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Richard Leakey yesterday talked about the effects of climate change in East Africa in which he predicted major weather changes due to the melting of ice in Antarctica.

According to Dee Boersma, a biology professor at Washington University in Seattle, penguins are the first victims of climate change. Their populations have already begun to crash over the past there decades in Argentina, and declined to 63,000 from 1.5 million a century ago in South Africa.

Why do I care? Because penguins are the stars of my all time favourite film “March of the Penguins” which in 2005 probably suffered from a colony-wide breeding failure due to climate change. I can’t bear the thought!

Dee describes penguins as the“canary in the coal mine,” and their declining numbers are evidence that people are altering the animals’ environment. She also suggests that fish species eaten by penguins are disappearing due to our seafood diet as well as global warming effects on ocean currents. Unstable ice in the Antarctic broke up earlier than normal in 2006, forcing two-month-old chicks that couldn’t survive the cold water to swim, Boersma said. Can you imagine that? Her study will be published in the July/August edition of the U.S. journal BioScience.

Unrelated to this, Seamus of Kilimanjaro Lions talked about a new software for identifying penguins in massive colonies. Great idea but what if there are no penguins to study in the future?

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Tags: antarctica, Climate change, melting glaciers, penguins, richard leakey

Friends, I will be taking a short break starting tomorrow to attempt the third highest peak of Mt Kenya.  It is  the second highest mountain in Africa at 17,058 ft high and having done it 4 times before I know how thin the air is up there (and I was a fit young spring chicken back then!). It’s not unusual for people to get mountain sickness or mountain madness, finally I’ll have a good excuse for my crazy ways. I’m taking a different route this time, through the Sirimon trail and back down the Chogoria trail which is apparently stunningly beautiful.

The purpose of course is to get to Pt. Lenana, 16,355 ft. This peak is named after a Masai Paramount chief. My itinerary for that day which comes after 4 days of climbing reads

“Kick off at 3.am to reach pt Lenana 16,355 ft in time for the sun rise.
The climb starts on frozen scree and continues on a rocky track with some very minor scrambling. With a good Moon you barely need a torch. Without a Moon, then the pollution- free sky bangs on the ground giving you as good a view of the stars as almost anywhere on Earth.
The climb takes 3 -4 hrs and to add to the exhilaration, Kilimanjaro is also visible from the horizon.
Descend to Minto’s hut for full breakfast. After a short rest descend further to Mt Kenya bandas lodge through the gorges valley for dinner & overnight.
You can enjoy log fires, hot showers and bed at the lodge.”

Damn they have good marketers! It sounds so good - especially the log fire (poor trees) and ‘full breakfast’ … somehow I doubt a big meal will be quite as well appreciated as at lower altitudes, but my adrenalin is already flowing. You can read about adventures on Mt Kenya blogs here and here

Mount Kenya is a spiritually important place in Kenya, and I feel massively compelled to climb. Part of me wants to witness what is happening on the mountain, it is a National Park, a National Forest and a World Heritage site that is very well protected. However, scientists say it is also horribly affected by climate change with the glaciers melting at fantastic rates, we have already lost 45% of our glaciers, and its predicted to be gone in 15 years. I want to see the snow again before it’s gone. As usual I’ll get you some photos and perhaps a podcast about the adventure. I’m meant to be on leave for that week long climb, and although I’m doing it for fun I’m sure there will be a huge amount of pain involved, I’ll probably need another break afterwards!

Wish me luck!

Oh, and finally, I’ll be up the mountain when the Stockholm Challenge results are announced. Please please monitor it and let me know if we win anything!

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Tags: , Mount kenya, retreating glaciers

While in the USA I attended a conference on Rewards for Ecosystem Services at the Land Tenure Center at Madison University titled Designing pro-poor rewards for ecosystem services

What are rewards for ecosystem services? Well it’s a new field that tries to reward those who are protecting the environment and to pay them for the services generated. You can read about it here

We’re all used to the idea of carbon credits, this idea goes a little further and provides mechanisms for payments for biodiversity, clean water, air and aesthetic values. Payment for Ecosystem Services is the new buzz word in conservation and everyone is trying to take credit for leading in this field including WWF

Katoomba is probably the most talked about site – it is a really creative ecosystem services marketplace

Everything I knew about climate change and fossil fuels were thrown in the bin. Professor Jonathan Foley the founder of the Center for sustainability and Global Environment at Madison University (SAGE) presented the most compelling evidence that the main cause of climate change is in fact land use change – something that we tend not to think about. You can download his presenatation here
Professor Foley believes that land-use change has already irreparably altered the earths biosphere.

