Baraza

Category: Africa, Lions, Podcasts, conservation | Date: Nov 03 2009 | By: paula

I am amazed! Someone took our blog post and podcast about lion vs warthog in the Masai Mara and mashed it up to produce this great Youtube video!

Thank you Tigersandme!

And all of you out there please feel free to do the same - send us links to your mashups!

Tags: conservation, Kenya, Lion, Lions, Maasai, Masai Mara, warthog, wildlife, wildlifedirect

One response so far

Category: Africa, conservation | Date: Oct 21 2009 | By: paula

The PopTech Fellows  program is sadly over - it was amazing! Now we are in for a rollercoaster with  the Pop!Tech Conference. It brings together World changing people, projects and ideas. The conference officially starts today and I’m on the line up today! I’m so thrilled to have been invited to be part of our special Wednesday session “Conservation 2.0.”  I’ll be talking about using social networking to bring out the inner conservationist in all of us save wild animals. I’ll do it by telling some stories about extraordinary bloggers on WildlifeDirect like Antony Kasanga of Lion guardians’

If you are at PopTech please consider coming to this super session

The New Edge of Conservation with Katy Payne, Healy Hamilton, and Paula Kahumbu
New tools are improving ecological conservation efforts like never before. Hear from three leading practitioners as they describe how advanced technologies are helping us amplify, protect, and support efforts to preserve biodiversity around the world. Guest presenters toiling on the front-line of conservation work will share insights, stories about elephants and whales and seahorses, and lessons learned on everything from incorporating emerging technologies to communicating the principles of conservation to children.

Here’s a sneak peak about the speakers

Cheryl Heller

Cheryl is a writer, designer and communication strategist who helps clients integrate socially responsible behavior into sustainable brand communication and promotional programs. Her firm, Heller Communication Design, has developed a process through which corporations can play a leading role in alleviating the social and environmental issues facing the world, through programs that are both easy and profitable for them.

Cheryl has written articles for Communication Arts, ID Magazine, Graphis Magazine and The Design Management Journal. She wrote a book for the AIGA on the best process for preserving innovation within corporations. Recently she wrote the lead story on creative strategy for Adobe’s online magazine, Proxy.

She has been profiled in articles in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Graphis magazine, Communication Arts, ID magazine, How magazine, Print and PDN.

Dr. Healy Hamilton

Dr. Healy Hamilton is a biodiversity scientist at the California Academy of Sciences, and adjunct professor in the Department of Geography at San Francisco State University. She is the founding director of the Center for Biodiversity Research (CBR), a program that integrates biological and geospatial data for biodiversity research, conservation and education. Dr. Hamilton and the staff at CBR conduct research into species response to climate change and make it available for large landscape conservation planning.

Katy Payne

If anyone can artfully explain how a herd of elephants is like a Quaker meeting, it is animal communication researcher Katy Payne. Payne has been studying the sounds and languages of African elephants and humpback whales—two of the world’s largest animals—for decades, but she’s also been listening to their silences. Her discoveries have led her to fascinating meditations on stillness, cognition, and how acoustic phenomena shape relationships and communities. In 1999 she founded the Elephant Listening Project to help ensure her subjects’ future. Through sound and video clips, her research team aims to monitor elephants’ welfare and movements, as well as track the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Payne is currently affiliated with the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology.

Paula Kahumbu (Yes, that’s me!)

Paula is an ecologist and a passionate tree hugger. She spent many years studying monkeys and elephants in Kenya and worked for the Kenya Wildlife Service on wildlife policy, trade and park management issues and later managed a quarry restoration company. She is passionate about Africa and conservation, saving wild species and wild places – all for a purely selfish reason, so that she can enjoy them. Her life goal is to revert the people of the world to loving nature, starting with Joshua her son.

Peter Durant will be drawing the entire conference as it happens to capture the stories in pictures. He’s amazing!

Tags: Cheryl Heller, ideas, Katy Payne, Paula Kahumbu, PopTech, technology

2 responses so far

Category: Africa, Appeals, National Parks and protected areas, conservation | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: paula

If you haven’t made a donation yet on WildlifeDirect, consider this

There are days when can not sleep because of fears that WildlifeDirect  cannot survive this disastrous economic crisis. Fund raising has not been easy nor fun lately - and it’s affecting or ability to do effective conservation of endangered species.

Because everyone is affected by the economic crisis, many of our donors are telling us that they can’t contribute anymore, and the average donation of those generous donors who have continued to support us have declined by about 50% from an average donation of $100 to $47.

Despite the drop in funding, our bloggers remain convinced. We now have over 80 conservation blogs from the frontlines in Africa, Asia and South America. Half of these bloggers get funds every month and every month more people inquire and ask to join our network. It is so rewarding to know that good conservationists believe in us. This is what keeps us going at WildlifeDirect.

Here are some reasons why you should support projects on WildlifeDirect

1. It’s direct - you can choose the blog, item and place you want your funds to go to
2. It’s accountable – you can see your money working by reading the blogs
3. It’s easy  - we use paypal and you will get a tax receipt
4. It’s quick – you can respond to any wildlife conservation emergency and make ….But what I like most about this is that
5. It’s cost effective – a little money goes a long way in Africa where $100 can pay for a rangers salary for a month! Our bloggers only ask for essential things –rations, petrol for patrols , critical equipment, food for animals and basic field costs. They are working on shoe string budgets – many of them volunteer.

