» Listings for 2018

1. Birdlife International reports that women are championing mangrove conservation in Nigeria

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   International bird conservation charity BirdLife International report that a group in Nigeiria is empowering women and the community to protect the very productive but rapidly disappearing mangrove forests there. Groups of women are helping commuinties to restore and manage mangrove forests in 5 villages in South East Nigeria.   It’s a important breeding site.  Crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, fish, shrimps, crab, snails, clam and oysters call this area home.  Local people depend on the forest to support their livelihoods.  For the forests have been overharvested.  Trees have been used for firewood in homes and to build canoes.  Patches of forest have been cleared for housing.   This means that ecosystems and economic benefits have put the mangroves at risk.  But the good news is that 7 women on the frontline are working with communities. Workshops reaching 330 women are raising awareness about the importance of mangrove restoration and tree planting. Just 9 months after the project was started, over 400 trees have been planted in key areas.  Another 600 have been ear-marked for distribution to women in the communities to promote agro-forestry practice. And 2 nursery sites have been established in 2 communities to grow the Rhizophora species of mangrove tree, and over 400 seedlings grown! Fly away to BirdLife International for more information

2. Airline training helps prevent wildlife trafficking

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   Air Cargo News report that campaigns to stop wildlife trafficking from Africa have seen two training workshops held in Mozambique and Kenya.   More workshops are planned in Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Malaysia. ROUTES (that’s the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species) delivered a workshops for airliner staff on the role they play in preventing wildlife trafficking. A ROUTES report analysing wildlife trafficking in the air transport sector says that Kenya is a significant transit point for poachers and traffickers who supply wildlife products to Asia. Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is the busiest airport in East and Central Africa and so is a target for wildlife trafficking, especially ivory.   Kenyan authorities often seize illegal products at the airport.  Empowering staff to identify and report suspicious activities linked to wildlife trafficking is essential to stop the trade. There was also a training workshop in Mapoto for staff such as cabin crew, ground handlers, cargo processors and other staff.  They found out how to detect and stop smugglers carrying wildlife products out of Mozambique, a hotspot for ivory and rhino horn going to Asia. It’s thought that as airline staff spend more time with passengers and their baggage, and cargo shipments, than customs officers, they can be a key source of intelligence in the battle to stop the wildlife trafficking trade.  Good luck ROUTES with your on-going workshops!

    

3. Chile creates new law to protect waters along its 4,000 mile coastline

   Posted on 8:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   Now past Chilean President Michele Bachelet has signed a decree creating 9 marine reserves which protects 4,000 miles of coastline. President Bechelet ends her term of office this week.  She believes that Chile needed to establish the basis on which to conserve its marine territory for the future.   The decree will increase the area of sea under the protection of the Chilean government from 4.3% to 42.4%.   It will protect marine life in about 1.4 million square kilometres of sea.   One of the new reserve covers the waters around the Diego Ramirez Islands.  Sea lions, kelp forests and whales make this their home. Let's hope her successor will continue to take similar steps to preserve the country's marine life. Wildlife flourishes on an untouched Chile island

    

4. Conservation benefits from ecotourism payments for more wildlife sightings in Laos

   Posted on 8:00pm Thursday 8th Mar 2018

   A project in a protected area in Laos established a connection between higher payments for wildlife sightings and improved protections for wildlife. During the 4 year study, sightings of common wildlife went up by over 60%.  The payments were funded by entry fees, paid by tourists, and were put into village development funds – these would finance projects such as school construction and healthcare.  The project was carried out with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Foundations of Success.  It shows that linking cash payments with results such as the number of animals seen could be sufficient to discourage practices which are detrimental to wildlife such as hunting.  This is an important direct link, and it’s believed to be a key to success. Wildlife managers and scientists set up a scheme to pay villages on the edge of the protected are based on the species and number of animals that tourists saw when they visited the park. The park is home to animals such as sambar deer, macaques and deer.   Unfortunately, a demand for wildlife parts, and access to weapons, led to a surge in illegal hunting even in this protected area. The villages’ development funds got a set amount of money for every tourist visiting the park.  But if certain animals were spotted, the funds would receive a bonus.  So a civet or porcupine would get little more than $1 whilst a tiger spot would have meant $225.  (No tigers were spotted during the research period.) If anyone from the communities was caught breaking the law, the community was penalised by the project.  By the end of the study, there were 63% more sightings of the common animals (or evidence of them, such as their tracks) than at the start. The research wanted to measure how effective incentives to protect wildlife could be at changing their behaviour.   The researchers estimate that it did.   The authors argue that the paper the project produced is laying out a method for measuring the impacts of other projects such as this.   Laos travel guide from Lonely Planet

    

5. Mapping Earth’s Species will pinpoint Conservation Priorities

   Posted on 8:00pm Thursday 8th Mar 2018

   The Half Earth Project has launched the first phrase of their rather incredible global biodiversity map.  It uses the latest science and technology to map thousands of species worldwide.   And it shows where future conservation efforts should be made to best care for our planet and ourselves. The rate at which species are becoming extinct by human activity continues to increase to such an extent that it may eliminate half the species by the end of this century.  E.O.Wilson commented in the New York Times Sunday Review  on 3 March that we have to enlarge the area of earth devoted to the natural world enough to save the variety of life in it. Conservation scientists widely agree that we should keep half the land and half the sea on the planet as wild and protected from human activity and intervention as possible, Wilson also states. The Half Earth Project  is providing vital and urgent research, leadership and knowledge necessary to do just his.   It’s mapping the distribution of species worldwide to show where we can protected the greatest number of species.  Once it’s been possible to identify the blocks of land and sea can be strung together for greatest effect, tit will be possible to support these places, home to both wildlife and people. It is hoped that the map for most terrestrial, marine and freshwater plant and animal species will be complete within 5 years. E.O.Wilson Biodiveristy Foundation Board member Jeff Ubben and his wife Laurie are giving or have given $5 million to seed the second phrase.   The map will give us the information required to make strong conservation investments.