Hi again,
Herewith, some snippets from various sources.
I appeal to you to send me items to distribute to our members for both the Cleft Stick and to be posted on the web site. It is your magazine and website, so ensure it gets the news that you would like to see in it.
Please let me have any changes to your physical address, phone no. or e-mail address to keep the database up to date.
Thanks to all of you who have made the effort. Please will any of you who know of members who do not get this “electric” Cleft~Stick, & have access to e-mail, pass their address along to me.
Don Yunnie
7 Chalet Drive, Hilton, 3245, South Africa Local Tel & Fax (033) 343 1534 Int. Tel & Fax (+2733) 343 1534 cell 082 377 7562 E-mail dyunnie@xsinet.co.za.
GRAA AGM 20 TO 24 FEBRUARY 2006 Namibia
The venue is in the NamibRand Nature Reserve which is located approximately 170 Km south of Solitaire and 140 km west of Maltehohe. A map will be provided in due course. The workshop will be using the facilities of the Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET) and they will also be doing the catering. Victoria Keding manages the center. There is no cell phone coverage on NabibRand
Accommodation
There are five six bed A frame shadecloth shelters which will be made available on a first come first served basis. There are 30 mattresses which go with this accommodation.
There are also
The Centre consists of the dining area and kitchen; and has 65 chairs and 11 tables; and the tables & chairs double up for the meeting venue. Regarding utensils; there are 40 of each but more will be arranged for the event. The centre is shadecloth, so is not dark and power is 220v but limited, so the intention is to go back to basics (leave the computers at home).
There are two fridges available. One will be for beer and the other for food. Drinks sold at the meeting will be beer, wine & a basic range of soft drinks. Those wishing to punish their bodies with spirits must bring their own & be prepared. Nearest bottle store is 100km away = 200 k circuit.
Fires will be limited and restricted as all wood will be purchased and transported to the site, as wood supplies are unavailable in the Namib desert area and fringes.
Meals will be simple fare, ordinary rangers food; but will be prepared with loving care. Those who require vegetarian, halaal, kosher or other, please self cater and inform the organisers when booking.
The day trip will be a 4X4 only drive into the Namib Rand Nature Reserve which is the largest private reserve in Namibia. Hats, sunscreen, light clothing and shoes/strops are essential. Desert nights can be very chilly. Day trips to Soussusvlei are possible but for your own arrangement and cost.
The theme of the AGM and seminar will be "Conservation in Namibia", and the formal meeting components will be kept short and simple.
Talks envisaged (and tentative) will be as follows:
Each talk should be about 30 mins with 15 mins questions and discussion.
Costs:
The Rand (ZAR) is equal in value to the Namibia Dollar (N$)
So the cost per person will be R 650.00 at Namibia Desert Environmental Education ? (NADEET). For persons booking from outside South Africa or Namibia, an additional fee to cover bank charges/international money transfer costs will be payable at registration.
The money can be deposited into:
First National Bank
Estcourt Branch
Branch No. 220325
Current Account
Account name: - Game Rangers Association of Africa
Account no. 62004629244
All deposits to have a reference: Nam AGM + your name with a copy of the deposit sent to Janet Snow (Fax 033 2677171 - email jsnow@treverton.co.za). To those who do not clearly mark their deposits we are so grateful for your generous donation.
Transport:
We are seeking sponsorship of one or two overland trucks at present, to depart from Hoedspruit/ Johannesburg. There are no guarantees. Therefore please start planning to share transport with friends.
Regards
Tim
Timothy V. Snow
Africa Chairman, Game Rangers Association of Africa
It has been decided that I (Don Yunnie) will take bookings – Please let me have your bookings, as accommodation will be allocated on a first paid first allocated basis!
I can be reached in the following ways, Post, Don Yunnie, 7 Chalet Drive, Hilton, 3245, South Africa.
Phone / Fax Local (033) 343 1534, Int. Tel & Fax (+2733) 343 1534 cell 082 377 7562,
E-mail dyunnie@xsinet.co.za
The bank account details are as follows
First National Bank
Estcourt Branch
Branch Code – 220325
Account Type - Current account
account Number – 53980026795
The account is in the name of Game Rangers Association of Africa,
Swift Code – FIRNZAJJ
Please let both myself and our treasurer, Janet Snow, know about the transaction so she can allocate the payment to your acct. Put your membership no. (& name if possible) in the reference which will also help her trace the payment. Then fax a copy of the transaction to her at 033 267 7171 to confirm your payment.