Watch our video and Join us

WildlifeDirect has had a far greater impact on bloggers than we ever imagined. Next I will be interviewing Anthony Kasanga (lionguardians) about how his life changed after he started blogging on WildlifeDirect.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS STAYED WITH OR RECENTLY JOINED WILDLIFEDIRECT.   YOU ARE ALL AMAZING PEOPLE:)

Tags: Africa, conservation, endangered species, Gorillas, Lions, Paula Kahumbu, richard leakey, wildlife, wildlifedirect

One response so far

Category: Africa, Kenya, chimpanzee, conservation, wildlife trade | Date: Oct 08 2009 | By: Maina

We received a release from the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance announcing that - finally - a chimp that has been spending it’s days tethered to a tree in Southern Sudan has been rescued and airlifted to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary near Mount Kenya. This is both a sad and happy story. While it is sad that a chimp should be treated with such cruelty, it is also uplifting that those who care were brave and persistent enough to rescue the poor primate despite the ‘long bureaucratic tug-of-war’ that lasted the better part of 10 months. Accolades are in order for the rescue team.

October 7, 2009

Sudan Chimpanzee Airlifted to Safety at Sweetwaters

A chimpanzee that spent its days tethered to a tree in Southern Sudan throughout a long bureaucratic tug-of-war was finally airlifted to safety this week and will reside permanently at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Kenya.

The male chimpanzee, nicknamed “Roy,” is believed to be less than three years old. He is thought to have been brought into Southern Sudan in 2008 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was subsequently presented to a government official as a gift.

The gift was later withdrawn, and Roy (pictured above) was cared for by local wildlife supporters in Southern Sudan until his transfer to Sweetwaters was approved – a process that took almost 10 months to confirm. Roy will join a community of 43 orphaned chimpanzees at Sweetwaters, which is a charter member of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA).

“It is a huge relief to finally see this transfer completed,” said Doug Cress, executive director of PASA. “It is a testament to the dogged determination of the Sweetwaters staff and our friends in Southern Sudan that Roy now has a permanent home. There were many delays and numerous obstacles in this operation, but neither side ever gave up.”

The process took so long that a Kenyan CITES import permit issued for Roy last February eventually expired and had to be re-submitted.

Roy was collected in Southern Sudan by Sweetwaters director Martin Mulama, and the chimpanzee will spend his quarantine period at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) facility in Nairobi before moving out to the 250-acre sanctuary near Mount Kenya.

Roy was cared for in Southern Sudan by Sue and Rusty Knight, who have rescued 14 orphaned chimpanzees at their Rumbek home since 2006. Twelve of those chimpanzees were earlier transferred to another PASA member sanctuary, JGI-Chimpanzee Eden in South Africa.

Although some experts believe chimpanzees might naturally occur in the forested regions of Southern Sudan, the high number of orphans brought through the region by illegal traders indicates the chimpanzees are probably captured in DR Congo and smuggled across the border into Sudan. Chimpanzees currently arrive at PASA sanctuaries at an average of 57 per year, indicating serious levels of bushmeat activity and poaching still exist.

Roy’s rescue was supported by Aircraft Leasing Service (ALS), the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and the Wildlife Conservation Authority of Sudan, along with logistical help from wildlife supporters in Southern Sudan.

PASA was formed in 2000 to unite the sanctuaries that care for thousands of rescued chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, drills and other endangered primates across Africa. For more information, please visit the PASA website  or contact info@pasaprimates.org.

Tags: Africa, chimpanzee, Kenya, PASA, rescue, South Sudan, Sweetwaters

2 responses so far

Category: Africa, Volunteering, conservation | Date: Sep 08 2009 | By: jonathan walsh

The first of many moral quandaries spread through the Handshake camp the other night as they were introduced to what, at first glance, seems like a darker side to conservation; that of allowing hunters into conservancies so they can kill particular animals.

Throughout the expedition, mainly over dinner, staff of the ‘Great Primate Handshake’, are busy encouraging volunteers to discuss practical and theoretical points on conservation in the field. There were, of course, varying views and comments, as thoughts and opinions were thrown around the circle of friends with still no agreement.

The idea is this. In conservancies with no natural predators, animals live a lot longer, their teeth grow too long and are unable to eat, slowly dying of starvation.
So is it right to encourage people to hunt in what primarily is a safe-haven?

There are of course many sides to the argument. Money paid to hunt (from hunter to conservancy) can go to help feed and look after other animals, and the animal is put out of struggling over several days before it dies.
On the other side, are you supporting the hunting trade? Are you further creating an artificial environment? Are you encouraging a natural environment, one of predator and prey?
Many more questions arose, leaving most undecided. So if you have any ideas to help sort out this problem, please do say…

Thanks,
Jonathan.
The Great Primate Handshake

http://www.primatehandshake.org/

One response so far

Category: Kenya, National Parks and protected areas, Poisoning wildlife, big cats, conservation, furadan, national parks, poaching, predators, wildlifedirect | Date: Aug 29 2009 | By: paula

We are pleased to discover that we are not alone in our concern about the poisoning of lions with Furadan and it’s impact on Kenya. This is an email sent by Jake Grieves Cook to all in the tourism industry in Kenya.

