killed: * Kruger National Park: 33 * Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife: 19 * Gauteng: 3 * North West: 5 * Limpopo: 7 * Eastern Cape : 1 * Mpumalanga : 16 South African National Parks (SANParks) will lead an inter-provincial agencies’ team which will be aimed at co-ordinating efforts by all the affected parties. The department of environmental affairs has established a multi-party national biodiversity investigators’ forum as a platform for discussion and the sharing of information on biodiversity related law enforcement issues, including rhino poaching. Since the beginning of the year a total of 22 poachers, mostly foreign nationals, have so far been arrested by both the SANParks and the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife joint operations.

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A rough guide to climate change in Africa Reports and estimates of the impact of climate change appear almost daily, but those by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change remain the authoritative voice. The World Economic and Social Survey (WESS), published annually by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, has devoted its 2009 issue to climate change. It includes an accessible, if unsettling, guide to some of the major impacts of climate change in various African countries, based on the IPCC’s reports. Here is a quick tour of the guide.

Food security Northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt By 2100, losses in agricultural production might amount to between 0.4 percent and 1.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Egypt: By 2050, rising temperatures could shrink production of many crops, ranging from 11 percent for rice to 28 percent for soybeans. A projected decline in precipitation will also affect the flow of the Nile River, while a rise in sea level will affect food production in the Nile Delta. West Africa By 2100, agricultural losses might represent two percent to four percent of GDP. Rising annual global temperature, causing warmer seas, will affect fisheries in northwestern Africa. Gulf of Guinea: Lagoon fisheries and aquaculture could be hit when the low-barrier beaches that limit coastal lagoons are

destroyed by the rising sea level. A change in rainfall could also affect the quantity of water in the rivers that feed the lagoons. Guinea: Between 17 percent and 30 percent of the existing rice-field area could be lost to permanent flooding by 2050. Benin and Cote d’Ivoire: The inundation and subsequent salinization of coastal soil could threaten palm oil and coconut production. East Africa Rainfall is expected to increase in some parts of the region. The loss of about 20 percent of plant and animal life in Lake Tanganyika is projected, with a 30 percent decrease in fish yields. In Kenya a one-metre rise in the sea level could affect the production of mangoes, cashew nuts and coconuts, causing losses of almost US$500 million a year. On the plus side, in parts of the Ethiopian highlands a combination of higher temperatures and better rainfall may lengthen the growing season. Southern Africa More frequent El Niño conditions - in which sea surface temperatures become warmer across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean - could disrupt rains, bringing a notable drop in maize production. On the other hand, growing seasons may lengthen in parts of Southern Africa, for example Mozambique, owing to a combination of increased temperature and higher rainfall. South Africa: In Africa’s major grain producer net revenues from crops could

shrink by up to 90 percent by 2100.

Water resources Northern Africa More people could be experiencing water stress by 2055, particularly in Egypt, where a rapidly expanding population - expected to reach between 115 and 179 million by 2050 - might be demanding more water as the climate gets hotter.  East and West Africa Rainfall is likely to increase in these regions, easing droughts in the east of the continent but bringing more frequent floods in the west.  Southern Africa Large areas of the region are already experiencing water shortages, or are arid and trying to prevent encroaching desertification, so there is likely to be a greater number of people living with water stress by 2055 as rainfall becomes more erratic or declines.

Health West Africa Good news! By 2050 and beyond, a large part of the western Sahel will probably become unsuitable for malaria transmission. East Africa Based on parasite survey data, the previously malaria-free highland areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi could experience modest incursions of malaria by the 2050s, with conditions for transmission becoming highly suitable by 2080s. In central Somalia, areas that now have low rates of malaria could develop high prevalence of the disease. Rift Valley fever epidemics - evident during the 1997-1998 El Niño event in East Africa and associated with flooding - could become more frequent and widespread as El Niño events increase. Southern Africa More areas are likely to become more suitable for malaria, with a southward expansion of the transmission zone into Zimbabwe and South Africa. Parts of the Angolan highlands where there are low rates of malaria transmission could see the disease become rife by the 2080s. (http://www.irinnews.org/) © IRIN. All rights reserved. photo: Lynette Strauss

