NGOS CALL FOR URGENT, COORDINATED STRATEGY ON WILD COAST
UK waking to Chinese in Africa ?
Addo Elephant National Park Management Plan Meeting
Call for Social Science at SCB (Port Elizabeth) 2007
Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE
POSITION(s) Wanted
Tailpiece
Hi again,
Herewith, some snippets from various sources.
I appeal to you to send me items to distribute to our members for the Cleft Stick, the Game Ranger magazine and to be posted on the web site. These are 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.
If you do not wish to receive this e-mail newsletter please send a blank e-mail to me at the above address with the word “unsubscribe C~S ” as the message heading.
Eradication of Fallow deer from Table Mountain
Dear All
Isn’t it amazing how the pathetic ‘non issues’ catch all the attention of the media & public etc, while many far more significant ones seldom feature.
Regarding the opposition by varous parties to the eradication of Fallow deer from Table Mountain asproposed by SANParks, (which has been circulated); as GRAA Chairman I propose unequivocal support the statement made by “the conservation”NGO coalition named in the attached media statement.
We cannot condone the continued retention of alien species on emotive grounds. Obviously we support a humane removal as stated in the media release, but not further contamination of our country by relocation.
Joint statement: WWF, WESSA, EWT, BotSoc, the Wilderness Foundation and WfW
Fallow Deer on Table Mountain
Six major conservation bodies support the South African National Parks (SANParks) in its mandate to manage the Table Mountain National Park and ensure the park’s long-term value for the citizens of South Africa and the world.
WWF, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), the Botanical Society of South Africa (BotSoc), the Wilderness Foundation and the Working for Water programme (WfW) concur that this necessitates removal of alien Fallow Deer. Live removal would be the preferred first option for removal.
To enable effective management of the park, and to ensure that the indigenous biodiversity remains intact and retains its integrity, invasive alien plant and animal species must be removed from the park, as they pose a distinct threat to the natural functioning of its ecosystems.
Fallow Deer are opportunistic in their habitat requirements and have adapted well to introduction into a wide variety of areas in South Africa. On the slopes of Table Mountain they have flourished in the parkland areas. They are predominantly browsers, feeding on leaves, herbs, nuts and berries and the bark of trees.
The extent of the damage caused by the proliferation of the deer on the mountain, without natural predators, is largely attributed to their trampling effect of paths and impact on flowering indigenous fynbos plants. This directly threatens the magnificent indigenous biodiversity heritage found on Table Mountain.
The Fallow Deer (Cervus dama) did not originally occur on Table Mountain and originated from Europe (Smithers 1983). They occur naturally from Turkey westwards through Europe. They are thought to have been introduced to England, probably by the Normans in the 11th Century. It is from this stock that they were introduced to Southern Africa.
Fallow Deer were kept in the grounds of Newlands House, Cape Town, in 1869, and when this was sold by the Government, the stock – numbering 100 animals – was sold for £200 to a farmer in Somerset West. Cecil John Rhodes has been incorrectly attributed with the first introduction. This did not take place until 1897 when a number were released on the Groote Schuur estate on the Cape Peninsula.
To fulfil their local and international statutory obligation to manage, promote and maintain the biodiversity of this priceless South African heritage, SANParks must act now to halt the threat that the Fallow Deer pose to the ecosystems of Table Mountain.
The recent reintroduction of indigenous Klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus), following the removal of the Himalayan Tahrs (Hemitragus jemlahicus) has gone some way to restoring the inherent balance of species within this fynbos biome.
South Africa’s six major conservation bodies remain committed to the conservation of South Africa's natural fauna and flora and believe that the public's attention should be focused on the indigenous animals and plants that are in many cases threatened, and that further resources should go towards the conservation of these species.
For further information, contact:
Dr Rob Little, Director Conservation, WWF-SA
Tel: 021 888-2831, E-mail: rlittle@wwf.org.za
Issued by:
William Smook, Meropa Communications
Tel: 021 683-6464, Cell: 083-357-2837 ,Email: williams@meropa.co.za
MEDIA RELEASE, For immediate release, 5 July 2006
Starts
NGOS CALL FOR URGENT, COORDINATED STRATEGY ON WILD COASTTO ENSURE PEOPLE BENEFIT
Five of South Africa’s major environmental Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) (the Botanical Society of South Africa, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), the Wilderness Foundation, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) and the World-Wide Fund for Nature - South Africa (WWF-SA) have agreed to a collaborative approach to address sustainable development and environmental conservation on the Wild Coast. This region, still largely ecologically intact, offers us the opportunity to break from current short-term, exploitative development models which are unsustainable, to a more locally-driven, socially-equitable model designed to benefit local people. The NGOs support development within the region, but only if such development is undertaken within the context of a strategic framework. Such a framework should be designed to optimise the options available from sustaining the rich natural assets of the region to benefit the majority of the local people. The NGOs are greatly concerned that current planning is ad hoc, with decisions apparently being taken at a variety of levels, without due consultation between relevant authorities and without a coherent and sustainable regional development plan in place. The current piecemeal development approaches will compromise the long-term capability of the region to provide for the upliftment of local people and will require ongoing expenditure in mitigation of degradation.
