Africa Wild

Sharifa wrote an open letter to the SP Board. I am told by her that it did not take long to get buried in the Indaba forum. I have a tehnical issue when I try to log in - I get the message that this account has been banned for one year for not following rule 657, sub section 23(xii)

Dear Board Members,We are all agreed that one rhino killed is one too many. It seems that most of the poachers are from Mozambique and we seem to have issues getting a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in place with Mozambique. I would like to make a suggestion on this matter.

Firstly, Nelson Mandela is a one of the Founding Patrons of the Peace Parks and he had a vison for the Transfrontier Peace Park, I quote Nelson Mandela


"I know of no political movement, no philosophy, no ideology, which does not agree with the peace parks concept as we see it going into fruition today. It is a concept that can be embraced by all.

In a world beset by conflicts and division, peace is one of the cornerstones of the future. Peace parks are a building block in this process, not only in our region, but potentially in the entire world."


Secondly, Her Excellency Graca Machel, a lady of impeccable credentials, who has been and still is invloved in many a worthy projects, is well positioned to broker an agreement. She is known and respected in both countries and a MoU will not only save our rhinos but also help realise the dream of Madiba.

I hope the Board and Minister Molewa would consider contacting Ms. Machel to help us achieve this.

Yours Sincerely
Sharifa Jinnah

Ja, Duke...

It is not nice to be banned over there, and takes a while to adjust, but I'm sure you'd agree AW should not be an extended platform for responding to SPf comments? I went through the same, and eventually one adjusts. Your and Sharifa's credibility are beyond question, obviously, but ironically these measures add to the woes of SP, ultimately. At least here there is little or no condemnation and multiplicity. But once again, not all AW members have a clue about SPf?

RP, I am long past worrying about the banning. It happened in August 2013. So I could be there again from August, question is do I want to be? Nope. Your point is taken and my intention was not to use AW in that way.

No problem slamming SP! But Spf mods are on a hiding to nowhere, and have to toe the line!?

Didn't know you were banned so long ago!

25 MAR 2014 07:35

The South African National Parks (SANParks) has received funding to the amount of R255m to combat rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park (KNP) and test anti-poaching tactics that can be applied in other regions of Africa, where poaching can be a source of funding for armed groups.


© kcleator - Fotolia.com

This three-year initiative has been made possible by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF), a private foundation in the United States, and the Nature Conservation Trust (NCT), a South African public benefit organisation.

The effort in the KNP will create an intensive protection zone (IPZ), using sophisticated detection and tracking equipment and infrastructure on the ground and in the air, elite canine units and highly-trained ranger teams, and improved intelligence gathering and observation and surveillance systems.

Criminal networks

The KNP is currently home to over 40% of the world's remaining 22,000 rhinos, the largest single population of rhinos in the world. Since January 2010, 1,383 rhinos have been poached from the KNP, part of a larger assault that resulted in 2,368 rhinos poached in South Africa over the past few years. In some areas of Africa entire populations of rhino have been eliminated.

KNP's poaching problem is fuelled mainly by illicit criminal networks in Mozambique, South Africa, and East Asia, but evidence suggests that armed groups elsewhere in Africa derive significant funding from poaching activities. KNP's IPZ will also serve as a testing ground to inform targeted efforts to combat poaching in these other African regions.

"SANParks, thanks to the leadership of David Mabunda, and the Kruger National Park, under the direction of General Johan Jooste, provide a unique opportunity to test new technology and new ideas within the best operating national parks system on the continent," said NCT chairman and HGBF CEO Howard G. Buffett. "This effort joins our foundation's historic support for conservation with our current focus on conflict mitigation in Africa, particularly in the Great Lakes region."

Illicit wildlife trade

"The scale, complexity, and strategic value of this initiative is truly unprecedented for SANParks, and we believe will be transformative in our ongoing efforts to address poaching and the decimation of the rhino population in Kruger National Park," said SANParks CEO David Mabunda. "More importantly, the lessons we hope to learn and share across SANParks and the continent will, we believe, develop new and more effective ways to combat illicit wildlife trade, particularly where it is financing armed groups."