There are 2 main reasons why lion numbers are declining in Kenya:

1. Human-wildlife conflict - spearing by herders and poisoning with FURADAN:

Lions are usually not very welcome in areas used for grazing livestock by pastoralists such as Maasai cattle herders. As a result lions are often speared when they go into these grazing areas and especially after they have killed livestock. The pesticide FURADAN is banned in many countries but is widely available in Kenya and is used by pastoralists to poison carcasses of livestock killed by predators. The predators return to the carcass and are killed by the poison. This can get into the food chain as any animal consuming the dead predators are also killed, from jackals to vultures.It is also poisoning people, see link below:

http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org/2009/03/06/detoxication-of-furadan

For more on Furadan click on the link below:

www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=furadan+lions&aq=3&oq=furadan+&aqi=g10

As well as deliberate poisoning, some lions have been lost through accidental poisoning. One of the leading lodges in the Mara was using Furadan as a pesticide on its vegetable garden. Last year a hippo died after eating the vegetables sprayed with Furadan. Then a pride of lions died after eating the hippo. Then hyenas and vultures died after eating the lions. And so it went on…

2. Loss of habitat

Many wilderness areas which were formerly inhabited by herbivores and predators such as lions have been turned into farmland and are no longer available as wildlife habitat. In the outer Mara area there has been fragmentation of land with sub-division into small individually owned parcels.

See the map below of the Koiyaki and Ol Kinyei areas of the outer Mara divided into hundreds of 150 acre parcels:

The loss of habitat means that lions are no longer able to move freely around these areas as they did before and there is no longer availability of large numbers of wild herbivores which form their normal prey. So lion numbers decline.

SOLUTIONS

However there is a way that tourism can combat the decline of lions. This is by establishing wildlife conservancies on land owned by the local communities adjacent to parks. If the local landowners can earn a better economic return from their land from wildlife conservation than they can from cultivation or from keeping livestock then they will be ready to set up wildlife conservancies. They do not need to turn all their land into wildlife preserves but a community with over 150,000 acres, such as the former Maasai group ranches, could set aside 20% as wildlife conservancy and keep 80% for livestock grazing. I have been involved with the setting up of 3 community-owned wildlife conservancies over the last 12 years: Selenkay Conservancy in the Amboseli eco-system and Olare Orok and Ol Kinyei conservancies in the Mara. See maps below:

SELENKAY CONSERVANCY OL KINYEI & OLARE OROK

We have had great success with our 3 conservancies and have been given very enthusiastic support by the local communities who own the land on which we have established the conservancies. Since the conservancies were set up, wildlife has increased substantially, in sharp contrast to the surrounding areas. We have 2 American researchers based at Selenkay who have collared a female lion and have been tracking her pride. Two lionesses there have both had cubs. In our 2 conservancies in the Mara we have several resident prides of lions and estimates are that over 30% of all the adult lions in the Mara eco-system are now resident in Olare Orok and Ol Kinyei. Our lion numbers are increasing…

You might be interested in watching 2 short TV clips of a couple ofminutes eachon the links below:

The first is a BBC clip about a recent report by researchers on declines in wildlife numbers in the Mara eco-system but which also highlighted the success of the community wildlife conservancies with which we are involved at Ol Kinyei and Olare Orok within the same Mara eco-system. All the wildlife footage was shot in our two conservancies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8129816.stm

The second is a clip from local KTN TV which highlights the two conservancies:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PT7c8LPxHM

Below are a couple of pics, taken on a night game drive recently by wildlife photographer Paolo Torchio, of our resident lions in Ol Kinyei.

There is no doubt that total lion numbers are declining in Kenya. The answer is to ban the use of FURADAN and also to encourage the establishment of more conservancies. Now the government tax authority says it wants to charge VAT on the conservancy fees! Not exactly encouraging…

Kind regards

Jake

**********************
Jake Grieves-Cook
Managing Director
Gamewatchers Safaris
P O Box 388
00621-Village Market, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-(0)20-7123129, 7122504, 7121851
Fax: +254-(0)20-7120864
Website: www.porini.com
Email: jake@gamewatchers.co.ke

Tags: conservaiton, endangered species, furadan, Kenya, Lion, Lions, Maasai, Masai Mara, wildlife, wildlifedirect

One response so far

Category: Africa, Kenya, Lions, big cats, conservation | Date: Aug 25 2009 | By: paula

The decline of Kenya’s lions has become the talk of the bloggosphere. Adam Shake on Twilight Earth blog reminds us taht the main threat facing Kenya’s lion is teh poisoning using Furadan, a problem that WildilfeDirect has been instrumental in raising awareness about.

And an education activist called @aureliom posted this on Twitter

Lion Dethroned, Bemoaned

Kenya losing 100 lions every year: conservation group

We’re losing lions in Kenya by the hundreds.

The Wildlife Service warns they could disappear

Within twenty years: a naturalist’s dreads.

It’s just that humans are moving in too near.

The open spaces globally invaded

Diminish land and corner animals everywhere:

The flora, fauna, jungles dense green bladed

Are disappearing, leaving beasts no home there.

Returning to the jungle king dethroned,

The reasons given for concerned protection

Are not the ones zoologists bemoaned:

Regreting safari loss, tourist defection!

Inhabitants of kingdom wild must exist:

How creeping human spread to cease, desist?

The Pride of Kenya campaign will raise enormous awareness in Kenya about how close our lions are to extinction. With only 2000 left, they could go extinct with in 20 years, or less. Please help us spread awarness about the plight of lions, tell your friends, send us your ideas, donations and any advice on how we can solve the problem of lion declines in Africa. Visit our lion blogs to find out more about innovative approaches to save wild lions in Kenya. Ewaso Lions, Lion Guradians and Predator Aware.