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Climate change cost of mitigation Almost every day a think-tank or a nongovernmental organisation releases a new price tag for mitigating or adapting to the impact of climate change in poor countries. The World Development Report 2010, the World Bank’s flagship annual report, put the cost of mitigation in developing countries as high as US$400 billion a year for the next 20 years, noting that adaptation investments could average $75 billion a year from 2010 to 2050. What financing mechanisms and funding are available right now for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries? Here is a guide, based on a list prepared by the World Bank report, and the World Economic and Social Survey (WESS), published annually by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs. Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): The Global Environment Facility (GEF) - a 178-member international financing body that helps developing countries fund projects and programmes to protect the global environment - as of December 2008, US$352 million of the $1.03 billion for mitigation had been committed to projects. Sustainable Forest Management - this special GEF programme has $154 million available for land use, land-use change and forestry projects. Sustainable Priority on Adaptation (SPA) - the GEF Trust Fund’s pilot programme on adaptation - the entire $90 million available has been allocated. Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF Adaptation), operated by GEF - as of December 2008, $68 million of the available $90 million had been allocated to 15 projects. Least Developed Countries’ Fund, operated by GEF - $172 million (including pledges); as of December 2008, $91.8 million has been available for adaptation projects. Adaptation Fund - as of October 2008, $91.3 million was available for adaptation projects. Billions of dollars have been pledged.

 Bilateral: Cool Earth Partnership (Japan) - this $10 billion facility, set up by the Japanese government, provides grants and loans for adaptation and mitigation projects and is

available until 2012. It has up to $2 billion for improving access to clean energy, and $8 billion in preferential interest rate loans for mitigation projects. Climate and Forest Initiative (CFI) (Norway) - a $2.2 billion Norwegian government fund, available until 2012, which provides grants for mitigation projects; it has pledged $102 million to the Amazon Fund, an NGO that will use the money to help conserve the rainforests of the Amazon River Basin. International Window of the Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF-IW) (United Kingdom) - money from this fund, established by the UK government, is available until 2010. It hopes to allocate most of the $1.18 billion available via the World Bank Climate Investment Fund, set up in 2008 to help developing countries implement mitigation and adaptation projects. Amazon Fund (Brazil) - so far only Norway has pledged $102 million to this fund, which is supposed to have about $1 billion. Donations will be administered by the National Development Bank of Brazil. International Climate initiative (ICI) (Germany) - this $764 million fund, established by the German government, hopes to raise 10 percent of its allowances from the Emission Trading Scheme of the European Union, under which energy-intensive companies can buy and sell permits allowing them to emit carbon dioxide. The International Forest Carbon Initiative (IFCI) (Australia) - the fund set up by the Australian government hopes to provide grants from its pool of $129 million for mitigation projects until 2011. As of November 2008, $50 million had been allocated. UN Development Programme - Spain Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund, Environment and Climate Change thematic window - this $90 million initiative will provide grants for mitigation and adaptation projects until 2010. Global Climate Change alliance (GCCA) - this $76 million fund created by the European Commission provides grants to the most vulnerable countries, such as small islands, for adaptation and mitigation projects.

 Multilateral:

mitigation projects until 2020. It has committed $160 million so far. The Carbon Partnership Facility, also set up by the World Bank - has $500 million available for mitigation projects, of which $140 million has been committed. Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) - a donor-funded facility for adaptation projects administered by the World Bank - has received only $15 million of $83 million pledged. UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UNREDD) - a facility of more than $52 million for mitigation projects; it has approved six initiatives worth almost $30 million to date. Climate Investment Funds, consisting of the Clean Technology Fund and the Strategic Climate Fund, administered by the World Bank - this $6.2 billion facility provides loans and grants for mitigation and adaptation projects through the two funds. The United States has put $2 billion into the Clean Technology Fund and is its major backer. Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI), created by the InterAmerican Development Bank - this $29 million facility provides grants and loans for adaptation and mitigation projects. It has backed major investments in the development of biofuels, renewable energy and other sustainable energy options. (http://www.irinnews.org/) © IRIN. All rights reserved.