Global warming forces Britain's birds to take flight
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, Published: 19 August 2005
The Scottish crossbill may be going; the black kite may be coming. Climate change appears to be widely affecting Britain's wild birds, a study shows
Some bird populations are shrinking, some are increasing, and others are moving under the influence of rising temperatures, says the report from a coalition of conservation groups, led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
The report has compelling evidence to indicate that although global warming is widely thought of as a phenomenon of the future, it is already changing the natural world.
Hotter, dryer summers and warmer, wetter winters are starting to affect bird numbers, and mean we may soon lose some attractive species, such as the native crossbill of Scotland's pine forests, according to The State of the UK's Birds 2004, which is being launched today at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water.
But we may gain unfamiliar, charismatic newcomers moving into Britain as breeding birds from continental Europe, such as the black kite and the cattle egret. The report, produced by the RSPB with the British Trust for Ornithology, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Countryside Council for Wales and the Environment and Heritage Service of Northern Ireland, pulls together a mass of recent data on changes in British bird populations which appear to be climate-related.
Although there are winners in this process, the losers attract the most concern. Global warming seems to be hitting some bird species in three ways: by directly affecting the availability of their food, by affecting the state of their habitat, and by affecting their ability to migrate.
The prime example of a food loss is with seabirds: 2004 was the worst breeding season on record for many UK seabirds, especially the guillemots and puffins of the northern isles, which suffered catastrophic breeding failure.
The nesting collapse was almost certainly down to a lack of their staple food, sandeels, and although over-fishing may be partly be to blame, scientists increasingly think sandeel populations are moving north as waters warm. Food loss may also be implicated in the decline of migrant woodland birds, returning from Africa in the spring, such as the spotted flycatcher. As springs get warmer, the caterpillars on which these birds feed their young are hatching earlier, maybe before the migrants arrive.
The effect of a warming climate on habitat seems to be having a major effect on wintering birds, and mountain birds. As Europe warms, birds which nest in the high Arctic such as the dunlin, purple sandpiper and turnstone, and which for thousands of years have come to Britain for the winter, do not need to travel so far south or west. They can spend the winter in Scandinavia, or at least on the far side of the North Sea.
Numbers of 10 wintering wader species are dropping in Britain, and are dropping faster in west coast estuaries than on the east coast. A similar effect seems to be found with wintering wildfowl, ducks, geese and swans.
The mountain birds, such as the ptarmigan and the snow bunting, and ones of the far north, such as the greenshank and the Scottish crossbill, are likely to be affected as the cool climate to which they are adapted disappears.
Global warming
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article306881.ece
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article306858.ece
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article306811.ece
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article306820.ece
Winners and losers in a changing world
WINNERS
Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata) Only a few pairs in 1963 but rising temperatures are helping it spread across England. Now nearly 2,000 pairs
Black kite (Milvus migrans) A smaller relative of our red kite, this is a potential new arrival because of climate change
Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) May be about to repeat the performance of the little egret, which began nesting here in 1996
LOSERS
Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) A woodland birds in an unexplained decline. Could be a cater-pillar food hatching early
Guillemot (Uria aalge) The most numerous UK seabird had a disastrous breeding season because of a lack of sandeels. Sandeels believed to be shifting north because of warmer sea temperatures
Scottish crossbill (Loxia scotica) This is the UK's single endemic bird species, yet it may be driven out. Scotland's cool pine forests are warming.
Ancient Iraqi marshlands
NAIROBI < The ancient Iraqi marshlands drained by Saddam Hussein as punishment against their occupants are back to almost 40 percent of their former level, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Wednesday.
In a rare good news story for Iraq, Nairobi-based UNEP said latest satellite imagery showed a "phenomenal" recovery rate for the southern marshlands, back to almost 3,500 square km after dwindling to just 760 in 2002.
Some scholars view the marshlands, at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates river, as the site of the original "Garden of Eden" in the Bible.
Saddam began moving against the Marsh Arabs in the early 1990s, accusing them of supporting a Shi'ite Muslim uprising after the first Gulf War and harbouring criminals.
A combination of dams and canals blocked water from the marshes, turning what was once a pristine, wetland ecosystem into semi-desert and forcing all but 40,000 of the area's 450,000 inhabitants to flee.