Technorati : conservation, kenya, killing, lion, poaching, wildlife, wildlifedirect
Del.icio.us : conservation, kenya, killing, lion, poaching, wildlife, wildlifedirect

Tags: conservation, Kenya, killing, Lion, poaching, wildlife, wildlifedirect

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Category: Africa, In the News, conservation, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: Maina

Recently, Jeremy Hance of Mongabay interviewed Paula, our CEO about the status of wildlife conservation and endangered species during these hard economic times. Paula had just returned from a Society for Conservation Biology meeting in China where it emerged that funding for wildlife conservation and endangered species protection had declined. Environmental funding has shifted to funding climate change and global warming programs. The interview which appeared on Mongabay on 17 August is very telling on how dangerous these times are for conservation and endangered wildlife protection. The interview is reproduced below.

Economic crisis threatens conservation programs and endangered species, an interview with Paula Kahumbu of WildlifeDirect
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
August 17, 2009

Founded in 2004 by legendary conservationist Richard Leakey, WildlifeDirect is an innovative member of the conservation community. WildlifeDirect is really a meta-organization: it gathers together hundreds of conservation initiatives who blog regularly about the trials and joys of practicing on-the-ground conservation. From stories of gorillas reintroduced in the wild to tracking elephants in the Okavango Delta to saving sea turtles in Sumatra, WildlifeDirect provides the unique experience of actually hearing directly from scientists and conservationists worldwide.

Paula Kahumbu, Executive Director of WildlifeDirect.

“Anyone can interact, participate, and donate from anywhere in the world,” Paula Kahumbu, WildlifeDirect Executive Director, explained to Monagaby.com in an August 2009 interview. “By networking people at the conservation frontline with others all over the world, we have created what we call a virtual endowment. It is a vast community of people ready to respond when called upon in a time of need or during a crisis to help solve wildlife conservation challenges.”

The program has been a success, providing small, but vital, conservation initiatives with much needed funds and attention.

“To date we have over 100 bloggers and over 70,000 unique visitors per month. Last year this community donated to over 70 projects raising nearly $500,000 which went directly to the field,” says Kahumbu. Although stationed in Kenya, and with a general focus on Africa, WildlifeDirect also has bloggers in Asia and South America.

But as all conservationists—and environmentalists know—the path is never easy. Late 2008 brought new and sudden difficulties as the global economic crisis rippled through WildlifeDirect and many of its partners.

“Times are very tough for conservation organizations anywhere. Many major donors are scaling back to protect their cores, which means letting go of small projects. Many of them will I fear, will go bust…Even small donors have scaled back. Conservation groups are making tough decisions, but many are sticking it out and weathering the storm by working hard even for nothing,” Kahumbu says, adding that WildlifeDirect itself has suffered under the crisis, stalling developments and leaving the organization wondering, at times, about its future.

WildlifeDirect’s first field office in Congo - blogging was done from a tent inside Virunga National Park. Photo Courtesy of WildlifeDirect.

For wildlife, Kahumbu argues the crisis has been “a disaster”.

“There is far less money for conservation in general. This means there is less monitoring so we will not even notice when some species go extinct. Fewer people care about species anymore, governments are not investing in conservation,” she says, yet adds that any crisis may bring new opportunities. “I’m hoping that the crisis will force us to be more strategic in how we spend limited resources on conservation and instead of pouring vast amounts on single species, we can start looking afresh at priorities. For example making decisions based on cost-benefit analysis of saving entire ecosystems, and creating eco friendly livelihoods for communities in wildlife rich areas.”

Kahumbu says that large-scale changes need to happen in order for the world to start tackling the environmental crisis, including mass extinction and climate change.

“I think that to engage the world we will need a paradigm shift in what we communicate. Today’s global headlines are monopolized by scandals, Enron, Financial crisis, Iraq, the British MP’s allowances, Swine flu, Kenyan elections, Wii, Britney Spears baby…you name it. We are inundated with unimportant information every single day [… ] I think we need to be snapped out of our stupor to realize what’s really happening. We need to take action. We must change those headlines. I think we could create a global culture of caring for the planet by having headlines on the health of Planet Earth everyday. We should be making these issues important, and we should be frowning deeply on those who destroy, emit and waste. We could drive a new social agenda that is informed about and cares about things that matter: our future, and our planet. Perhaps then everyone will be able to believe in a future that is fair for all, clean and healthy, rich in biodiversity and able to sustain us into perpetuity.”

Mongabay.com spoke to Paula Kahumbu in August 2009 about conservation, climate change, and the economic crisis.

Introducing WildlifeDirect

Mongabay: What is your background? How did you end up as Executive Director of the new and innovative conservation organization, Wildlife Direct?

WildlifeDirect training current conservationists, future bloggers. Photo Courtesy of WildlifeDirect.

Paula Kahumbu: Like most Kenyans of my generation, I grew up surrounded by wildlife, birds, snakes and mammals. I spent my childhood exploring swamps and forests and in those days it was safe and clean. I was inspired by this to dedicate my life to saving the wilderness and wild species. I started off with a deep interest in primates and worked in a remote protected areas with two endangered primates. For my PhD I studied elephants to understand how they manage forests. I fell in love with them and ended up getting deeply involved in the ivory crisis in 1989 and 2000. Offering advice to KWS (Kenyan Wildlife Service) Director Richard Leakey about the issues arising in the ivory debate landed me in a job at the government agency. I loved the wilderness and field work but I hated the people politics. Over the years I’ve witnessed how our wilderness and wild species are going fast due to political, social and economic short sightedness. I was about to emigrate to South Africa and go back to teaching in a university when Richard Leakey stopped me, told me off for giving up on Kenya, and invited me to join WildlifeDirect, the organization he founded and believes strongly in. I’ve been here ever since.