South Africa is working towards a strategic policy framework in which our emissions peak between 2020 and 2025, stabilize for a decade, before declining in absolute terms towards mid century. To achieve this we will require extensive international financial and technical support. - South African Government, September 2009

Forest Carbon Partnership Facility - a $385 million facility established by the World Bank to provide grants and loans for

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Elephant persuaded to keep his distance Most employees at the Palabora Mining Company (PMC), adjacent the Kruger National Park in the Phalaborwa area, takes the abundant wildlife roaming the mining area in their stride. At times, the odd rogue requires particular attention, as was the case recently. An inquisitive elephant bull was ambling along the site roaming an area between one section of the plant and some offices when he was persuaded to return to the surrounding bush. The animals are normally very tolerant of the staff and mine activities, but sometimes the interaction becomes a little too close-up and personal. The security staff were called in and the bull was escorted to a safer area. He did make his presence known to all he encountered on the way,

with head shakes and mock charges, before he eventually, indignantly disappeared in the lowveld bushes.

Elephant activities

The mine is situated within a wildlife sanctuary. There is a dam on site, close to one of the roads, that is often visited by elephants, where they frolic and play to their hearts’ content. Many visitors to site, especially first timers, are amazed at the interaction, but even the old hands all enjoy the sightings. With a particularly dry winter coming to an end, animals are all over the property, looking for food and water and it is not an uncommon early morning sight to find elephant droppings in the roads, gar-

dens and sometimes even on doorsteps. Baboons, monkeys, squirrels, waterbuck, impala, buffalo and giraffe have made themselves comfortable on the mine premises, and security staff are not unfamiliar with issuing the odd lion warning. On a sadder note, many baboons are maimed when they investigate the workings of machinery or equipment. Ingenious door locks Ingenious door locks can be seen all over. A favourite is to turn the handles upside down; a trick not yet discovered by our primate friends. Some doors sport two handles, and while baboon proof dustbins are the order of the day, the resident troops still scrounge, scavenge and make their presence felt.

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Why Female Water Buffalo Have Horns, Impala Do Not The reason some female hoofed animals have horns while others do not has long puzzled evolutionary biologists, even the great Charles Darwin. But now a survey of 117 bovid species led by Ted Stankowich, professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, suggests an answer: Females that can’t readily hide in protective cover and those who must defend a feeding territory are more likely to have horns than those who live in protective habitat or don’t defend a territory. The idea that horns and antlers evolved in male animals for fighting over mates and territories is well established, but until now no study has been able to come close to explaining every case of female horns in antelope, gazelles and similar species, says Stankowich, a former Darwin Postdoctoral Fellow. But that is just what he and co-author Tim Caro of the University of California Davis have done. By developing the conspicuousness measure—the product of openness of habitat and shoulder height—as well as female territoriality for this analysis, Stankowich and Caro say they can explain “nearly every instance of horns in female bovids (80 of 82 species).” Their article appears in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Results suggest that the evolution of horns in these females is driven by natural selection to enhance their ability to defend themselves and their young against predators. The two researchers are the first to specifically test female territoriality as a possible factor, Stankowich notes. Other variables to explain female weaponry such as body size and group size had been tested before, but Stankowich and Caro pitted all the hypotheses against each other in a statistical analysis and found conspicuousness was the best predictor of the pattern. In developing the conspicuousness measure, the researchers hypothesized that taller species living in the open are more visible from longer distances and more likely to benefit from horns to defend themselves against predators. “We show that female bovids that are conspicuous to predators because they are large or live in open habitats are far more likely to bear horns than inconspicuous species that can simply rely on being cryptic or hidden in their environment.

However, females of some small species like duikers in which females fight over territories also bear horns,” says Stankowich. Past hypotheses about horns evolving for defense in females predicted that only heavy species are able to defend themselves and would benefit from horns. “Our study shows that it is not necessarily the animal’s size but rather its conspicuousness that counts most, and this is a product of the openness of habitat and body height,” Stankowich adds. Thus, a medium-sized species living in the desert like a gazelle is very conspicuous and could benefit from horns, but a large species living in the dense jungle like a bushbuck can still remain hidden from predators and have no use for horns. “Different selection pressures are responsible for diverse weaponry in ungulates,” Caro and Stankowich summarize. Specifically, to investigate factors involved in the evolution of weaponry in female bovids, Stankowich and Caro first categorized the females of 117 bovine species as horned or not. They then used a series of statistical steps to test how well the different predictive variables matched the presence or absence of horns in each species. Their first analysis tested shoulder height and habitat openness separately, but they also designed a composite measure that accounted for shoulder height while weighting openness more heavily. This exposure metric multiplied a species’ shoulder height measurement factor by mean openness of primary habitat. It allowed bongos, a tall species living in dense forests, to score low on the scale, for example, while mediumsized species such as gazelles score in the middle and tall species in open country such as musk oxen score high. Pitting the different variables against

