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Krugr Park-Times

Learn to LoveVultures

Captive LionHunting AppealDimied

Why Female Water Buffalo Have

Horn, Impala Do Not

Is August the New September

in South Africa?

photo: Pieter Strauss

September / October 2009 - e3


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The Kruger Park e-Times is published regularly to keep you updated onconservation, science, sustainable development and tourism issues inand around South Africas national parks, transfrontier parks and other

environmental hotspots. Send your comments and contributions to:[email protected]

Africas population has reached one bil-

lion as the continents population growsby 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. Itis 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 sub-Saharan Africa have more children than

women elsewhere.

While globally the average woman has

2.6 children, in sub-Saharan Africa she has5.3 children (which is down from 6.7 chil-

dren in around 1950), the worlds highest,

the report said.

Worldwide, 62 percent of married wom-

en of childbearing age use contraception,but in Africa the gure is 28 percent, ac-

cording to the report, which also revealed

that sub-Saharan Africa has the worlds

most youthful population, and it projectedto stay that way for decades.

In 2050, the African continent is expect-

ed to have 349 million youth, or 29 percent

of the worlds total, a sharp rise from thenine percent of the worlds youth in 1950,the report noted.

While less than 60 percent of youth go to

secondary schools worldwide, that gure isless 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, al-though 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

worlds people, it has a quarter of the worlds

refugees, the report said, adding that global

population numbers are on track to reach 7billion 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 worlds youth population is shiftinginto the poorest of those countries, accord-

ing to the report.

The population change will shape the

prospects of regions and countries over thenext half century, it further noted.

As a companion to the bureaus 2009

world population Data Sheet, the report

provided data and analysis on world popu-lation trends, youth, gender and the envi-ronment. - BaNws

African Population NowOne Billion

The worlds leading amphibian experts

have come together and for the rst time

identied two major conservation initia-tives 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 protect-

ing 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 amphibianspecies at risk of extinction.

The alliance, proposed at the rst Am-phibian Mini Summit, at the Zoological

Society of London, brings together am-

phibian specialists working in the wild and

those in zoos, aquariums and botanical gar-

dens.

Amphibian Expert Target DeadlyFrog Fungu

25th Big Birding DayHopes to AttractGarden BirdingEnthusiasts

Between midnight on Friday 27

November and midnight on Satur-

day 28 November this year, birders

throughout South Africa will pit theirspotting skills against each other, and

contribute to bird conservation at the

same time.

The Sappi BirdLife South Africa

Birding Big Day, a highlight on thebirders calendar for the last 24 years,

will include Garden Birds as a sepa-

rate category. It is hoped this new

category will get a growing numberof backyard birders interested the an-

nual Birding Big Day.

This is the 25th Birding Big Day

and, as before, our serious birders

throughout South Africa can helpby doing the bird count and also

contribute in a tangible way to the

conservation of our countrys mag-

nicent 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 asmaller radius, when they enter thetraditional category.

Anderson says that participation

in the Southern African Bird Atlas

Project 2 (SABAP2) Category for se-

rious birders is encouraged, as thisinformation is particularly useful for

conservation planning and climate

change studies. The rules for this cat-

egory follow the Southern AfricanBird Atlas Project 2 protocol (www.

sabap2.org). Participants need to be

registered atlasers, with Animal De-mography Unit observer numbers.

With more than 15% of South Af-ricas birds listed in The Eskom Red

Data Book of Birds of South Africa,

Lesotho and Swaziland, many re-

quire urgent conservation interven-

tions. BirdLife South Africa currentlyhas several vitally important projects

which aim to improve the conserva-

tion status of our countrys threat-

ened birds. These include albatrossesand petrels, the African Penguin, bus-

tards and korhaans and the SouthernBald Ibis.


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South Africas Bloemfontein High Court

dismissed the application for appeal againsta court judgement that captive bred lions

must be free roaming on a large area andself-sufcent 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 As-sociation, Matthys Christiaan Mostert and

Deon Cilliers.

The original application was launched

on May 4, 2007 taking the EnvironmentMinister to court over certain aspects of the

Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS)regulations which came into effect on Feb-

ruary 1, 2008. Amongst others, the appli-

cants challenged the inclusion of lion as a

listed large predator and the 24 month pe-

riod in which captive bred lions had to fendfor themselves in an extensive wildlife sys-

tem before they could be hunted. The ap-

plicants argued that the regulations would

have a particularly great impact on the cap-tive bred lion industry in the Free State and

North West provinces with adverse impactson the operations of the second and third

applicants. The Applicants may still peti-

tion the Chief Justice for Leave to Appeal.

The department of environmental affairs

indicated it will now focus on achieving itsoriginal intention of listing lions as a large

predator subject to TOPS regulations.

High Court Dimi CaptiveLion Hunting Appeal

photo: Ziggy Hugo

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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Fire at Golden GateNational Park

In the early hours of Tuesday, Sep-

tember 15, 2009 a re raged at the

rest camp of the Basotho CulturalVillage in the Golden Gate High-

lands National Park. Nine of the 24

units in the rest camp have been de-

stroyed. The cause of the re is as yetunknown.

Park Manager, Johan Taljaard said

that the re seems to have begun be -

tween 02h00 and 03h00. The current

unconrmed observations indicatethat the re 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 restarted and we will have to wait for

the results of the forensic investiga-

tion report, said Taljaard. He also

conrmed that the rest camp will be

closed until further notice, but theother areas of the Village, like the

museum, will still be operational

The Basotho Cultural Village saw

its rst visitors in December 2008 andhas been a popular attraction for visi-

tors to Golden Gate Highlands Na-

tional Park.

New Filming andPhotography PermitTariffs for SANParks

South African National Parks

(SANParks) has revised its proce-dure and tariffs for commercial lm-

ing and photography in the national

parks under its management.

This new tariff schedule has beenapproved by the SANParks Execu-

tive Committee and is in line with the

Filming and Photography Policy thatwas approved by the Board in 2008.

The implementation of the newtariffs and the new procedure at the

beginning of August this year came

after an intensive review of the per-

mitting process.

The result is a signicant increasein permit fees for commercial lming

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.

Matom Sblmtsa

Work is nearing completion on a R5.5

million memorial precinct that will com-memorate past and present Limpopo

heroes who shaped the South African

landscape. The Freedom and Memorial

Precinct, which is being built in the Namak-gale informal settlement in Ba-Phalaborwa,

is scheduled to open in October.

The commemorative precinct will relate

to the history of the area and will immor-

talise the memory of those heroes who fellduring the struggle, as well as those who

are still alive, said spokesperson for the

Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, Elliot Ram-

achela.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 Ba-

Phalaborwa communitys political, socialand economic history as well as a heroes

grounds featuring a water fountain.

A committee has been researching, con-

sulting and compiling the names of com-munity builders and liberation heroes

whose works will be documented.