Mongabay: Wildlife Direct is unique in terms of conservation organizations—what is your approach?

Paula Kahumbu: It’s simple, rangers and conservationists write blogs on wildlifedirect.org about their daily lives at the conservation front line. Anyone can interact, participate, and donate from anywhere in the world. By networking people at the conservation frontline with others all over the world, we have created what we call a virtual endowment. It is a vast community of people ready to respond when called upon in a time of need or during a crisis to help solve wildlife conservation challenges. To us, a million small donations are much more valuable than one big donation, so we aim for micro donations from a large network of friends. We believe that virtually anyone anywhere can give a little to something they care about, and people give to us because we provide real time transparency and accountability through blogs so that donors can see their money at work. Donors can also donate time to help bloggers with networking, uploading photos, doing research, or even visiting the project. The size and responsiveness of our online community is how we measure our success. To date we have over 100 bloggers and over 70,000 unique visitors per month. Last year this community donated to over 70 projects raising nearly $500,000 which went directly to the field.

Mongabay: What challenges has the organization faced since its creation in 2004?

WildlifeDirect training bloggers. Photo Courtesy of WildlifeDirect.

Paula Kahumbu: Three things. First challenge was technological, how do we develop and support a technology solution that aims to a global audience, but is built in Africa? The original concept was built in Italy, it looked great but mending glitches was difficult due to the language barrier. We are now using developers in Kenya. Secondly finding funding for our core costs has always been tough; traditional donors want to give money to field projects not to organizations like ours. We don’t charge a fee to our bloggers so we need to finance our core costs support, development and hosting from other sources. This year we won a MacArthur grant without which we might have collapsed. We’re not out of the woods yet but we’re clinging on and our partners are grateful, this is an extremely difficult time for fund raising for conservation so they are really busy telling their stories. Finally, many organizations we have spoken to and tried to bring on board have simply copied the concept. They don’t see the value of keeping the online community together and this is a bit disappointing.

Mongabay: I have to ask, Richard Leakey is a conservation legend both in Africa and across the world. What’s it like to work with a man who has given so much into saving Africa’s wildlife?

Paula Kahumbu: Working for Leakey is always inspiring. He is passionate and super-smart. He expects a lot which can be challenging, and yet exhilarating knowing that he believes in us. He has the memory of an elephant which is useful when we need help and have hit a brick wall – there is usually someone that he knows can help us. He’s also extremely compassionate and indeed rather fatherly. Although running the Turkana Basin Institute is his main job, he often wanders around our open plan office, visiting our desks, chatting to us and introduces us to any important visitors. It doesn’t really feel like we’re working for one of the most famous people on this planet; he’s very down to earth and human. It’s great working for him; I love it.

Many of WildlifeDirect’s participating organizations work directly with the world’s great apes, including mountain gorillas. Photo Courtesy of WildlifeDirect.

Mongabay: Wildlife Direct currently carries 80 blogs from Africa, Asia, and South America, are there plans to add more? Any plans to extend geographically beyond those three continents?

Paula Kahumbu: We are always expanding and we receive about 4 applications for new blogs per week. If they meet our criteria we do accept them. Our goal is to be global but our focus is to help those organizations in developing countries that need the support most.

Economic Crisis and Conservation

Mongabay: You work with a lot of very small, but extremely effective and important, conservation groups every day—how has the global economic crisis affected them and their work?

Paula Kahumbu: Times are very tough for conservation organizations anywhere. Many major donors are scaling back to protect their cores, which means letting go of small projects. Many of them will I fear, will go bust. We thought that WildlifeDirect’s model was perfectly suited for a recession environment, after all, who can’t afford to give 10 dollars during good times or bad? Well, even small donors have scaled back. Conservation groups are making tough decisions, but many are sticking it out and weathering the storm by working hard even for nothing. We have noticed a surge in interest by organizations to join WildlifeDirect, some of them large organizations that have lost major donors.

Mongabay: Has the economic crisis affected Wildlife Direct itself—if so, how?

Paula Kahumbu: The economic crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time. A potential major donor pulled out at the last moment last year jut as we were about to implement our strategic plan. That was devastating. We had to scale back and take our developments much more slowly. We have been badly hit because our core funds are raised through grants and many large donors are scaling back. We still have a $100,000 hole in our operational budget for this year so we’re looking for donors, partners, or supporters who believe in what we are doing and will be willing to help us over this hump.

Group of bloggers. Photo Courtesy of WildlifeDirect.

Mongabay: Some have argued that the economic crisis may actually have some positive environmental impact—i.e. lessening global consumption—what is your view?

Paula Kahumbu: Yes and No. Perhaps there will be less consumption in the West. In developing nations where the recession means that more people are on the brink of starvation, the opposite happens. Desperate people can’t afford to make long term decisions. In Kenya for example we have seen an explosion of bushmeat hunting – why? Because people are hungry. In some places the wildlife is almost completely gone, and they are now eating baboons. It is tragic that governments found the means to bail out those responsible for this economic crisis but have been unable to find the resources to save our environments, to alleviate poverty and to protect our wildlife heritage. It makes me mad that we have such backward global priorities.