each other in a series of multiple linear regression models, Stankowich and Caro calculated phylogenetic contrasts for each factor and found that conspicuousness had a statistically significant effect on presence of horns in females and the greatest effect among the five variables. The use of phylogenetic contrasts meant the researchers could take species relatedness with one another into account. Territoriality among females and body weight of the species also had a significant effect on the presence of horns. That is, large size may reduce escape speed and enhance the need for horns. However, shoulder height and group size did not have an effect. The two exceptions identified by Stankowich and Caro are the female African bongo, large antelope found in dense forests which use their horns to establish dominance within female groups, and the female mountain anoa, a small water buffalo, which we know very little about but the females may indeed be territorial like other members of its genus (Bubalus). “Our goal was to explain EVERY instance and we think we did just that, given what we know about these two exceptions,” notes Stankowich. Overall, the two evolutionary biologists believe their findings may be relevant to other female ruminants, but further study is needed. photo: Lynette Strauss

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Kruger Krazies’ Claim to Shame I was in Kruger today (Sunday 13 September) The driver of this vehicle in the photo actually climbed out of his vehicle at a lion sighting!Unfortunately when he saw me about to take his photo he climbed back into his bakkie, but as you can see his passengers certainly did not oblige. I am attaching a photo of the reaction of the lioness. Keep up the excellent work. Best wishes Les Blandy, Hoedspruit, South Africa

Feeding animals in the Kruger National Park is detrimental to the well-being of the animals and a punishable offence.

Visitors are only allowed to leave their vehicles at clearly designated areas. This get together (above right) on the side of the road shows a total disregard for the rules of the park, as does the woman wandering in the bush (right). These photos of transgressors of Park rules are published in an attempt to assist in restoring basic respect for others and the Park. Entries are sent by visitors, rangers and all people concerned wit the welfare of the Park and its visitors.

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Letters * Letters * Letters * Letters

Rules of the Park Chris de Beer commented about Kruger Rules on the Kruger Park Times facebook group. Kruger Park is national treasure for South African’s and has a very proud history, but it seems that there’s some fellow South Africans that think they literaly own the park. The rules of the park does not apply to them, but they are quick to complain

if they are caught. Perfect examples are speeding (especially while towing a caravan), getting out of your vehicle at sightings, littering, noise polition, feeding of animals etc. The best is the aggresive and arrogant behaviour that comes with it when confronted. I think it’s time that SANParks take proper action and police this situation more, and

ban this fools for life from our parks, so that the people who realy enjoy and respect nature can enjoy Kruger, and not experience this behaviour that’s prevelant in SA towns and cities. The way things are going the fact that nothing or little is done will result in hooligans going to Kruger and the true nature lovers, stay at home.

Vulnerable people, diminishing wildlife Dr Richard Thomas, TRAFFIC Bushmeat trade is one that provokes stronger emotions than any other aspect of wildlife trade; most people recoil from images of the severed hands or heads of Great Apes, which look all too human. Yet more than 34 million people living in Africa’s Congo Basin depend on wildlife as their significant and direct source of protein.  More than one million tonnes of bushmeat are consumed per year in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone. Agricultural food production in this region has not increased significantly throughout the last 40 years, so that many rural societies still depend on wildlife resources. Most popular with hunters are duikers (small antelopes) and primates—an estimated minimum of 3,000 to 6,000 Great Apes are killed annually for the trade—but overall 42 mammal species of international conservation concern have been identified in the commercial African bushmeat trade, and local extinctions of leopard, golden cat and elephant have been caused through excessive harvest. Many believe the unsustainable levels of bushmeat trade represent the most immediate threat to the Congo Basin’s wildlife over the next 5 to 25 years. Many species are hunted to dangerously low levels with harvesting rates exceeding several times the sustainable rate. Clearly, this conservation crisis needs to be tackled, but in a rational and logical manner. In its support to Central African governments and their mission to design and im-