Norman Mashabane, the late husband of

International Relations and Co-OperationMinister, 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 usedto meet there to plot the downfall of the

apartheid regime, explained Ramachela.

In addition to honouring local heroes, the

project forms part of the municipalitys ef-

forts to create employment and business op-portunities through heritage and tourism.

More than 50 jobs have been created dur-

ing the construction stage, and when com-

pleted, the memorial precinct will boost thelocal economy and empower small, medi-

um and micro-enterprises.

Thabitha Malatjie, who runs a spaza

shop near the memorial precinct, expressed

excitement about the new development as itwill 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 theworld-famous reserve. - BaNws

New R5.5million memorial addedto Phalaborwa tourim package

Ntamblni Gabara

An Eco-Tourism Park at the TshikuyuVillage in Limpopo will be completed in

January 2010 just in time for the thou-sands 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 providingaccommodation to tourists who will be vis-

iting the Kruger National Park during the

2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond.

The park will consist of modern and styl-ish chalets, an administration block, a con-

ference hall, swimming pools, a restaurant,ladies bar and a curio shop.

Local Economic Development Manager

at the district municipality, Mukundi Mush-

aphi said since the start of the project, sev-

eral jobs were created for locals.The project has already created 93 tem-

porary jobs in construction and it will fur-ther create 200 more jobs in the elds of

security, cleaning, game ranging, mainte-

nance and other services.

Herbivorous wild animals such as the ku-

dus, impalas and zebras will be conserved atthe park, except the big ve.

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 cul-tural village. - BaNws

Eco-Tourim Park to becompleted in 2010



Talented learners

from the Ba-Phal-

aborwa area were

invited by the South

African Environ-mental Observation

Network (SAEON)

and the Kruger to

Canyons BirdingRoute to visit the

vulture restaurant

on Grietjie. On Sat-

urday, September

5, entrance was freeof charge to create

publicity for the In-

ternational Vultures

Awareness Day.On arrival at the

vulture restaurant at

09h00 the fresh car-

casses that had been

put out early thatmorning had not at-

tracted any vultures

yet. There was none-

theless great birdingaround the bird-hide

where many species

were spotted by the

excited learners. Af-ter several hours ofbirding with the help

of Birdlife SA, SAE-

ON and SANParks

staff, no vultures had

arrived yet and Bren-den Pienaar, man-

ager of the Kruger

to Canyons Birding

Route, took everyonedown to the picnic

site where he taught

learners about therole and the impor-

tance of vultures inthe ecosystem. While

the learners asked

interested questions,

30 to 40 vultures came

soaring overhead towards the vulture res-taurant.

Everyone quickly went back into the

hide, but unfortunately most of the vultures

disappeared again while some waited in thetrees around the carcasses. After waiting

for another hour there was no sign of the

vultures starting to feed, and everyone wenthome. Another joint effort between SAE-

ON 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.

Learner Viit Vulture Retaurant


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Birding tourism in SouthAfrica still in its infancy

Birding and birding-related tour-

ism are growing at an unprecedent-

ed rate on a global level. Despite anabundance of natural birding assets,

South Africa has yet to realise its

full potential when it comes to bird-

ing tourism. Birding tourism hasimportant conservation and commu-

nity benets as well as signicant eco-

nomic spinoffs for South Africa and

BirdLife South Africa is assisting the

country in achieving these.Birders are typically afuent, well

educated, eco-minded and travel

widely in the pursuit of their hobby.

Their use of community guides inthe pursuit of their hobby has the

potential for signicant community

gains whilst their support of conser-

vation organisations bodes well for

the future protection of habitats andspecies.

Birding tourism has proven to be

worth signicant economic value in

certain countries. According to a pa-per published by Cagan Sekercioglu

in 2002, Costa Rica enjoyed an an-

nual economic windfall of USD400

million due to birding tourism.South Africa has an enviable com-

bination of different biomes, high

bird species diversity, the presence of

122 important bird areas, well devel-

oped birding routes and birding fa-

cilities. The 900 bird species that canbe found in Southern Africa amounts

to some 35% of Africas 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, thisis not the case. An ongoing research

project being undertaken by the De-

partment of Trade and Industry

has indicated that birding tourism

in South Africa is in its infancy andthere is room for signicant growth in

the market.

Previous studies in the eld have indi-

cated that East Asia is where the wolf wastamed 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 Stock-holm have managed to zero in on mans

best friend.

For the rst 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 madea number of new discoveries about the his-

tory of the dog.

These discoveries are presented in an

article in the scientic journal Molecular

Biology and Evolution, where it is claimedthat the dog appeared 16,000 years ago, in

Asia, south of the Yangtze River in China.

This is a considerably more specic date

and birthplace than had previously beenput forward.

Our earlier ndings from 2002 have not

been fully accepted, but with our new data

there will be greater acceptance. The pic-

ture provides much more detail, says PeterSavolainen.

The time for the emergence of the dog

conforms well with when the population

in this part of the world went from beinghunters and gatherers to being farmers,

which was 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.

According to Peter Savolainen, the re-

search indicates that the dog has a single

geographic origin but descends from a largenumber of animals. At least several hun-

dred tamed wolves, probably even more.

The fact that there were so many wolves

indicates that this was an important, majorpart of the culture, says Peter Savolain-

en. He adds that the research ndings pro-

vide several exciting theories.

For example, the original dogs, unlike

their later descendents in Europe, whichwere used as herders and guard dogs, prob-

ably ended their lives in the stomachs of

humans.

The paper can be viewed at http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/ab-

stract/msp195, courtesy of the author, P.

Savolainen. poto: Lntt Strass

Cradle and birthday ofdog identified



Lntt Strass

While Spring 2009 has ofcially arrived,many deciduous trees in South Africas

northern Lowveld are still in their winter

garb. Despite a rather dry winter, the grey

landscape boasts streaks of splendid au-

tumn browns, reds and greens where somemopane trees seem forever rooted in their

autumn shine.

A closer inspection of these leaves this

time of the year reveals strings of whit-ish waxy bubbles. These come off easily

when scratched, setting tiny bugs scurrying

around on the leaves.

Guin Zambatis, curator of the SkukuzaBiological Reference Collection in theKruger National Park, suggests these little

critters are Arytania mopane from the familyPsylidae.

Not much is known about the small sap

sucking insect. Botswana-based research-ers, W Mojeremane and AU Lumbile

wrote in their paper on the characteristics

and economic values of the mopane tree,Colophospermum mopane, that the sweet waxproduced by the mopane psyllid is eaten by

people in Botswana, especially children.

The mopane tree is an important naturalresource for many rural communities in Af-

rica. The leaves are eaten by domestic ani-mals, even after falling to the ground as it

retains its nutritional value. It is also popu-

lar 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 re produces copious

amounts of slow burning, intensively em-bers which can last for several hours or days

depending on thesize of the wood.