I can only think of one place where the global crisis has been good, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Before the crisis high global prices for their minerals was leading to the destruction of the forests in the east, and the illegal mining that was financing the militias that were destroying the parks. The collapse of commodity prices last year led to the collapse of these militias, and now Rwanda and Congo are cooperating. This means that the parks can now be managed effectively, and some donors are taking advantage of this opportunity. So, yes, in this case, there’s at least one conservation area that we can thank the greedy bankers for.

Infamous massacre of gorillas in Virunga National Paark. Photo Courtesy of WildlifeDirect.

Mongabay: Is it possible to balance economic development in poorer nations without plundering, and thereby devastating, the environment for goods?

Paula Kahumbu: Of course it is possible to develop without destroying but it takes good thoughtful leadership, excellent planning and enforcement of plans. Theses things are in short supply in Africa. What we have in Africa, and many other places, is a greed that seems limitless, and sadly is the consequence of aping the West. The West is addicted to consuming, and developing nations think that they will get rich by supplying the consumers. Our political systems aggravate this because it drives short term and mind-bogglingly short-sighted ventures. Few countries have national targets that that the public know about and can measure the performance of their elected officials against.

Mongabay: What do you think the economic crisis has meant for endangered species worldwide?

Paula Kahumbu: It’s a disaster. There is far less money for conservation in general. This means there is less monitoring so we will not even notice when some species go extinct. Fewer people care about species anymore, governments are not investing in conservation. But yet they seem to have funds to address climate change adaptation, it seems more immediate. But, I’m hoping that the crisis will force us to be more strategic in how we spend limited resources on conservation and instead of pouring vast amounts on single species, we can start looking afresh at priorities. For example making decisions based on cost-benefit analysis of saving entire ecosystems, and creating eco friendly livelihoods for communities in wildlife rich areas.

The Effect of Climate Change on Africa’s Wildlife

Mongabay: For wildlife climate change is seen as an unpredictable threat, since no one really knows how well already-imperiled species will be able to adapt to a warmer globe. What is your view? Does climate change keep you up at night?

Paula Kahumbu: Yes, climate change does keep me awake at night. I climbed Mt. Kenya last year and could not believe how much the glaciers have shrunk. I’ve witnessed rivers drying up, and I’ve seen how our coral reefs are bleaching. I feel angry and deeply sad at the same time because it’s not our fault, and there is little we can do in poorer countries to have a smaller carbon footprint. I feel angry that communities in Africa that are doing so much to save forests are not rewarded – in fact we expect conservationists to accept and tolerate the costs to their own development, and we frown on anyone who cuts down a tree, or kills an animal for food. But we do reward those who exploit these resources, we give most of the carbon funding to big business. It’s insane! At present there is no incentive for land owners to return to environmentally friendly practices that will help us to survive in the climate changed world.

Mount Kenya. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Mongabay: How do you see climate change particularly affecting ecosystems in Africa?

Paula Kahumbu: Most of Africa will be hotter and drier, streams will dry up, forests will not recover from degradation, fisheries will disappear. We will see extreme climate events will be more extreme and more common, like floods and droughts. More of our land will be ‘marginal’ and farming these landscapes will push ecosystems over a threshold and point of no return. Once we’ve lost soil and seeds no amount of rain will bring them back. The main impact we will notice will be deepening poverty which will be extreme and bushmeat hunting will exterminate wildlife from large tracts of land outside of the best protected areas. I expect we’ll see more incursions in the protected areas. Today our parks in Kenya are full of cattle due to a prolonged drought. Not only do the livestock compete with wildlife, introduce diseases and damage the environment, but they also put people in direct conflict with wildlife and predators will be exterminated, and antelopes killed by the herds by people who have to eat. I think we will see governments make more environmentally unfriendly decisions to address poverty and we will lose much of our wild lands.

Mongabay: Working with people across the globe, including in some of the world’s poorest countries, how do you think climate change should be tackled? Is it everyone’s problem or should the bulk of the responsibility be on developed nations?

Boy from the Turkana tribe in Northern Kenya. Poor and marginalized peoples will be hit the hardest by climate change. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Paula Kahumbu: I think climate change will be tackled badly! There’s a meeting of African environmental ministers taking place in Nairobi this week. I am amazed that the public are not aware, and have not had an opportunity to present views. The climate problem has been caused by the West but now India and China are amongst the largest polluters. We cannot ignore the fact that developing nations need to take responsibility, but how do you divert attention and funds away from the pressing crises like poverty and disease in Africa? They are far more immediate and, frankly, these issues influence voters so our policy makers will give lip service to climate change unless there is a short term benefit that can be translated into votes.

Regardless of who created the climate change problem, the world’s poor people will pay and they are paying already. We are kind of helpless and it’s shocking. Don’t you think it is amazing that the world’s most powerful nations are those that we consider to be the richest? They are the biggest producers and greatest contributors to the global economic and environmental crisis. The environmental debt outstrips their measurable wealth, doesn’t it? The countries richest in natural resources (forests, biodiversity, fish, clean water) have the smallest voice on the global platform because they haven’t converted these riches into gold bullion. Why don’t we measure the wealth of a nation realistically? I think that if intelligent aliens visited the earth today they would report back that we are a backward species that is destroying its own habitat even though we have the means to save planet Earth.

Mongabay: What are your ideas in engaging the public to supply adequate funding for large-scale environmental issues, such as climate change and the extinction crisis?