plement national bushmeat strategies, TRAFFIC is analysing the bushmeat trade dynamics in selected countries of the region, thereby identifying key priorities and gaps for the whole Central African subregion. TRAFFIC has also generated some generic research at regional level to answer some basic questions such as what levels of natural wild bushmeat production are possible and under what circumstances? How do land use patterns impact on the productivity of wild bushmeat? Where is bushmeat traded? Even why is it eaten? Some early results have perhaps been surprising. Bushmeat consumption increases significantly with personal wealth; such food is increasingly regarded as a luxury product throughout much of Central Africa. As such, the development of animal husbandry to supply protein needs may not satisfy the bushmeat demand. There is also a significant relationship between bushmeat production and population

density, with consumption rising per capita as more of the population moves into urban centres—the current trend of urbanisation throughout Central Africa may trigger a large increase in the consumption of bushmeat. Through understanding the dynamics and market forces driving the bushmeat trade, TRAFFIC expects to be able to help develop solutions to avert this ever looming crisis. Whether TRAFFIC succeeds or not will become obvious in the next 5 to 25 years as the crisis comes to a head. Much of TRAFFIC’s work on bushmeat has been undertaken thanks to funding provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. photo: Lynette Strauss

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We need another Green Revolution The world faced a major food crisis in the mid-1960s, when India and most of Asia had suffered back-to-back droughts and were dependant on food aid. The US President’s Science Advisory Committee remarked in a 1967 report that it would take an “innovative effort unprecedented in human history” to “master” the crisis. Thousands of kilometres away in Mexico, the high-yield varieties of wheat developed by scientist Norman Borlaug and his team of researchers provided the answer. Borlaug, who recently passed away, subsequently won the Nobel Peace Prize for saving a billion people from starvation. “Borlaug’s seeds grew faster and were insensitive to daylight length, enabling more crops to be grown each year on the same piece of land,” wrote Peter Hazell, a prominent agricultural economist, in “Think Again: Green Revolution”, an article in Foreign Policy, a bimonthly American magazine owned by the Washington Post Company. Simultaneously the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) had developed high-yielding rice varieties, which spread all over Asia, doubling annual cereal production in the region from 310 million metric tons to 650 million metric tons between 1970 and 1995. Asia’s population grew by 60 percent in the same period but the rise in food production “was so great that cereal and calorie availability per person actually increased nearly 30 percent, and wheat and rice became cheaper,” wrote Hazell. William Gaud, then Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), dubbed this phenomenal growth in food production the “Green Revolution”. Hazell commented in a briefing paper for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which promotes sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty, that Gaud was “hoping it would help contain the Communist ‘Red Revolution’ that was capitalizing on poverty in developing countries at the time”. It is time for another green revolution: we need to produce 70 percent more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050, mostly in developing countries, according to UN projections. Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is expected to grow the fastest, adding 910 million people, or 108 percent; East and Southeast Asia’s the slowest, adding only

228 million, or 11 percent. In November a global summit convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome will discuss “How to Feed the World by 2050”.

 A revolution in Africa? The Green Revolution failed in Africa, but with a few changes it could work, said David Dawe, a senior agricultural economist at FAO. The revolution in Asia rode on the success of irrigated wheat and rice, which play “much smaller roles” in Africa; the continent needed improvements in its staple crops - maize, sorghum, millet and cassava - grown in rain-fed conditions. But even when new improved varieties did arrive, the longed-for green revolution was not sustainable. Weak rural infrastructure in African countries meant high transportation and marketing costs for farmers; the inability to import expensive fertilizers, which had played a big role in boosting food production in Asia, proved to be the undoing of most efforts in Africa. Specialized maize cultivation on fragile land brought soil degradation; corrupt marketing boards undermined the revolution and led to its eventual collapse, wrote Thom Jayne, who teaches agricultural economics at Michigan State University in the US, in a paper he co-authored. “The net result is that it is simply not profitable for most African farmers,” who are small-scale, dependent on rainwater, and have to make do with little policy support from governments “to shift to high-input, high-output farming systems,” Hazell commented. Achim Dobermann, Deputy Director General for Research at IRRI, told IRIN that the basic ingredients for a green revolution in Africa would have to be similar to those in Asia: high-yielding rice varieties adapted to African rice ecosystems, development of a seed sector to make these varieties available, and improvement in the supply of inputs, infrastructure and irrigation. African governments would also have to take a leading role. “On average, Asian countries were allocating over 15 percent of their total government spending to agriculture by 1972, and they doubled the real value of their agricultural expenditure by 1985,” wrote Hazell.