But after the March 2003 war to topple Saddam, residents began returning and breaking the barriers, letting water again flow freely in a region where people had lived on small islands and moved on small wooden boats for thousands of years.
ANCIENT WAY OF LIFE
"The near total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands under the regime of Saddam Hussein was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life as well as food in the form of fish and that most crucial of natural resources, drinking water," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director.
"The evidence of their rapid revival is a positive signal, not only for the environment and the local communities who live there, but must be seen as a contribution to wider peace and security for the Iraqi people and the region as a whole."
UNEP said the marshlands totaled almost 9,000 square kilometers in the 1970s -- one of the world's largest wetlands with rare species like the Sacred Ibis bird.
While satellite images showed wetland cover back to nearly 40 percent of that in August, the figure was closer to 50 percent back in the Spring thanks to winter rains and snow melt in the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, UNEP said.
"The new satellite imagery shows a rapid increase in water and vegetation cover over the last two years," it added in a statement. "While more detailed field analysis of soil and water quality is needed to gauge the exact state of rehabilitation, UNEP scientists believe the findings are a positive signal that the Iraqi marshlands are well on the road to recovery."
Toepfer, however, warned that full re-flooding would still take "many years" and must be carefully nurtured.
With funds from Japan, UNEP is running drinking water, sanitation and wetland management projects in the area where locals live an austere and deeply impoverished existence.
While the re-flooding is positive for the environment, the region remains Iraq's poorest, with more than half the population unemployed, barely any primary schools and electricity reaching the area for just one hour a day.
Source: Reuters
STIFF SENTENCE BY MAGISTRATE:
Myself and fellow game ranger in the Balule Nature Reserve arrested a man at the end of 2004 for the hunting of an impala without a permit. The culprit, Mr. Charles Joubert, is leasing the farm Doreen from the Dpt. of Public Works for "cattle grazing". The farm is located near Phalaborwa in the Central Lowveld, adjoining the Balule NR, which now forms part of the Greater Kruger National Park system.
After four months of staking him out, he was eventually arrested in possession of an impala which he shot. Bail was set at R800-00 each. At his first court appearance his lawyer indicated that he is going to plead guilty, which he then did at the next appearance. The magistrate said that, seeing that this area's major future source of income lies in eco-tourism, we cannot allow people to destroy the resources, especially not on State lands. He was fined R4000-00 or 8 months imprisonment for hunting whithout a permit, and his .270 firearm was forfeited to the local environmental authority, as prescribed by the Limpopo Environmental Management Act.
Although I think this was still very lenient, it is a vast improvement from the R500-00 sentences which were usually given. This is to a large extent due to Crispian Barlow's efforts in educating our local magistrates and public prosecutors on the impact of environmental offences, as well as on the details of NEMA and other new provincial acts. This is an example that should be followed wherever possible - and it bears fruit!
Mr. Joubert is still to stand trial on another charge of baiting leopard (protected game) with the intent of hunting it without a permit. This will be his second offence if found guilty, and I can't wait to hear the sentence... Maybe our magistrates are slowly waking up to the seriousness of environmental offences, even the "smaller ones".
MARIUS FULS
Bestuurder - Struwig Eko-Reservaat
Tel: 015-769 6057
Faks: 015-769 6169
struwig@xpoint.co.za.
W R M B U L L E T I N 96 July 2005 - English edition
A "historic opportunity for Africa"?
The Commission for Africa was launched by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in February 2004. The aim of the Commission "was to take a fresh look at Africa's past and present and the international community's role in its development path." It was tasked with producing a report "with clear recommendations for the G8, EU and other wealthy countries as well as African countries." This last "as well" is already giving a clue to the Commission's mandate.
The report is now ready, and one of its main recommendations is to build more roads. "To improve its capacity to trade", the report says, "Africa needs to make changes internally. It must improve its transport infrastructure to make goods cheaper to move." Although the report does take a look -not necessarily a "fresh" one- at Africa's past, its recommendations don't take the lessons learnt on board. On the contrary, it completely ignores the consequences of road building on people and the environment in the African continent. In fact, the exploitation of Africa and its peoples in colonial, post-colonial and present times was and is made possible through the opening of roads.