Paula Kahumbu: I think that to engage the world we will need a paradigm shift in what we communicate. Today’s global headlines are monopolized by scandals, Enron, Financial crisis, Iraq, the British MP’s allowances, Swine flu, Kenyan elections, Wii, Britney Spears baby…you name it. We are inundated with unimportant information every single day, we inhale and are addicted to irrelevant facts and, we have created a culture that cares more about gossip and other people than our own survival. These are all diversions that keep us busy and prevent us from seeing what’s really happening. I think we need to be snapped out of our stupor to realize what’s really happening. We need to take action. We must change those headlines. I think we could create a global culture of caring for the planet by having headlines on the health of Planet Earth everyday. We should be making these issues important, and we should be frowning deeply on those who destroy, emit and waste. We could drive a new social agenda that is informed about and cares about things that matter: our future, and our planet. Perhaps then everyone will be able to believe in a future that is fair for all, clean and healthy, rich in biodiversity and able to sustain us into perpetuity.

Screenshot of WildlifeDirect homepage, showcasing a variety of conservation blogs. Photo courtesty of WildlifeDirect.

Tags: Africa, conservation, economic crisis, Mongabay, richard leakey, wildlife, wildlifedirect

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Category: Americas, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, conservation, furadan | Date: Aug 13 2009 | By: Maina

We received this press release from the good people at the University of Pittsburgh news section. I think it’s a wake-up call to government agencies charged with regulating pesticides. This gross oversight on the part of the EPA should scare you and make you ask yourself: ‘who is safe these days?’

The dangers that pesticides pose to wildlife is immense and although the researchers in this report used only amphibians, we can all imagine what implication these poisons would have on large mammals and other species. I am particularly reminded of the danger already posed by Furadan on lions and other predators, birds of prey and scavengers. Maybe you need to read along and see this for yourself, for these poisons are not only a danger to wildlife, but also to humans.

August 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:   Morgan Kelly
[412-624-4356 (office); 412-897-1400 (cell); mekelly@pitt.edu]

Pitt Research Suggests EPA Standard for Pesticide Safety Overlooks Poisons’
Long-term Effects

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry article reports “lag effect,”
revealing that harmful effects can remain hidden until after EPA’s four-day
direct exposure test

PITTSBURGH-The four-day testing period the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) commonly uses to determine safe levels of pesticide exposure
for humans and animals could fail to account for the toxins’ long-term
effects, University of Pittsburgh researchers report in the September
edition of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

The team found that the highly toxic pesticide endosulfan-a neurotoxin
banned in several nations but still used extensively in U.S. agriculture-can
exhibit a “lag effect” with the fallout from exposure not surfacing until
after direct contact has ended. Lead author Devin Jones, a recent Pitt
biological sciences graduate, conducted the experiment under Rick Relyea, an
associate professor of biological sciences in Pitt’s School of Arts and
Sciences, with collaboration from Pitt post-doctoral researcher John
Hammond. The paper is available on Pitt’s Web site at
http://www.pitt.edu/news2009/Endosulfan.pdf

The team exposed nine species of frog and toad tadpoles to endosulfan levels
“expected and found in nature” for the EPA’s required four-day period, then
moved the tadpoles to clean water for an additional four days, Jones
reported. Although endosulfan was ultimately toxic to all species, three
species of tadpole showed no significant sensitivity to the chemical until
after they were transferred to fresh water. Within four days of being moved,
up to 97 percent of leopard frog tadpoles perished along with up to 50
percent of spring peeper and American toad tadpoles.

Of most concern, explained Relyea, is that tadpoles and other amphibians are
famously sensitive to pollutants and considered an environmental indicator
species. The EPA does not require testing on amphibians to determine
pesticide safety, but Relyea previously found that endosulfan is 1,000-times
more lethal to amphibians than other pesticides. Yet, he said, if the
powerful insecticide cannot kill one the world’s most susceptible species in
four days, then the four-day test period may not adequately gauge the
long-term effects on larger, less-sensitive species.

“When a pesticide’s toxic effect takes more than four days to appear, it
raises serious concerns about making regulatory decisions based on standard
four-day tests for any organism,” Relyea said. “For most pesticides, we
assume that animals will die during the period of exposure, but we do not
expect substantial death after the exposure has ended. Even if EPA
regulations required testing on amphibians, our research demonstrates that
the standard four-day toxicity test would have dramatically underestimated
the lethal impact of endosulfan on even this notably sensitive species.”

Andrew Blaustein, a professor in Oregon State University’s nationally ranked
Department of Zoology, who is familiar with the Pitt study, said the results
raise concerns about standards for other chemicals and the delayed dangers
that might be overlooked. Some of the frog eggs the Pitt team used had been
collected by Blaustein’s students for an earlier unrelated experiment, but
he had no direct role in the current research.

“The results are somewhat alarming because standards for assessing the
impacts of contaminants are usually based on short-term studies that may be
insufficient in revealing the true impact,” Blaustein said. “The
implications of this study go beyond a single pesticide and its effect on
amphibians. Many other animals and humans may indeed be affected similarly.”

Tadpoles in the Pitt project spent four days in 0.5 liters of water
containing endosulfan concentrations of 2, 6, 7, 35, 60, and 296
parts-per-billion (ppb), levels consistent with those found in nature. The
team cites estimates from Australia-where endosulfan is widely used-that the
pesticide can reach 700 ppb when sprayed as close as 10 meters from the
ponds amphibians typically call home and 4 ppb when sprayed within 200
meters. The EPA estimates that surface drinking water can have chronic
endosulfan levels of 0.5 to 1.5 ppb and acute concentrations of 4.5 to 23.9 ppb.