The ash is used a fertilser and mopane

poles are highly valued as building mate-

rial for houses and animal enclosures. The

wood, which is hard and rather difcult towork with, is used to produce furniture and

for carving.

In their book, Making the most of indig-

enous 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, exudedfrom 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 pro-

duces edible honey also nds a home in

mopane trees. potos: Lntt Strass

Waxy home,children treat



CONsERVATION HEADLINEs

Mapungubwe land claimvalid

One of the largest land claim cases todate - the Machete royal familys bid for

Mapungubwe, a World Heritage Site -

while not yet settled, has been approved as

valid, the Land Claims Commission saidon 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 com-mission, 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 takeplace before the claim could be settled. Ear-

lier, Beeld said the claim involved Mapun-

gubwe - earmarked to become a transfron-

tier national park between Botswana, South

Africa and Zimbabwe - and 56 surroundingfarms. - SAPA

Mango will operate 24hours a day in 2010

MANGO has announced that it will op-

erate 24 hours per day over the 2010 WorldCup period next year.The service extensionwill 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 bookingsfollowing the nal draw, due to take place

on December 4, when match venues will

be conrmed.Mango has planned sub-

stantially for the event. Mango will not beincreasing its fares simply to cash in on the

inux of tourists. Instead, I believe this is an

opportunity to showcase our country andnot to leave visitors returning home with a

negative perception, says Nico Bezuiden-hout, Mango CEO. An updated schedule

for ights over the tournament period is ex-

pected to be released by mid-November. +

SA Torism Onlin

SA promotes rhinokilling

There is a way of thinking within South

African environmental authorities that pro-motes the killing of rhinos rather than pro-

tecting 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 ofrhinos in South Africa over the last couple

of months.

Whether, SANParks likes it or not, the

public have a right to be concerned, to ex-press this concern and to expect transpar-

ency and accountability from government

agencies, said ARA spokesperson Michele

Pickover. ARA said that despite SANParks

angry kneejerk response there was littledoubt that there was national and interna-

tional 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 conserva-

tion agencies seem to be interpreting their

mandate as custodians in a way that wasdebatable. She said the ARA report Un-

der 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 statisticsand data, an uncoordinated response fromauthorities, insufcient 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 undersiege.

It further states that South Africa has be-

come the conduit of most of the rhinoceroshorns leaving the African continent. The

report suggests an end to all rhino huntingin South Africa because it had been proven

to be as great a problem as poaching. It fur-

ther suggests re-examining the entire Cites

report procedure because it was clear that

limited and inaccurate information wassubmitted, and to open the government

policy of sustainable use and trophy

hunting to public debate.

ARA also wants South Africa to imposean immediate moratorium on all capture,

sale, translocation and hunting of rhinos inSouth Africa.- SAPA

Stiffer penalties forpoaching in Zimbabwe

The Ministry of Environment and Natu-

ral Resources has announced new penal-

ties for the poaching of wild animals, birds

and sh with the ne for poaching rhinospegged at a staggering US$120 000.

The new penalties have been introduced

following the repealing of Statutory Instru-

ment 65 of last year. According to Statutory

Instrument 92 of 2009, Parks and Wildlife(Payment for hunting of animals and sh)

Notice, 2009, the Ministry of

Environment and Natural Resources in

terms of Section 104 (a) of the Parks andWildlife Act, Chapter 20:14 declared that:

The amount specied in the second sec-

tion of the schedule (below) shall in respect

of the species and animal and sh speci-

ed in the rst column of the schedule,be imposed in terms of section 104 (1) of

the Act.Below are some of the animals

and sh and the penalty/compensation a

poacher will pay if convicted of killing thespecies. Failure to pay will attract a suit-

able prison term in line with the value of

the animal or sh.

Rhinoceros (Black) US$120 000, Rhinoc-eros (Square lipped) US$120 000, PangolinUS$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, Buf-

falo US$6000, Sable US$2000, Ostrich(egg) US$500, All Fish (dried/smoked per

kg) US$3, Springbok US$500.

T Zimbabwan

In the kingdom of theant, a mighty curiosity

rulesDr Andersen, of the CSIRO, took

out a prestigious prize at the CharlesDarwin Symposium for his hardwork, his leadership - and his dedi-cation to the humble, but rather in-credible, ant.

He likes to point out how much the ant

punches above its weight.

If you put all the Earths land animals on

a giant scale, he says, ants would comprise30 per cent of the load.

And for every hectare of Australian bushthere would be up to 20 million ants in resi-

dence. Forget the roo - Dr Andersen says



CONsERVATION HEADLINEs

its ants that put Australia on the map.

Were the kingdom of the ant. The sheer

abundance of ants here; its mind-boggling

both in numbers and in different types.Dr Andersen - who has built the worlds

largest collection of Australian ants - is a

world leader in using the ant as a bio indi-

cator for land management.(They) are so important in the environ-

ment and to the health of it ... because

theyre so well connected with all other

things in the ecosystem, he said.

His work has been instrumental in ant-monitoring programs used by anyone from

mine operators and graziers - even to South

Africas Kruger National Park.

He has done much to bring ants to peo-ples attention - spending many a night in

bed staring at different species.

The insect world in general is not famil-

iar to people and a lot of that is because

they dont 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.Theres the Michelin ant (which is fat-

waisted), erce gremlin ants (that look

like aliens), Snuggle-pot ants (cute and

uniquely Aussie) and the buck-toothed bullant (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.

ttp://www.ntnws.om.a

Ivory dealer losesappeal

Bloemfontein - A Northern Cape mans

appeal against a conviction of being anaccomplice in the unlawful dealing of two

ivory tusks was dismissed by the SupremeCourt of Appeal (SCA) on Tuesday.

The court gave judgment in the appeal

by Herman Zurich against a nding of

the Upington Regional Court of being an

accomplice to the unlawful dealing in twoivory 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 opera-tion called Rhino. During the appeal, the

admissibility of Oberholzers evidence waschallenged. Bogus arrest Zurich submit-

ted 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 Up-ington Magistrates Court on false charges

of unlawful dealing in diamonds. This af-

forded Oberholzer the opportunity to seek

legal representation from Zurich, who thenintroduced the police agent to the seller of

the two ivory pieces. Methods not unlaw-

ful On Tuesday, the SCA held that although

the investigative methods used by the police

were unacceptable, it was not unlawful asfar 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 deal-ing in two ivory pieces. Earlier, the North-

ern Cape High Court sentenced Zurich to

a ne of R5 000 or imprisonment for nine

months with a further imprisonment for

nine months conditionally suspended forthree years on the conviction.

Nws 24

Search for distressedelephant

The uproar over a cow elephant in dis-tress at a game reserve abutting the KrugerNational Park took another turn on Tues-

day, with the animal having wandered off

into the bush. We cant locate it right now.