Land use change is happening everywhere. Consider these facts

1. 40% of the earth is under agriculture of this,
2. 18 million km² is under crops, and
3. 30 million km² is under pasture
4. 35% of the planets photosynthesis is controlled by humans
5. Water use has increased by 3 times in the last 50 years
6. Nitrogen and Phosphorous inputs to the environment have doubled
7. Land under agriculture has increased by 12% in the last 40 years,
8. Agricultural intensification has increased by 70%.
9. Use of agricultural fertilizers has increased by a whopping 700%

Not surprisingly he concludes, global land use and agriculture produce ore green house gasses than any other activity.

You can download this image at the World Resources Institute website here

Professor Foley fears that land conversion from diverse ecosystems to simple monocultures is one of the greatest threats to the survival of humans on earth. In this illustration he shows how this leads to a collapse of ecosystem services.

I can relate to this directly. In Kenya organic farming is becoming not only fashionable but the cheap alternative – which is critical now that world food prices are shooting through the roof (prices have gone up by 85% in the last 18 months). When my sister Su started an organic company called Green Dreams none of us expected it to make money in Kenya. Surprisingly there is a good market for healthy food. She lost her farm in the post election crisis but this has not stopped her. She now trains and promotes local organic farmers and promotes the cultivation of a diverse array of traditional crops as one important way of achieving sustainability.

Predicting that the election crisis would lead to a food shortage as people fled their farms, she initiated a program to distribute seeds to displaced families so that they could plant on tiny areas - even IDP camps. Recently she discovered a new need in Africa’s biggest slum – the famous Kibera, which is on our doorstep of Nairobi. This is where she is now doing something very exciting, she’s training ex convicts to reclaim garbage heaps for farming.

Here they are creating a worm farm to generate organic fertilizer. I encouraged Su to start a blog because it is so fascinating and her discoveries are so useful - everything she is doing can be replicated elsewhere in Africa. I’m so pleased that she followed my advice, you can now follow the story of this unconventional organic farmer and the conversion of a garbage dump in Kibera to a productive garden here.

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I was recently asked about my opinion regarding the use of armed forces in conservation. Afterwards I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The question was something like this

“Do you advocate for the use of arms by wildlife conservation personnel”

“Of course I do!” I shot (easy, next question)

I reminded the interviewer that over 150 Congo rangers have lost their lives in the line of duty. Rangers in Congo face poachers and rebels all the time. Their jobs are extremely dangerous. How could you send a ranger un-armed into rebel infiltrated regions? It would be suicide.

I don’t know what it’s like in USA, Australia or Europe, but in most parts of Africa, poachers are armed with AK47’s to hunt elephants, rhinos, hippos and other big game. Sometimes they are only after meat, often they are going for valuable trophies. It’s a no brainer. Of course the rangers must be armed to defend themselves and yes, sometimes the poachers get shot and sometimes they die.

But the next part of the conversation made me wonder if I’d been too quick to answer. Maybe I’m not seeing things clearly, from all angles. Is it right to send armed men out into the wilderness or does this up the ante?

The interviewer turned to a topic that I found particularly hard to digest. The concept that we Africans are doing such a bad job in conservation that a number of charismatic species in Africa may be on the brink of extinction because of the threats posed by poachers. :

“African rangers, armed or not, were obviously not effective to stop the killings of gorillas” that’s what I thought he was implying.

“What do you think about the possibilities of employing foreign paid mercenaries to come in and clean up?”

“What?” My mind spins. “What on earth would mercenaries do in Africa?” I asked

“Well, protect the wildlife against armed militias like in Congo, don’t you think they could save the last mountain gorillas?”