Not a kosher revolution? Critics of the Green Revolution have often highlighted its indiscriminate and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which polluted waterways and affected wildlife. “These were unintended consequences”, Jayne told IRIN. “And it would behoove us to consider ... how many people would have starved or remained malnourished and impoverished if the green revolution technologies hadn’t been promoted? We’re at a point now where clear-headed policies toward both agricultural and environmental technologies are needed to sustain the planet and its inhabitants.” Christopher Barrett, a leading food aid expert who teaches development economics at Cornell University in the US, said a more environmentally friendly green revolution was “feasible and necessary”. It should rely more heavily on integrated soil-fertility management which blended organic and inorganic nutrient supplements; on rainwater capture and conservation more than pumped groundwater; on mixed cropping systems to ensure adequate dietary diversity, and resistance to pests and diseases that could wipe out monocultures; and on crop varieties and animal breeds adapted to Africa’s highly varied agro-ecosystems. (http://www.irinnews.org/) © IRIN. All rights reserved. photo: Lynette Strauss

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Jury Still Out on Whether New Mosquito Carries Malaria A new species of mosquito has been discovered by South African researchers, adding to the pantheon of some 140 species of Anopheles mosquitoes in Africa, of which seven are known to be malaria vectors. “A lot of Africa’s mosquitoes are not investigated - the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a huge blank in the map. Who knows what is happening in the remote regions of the Rift Valley?” said Prof Maureen Coetzee, of the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Pathology in Johannesburg, South Africa, who discovered the new species. Coetzee is one of the authors of the report: A New Species Concealed by Anopheles funestus Giles, a Major Malaria Vector in Africa. “Understanding the vectors is absolutely key; if we don’t do anything about mosquitoes, we will never do anything about malaria,” she told IRIN. The previously unknown species - provisionally named Anopheles funestus-like - was discovered during field studies by researchers from the university and South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases in and around rural villages in northern Malawi near the town of Karonga, on the western shore of Lake Malawi. The new species is related to the major African malarial vector, Anopheles funestus, but the “jury is still out on ... whether it carries [the] malaria [parasite],” Coetzee said. The Anopheles funestus Giles group of mosquitoes has nine known African species, and “although the members of the Anopheles funestus group may be similar in morphology [its form and structure], their efficiencies as malaria vectors vary greatly,” the report said. Anopheles funestus s.s. is recognized as one of the primary causes of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa because it is anthropophilic, meaning that it prefers to feed on humans rather than other animals, and endophilic, meaning it associates with humans and their domestic environment. While “anopheles rivulum has only once been implicated in malaria transmission in Tanzania, it generally elects to blood-feed on domestic animals rather than humans,” the report said. The new species were “common inside houses [which] makes them potential [malaria] vectors”, the researchers found, “although none of the 61 specimens examined for malaria parasite infection during this

study were positive for Plasmodium Falciparum, [the parasite that causes malaria in humans].” Coetzee said it was important to ascertain whether Anopheles funestus-like was a malaria vector or not, but this could only be determined after further research. If it did not carry malaria it would be unnecessary to spend money on disease containments like spraying; if it did, strategies should be developed to limit its impact. “Using the unique mosquito breeding facilities at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases [in Johannesburg], we were able to carry out a range of experiments to show that the mosquitoes from Malawi were not the same as Anopheles funestus, and that we were dealing with a species new to science,” Coetzee said in a statement on September 1, 2009 announcing the breakthrough.