It was well enough to have walked away,

Djuma Private Game Reserve owner JurieMoolman 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 borderwith the Kruger. On Monday this week, the

group Animal Rights Africa demanded the

reserves owners help an apparently suffer-ing cow elephant, which had been spotted

on one of the reserves live webcams. Birthcomplications According to the group, the

elephant had suffered for over two weeks

with what appeared to be birth complica-

tions. Moolman said on Tuesday it had only

become clear at the end of last week thatthe 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 hu-mans. 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. How-

ever, the Sabi Sand Reserves ecological

committee had decided to intervene in thecase 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 Nation-al Park, we have between 10 and 15 people

trying to nd her, he said. Moolman said

he was shocked and amazed by the vitri-

olic attacks launched against himself andhis 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 ob-

vious reductio ad absurdum that their insis-tence 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? Interven-tion 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 cynicalabout these organisations and what theyare actually trying to achieve, Moolman

said. On Monday, SANParks general man-

ager of media, Reynold Thakhuli, said the

parks policy was that if an animal was in

pain and it could be helped, they would in-tervene.

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 dartthe 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 con-tact with Moolman and advised him of

our grave concerns for the welfare of this

animal. It said Moolman had conrmed

serious efforts were being made to nd the

elephant.We trust that the best interest of the el-

ephant will be taken into account and that

humane and ethical considerations will

form the basis of decisions taken in respectof this elephant, it said.

- SAPA



Nwclp

109 elephants die asdrought 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 Di-rector 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 thenumber is increasing every day due

to drought and poaching activities,

said Mr Kirui on the telephone.

He continued: Drought related el-ephants 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 especiallyfor elephants, buffalos and hippos

due to lack of pasture and water.

Speaking to The Standard yester-

day, Kirui warned that if it did notrain soon wildlife would be wiped out

affecting tourism in the world-famous

park.

Kirui said KWS has started givinghippos hay to save them from death.

Elsewhere, the KWS personnel ar-

rested four suspected poachers and

impounded several ivory as a crack-

down on poaching activities intensi-

ed in the park. Kirui said two of thesuspects were arrested at Chakama

in the Tsavo East with 63kg of ivory

while the other suspects at Kishushe

with eight kilogrammes of the tro-phies.

The Director said the prolonged

drought has encouraged poachingand warned that anyone found would

be dealt with according the law.Separately, the Drought Manage-

ment Ofcer Parkolwa Mustafa said

scores of livestock have died in Ki-

shushe, Maktau, Ghazi and Paranga

in Taita and Kidong, Salaita and Ma-handakini in Taveta because of the

drought.

In his monthly brief on drought,

the ofcial said some herders hadmigrated to Msambweni and Kwale

districts.- Kna Standard

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 September2009 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 Sad-dle-billed Storks, one of Krugers rarities,

and one of the Big Six birds. Census op-

erations on any species within the boundar-

ies of the Kruger National Park are impor-

tant to help us get an idea of that speciesstatus within the context of biodiversity

management, says Marcelle van Hoven,

the projects coordinator. The last Saddle-

billed Stork survey conducted in 1993 sug-gested that there were less than 60 of these

birds left in the Park.

Saddle-billed Storks (Ephippiorhynchus

senegalensis) are distinctly identiable by

their large size (they stand about 150 cmtall), 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 baseof the bill, while females have a yellow eye.

These birds can also be individually recog-

nised by the details of the front edge of the

black band across the red bill. Side-on pho-

tographs of all the birds, from both the leftand right angles, will be used in identica-

tion during the survey.

Saddle-billed Storks are classied as

Endangered in South Africa. They breedslowly and are dependant on extensive wet-

land habitats, which are under increasing

pressure from humans. The ow regimes of

rivers passing through the Kruger National

Park are expected to change in response tocatchment developments outside the Park,

and this, together with the removal of arti-

cial water impoundments within the Park,

may have a negative impact on this species.In South Africa, Saddle-billed Storks are

largely conned to the north-eastern tropi-

cal lowland with the majority of the popu-

lation residing along the riverine habitat in

the Kruger National Park. They normallyoccur 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 ofboth sides of the birds face and bill and

to record information

about the sighting in-

cluding the date, time,location, name ofnearby water source,

birds gender, juveniles

present and any other

notes that might be rel-

evant. A Saddle-billed

Stork census week-

end is also planned in

the Kruger NationalPark for later this year,

where photographers

with the powerful lens-es can contribute to

this project.Send all sighting de-

tails and photographs

to [email protected].

This project is spon-

sored by Tinga PrivateGame Lodge and Cus-

tom African Tours &

Safaris.

poto: Lntt

Strass

spot a saddle-billed storkand support science



Become a CLIMATE BUDDY and

help us nd out

Everyone in South Africa seems to havenoticed that the weather is unusual for this

time of year.

Depending on where you live and who

youre asking, its either hotter, colder, wet-ter 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 Envi-

ronmental Observation Network (SAEON)is what exactly is happening?

It seems that the global climate is chang-

ing, and the heat is denitely on. Average

temperatures world-wide have increased byalmost 1oC in the last century and are pre-

dicted 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 revealsthat deciduous trees are leang, owers are

blooming and migratory birds are arriving

one to two weeks earlier than they did 30

years ago. In essence, spring has sprung -but its 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 NdlovuNode are attempting to understand and re-spond to the impacts of climate change on

South Africas biodiversity.

As the timing of important events shift,

we anticipate problems for the completion

of life cycles in certain organisms; the lossof synchrony between interacting species

(especially between plants and their pol-

linators), resource limitations and changes

in the competitive advantage between spe-cies, says Dr Dave Thompson, manager:

biodiversity research at the SAEON Ndl-

ovu Node.Thompson predicts that these problems

will have a negative impact on the composi-tion and organisation of the natural world

around us. It is important to realise that

the need to understand and manage cli-

mate-related changes is much broader than

simply wanting to be environmental goodSamaritans, he explains. Consider for

a moment the impact of failed insect pol-

lination on fruit and crop production it

will have a disastrous effect on food produc-tion.

One of the biggest challenges that cli-mate-change biologists face in understand-

ing the response of organisms to the en-

vironment, is that the

effect of recent weather

events can mask the ef-

fect of long-term cli-mate change.

The impact of these

very different factors on

plants and animals canonly be separated by

analysing large amounts

of data recorded over

decades and ideally

sourced from many dif-ferent localities. Unfor-

tunately this is exactly

the sort of data that is

sorely lacking in SouthAfrica.

Your help isneeded

In order to address

this shortfall, SAEON isasking for your help in

two new citizen science

projects Climate Bud-

dy and Turning a newleaf which comple-ment the Birds eye view

migration monitoring project launched in

2007.

We are calling on members of the pub-

lic, from individuals and families to groupssuch as schools and environmental / con-

servation bodies, to participate in observing

local biological events that are likely indica-

tors of climate change, says Thompson.The depth and breadth of data that can

be collected by an organised group of en-

thusiastic volunteers will allow researchersto conduct studies that would have other-

wise been logistically impossible, explainsThompson. Every pair of eyes and every

record counts.