Walter Rodney -a leading theoretician of Pan-Africanism- illustrates the process of road building in Africa: "Means of communication were not constructed in the colonial period so that Africans could visit their friends. Nor were they laid down to facilitate internal trade in African commodities. There were no roads connecting different colonies or different parts of the same colony to meet Africa's needs and development. All roads and railways led down to the sea. They were built to extract gold or cotton and to make business possible for the trading companies and for white settlers."
Not much has changed since, except for the fact that more and more commodities have left the continent to make rich countries richer and African countries poorer in economic, social and environmental terms. Part of the current external debt that would apparently be "condoned" by the G8 is the result of road building through loans to governments. While governments contracted the debt, foreign corporations used the roads freely to make their profits.
Most of those profits were made at the expense of forests and forest peoples, particularly in the tropics and subtropics, first through industrial logging and later from other activities such as mining and export-oriented agriculture, all resulting in widespread deforestation and violation of local peoples' rights. This didn't just happen: it was made possible through strategic road opening leading to the desired resources.
Roads are of course not a bad thing in themselves and in many cases local communities can benefit from them. But when the "G8, EU and other wealthy countries" are involved in their promotion, all alarm bells should ring at the same time. Again, as Walter Rodney says, these roads would not be built so that Africans can visit their friends, but, as the Commission for Africa report says, "to make goods cheaper to move". Where to? Again to the ports, obviously.
The above allows for a much better understanding of the recent G8 meeting decision in Scotland, where the leaders of the rich countries made a number of commitments on Africa, with the stated aim of addressing poverty in that continent. We will mention only two issues mentioned in the G8 agreement, which shed light on the underlying interests in the agreement:
- "To provide resources and training to help African producers meet current and new health and safety standards for food exports and other products." Food exports!
- To "Continue our work to build an international infrastructure consortium ... to facilitate infrastructure investment..." More roads!
A "historic opportunity for Africa"? For a handful of Africans, certainly. For the wealthy nations, absolutely. For African people and their environment, no way. The deal is really about how to make African countries generate the conditions for a more efficient appropriation of their resources by Northern-based corporations. Once again, roads for exporting Africa's wealth.
Dr Nick King
Director
Endangered Wildlife Trust.
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL PARKS, VACANCY: SECTION RANGER: SHANGONI,
Kruger National Park
Closing date 22 SEPTEMBER 2005
Challenging position exist for Section Ranger in Northern Region of the Kruger National Park. Reporting to the Regional Ranger, the key performance areas of the successful incumbent would include the following:
REQUIREMENTS
Persons who meet the above requirements and are interested in the position should forward their applications and detailed CV to:
Ms Queeneth Mashigo
Private Bag X1021
Phalaborwa
1390
Tel 013 735 5282
Fax 013 735 6506
Email queenethm@sanparks.org
POSITION WANTED
QUALIFIED NATURE CONSERVATOR
I have a brilliant young man working for me, doing his practical year in completion of his National Diploma in Nature Conservation. His term with me will end at the end of this year, and I am looking for an appointment for him.
Eugene Edwards is a very dedicated young ranger, and has conservation rooted deeply in his heart and soul. He has a natural feel for nature and his common logic and ability to assess and address a problem quickly and effectively makes him somebody who can carry a lot of responsibility.
He has gained excellent knowledge of all aspects of nature conservation, from game capture, surveys and law-enforcement to game-drives, road maintenance and digging up blocked drains. In short, he is not afraid of work, and can generally do the work you give him with very good results. His personality is very pleasant and he gets along equally well with guests and staff alike. Most of all, he is a member of the Game Rangers Association of Africa.
I have no doubt that the person to employ him will have an asset for the future of which he will be proud, and had I had the money, I would have employed him myself.
Please contact me if you could help Eugene with employment.
Regards
Marius Fuls
CHAIRPERSON - GRAA LOWVELD
(H+W) 015-769 6057, (F) 015-769 6169, (C) 083-305 3104
struwig@xpoint.co.za
Tailpiece-
7 reasons not to mess with a child
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".
Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."
A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.
After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"
Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill..."
One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head.
She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"
Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."
The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"
The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.
"Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael , He's a doctor.'
A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead. "
A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face." "Yes," the class said. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples.
The nun made a note, and posted it on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching."
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples.
.
Matter of Fact
This is an electronic newsletter of the Game Rangers' Association of Africa. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Association, nor of the Editor. This is intended to be an exchange of news snips, ideas and communication between members. Newsletter content may be copied and re-distributed without authorisation. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editor at dyunnie@xsinet.co.za