All of the required information for a comprehensive regional development plan is now available through a number of recently completed studies, for example the Wild Coast Bioregion Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). What is now urgently required is an analysis of this information to select sustainable development options for each part of the region based on local ecosystem potential, taking due cognisance of local conditions and local needs, within a national context.
The NGOs call on government to urgently initiate a coordinated planning process. This will entail bringing together relevant agencies at all levels i.e. national, provincial and local, to utilise the information available to derive a sustainable development blueprint for the region which meets local needs within the broader national context of meeting the Millennium Development Goals. By prioritising and planning for the maintenance of ecological integrity, and thus the ongoing provision of ecosystem services to underpin socio-economic growth, it is possible to achieve sustainability together with poverty eradication. The NGOs offer our combined extensive knowledge, expertise and organisational resources to assist with this process.
Ends
Issued by:
Botanical Society of South Africa (BotSoc): 021 7972090
Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT): 011 4861102
Wilderness Foundation: 0413730293
Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA): 033 3303931
Worldwide Fund for Nature- South Africa (WWF-SA): 021 888 2800
NOTES
The Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals were agreed by the UN General Assembly at the UN Millennium Summit (September 2000). World leaders agreed to a set of time-bound, measurable targets to combat:
Millennium Development Goals for achievement by 2015
UK waking to Chinese in Africa ?
Cape Town - In the past seven months, Chinese dealers have bought 30 tons of ivory from Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority - representing the tusks of some 2,250 elephants. "It's an incredibly profitable trade, "said one game ranger. "They've not only run the parks' stockpile right down, but elephants are now being poached across the border from Botswana and other neighbouring countries to fulfil the demand, which seems to be bottomless."
The purchases are typical of China's rapacious scramble for Africa, in which oil, minerals and all manner of raw materials are being eagerly snapped up. Opportunities for deal-making are swiftly exploited, sometimes with detrimental effects on the continent. Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which controls the world's ivory trade, President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe has a special concession that allows it to sell lots worth £270 or less.
This loophole has allowed the burgeoning trade to develop. Chinese money is now fuelling widespread poaching. Two months ago Zimbabwe police caught Chinese dealers with seven tons of ivory, of which four tons came from illegal sources.
"They deliberately mix legal and illegal stuff together as a disguise," the ranger said. "Of course, the case hasn't come to court and probably it never will, given President Mugabe's 'look east' policy and his passionate enthusiasm for all things Chinese."
In recent months Mugabe has been exhorting Zimbabweans to learn Mandarin and take up Chinese cuisine. Beijing's voracious appetite for raw materials to sustain a fast-growing economy has seen Chinese trade and investment pouring into Africa in the past few years. In 2003 the total China-Africa trade was £6.6 billion. By 2005 it had reached £22 billion.
Human rights activists are appalled at the way Beijing has ignored scruples that have made many western investors wary of dealing with regimes like those of Zimbabwe and Sudan.
"Wherever there are resources the Chinese are going to go there," says Peter Takirambudde, head of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "They see no evil. They hear no evil. That's very bad for Africans."
Indeed, the Chinese go out of their way to ingratiate themselves with dictators such as Mugabe, donating the blue tiles that adorn his new £7m palace in Harare.
They have also decided to foot the bill for a large Namibian presidential palace in Windhoek. The rhetoric of the China-Africa relationship is different, with China claiming to be the champion of all Third World countries, offering them a new relationship that will free them from their dependence on the northern powers of the G8.
They are adept at high-profile gestures such as a donation of four endangered white Siberian tigers to Zimbabwe for a captive breeding programme. They have also succeeded in getting African states to accept large numbers of Chinese experts and workers as part of their investment packages: 28 "Baoding villages" have been established, each housing up to 2,000 Chinese workers, in various parts of Africa. In Nigeria, a Chinese-language newspaper now serves 50,000 immigrants. At no stage in Britain's colonisation of Nigeria did the British numbers reach such a figure. As one opposition figure in Zimbabwe observed: "If the British were our masters yesterday, the Chinese have come and taken their place."
At grassroots this is highly unpopular. Chinese goods sent to Africa are notorious for their poor quality. None of a shipment of 50 buses to Zimbabwe is still working and an order for 250 more has been suspended. Of three MA60 passenger jets the Chinese sent to Mugabe, one has never managed to fly, one had to make an emergency landing at Victoria Falls, injuring many passengers, and the third caught fire on take-off in Harare last week. All are now grounded.