You dont have to be an expert to partici-

pate in the monitoring projects being run

by the Ndlovu Node. Birds eye view simplyasks that people be on the lookout for the

rst arrival of easily recognisable migrant

bird species in their area, and then to cata-

logue the arrival dates with SAEON.The two projects launched this sea-

son focus on the timing of important andconspicuous plant life cycle events and are

geared more towards the keen gardener

and amateur botanist.

Climate Buddy is concerned with moni-

toring the opening dates of ower buds in

spring, while the Turning a new leaf proj-ect aims to track spring leang and autumn

leaf drop in deciduous trees.

We welcome observations from anybody

in any part of the country who is keen to beinvolved, says Thompson.

If you would like to receive more infor-

mation about becoming a citizen scientistand joining SAEONs network of observ-

ers, or if you have already been collectingthis environmental information, please

contact Dr Dave Thompson on +27 (0) 13

735 3534 / 35. Alternatively, queries about

specic projects can be directed to birds@

saeon.ac.za, [email protected] [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 Ndl-

ovu Node, Private Bag X1021, Phalaborwa,1390).

poto: Lntt Strass

I Augut the new september?


12/30



continued from page 12

We offer bursaries and scholarships for

university studies and employ the graduatesin the various careers available. Our track

record in implementing

sustainable use is broad

and has no peer. We are as-sisting adjacent communi-

ties to set up buffer zones

for ecotourism purposes in

Community- Based Natu-

ral Resource Management(CBNRM) outreach pro-

grammes.

Recently we have provided

the Mjejane community withanimals worth over R40m for

its ecotourism venture in the

Hectorspruit area. None of

these animals will be hunted.

In the 2006/07 nancial year we commissioned an

independent study of the

economic impacts of the

existence of national parksthrough Urban Econ, peer-

reviewed by the University

of Pretoria. The study found

that SANParks created ap-proximately 100 000 jobs di-rectly and indirectly through

various industry sectors such

as construction, tour operat-

ing, travel and car hire, retail

outlets, lodges in private na-ture reserves surrounding national parks,

various procurement opportunities for

small SMMEs etc.

It would be interesting to see what animalrights and welfare NGOs have done for our

society besides megaphone politics in news-

paper columns and radio stations.Perhaps ARA and the Southern Africa

regional IFAW want to emulate the suc-cess 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 amend-

ment to the Wildlife Act (World EconomicsVol 8, No 2 April-

June 2007). Hunting and sustainable use

policies were banned in Kenya in 1977 with

the heavy lobbying of animal rights andwelfare NGOs, thus triggering unintended

backdoor plundering of wildlife for thebush meat trade.

This led to private land owners having

little interest in practising wildlife econom-

ics in the same manner as the private na-

ture reserves do in South Africa. In general,

wildlife in Kenya has declined by between60 percent and 70 percent (World Econom-

ics 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 compensationfor the loss of human life and damage to

property, thus transformed conservation

management practice.The amendment came from the oor of

the House, went through all the requiredprocedures, debates and public consulta-

tions, including the Attorney-Generals of-

ce, and was properly voted on by parlia-

mentarians.

However, the foreign animal rights andwelfare NGOs were able to hijack the en-

tire consultative process by shipping in rent-

a-mob crowds who successfully reduced

everything to an endless shouting matchabout the amendment being a ploy to re-

introduce hunting andsustainable use inKenya.

IFAW launched a massively wellfunded

publicity campaign in newspapers and on

TV with posters in Nairobi and the interna-

tional airport.

Noticeable by their silence were the es-tablished progressive international conser-

vation NGOs, including the WWF, African

Wildlife Foundation and the IUCN, all of

which have regional ofces in Kenya. Theywere frightened off by IFAWs 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 andmust 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 theirmasters in the northern hemisphere.

As Deepak Lai elegantly puts it: For-

eign NGOs claim to speak on behalf of the

worlds poor but in fact speak the language

of the worlds rich and invariably seek theirown agendas and purpose rather than those

they purport to help. Through their nan-

cial strength and access to political elites,

especially in poor countries, they are able tosubvert the representative democratic pro-

cess and insinuate foreign minority views

into what are supposedly parliamentary

majority voting systems. (Lai, 2006, Reviv-ing the Invisible Hand: the case for classi-cal 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 ofthe 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 isindigenous to Africa, but its links (as dis-

played on its website) with the international

animal rights fraternity place it squarely inthe 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 dignityof conservation, indigenous people and the

national heritage for the equitable benet

of all and make national parks the pride

and joy of all its citizens.

Dr David Mabunda is the chief ex-

ecutive ofcer of South African Na-tional Parks

photo: Lynette Strauss

Anti-hunting group have mifired



Jason Trollip

Abe appointed asnew leader for KrugerNational Park

V e l a p h i

A br aham

S i b i y a

(known as Abe) has been

appointed by

the board of

South AfricanNational Parks

(SANParks) as

managing ex-

ecutive of the

Kruger Na-tional Park (KNP).

Sibiya has been ofcially acting as

the Managing Executive: KNP since

December 2008. He holds a BSc de-gree from the University of Witwa-

tersrand with Botany and Zoology

as his major subjects, as well as a BSc

(Hons) in Wildlife Management from

the University of Pretoria. Sibiya has25 years experience in the eld of

Conservation Management, with spe-

cial emphasis on park development

and management as well as ecotour-ism management.

Besides having been exposed to

conservation management practices

outside of the country, he also helda number of executive managementpositions in the Mpumalanga Parks

and Tourism Authorities over a pe-

riod of 10 years.

Having grown up in the Lowveld

area of Mpumalanga, Sibiya under-stands, and appreciates, the culture of

the province and its peoples. He also

loves the local landscape, its incred-

ible ora and fauna, and the associ-ated tourism products and what these

mean, not for the province, but the

whole nation.SANParks chief executive, David

Mabunda, said that KNP is the ag-ship of the South African National

Parks and so it was important to ap-

point to its helm a person who would

be able to understand and appreciate

its complexities. We wish Mr Sibiyaall the best in his new challenge as

well as strength to steer this mighty

ship well into the future. With the cur-

rent economic climate, SANParks hasnever been in greater need of strong

leadership to continue building itseconomic stability, said Mabunda.

Theo Mostert, author of Plant commu-

nities of the Soutpansberg Arid Northern

Bushveld, describes the plant communities

of this area in detail. Main ecological driv-ers of the vegetation structure and species

composition of these communities are dis-

cussed and some conservation recommen-

dations are made.