My brain was screaming but I kept a cool voice

“No, not at all, in fact any organization that thinks sending mercenaries to Africa is a solution, obviously does not have a clue about the situation on the ground”.

I turned the image upside down.

“Imagine African mercenaries deployed in USA to save the last few wolves. Would THAT be acceptable? Of course not” – or at least I don’t think so.

At WildlifeDirect we come across some weird people and weird thoughts all the time. Here are some hair brained ideas – or are they?

There’s a plan afoot to create a mountain gorilla sanctuary in Hawaii where they claim it “is a vital step towards saving the species from imminent extinction”.

David Attenborough is involved in a 50 million dollar project to save Britains butterflies - I love him but isn’t Britain going to be too warm for these species in a few years?

A doomsday ark is being built on the moon - or is at least planned.

A doomsday vault of frozen seeds has been built in a mountain side in Norway

I find it s rather depressing, all this doomsday talk and planning. Should we really be investing so much in doomsday scenarios? Shouldn’t we be doing our damnest now - investing in the natural ranges where these species occur?

Is there really NO reason for hope?

Before you leave a comment, check this out … http://www.breathingearth.net/

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You are not going to believe this but I swear, it’s a true story. Richard Leakey used to drive an old Land Rover that was powered by charcoal. There I’ve said it. I saw it, I swear, it had a massive black barrel attached at the back. On the side of the vehicle was the information that this vehicle ran on charcoal. I think it was steam powered…..if that’s at all possible. It didn’t go very fast and the idea didn’t’ catch on, but I suspect he was the first person in Kenya to begin thinking of alternative source of fuel for vehicles.

Today biofuels are the rage. Indeed, when Robert Williams offered to help WildlifeDirect with fund raising for an energy solution in the Congo he catalyzed a discussion about energy needs for internally displaced people, slums and urban people in Congo through ending charcoal.

Considering the cost and space/climate restrictions of producing biofuels in Europe and America, many firms are turning to Africa for production of their biofuels. Indeed the massive demand has sparked a green revolution in Africa and a frenzy of markets and producers of Jatropha, oil palm and other oilseed planting everywhere.

But today’s headlines are so completely confusing. African Non Government organizations are calling for a moratorium on biofuels in Africa.

Just last year we were calling Jatropha and other species miracle crops because they weren’t competing with food crops for production of biofuel . …well except one person, this writer in Zimbabwe called jatropha a red herring
and preempted the controversy about growing biofuel crops that is now raging everywhere. Even Ban Ki Moon has weighed in with a statement about food crises brought on by food shortages that are a result in part, to the land conversion for biofuels. Now that the UN Secretary General has said it, everyone is listening.

The call for a moratorium on production of biofuels in Africa may get people thinking but it just can’t work. Africa has failed to meet it’s millennium development goals, has not benefited in any significant ways from the Clean Development Mechanism and has never raised much furore over the fact that agricultural land is already being lost to erosion, pollution, the production of horticultural products and conversion of land to non edible crops like flowers for international markets.

Have any of you seen Hubert Sauper’s new documentary, Darwins Nightmare? My brother cried when he saw it. I hope he’s reading this - he’s not a wimp, I promise. The documentary reveals how the harvesting of fish in Lake Victoria is done by people who do not get to eat the fish, it’s all exported despite the fact that the local communities are suffering from malnutrition. The fish of interest are Nile perch, a species introduced by the British which has subsequently led to the extinction of over 300 native fish that the local communities depended on. You can watch a preview here and read reviews here. The film is about how people are dependent on this fish, and how the trade in the fish is responsible for so much suffering. This tragic story could just as easily be told about Jatropha.

Have we learned nothing from our mistakes? Of course not! The way I see it production of biofuel crops like Jatropha and other species will continue to expand because legislation in Africa is so behind the times that it’s not funny. To a poor traditional farmer scraping a living out in some remote region, the idea of producing crops for a big company seems lucrative, the contracts are long term, and that means cash in an otherwise subsistence existence. You can’t fault the farmers. Who doesn’t need cash nowadays?

As long as these communities are negotiating with big companies without complete information (which the brokers make sure happens) they will be cheated and I’ve seen this with my own eyes. One company came to Mombasa and offered communities what seemed like a lot of money but when calculated out it translated into a rate of about 30$ per acre per year for production of Jatropha.