Leopard frogs, spring peepers, and American toads fared well during the
experiment’s first four days, but once they were in clean water, the death
rate spiked for animals previously exposed to 35 and 60 ppb. Although the
other six species did not experience the lag effect, the initial doses of
endosulfan were still devastating at very low concentrations. Grey and
Pacific tree frogs, Western toads, and Cascades frogs began dying in large
numbers from doses as low as 7 ppb, while the same amount killed all green
frog and bullfrog tadpoles.

The endosulfan findings build on a 10-year effort by Relyea to understand
the potential links between the global decline in amphibians, routine
pesticide use, and the possible threat to humans in the future.

A second paper by Relyea and Jones also in the current Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry expands on one of Relyea’s most notable
investigations, a series of findings published in Ecological Applications in
2005 indicating that the popular weed-killer Roundup® is “extremely lethal”
to amphibians in concentrations found in the environment. The latest work
determined the toxicity of Roundup Original Max for a wider group of larval
amphibians, including nine frog and toad species and four salamander
species. The report is available on Pitt’s Web site at
http://www.pitt.edu/news2009/Roundup.pdf

In November 2008, Relyea reported in Oecologia that the world’s 10 most
popular pesticides-which have been detected in nature-combine to create
“cocktails of contaminants” that can destroy amphibian populations, even if
the concentration of each individual chemical is within levels considered
safe to humans and animals. The mixture killed 99 percent of leopard frog
tadpoles and endosulfan alone killed 84 percent.

A month earlier, Relyea published a paper in Ecological Applications
reporting that gradual amounts of malathion-the most popular insecticide in
the United States-too small to directly kill developing leopard frog
tadpoles instead sparked a biological chain reaction that deprived them of
their primary food source. As a result, nearly half the tadpoles in the
experiment did not reach maturity and would have died in nature.

News releases about Relyea’s previous work are available on Pitt’s Web site
at http://www.news.pitt.edu

###

8/12/09/tmw

Tags: amphibians, EPA, Frogs, pesticides, poison, University of Pittsburgh, USA

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Category: Kenya, Lions, Mara Triangle, Mau Forest Complex, National Parks and protected areas, conservation, national parks | Date: Aug 04 2009 | By: paula

The drought in Kenya is having terrible consequences for everyone especially in arid areas which are sending out appeals for help.

Wildlife is also at risk. Today, yet again, I came across herds of starving cattle in the Nairobi National Park.  The problem is provoking a muted response especially from KWS who seem hesitant to chase them out.  Some people think that this is the right “for humanitarian response”, and I’m hopping mad.According to the IUCN, a national park is meant to be a protected area where natural ecosystems are not materially altered by human exploitation or occupation and where the competent authority (KWS) takes steps to prevent or eliminate such impacts. National Parks are used for inspirational, educative, cultural and recreative purposes.

The KWS Vision is “To be a world leader in wildlife conservation” and it’s Mission is “To sustainably conserve and manage Kenya’s wildlife and its habitat in collaboration with stakeholders for posterity”.

SO, WHAT ARE LIVESTOCK DOING IN KENYA’S NATIONAL PARKS?

Even though Livestock is critical to our economy and contributes 12% of the GDP, the Kenyan government has failed Kenyan herders. Pastoralist occupy the ASAL areas (arid and semi arid lands) which make up two thirds of the country’s surface area. But very little has been done to help them. Historically the colonial government dispossessed land from pastoral communities, and our current government has been complacent and allows our political elite to benefit from the status quo by serving their private interests.

I believe that corruption in public institutions may be the greatest cause of Kenya’s economic decline, environmental degradation, and deepening poverty for millions of people.   It has created a humanitarian situation, for many Kenyans livestock keeping is a matter of survival.

This is why every time there are problems in the northern range lands, like droughts, conflict and disease, cattle are herded into the parks as a refuge.

KWS may in fact be powerless to stop them unless they take on a political war.

But does this effect conservation? Should we allow cattle in the parks?

I say “Hell No!! Chase them out as fast as possible!”  You may think me heartless in demanding that KWS drive the starving cattle and poor communities out of the parks. But  the long term consequence will cripple us – look at the devastating implications of corruption and impunity as a result of the destruction of the Mau forests.  Kenya’s entire economy is suffering and some 2,100 people will soon be homeless because of the greed of a few politicians.

There are also short term consequences of allowing cattle into our parks during droughts. Tourism is the backbone of this faltering economy, can we afford to ask visitors to pay $60 dollars per visit to see this?

Cattle taken into park after closing hours - Photo taken 6.20 pm last night at Nairobi National Park

Or this?

Photo taken 8.30 am this morning in Nairobi National Park despite several reports to KWS

Instead of this?

To me the answer to the cattle in the park problem is simple. Would the KWS director, or any of our ministers allow these sick starving cattle onto their personal property where their grazing would eat entire crops and destroy flower garden leaving a dust bowl and lots of parasites and diseases? Of course not!

Why is it that conservation areas are seen as opportunities to soften the devastating impacts our other failed policies? Numerous reports have concluded that the livestock ministry and related government departments, as well as our greedy political elite are  responsible for the crisis facing our cattle today. They created this problem, they must solve it.

In my opinion, letting cattle into the parks will not solve the problem any more than loosening the belt of an obese man will help him manage his weight.

What do you think? How can we send that message loud and clear that the Parks should not be used as emergency fodder for livestock during extreme droughts?

Tags: drought, human wildlife conflict, Kenya, Lions, national parks, poaching, wildlife

4 responses so far