Eight plant communities were identiedand described as Commiphora tenuipetiolata -

Adansonia digitata short open woodland,Lede-bouria ovatifolia-Commiphora mollis short bush-

land, Phyllanthus reticulatus- Acacia nigrescensshort bushland, Tinnea rhodesiana-Combretum

apiculatum short bushland, Dichrostachys ci-nerea subsp. africana-Spirostachys africana low

thickets, Themeda triandra-Pterocarpus rotundi-

folius short closed grassland on steep basal-tic slopes, Cyperus albostriatus-Syzygium corda-

tum sandveld wetlands, and Sesamothamnuslugardii-Catophractes alexandritall sparse shru-

bland.These plant communities are event-driv-

en ecosystems, predominantly inuenced

by frequent droughts, exposure to desicca-

tion and unpredictable rainfall events. Thecomplex topography of the Soutpansbergfurther contributes to the aridity of

these ecosystems. The classication

and ordination analyses show simi-

lar groupings in the vegetation of

the Soutpansberg Arid MountainBushveld.

The results from this study

will alter existing regional veg-

etation maps profoundly. Thedescribed plant communities

of these arid event-driven

ecosystems should be usedas benchmark examples of

the regions primary veg-etation. Conservation and

management planning

should be based on these

vegetation units

The classication,mapping and descrip-

tion of the vegetation

of the Rooipoort Na-

ture Reserve, North-ern Cape, South Africa by

Hugo Bezuidenhout is an investigationinto the plant ecology of this Reserve Re-

serve.

It came about from a need for a scientif-

ically-based wildlife management plan and

for more knowledge on vegetation.

The main aim of this study was thereforeto classify, describe and map the vegeta-

tion of the reserve. The oristic data were

analysed according to the Braun-Blanquet

procedure using the BBPC suite. The data

analysis resulted in the identication of15 communities that can be grouped into

ten major community types. This resulted

in ve ecology-based management units,

which could assist with the compilation ofan 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 re-serves in South Africa and as such deserves

to be conserved and protected. The riverine

and pan vegetation communities are con-

sidered to be endangered and are in needof special conservation and protection.

The results suggest ve management

units, which will assist in the compilation

of an ecologically sound management planfor the RNR, in order to allow sustainableutilization of natural resources.

For more information on our

services, please visit:

Website:

w w w .open-

j o u r -

n a l s .

net orh t t p : / /

www.koe-

doe.co.za/index.php/

koedoe/ar-ticle Email:

in fo @o pen-

journals.net

poto: L-

ntt Strass

Koedoe UpdateThe latet article publihed in Koedoe focuon vegetation and plant communitie



Countries tackling food insecurity and

climate change adaptation can greatly ben-

et from agroforestry - integrating eshy

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 otherfactors.

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 for-ests and wetlands that underpin agriculture,

and indeed life itself in the rst 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, Stein-er said. Trees are one of natures most in-

genious answers to many of our problems.

Agroforestry helps supply fodder, fruit

and nuts as well as trees and shrubs thatproduce gums, resins and valuable medi-

cines.

Steiner said agroforestry may have many

roles to play in the new landscape of re-warding countries for their natural or na-ture-based services.

Firstly it offers the potential for maxi-

mizing sustainable food production in the

zones surrounding natural forests while also

boosting biodiversity and other natural in-frastructure.

Secondly, it offers an opportunity for

timber production and thus alternative live-

lihoods to meet perhaps a supply gap thatmay emerge under a fully-edged REDD

[Reduced Emissions from Deforestation

and forest Degradation] regime.Thirdly these agroforestry areas can also

potentially secure ows from carbon nancein their own right.

Better REDD

REDD is a strategy to help local com-

munities conserve forests, including fund-

ing these efforts through governments and

market-based mechanisms, such as tradingthe 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 depos-

its abundant quantities of organic

fertilizer on to the food crops toprovide nutrients and increase

yields, totally free of charge, said

Dennis Garrity, World Agroforest-

ry Centre (ICRAF) Director-Gen-eral. They are fertilizer factories

in the food crop elds.

The leaves and pods of the

Faidherbia, which are adapted to

a wide array of climates and soilsfrom deserts to humid tropics, pro-

vide fodder in the dry season too.

Garrity said: The much higher

food prices... have exacerbated thepain of hunger in hundreds of mil-

lions of households. The standard

solutions just arent working. The

question is, what are we as agrofor-

estry scientists going to do aboutit? What are we going to contrib-

ute to sustainable solutions?

With shrinking forests, he said,

the rising demand for tree prod-ucts will have to be met from farm-grown

sources. Clearly, agroforestry science has

much to offer in overcoming the food secu-

rity challenges in Africa, and elsewhere inthe world.

Tree cover

According to a 24 August report byICRAF, tree cover is a common feature on

agricultural land, and represents over one

billion hectares of land.

Agroforestry, if dened by tree coverof greater than 10 percent on agricultural

land, is widespread, found on 46 percent

of all agricultural land area globally, andaffecting 30 percent of rural populations,

stated the report.Namanga Ngongi, president of the Al-

liance for a Green Revolution in Africa

(AGRA), said: Seventy-ve percent of Af-

ricas farm lands are degraded, and defores-

tation is taking place at four times the globalaverage, destroying 1 percent of our forests

every year.

Agroforestry alone could remove 50 bil-

lion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the at-mosphere over the next 50 years, meeting

about a third of the worlds total carbonreduction challenge, according to ICRAF

studies.

Carbon payback

Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai sug-gested that subsistence farmers might bemore willing to invest in farming trees if

there were carbon credit revenue guaran-

tees.

UNEP recently launched a Carbon Ben-

ets Project in the catchments of LakeVictoria, Niger, Nigeria and China, which

seeks to nd a standardized way of assessing

how much carbon is actually locked away in

vegetation and in soils under different land-management regimes.

This has been a major challenge for Af-

rican smallholders seeking to access thecarbon market. Preliminary ndings are ex-

pected within 18 months. According to Steiner, economic incen-

tives are required to reverse deforestation

and forest degradation.

...Simply locking away forests to secure

their carbon as if they are the Queens jew-els, 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 (ttp://www.irinnws.

org/) poto: Lntt Strass

Tree vital for food ecurity



Lntt Strass

The 2009 SA National Parks Week was of-cially opened at Mopanie Rest Camp in the

Kruger National Park on Monday, September

14.

Keynote speaker on the day, minister of wa-

ter and environmental affairs, BP Sonjica, saysSouth Africas 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 thecorrect 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 of-fers 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, to-wards taking care of the countrys conservation

resources. Through this project, we also aim

at building stronger constituencies and ambas-

sadors of conservation and the environment.After the ofcial launch, the delegates were

taken on a guided tour of the Masorini Heri-

tage site, situated close to the Phalaborwa En-

trance Gate.

The week-long celebration of free access

to parks by South Africans ran from 14 to 20September. 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 ascommercial vehicles to ensure the sustainability

of parks, with some run independently by com-

mercial tour operators.The survival of the South African national

parks system and our natural and cultural heri-tage 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 ap-

preciation for the countrys natural heritage,added Dr. Mabunda.