These brokers are listed on NYSE and the London Stock Exchange and they have Corporate Social Responsibility credentials as long as my arm, because their only goal is to attract green investors. But it still has to be an attractive stock…so they push down the buying price of raw Jatropha, and install refineries for the oil and sell the refined products at a ludicrous profit. The farmers, who enter deals with someone who seems genuine, caring and credible. But once things are in place it all changes, it becomes a cut throat business and these farmers have converted land to Jatropha, tended it for years, and once the fruit are ripe, have no choice but to sell at very low prices - there is usually only one buyer in a particular area. Farmers have little option, they can’t eat Jatropha (it’s deadly poisonous), cant store it, or transport it - and they can’t complain because there are no real or enforceable laws protecting these farmers!

I suspect that as long as the international prices for biofuel remains at or above the price of fossil fuels, this will create a demand for production and business people will look to Africa where, lets face the truth WE ARE SO GULLIBLE it’s embarrassing. Fast talking, jargon juggling, smart suited powerpoint projecting expatriate brokers can boggle your mind and exploit local communities and befriend corrupt governments to win outrageous deals. I know of one guy who claims he has the state sanctioned monopoly on refining of Jatropha in Kenya! What a CAKE!

The fact that the land conversion to biofuels leads to hunger, diseases, land degradation or biodiversity loss is not a concern to alternative energy companies, they have PR people to talk their way out of it, they only care about maximum profits. After all, it drives up the price of shares and company value. It’s ironic then, that the same green investors who study the stocks and purchase shares in an effort to invest in clean air, are actually unwittingly contributing to the impoverishment and degradation of Africa.

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Yesterday I caught Harry in the act. Actually, after the act to be correct, and too late for the poor bird. It was a young swift that had been nesting in the rafters. Earlier I’d enjoyed the pleasure of him flying around over my head just before dawn (yes, I keep crazy hours), it was too dark for a bird to be flying, but he landed on a roof pole and beneath the awnings and seemed fine. I didn’t give it a second thought. Until I discovered the pile of feathers, and cat’s guilty expression a few hours later.

Forgive me but my first thought was to give the cat a swift kick and send it hurtling down the rift valley. I could just picture him spinning out of control, trying to land feet first …. 200 meters at the bottom of a gorge.

Ok, I agree, it’s a horrible image. I didn’t even reprimand the damn cat. After all, it is my fault, it’s my cat, perhaps I hadn’t fed it enough. Actually it’s not really my cat, I inherited it with the house. By now you can probably tell I’m not much of a cat person. I think they probably do more damage to biodiversity than most house pets or companion animals. I read here that cats kill between 8 and 217 million birds per year in Wisconsin alone! I’m amazed that not everyone think they are a problem . Cats also contribute to the spread of rabies and other nasty parasites and diseases to wildlife . I also know for a fact that in Africa feral domestic cats are diluting the gene pool of indigenous wild cats (did you know that cats came originally from the middle east?).

Anyway, these thoughts were rushing through my brain as I cleared up the feathers and then it hit me, I am the worlds worst hypocrite.

I am morally opposed to the killing of whales, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, elephants and other ‘sentient’ beings and wild animals for food by anyone (or domestic cat). I read some ethics blogs like ethics and animals and I’m not radical, but I’m not consistent and I feel a bit conflicted. I have never dared to ask, but I wonder how many people out there feel the same way?

The honest truth is that I eat meat and that means that I contribute to the deaths of animals, cows, sheep and sea fish (which are indeed wild animals not vegetables as many vegetarians conveniently like to think). They have to die for me! I can’t stand the thought that I’m responsible for this. I’ve tried alternatives, I once fell in love with a vegetarian and was persuaded with the animal welfare argument and became a complete and utter vegetarian zealot! But my son, 6 at the time, was having none of it. I tried to manipulate him and asked while driving around a national park, if he’d eat a giraffe, a zebra, lion (he’s a Leo) to all he said a resounding ‘yes’ and added ‘mum, when you die I’ll ask them if I can have you for breakfast’. He reminded me that humans have always eaten meat

The proof is in cave paintings in South Africa

Long story short, I gave up my quest to convert my son instantly, and gave up vegetarianism angrily after I discovered that my ‘lover’ actually ate prawns.