Moreover, as Eldred Masunungure, professor of political science at Harare University, puts it: "The resentment of the Chinese is not only widespread, it's deeply rooted." The Chinese are generally viewed as loud, uncouth, prone to spitting and openly derogatory towards Africans. Worse, the copper mines they have opened up in Zambia and Zimbabwe are renowned for low wages, ferocious labour discipline and a sky-high accident rate. "That's how they run things at home, after all - and on top of that, they despise blacks," said one Zimbabwean engineer.
As with the ivory traders, many Chinese technical experts develop other ways of making money. In Harare, some are already a force in the drugs trade. In Botswana, Chinese workers brought in by construction companies now own hundreds of shops in the capital, Gaborone. Most worrying of all, however, is the way Chinese imports have largely wiped out budding African industries. Professor Laurence Schlemmer of Witwatersrand University's business school in Johannesburg, said: "In effect, China is forcing Africa back into the role of raw material suppliers - undermining its textile industry and importing raw cotton instead." Such concerns were raised with President Hu Jintao, who recently toured Africa.
But for the moment the tidal wave of Chinese money is carrying all before it. "The Chinese are getting away with claiming that they aren't like the other colonialists, but Africans aren't fools," a South African economist commented. "The Chinese are far more ruthless than the Brits ever were."
Semper Fi!
Addo Elephant National Park Management Plan Meeting
In compliance with the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Amendment Act (31 of 2004) SANParks is required to develop Management Plans for each of its National Parks. The Addo Planning Forum has been identified as a key group to provide input into the development of the Management Plan for the Addo Elephant National Park.
In order to assist you in making comments on the Plan you are invited to view the Plan at one of the following locations:
Copies of the Addo Elephant Park Management Plan can be downloaded, as from the 31 July 2006, from the following website www.sanparks.org/parks/addo. Email requests for a copy of the plan should be sent to sandy@publicprocess.co.za. (I have attached a copy of the Plan to this email for your convenience).
Meeting details are as follows:
VENUE: Ground Floor Conference Room, Biology Department, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
TIME: 09h00 – 12h00
DATE: 17 August 2006
All comments received on the plan will be carefully considered and compiled into an issues and responses document which will be sent to registered I&APs on request and will be made available on the SANParks website. Please see attached comment form which is to be submitted by no later than the 31 August 2006. For further information or queries please contact Sandy Wren or Wandile Junundu at the above contact details.
We look forward to your participation in this process.
Yours sincerely
Sandy Wren
Public Process Consultants
PO Box 27688, Greenacres, 6057
Phone 041 - 374 8426
Fax 041 - 373 2002
Cell 082 4909 828
sandy@publicprocess.co.za
Call for Social Science at SCB (Port Elizabeth) 2007
Hello,
I write to invite those of you interested in conservation issues to consider participating in the annual meeting the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB). I am the Secretary of SCB's Social Science Working Group (SSWG), and we are actively seeking to network with social scientists who are either already SCB members or who are not SCB members but whose work concerns biodiversity and its conservation. For those of you interested in attending and participating in a meeting of the SCB, I want to reach out to you in the hopes of widening our network of social scientists who are doing applied work within this realm. SCB is an 8,000-member international professional organization. SSWG is a global community of conservation professionals interested in the application of social science to the conservation of biological diversity. With 600 members in nearly 60 countries, the SSWG is home to social scientists (anthropologists, economists, human geographers, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and many others), natural scientists, and conservation practitioners (governmental, nongovernmental, and private sector).
The meeting to which I would like to invite you is the 2007 SCB annual meeting, which is being held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa from July 1-5, 2007. The meeting's theme is "One World, One Conservation, One Partnership" - an explicit focus on promoting interdisciplinary approaches to applied conservation. The SSWG has been asked by the meeting's organizers to promote collaborations between social and natural scientists and between African and non-African social scientists interested in conservation issues that transcend location- or case-specific application. For more information on the meeting, please see this web site: http://compworx.isat.co.za/scb/ .
If you are interested in attending this meeting, there are three relevant deadlines for participating formally:
If you are interested in participating in the meeting or learning more about collaborative possibilities with other social or natural scientists interested in conservation, please contact Dr. Murray Rudd at mrudd@swgc.mun.ca.
If you are interested in learning more about SCB or its Social Science Working Group, even if participating in the meeting is not something you are inclined to do, please cont act Rich Wallace at rwallace@ursinus.edu.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Lee Jones, Ph.D., International Honors Program, Boston, MA, USA
www.ihp.org, www.jenjones.org
Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden
Botanical Society of South Africa, KZN Coastal Branch
Invitation to Book Launch of the groundbreaking guide Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden by Charles and Julia Botha
12 August 2006 at 12 noon in Durban. Light refreshments to be served after the launch.
For a formal invitation RSVP by email to botsoc-kzn@mweb.co.za or fax to 086 651 8969 with the names, for name-tag purposes, of those attending.
Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden is a follow up to Charles and Julia Botha’s much acclaimed Bring Nature Back to your Garden and is aimed mainly at gardeners who already have some interest in indigenous plants. South Africa’s most comprehensive butterfly gardening guide, it is indeed an encyclopaedia of butterfly gardening, yet easy to use and full of humour. In the words of eminent scientist Dr John Ledger, “this wonderful book contains an astonishing amount of information” and it has descriptions of over 500 indigenous plants to please our butterflies. In fact, all known indigenous butterfly larval food-plants have been included. Richly illustrated and with some beautiful colour pictures, it will be invaluable to conservation conscious gardeners and lepidopterists across the country. Proceeds from the book, including royalties, have been donated to a Botanical Education Trust under the auspices of the Botanical Society of South Africa
Copies of the book will be on sale at a discounted price of only R95!
Two beautiful watercolour paintings by Pat Johnstone, of plants which are reproduced in the book, will be auctioned.
You are welcome to remain for the Botanical Society AGM at 2.00 p.m. The guest speaker is Dr Eugene Moll who will speak on: “Managing biodiversity in fragmented landscapes and the possible impacts of global warming”.
POSITION(s) Available
Vacancy in Gorongosa National Park Gorongosa National Park was at one time one of the better known National Parks in Africa. During more that twenty years of conflict the wildlife populations and infrastructure have been severely impacted.
The Ministry of Tourism, with the active help of the Carr Foundation, has started the process of rehabilitating the park and re-introducing some of the species of large mammals that have been depleted. Part of the reintroduction process has been to create a 6000 ha release area or Sanctuary where animals will first be introduced and once their numbers have built up, then released into the park itself. Management in the Sanctuary will of necessity be more intensive than in the park itself and a dedicated person is required to control the project..
Position : Sanctuary Manager
The Sanctuary Manager is responsible for the management of the Gorongosa National Park Game Sanctuary (GS). He/She will supervise the activities of law enforcement units and animal well being within the sanctuary boundaries. He/She shall work in coordination with Managers Law Enforcement and Veterinary Services for the planning and implementation of specific management programme of the GS. He/She will report to the Director of Conservation Services.
Specific Responsibilities
Qualifications & Requirements
Candidates should possess Diploma in Wildlife Management or equivalent qualification in natural resource management with a minimum 5-year experience in Game Sanctuary management in Mozambique or in the SADC region.
The individual must become acquainted with the Mozambican natural resource management legislation and need to demonstrate skills in developing a team of game sanctuary management personnel, including the ability to effect work planning, discipline, and required reporting mechanisms.
The candidate must possess the necessary knowledge and skills to manage both habitats and wildlife populations in the sanctuary and be comfortable working extensively in a developing area.
The candidate must be committed to learning to speak Portuguese and be able to communicate with junior staff that do not speak either Portuguese or English.
Contact Persons:
Applicant should send their application and cv to the following persons:
Roberto Zolho : robzolho65@hotmail.com
Dr Rich Beilfuss : rich@carrfoundation.org
Dr. J. Anderson. anderson@ics-consulting.co.za
Any further enquiries can be made by contacting (SA) 013 7511935
POSITION(s) Wanted
Dear all,
I am currently looking for programs that I could volunteer for in southern and eastern Africa between mid September and December, this year.
I am a qualified Wildlife Biologist with 6 years research and monitoring experience with predominantly small mammals and reptiles in South Australia. I have worked with the Department for Environment and Heritage, non-government organisations and community groups.
Do you, or anyone that you know, have any programs during that time that you may need assistance for? I don't mind what the work is as to me being able to volunteer and give something back would be the best way to experience Africa.
Please let me know as soon as you can. I have attached (Not –ed) my resume for a dry read and further information.
Thank you
Nerissa
B. Env. Sci. (honours)
nerissa haby [nerissahaby@hotmail.com]
Tailpiece-
kulula.com
The son (who had been looking out the window) turned to his mother and asked, "If big dogs have baby dogs and big cats have baby cats, why don't big planes have baby planes?"
The mother (who couldn't think of an answer) told her son to ask the stewardess. So the boy asked the stewardess, "If big dogs have baby dogs and big cats have baby cats, why don't big planes have baby planes?"
The stewardess responded, "Did your mother tell you to ask me?"
The boy said, "Yes she did."
"Well, then, tell your mother that there are no baby planes because kulula.com always pulls out on time.
Have your mother explain that to you.
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