The Kruger National Park hosted a senior

citizens groups for lunch in Skukuza on Tues-

day and another group on Thursday. The con-cept was launched in 2006, to encourage all

South Africans to visit national parks, based onthe realisation that the majority of this coun-

trys citizens were not accessing parks.

Free acce to park tocultivate communityinteret

ESCALATED ANTI-POACHING ACTIONSSTARTING TO YIELDRESULTS

South African National Parks (SAN-

Parks) announced earlier this months

that more poachers have been ap-prehended in recent weeks due to

the increased efforts to stamp down

on poaching of rhino and other high

value wildlife in the Kruger NationalPark.

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 hornthrough a violent robbery in the Addo

Elephant National Park.

It is with sadness that we announce

that since our announcement at theend of July we have lost a seven white

rhino to poachers. However, the great-

est news to come out of these despica-

ble activities is that SANParks has since

apprehended another six suspectedrhino poachers and the recovery of

ve illegal rearms, said Dr David

Mabunda, the chief executive of SAN-

Parks.The new arrests bring the number

of arrested suspects to 14, with 11 re-

covered illegal rearms.

Dr Mabunda said that what is alarm-ing about this information is that ofthe 33 rhinos (including 1 black rhino)

poached this year 28 of them were il-

legally killed along the eastern bound-

ary with Mozambique and all the 14

suspects arrested thus far were of Mo-zambican origin.

We intend to increase our efforts

even more in ensuring that this scourge

is routed out. Discussions have beenstarted with Mozambican authorities

to solicit their assistance in apprehend-

ing suspects and preventing illegal ac-tivities from proliferating on their side

of the fence, said Dr Mabunda.SANParks has pledged a sum of

R5.2 million from its Park Develop-

ment Fund which is aimed at improv-

ing anti-poaching interventions in the

KNP. The funds are being used forincreasing the number of eld rangers

by 57 people as well as buying more

vehicles and a state of the Crime In-

formation Management System.For other previous related articles on

the matter please visit the SANParkswebsite www.sanparks.org



Free acce to park to cultivatecommunity interet

South Africasminister of waterand environmen-tal affairs, BPSonjica and DrDavid Mabunda,SANParks chiefexecutive inspectthe rangers drillsquad during thelaunch of SAN-Parks week 2009.

photos: LynetteStrauss

Minister BP Son-jica and Dr DavidMabunda shop-ping at MopaneRest Camp

Kruger Na-tional Parkguides tellmore aboutthe rich

heritage show-cased at theMasorini Heri-tage Site, situ-ated close tothe PhalaborwaEntrance Gate



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 cel-

ebrated on 5 September 2009.

This comes against a backdrop of recent

reports of problems facing vultures in Afri-ca 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 contaminatedwith the veterinary drug diclofenac.

There have been mass vulture deaths in

East Africa associated with misuse of chem-

icals, huge population declines in West Af-rica due to habitat loss, and the disappear-

ance of vultures from large areas of their

formers ranges in South Africa because of

the continued use of vulture parts in tradi-

tional medicine and sorcery.Other threats include power line colli-

sions and electrocutions, disturbance at

breeding sites, drowning in farm reservoirs,

direct persecution and declining food avail-ability.

Vultures fulll an extremely important

ecological role. They keep the environment

free of carcasses and waste, restrict the

spread of diseases such as anthrax and bot-

ulism, and help control numbers of pests

such as rats and feral dogs by reducing thefood 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 exam-ple of the link between birds and people.

Loss of vultures would mean loss of impor-

tant natural services to people, for example

the cleaning of the environment of animal

carcasses and waste at no charge, said DrHazell Shokellu Thompson, BirdLifes Re-

gional Director for Africa.

One major challenge to detecting and

countering these threats is that there are very few people out there watching vul-

tures, let alone counting them. Thus it is

difcult to determine population trends

and to detect declining populations, said

Paul Kariuki Ndanganga, BirdLifes Spe-cies 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 there-

fore 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 en-

couraged to take action for vultures where

feasible.Some of the main conservation actions

that have been identied for vultures in

Africa include: establishing a monitoring

network for African vultures, establishinglegal 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 farm-ers, to reduce persecution, unintentional

poisoning and hunting for cultural reasons.

Elsewhere in the world, Birdlife Partner

Bird Conservation Nepal had a full pro-gramme 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-freezone, 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 willbe offering public lectures in all its birding

centres across the country.

Manufacture of the veterinary form of

Diclofenac, was outlawedin India in 2006 after a suc-cessful advocacy campaign

by BNHS (BirdLife in In-

dia) and RSPB (BirdLife

in the UK), and although

these veterinary formula-tions are disappearing,

equally dangerous human

formulations are instead

being used to treat live-stock. The Asian vulture

programme recently had

success after Critically En-dangered Slender-billed

Vultures Gyps tenuiros-tris were bred in captivity

for the rst time, raising

hopes that captive breed-

ing has the potential to save

this and other CriticallyEndangered Asian vultures.

To nd out more about

International Vulture

Awareness go to www.ivad09.org

Learn to Love Vulture - or Loe Them



Approximately 200 people participatedin 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 andthe Kruger to Canyons Birding Route host-

ed the event aimed at creating a better un-

derstanding and greater awareness of the

importance of trees in our environment.

The Limpopo department of education ca-tered for all attendants to the event, which

included all thirteen Eco Schools in the Ba-

Phalaborwa Municipality. The Kruger to

Canyons Birding Route donated 30 indige-

nous trees to the participating Eco Schools,which will be planted on their premises dur-

ing the next few weeks.

The Route has been involved in a long-

term environmental education programmewith the Eco Schools

and will be includ-

ing global climatechange and carbon

footprint mitiga-tion as new mod-

ules to the existing

programme says

Project Manager

Brenden Pienaar. Whilst promoting

tourism the route

is also committed

to ensuring thatit does not have a

negative impact onthe environment.

Arbor Day was initially proposed by Ster-ling Morton in 1854, a journalist and news-

paper 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 ofthe State Board of Agriculture, a tree plant-

ing holiday was proclaimed in 1872 and the

celebrations soon spread around the world.

In recent times the destruction of naturalvegetation by human activities has contrib-

uted to increasing carbon dioxide levels in

the atmosphere.The destruction of vegetation reduces the

amount of carbon dioxide that is removedfrom the atmosphere and contributes to

global climate change. Trees absorb carbon

dioxide from the atmosphere through the

process of photosynthesis. The carbon di-

oxide is therefore trapped in the roots andstem of trees, thereby sequestrating the ex-

cessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the at-

mosphere. In light of these events, the best

time to plant a tree was actually sixty threeyears ago, but the next best time to plant a

tree is now.

Phalaborwa Reident Commemorate Arbor Day



South African President Jacob Zumas

dilemma over what to do about land and

agrarian reform is no different than it was

for his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, but theapproach of the countrys fourth democrat-

ic president is.

Rectifying the racially skewed pattern of

land ownership inherited from apartheidand the alleviation of rural poverty are

among Zumas main priorities, according

to analysts, and his rst 100 days in ofce

have reected this.