I subscribe to World watch and recently discovered to my horror just how deadly our global meat eating habits are for the planet and I’m sure Americans were recently served with a dose on how cruel cattle slaughter is.

Not just me but all my friends are big meat eaters…how can you have a barbeque without meat in Kenya? Nobody would come!

African livestock have lots of space…does that make it less bad to eat them?

Now I feel guilty, evil, and responsible not only for the mass slaughter of wild and domestic animals, but for the damage that these animals are wrecking on this beautiful planet – have you seen this picture of the earth in the sunshine?

Forgive me for this but I have another confession that I’m totally ashamed of, I also keep forgetting to carry cotton bags or baskets to the supermarket and keep getting my stuff loaded into disgusting plastic bags. Sometimes I’ll forget the bags in the car and by the time I’m checking things through it’s too late to go get them. As I drive home I shrink at the sight of the plastic bag confetti strewn all over the grass, trees and fences. Those could be my bags my brain screams. My poor memory infuriates me but this blog inspires me.

So the aftermath of my cat’s murdering episode has been a complete rethink of my ecological footprint Conservation International offer some help on how to lower your ecological footprint. This site is packed with useful links and articles especially for Americans. Here’s my personal assessment against their list

1. Walk, bike, and ride-share more. Drive less! Ok, I live miles out of town, my neighbours don’t have cars – I have to drive but I can and do spend a day or more a week working from home. Can’t ride in, just too impractical, and frankly dangerous in Nairobi.
2. Eat lower on the food chain - it’s good for the planet. I do eat organic vegetables and meat as much as possible…. I admit, I can eat less meat. Much less.
3. Make your home energy and water efficient. I score very high here – we have a windmill and solar power, our water is partly rain water and partly from a natural spring half way down the gorge. Ok truth check… its got nothing to do with being eco friendly, there’s just no power grid it this remote area, and if there was power here I bet everyone would switch because it’s much more affordable than the investment in windmills and batteries.
4. Let your lawn go natural for wildlife. Another high score – my garden is 40 acres of pure African bush (though I do allow my neighbours to run their cattle and sheep through from time to time).
5. Save trees by reducing your junk mail and using paper with 100% post-consumer waste content. I don’t even own a printer!
6. Recycle all computer diskettes, CD discs, videos and batteries, and shift to using less hazardous, rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries. In Kenya there’s no such facility. My rubbish dump is one of my greatest embarrassments but I do compost my biological wastes in the expectation that one day I may be inspired to do some cultivation of my own vegetables (seriously!).
7. Drink more water, and use reusable mugs and dining-ware. I’m not sure how drinking more water helps, but surely buying water to drink more is only contributing to the mountain of plastic bottle waste? You can’t drink tap water in Kenya unless you have a stomach of steel. I am guilty of getting coffee take-out on my way into the office from time to time.
8. Recycle your aluminum, glass, and plastic products, as well as newspapers and mixed paper. I really should look into this more seriously. My tin cans are recycled though I have no idea how, and glass bottles are piling up… newspapers are re-used for window cleaning – does that count?
9. Make a contribution to conservation by supporting local, national, and international environmental non-profits! I feel like a volunteer on a daily basis and help out with local non profits though I’m sure I could do much more
10. Take conservation actions in your own community! Ok, I admit, I’m not doing much in this area. I’ll take this up and start a conservation club at a local school.

My windmill is absolutely brilliant but not everyone in Kenya could afford one

So that’s my story and confessions…I’d love to hear how others out there are dealing with their feelings and ecological footprints.

Before I sign off, a quick note for all the horrified cat lovers who didn’t stop reading when I suggested sending the cat on a foot assisted free fall over the cliff , I’ll make another confession. I’m a super softie when it comes to animals. No matter how angry I get with Harry and his friend Tusi for their crying and scratching , fur shedding and wildlife chasing, I can’t help melting when I wake up and find them curled up affectionately beside me in the morning.

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