The Leadership for Conservation in Africa (LCA), led by its South African-based CEO Chris Marais, will provide advisory and advocacy support for the collaboration. NCT and HGBF have a long history of support for conservation in Africa. NCT, with 100% of its funding provided by HGBF, created the Jubatus Cheetah Reserve in 2001 and the Ukulima Research Farm in 2007, both located in the Limpopo Province in South Africa.

Through its direct investments and support for NCT, HGBF has, prior to this announcement, committed over R485m in South Africa for a range of conservation and agriculture development activities including strengthening environmental governance, carnivore research in the Shashe/Limpopo Trans-Frontier Conservation region, preservation of natural resources, cheetah research and regional planning for cheetah conservation, development of agricultural strategies and production of improved seed for smallholder farmers. HGBF has committed an additional R1.9bn in support of its Africa Great Lakes Peace Initiative, which also includes funding for anti-poaching efforts designed to interrupt the capital flow to armed groups.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196 ... .html#more

Lowvelder

02 April 2014 | Nicolene Smalman

NELSPRUIT - South Africa and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam concluded "fruitful discussions" in Pretoria last week on issues related to biodiversity conservation and management.

Rhino poaching took priority during the discussions, as the number of rhino poached since the beginning of the year has increased to 233. This was the latest figure supplied by the Department of Environmental Affairs last Wednesday.

Lowvelder visited the Kruger National Park (KNP) on Monday where it was indicated that 153 rhinos have been slaughtered here since 2014 commenced - 71 in January; 38 in February and 44 in March.

The 20-member delegation of Vietnam, which was headed by the vice-minister of natural resources and environment, Ass Prof Dr Bùi Cách Tuyen, also visited the iconic Kruger. They were briefed on rhino anti-poaching initiatives in the park and were provided an insight into the research and work being undertaken by the non-governmental sector in South Africa to curb the poaching.

Actions directed at specific areas of intervention were vigorously deliberated and agreed upon in order to address the issue.

These included:
• engagements and exchange of expertise on the optimisation of management of protected areas and monitoring systems
• the promotion and sharing of awareness raising efforts in both countries
• technology enhancement for improvement of communication exchange and investigation which include invasive species control and DNA detection of rhino horn;
• optimal natural resources management to sustain wildlife resources
• strengthening of joint research on market demands for illegal and legal wildlife productions.
Officials from the department, as well as that of agriculture, fisheries and forestry, SANParks and the police, also briefed the delegation on the following:
• The implementation of biodiversity management legislation in South Africa
• Curbing poaching and the illegal wildlife trade
• Biodiversity management and the sustainable utilisation of resources
• Lessons learnt on existing financing mechanisms and offsets in terms of biodiversity monitoring
• Wildlife and protected area management, biodiversity conservation and management experiences
• Forest management
• Enforcement-related matters.


http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/co ... o-poaching

Durban plans to infuse rhino horns with poison

2014-04-03 08:33

Cape Town – Authorities at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Wildlife Park are planning to inject the horns of their rhino with poison in an effort to stem poaching at the reserve.

This project is based on similar initiatives that were done at the Tembe Elephant Park in 2013, where not a single rhino was killed due to the tainting of the horns.

According to I O L within the last two weeks KwaZulu Natal has experienced a large amount of rhino poaching, as syndicates have increased the price they pay to their shooters from R80 000 to R200 000.

In KZN alone 19 rhino have been poached, in the Kruger park a further 150 rhino have been killed just this year.

According to Bandile Mkhize, an executive at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, since the poison was infused into the horns of rhino at the Tembe Elephant Park not a single rhino had died or been poached.

Because of this new deterrent poachers according to Mkhize are now moving south and are targeting rhino in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, rhino in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park are also under fire.

Authorities are making a huge effort to devalue rhino horn, said Mkhize.

Currently a cocktail that contains chemical and nuclear poisons that will be infused into the horn is being researched and according to Cedric Coetzee, the chief of the Ezemvelo anti-poaching sector, it is in the final stage of analysis.

Poaching had decreased for a bit but with a new cash injection by syndicates the illegal activity has sky rocketed, said Coetzee

- News24

Go for it guys!!!!

if is without danger for the Rhino