The administration of land and agricul-ture 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 Develop-ment and Land Reform, and the Ministry

of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The jury is still out as to whether this ap-

proach will be more effective, but the track

record of the past 15 years, when agricul-ture and land reform were the responsibility

of a single ministry, is less than inspiring.

Since the rst democratic elections in

1994, the aim of redistributing 30 percentof white-owned farmland to landless blacks

by 2014 has failed on two levels.

Only ve percent of commercial land

had been redistributed, and there hasbeen an extremely poor level of support[by government] for new, small and cash-

strapped farmers who have been settled on

this land, Ruth Hall of the University of

the Western Capes Institute for Poverty,

Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) notedin a policy brief.

Land reform failingThe Department for Rural Develop-

ment and Land Reform estimates that half

of all existing [land redistribution] projects

have failed; most independent researchsuggests that this is an optimistic reading of

its track record, Hall said.Splitting land reform and agriculture into

two portfolios appears at rst glance illogi-

cal, as critics maintain they are implicitly

linked, but Hall said in her brief that land

reform has been crippled by combiningthem.

The blame for the dismal track record

of production on redistributed farms must

fall largely on the national and provincialdepartments of agriculture, which have

simply failed to come to the party, she said.Despite the introduction of some agri-

cultural support and funds for land reform

beneciaries in recent years, the agricul-

ture departments have remained biased in

favour of commercial farming, and unsup-

portive of smallholder farming and the pro-duction systems of the poor.

Hall said the logic of separation acknowl-

edged that there were two spheres of agri-

culture in South Africa - commercial andsubsistence - and the agricultural depart-

ment should focus on commercial farming,

rather than the new and poor farmers on

redistributed land and in the former Bantu-

stans, whose type and scale of farming and,therefore, needs might differ substantially.

The Bantustans were a creation of apart-

heid in which the black majority were to live

in reserves comprising 13 percent of SouthAfrica, with the white minority and the gov-

ernment 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 ANCs 2007 National Conference in

Polokwane, capital of Limpopo Province -at which the ruling African National Con-

gress (ANC) party unseated former Presi-

dent Mbeki as leader in favour of Zuma,

putting him on the path to becoming thecountrys president - adopted a policy ofmoving away from large-scale land redistri-

bution to the creation of black small-scale

commercial farmers.

Hall said that although the strategic vi-

sion 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 onsupporting agriculture and small farmers,

then there will need to be substantial and

sustained investment in the agriculturaltraining colleges, as well as related profes-

sions, she commented.

Willing seller, willingbuyerThe redistribution of commercial farmlandhas been premised on the willing seller,willing buyer model, which has led toclaims by government that farmers wereinating land prices, and counter claimsby farm organizations that market-drivenforces 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 engage-ment 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 re-gard, but has tended to privilege large com-

mercial projects for black shareholders,

rather than making land available for small

farmers.

There is a delicate balance between thelarge-scale commercial farmers, who pro-

vide South Africa with food security and

surpluses for food insecure neighbouring

states, such as Zimbabwe, and managingthe uneven land ownership that continues

to instil resentment among poor and mid-

dle-class blacks.

PLAAS director Ben Cousins, a contrib-

utor to a green paper on land reform ex-pected to be published later this year, told

the South African daily newspaper, Business

Day, on 21 August: Government knows

large-scale expropriation isnt feasible, evenif they pass the Expropriation Bill later this

year. They realize that if you expropriate

youll end up in the courts, so it wont be

cheaper or faster anyway.Annelize Crosby, the legal and policy ad-

visor to AgriSA, an umbrella organization

for commercial farmers and agricultural

businesses, told IRIN that high land prices

were often a consequence of the govern-

ments choice of land, which preferred cit-rus and wine farms with urban access and

good road networks, rather than, say, farms

in the karoo, South Africas arid central pla-

teau. Also, governments purchase of going

concerns, such as dairy farms, rather than

vacant land came at a premium because ofthe existing infrastructure, she pointed out.

Crosby said AgriSA was 100 percent be-hind sustainable land reform, and noted

that in the relatively short time of Zumas

presidency there had been some discernible

differences in the approach of government

departments towards commercial farmers.Its not a night-and-day difference, but a

shift in attitude towards [commercial] farm-

ers, Crosby said. The Zuma administra-

tion has extended a hand of friendship andis serious about a partnership ... Mbeki was

not all bad, but the partnership never reallygot going. (http://www.irinnews.org/)

IRIN. All rigts rsrvd.

Analyi: Land reform - ame problem,different approach


21/30



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 SocialSurvey (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 unset-tling, guide to some of the major impacts

of climate change in various African coun-

tries, based on the IPCCs reports. Here is a

quick tour of the guide.

Food security

NORTheRN AfRIcA fROM

MOROccO TO eGyPTBy 2100, losses in agricultural produc-

tion might amount to between 0.4 percent

and 1.3 percent of gross domestic product

(GDP).

Egypt: By 2050, rising temperaturescould shrink production of many crops,

ranging from 11 percent for rice to 28 per-

cent for soybeans. A projected decline in

precipitation will also affect the ow of theNile River, while a rise in sea level will affect

food production in the Nile Delta.

WeST AfRIcABy 2100, agricultural losses might repre-

sent two percent to four percent of GDP.

Rising annual global temperature, causing

warmer seas, will affect sheries in north-

western Africa.

Gulf of Guinea: Lagoon sheries andaquaculture could be hit when the low-bar-

rier 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 per-

cent of the existing rice-eld area could belost to permanent ooding by 2050.

Benin and Cote dIvoire: The inundation

and subsequent salinization of coastal soil

could threaten palm oil and coconut pro-duction.

eAST AfRIcA

Rainfall is expected to increase in some

parts of the region. The loss of about 20percent of plant and animal life in Lake

Tanganyika is projected, with a 30 percent

decrease in sh yields.

In Kenya a one-metre rise in the sea levelcould affect the production of mangoes, ca-

shew nuts and coconuts, causing losses of

almost US$500 million a year.

On the plus side, in parts of the Ethiopi-

an highlands a combination of higher tem-peratures and better rainfall may lengthen

the growing season.

SOuTheRN AfRIcA

More frequent El Nio conditions - in

which sea surface temperatures become

warmer across the central and eastern Pa-

cic Ocean - could disrupt rains, bringing anotable drop in maize production.

On the other hand, growing seasons may

lengthen in parts of Southern Africa, for

example Mozambique, owing to a combi-

nation of increased temperature and higher

rainfall.South Africa: In Africas major grain

producer net revenues from crops could

shrink by up to 90 percent by 2100.

Water resources

NORTheRN AfRIcAMore people could be experiencing water

stress by 2055, particularly in Egypt, where

a rapidly expanding population - expected

to reach between 115 and 179 million by2050 - might be demanding

kruger park e-times 3

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