 Don’t know as much as we thought we did “The results have implications for malaria-vector control, particularly any attempt to use genetically modified mosquitoes. They also demonstrate how little we know about the malaria mosquito vectors in Africa despite over 100 years of research into this important disease.” Nobel Prize winner Sir Ronald Ross, working in Secunderabad, near Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh State, India, scientifically proved in 1897 that mosquitoes carried the parasite that caused malaria. Coetzee remarked, “Here we are in 2009, discovering a new species [of mosquito] it really is quite remarkable. The more we look, the more we will find; we might think that we know an awful lot [about mosquitoes and malaria], but there is a lot to learn.” The incidence of drug-resistant malaria in Cambodia was “causing worldwide panic”, she said, but there were differences between Asian and African mosquitoes - “African vectors are very good [at transmitting malaria].” According to the World Malaria report for 2008 by the UN World Health Organization, half the world’s population is at risk, and an estimated 247 million cases led to nearly one million deaths in 2006. Pregnant women and children in sub-Saharan Africa are especially threatened. (http://www.irinnews.org/)© IRIN. All rights reserved.

Giant 507 carat diamond found in South Africa A rare 507 carat white diamond was discovered at the Cullinan Mine near Pretoria. “This spectacular gemstone was recovered on Thursday, 24 September, and is currently with experts for analysis,” said a statement released by Mining group Petra Diamonds, on Tuesday, September 29. According to the London-listed company which operates mainly in Africa, initial examinations indicate that it is of exceptional colour and clarity, and most likely to be a Type I diamond. The precious stone was found alongside three other special white gems of similar colour and clarity, a large diamond of 168 carats and two other stones of 58.50 and 53.30 carats. At 507 carats (just over 100 grams) the diamond is considered to be among the top 20 largest high quality rough diamonds ever found worldwide. “The Cullinan mine has again given the world a spectacularly beautiful and important diamond,” said Petra’s chief executive Johan Dippenaar. “Initial indications are that it is of exceptional colour and clarity, which suggest extraordinary potential for its polished yield.” The mine, which was previously owned by diamond mining giant De Beers, is renowned for the discovery of the famed Cullinan Diamond in 1905, which is part of the British crown jewels weighing 3 106 carats. In May 2008, the mine produced a sparkling 101.27 carat diamond, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. The Cullinan Diamond Mine is the third richest diamond producing mine in South Africa. - BuaNews

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Lake Natron faces renewed threat from soda-ash mining BirdLife has learnt that a Tanzanian Government Agency is seeking to buy mining equipment for large-scale soda ash extraction from Lake Natron – the most important breeding site for Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor [Near Threatened] in the world. “This is worrying indeed”, said Lota Melamari - the CEO of Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCSTBirdLife in Tanzania). “An advert for the supply of mining equipment, and a recent announcement of the expansion of the railway and building of new port at Tanga to handle soda ash all point to deliberate efforts to keep alive the intention of mining Lake Natron’s soda ash”, added Lota Melamari. BirdLife’s Think Pink Campaign reports that the Tanzania Investment Centre, a Tanzanian Government Agency, is inviting interested parties to quote for the “Supply of machinery and equipment, as well as trucks in a greenfield soda ash/caustic soda

processing plant”. The advert was placed on behalf of KDCL Minerals (T) Ltd - a private company which states that the $US 125 million project at Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania will produce approximately 200,000 tonnes of soda ash annually. Three-quarters of the world’s population of Lesser Flamingo live in East Africa – and all depend on Tanzania’s Lake Natron as a breeding site. The development and associated infrastructure could permanently prevent the birds from nesting at Lake Natron, spelling doom for the region’s spectacular flamingo flocks. In opposition to development proposals of 2007, BirdLife launched its ‘Think Pink’ campaign. At the same time the Lake Natron Consultative Group - a coalition of 49 mainly African institutions - was formed to urge the Tanzanian Government to abandon the project. “Through campaigns like Think Pink, the world, local communities, Tanzanian

NGOs and ordinary citizens have said a big ‘No’ to the project - this will not change”, warned Ken Mwathe of BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat and Coordinator of Lake Natron Consultative Group. Earlier plans for mining Lake Natron involved Tata Chemicals Ltd. and the governmental National Development Corporation. BirdLife welcomed the withdrawal last year of an initial, inadequate and inappropriate Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), and is awaiting a new ESIA to be produced and reviewed by a competent team of experts. “The Tanzanian Government has promised, and consistently maintained, that no new ESIA would be conducted before having in place an Integrated Management Plan for the Lake Natron Ramsar Site, and this process is still ongoing”, concluded Lota. photo: James Warwick

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