Baraza

Category: Africa, WildlifeDirect news, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: paula

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking in a panel at PopTech about Conservation 2.0 - the New edge of Conservation.

I spoke about WildlifeDirect and I showed our video on Youtube which we produced in partnership with National Geographic and told Antony Kasanga’s story about the Lion Guardians. Antony’s story has really captured the attention and imagination of Americans  Here’s a story that reveals the value the interconnectedness of everyone through the internet .

After my talk someone asked me what it was like being a woman working with people in the remote and dangerous parts of Africa.

The beauty of WildlifeDirect is that all our projects are local. Anthony is a Masai and the reason why his work is so effective is because he is working with his own community. WildlifeDirect not only identifies good, ..or should I say Great projects, that are having important impacts on the ground. But we are also enlisting and nurturing a community of future African leaders.

The people who support the Lion guardians  must be hugely proud about what they have enabled to happen. Everyone is talking about the lions that the Lion Guardians have saved.

It was one person who commented on Antony’s blog and left told him about the scholarship in Oxford. Today that person must have a huge smile on his face. He has completely changed Anthony’s life and given him a tiny peace of information that I believe will enable Antony to reach his potential.

So Chris Santon this blog post is a Shout Out to you -you may not realize the significance of the gift you gave to Antony. It may be some years before you realize just how important that simple act was. Asante Sana Chris! From all of us.

The gift goes the other way to - I’m sure that Chris’s life will never be the same. He has achieved something that most of us only dream of. The gift of being able to really help someone.

Here’s Antony at Oxford giving a presentation in front of the University Vice Chancellor. Antony we are so proud of you!

I think I saw a few teary eyes in the audience when I showed the photo of Antony in Oxford against the original photo of him at work in Mbirikani.

Mine certainly were!

I’m so proud that we can tell Antony’s story because I know it inspires many Africans and will continue to inspire generations to come.At the social event later several people came up to me asking how they could help. That’s what I love about PopTech, it’s the first time I’ve been at  a meeting where everyone is here for one reason only, to find out how they can help.

I want to thank all the Lion Guardians for everything they have done and for letting WildlifeDirect be a part of their amazing story. I have always had a passion for wildlife. I believe that everyone cares about nature and wants to do something.

WildlifeDirect is the only conservation organization that makes it possible for individuals everywhere to participate directly in conservation - by linking donors directly to people on the ground and making it personal.

As Sheryl says

“I enjoy donating my time and money to WLD wildlife protectors because
they’re doing important field work that I can’t do.”

By selecting genuine high impact projects on the ground we know that we can save wild animals. With very little cash the Lion guardians have saved tens of lions - that’ s HUGE - there are only 2000 lions left in Kenya and each is valued at between 500,ooo and 1 million dollars. That return on investment should excite any business person.

I already met some great people here at PopTech and I’m so excited about developing new relationships. It has been a tough year for us but we have passion and belief, and a model that works.

Participate PopTech visit the website Poptech.org and read their blog here  and join us live on webstreaming from 9 am today when the mystery box will be opened. Tell all your friends.

Tags: Antony Kasanga, conservation, Kenya, Lion, lion guardians, Lions, Maasai, Masai Mara, PopTech, wildlife, wildlifedirect

One response so far

Category: Africa, Blog Action Day, Climate change, wildlife | Date: Oct 15 2009 | By: Maina

This is my view of how climate change will affect wildlife - Maina

When world leaders discuss climate change, the picture that is in their minds is of people caught in drought and floods, melting snow and icecaps in the mountain ranges and polar regions, and the polar bear. Well, that is not the worst case scenario. Less obvious wildlife (as compared to the polar bear) will suffer too – and perhaps more than humans.

You see human kind – as a species – will survive this rapid change in climate better than wildlife. Humans, in short, will survive. But some non-human inhabitants of mother Earth will not. It’s a given that wild species of animals and plants survived the beginning and end of the Ice Age, but they did so naturally. The climate change then was not as rapid as the climate change we are witnessing today. We all know the reason why – humans had not invented the steam engine, hadn’t discovered coal and petroleum and industrialisation was not even a seed in the little mind our ancient ancestors.

Now greenhouse gas emissions and an opulent consumerism has renderd the natural systems weak and the pace at which global warming and other climate change factors are progressing is mind boggling – and wildlife cannot keep abreast.

Take the example of trees. In mountain ranges, there is a nice tiered arrangement of different dominant species of plants. From lowland forest trees to upland, bamboo, alpine glades, tundra etc. Two problems arise here. 1) Assuming the vegetation belts can quickly stay at pace with temperature rise, they will push each other up the mountain until they all have nowhere else to go then they go extinct. 2) In reality, they cannot keep up the pace so they will die on the way up.

The great Savannahs of Africa may look indestructible – but they are not. We are increasingly seeing irregular rain patterns which is disrupting vegetation growth resulting in mass deaths of the massive herds of charismatic and much loved large herbivores, and their attending predators iconically represented by lions, cheetah, leopard and the like.

In Kenya recently, prolonged drought – and we can not rule out the effects of climate change as the cause – first killed livestock, then pushed the livestock into wildlife habitats, then killed the wildlife. Now Kenya is – ironically – waiting for El Nino rains to settle in so that it can save people, their livestock and wildlife. But the El Nino could be made more severe by the effects of climate change. So more people, livestock and wildlife will die. Iregi Mwenja, a Kenyan bushmeat researcher posted pictures of the onset of the El Nino rains in Voi today. One of the casualties of the big water was a masai goat that died in the floods.

That is a look on the extreme weather conditions that climate change is making worse. The silent increase in temperature will have the most devastating impact on wildlife as habitats change. According to the BBC:

It is estimated 20-30% of plant and animal species will be at increased extinction if the temperature rises by more than 1.5 – 2.5C. Less snow in winter, warmer temperatures in summer and more winter rain will affect wildlife across the board. Sea level rises will reduce land area in some countries, which will instantly affect vegetation which is currently used for homes and foods by animals.

In Africa, most of traditional dispersal area for wildlife is now occupied by humans as population increases exponentially. When climate change takes full effect, wildlife will attempt to move to these areas and human-wildlife conflict will escallate. The result is that wildlife will be killed. From another perspective, humans, with the effects of climate change on their heels, will invade wildlife protection areas, killing wildlife to create room for themselves, and their ravenous progeny.

Lest you tell me that the earth is man’s home, and we don’t need the wildlife, let me remind you the intricate balance between biological  systems, including bacteria! and the physical (rock) earth. The scientific author, Edward O Wilson, in his book “The Future of Life” talks of the earths biological system as a layer of living matter so thin you cannot see it sideways from space but absolutely neccessary for overall integrity of the planet as a whole (including energy flows). So there you have it: Without the biological system, there is no earth. Or in a language that you will understand, without the biological matter of old that became fossilized millenia ago, we would not have oil or coal = no fuel = no cars = no industrialization.

It is time to act. Our first wave of action is no doubt massive adjustment to our consumption patterns in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This, if dully practiced, could slow down climate change. Talk, write, chant, wave placards at or do what you do best, but make your leader act on climate change. Tell them that when they get to Copenhagen on 7-18 December 2009, they have to come up with a climate deal that saves us and wildlife. And go over to TckTckTck and join the more than 2 million ‘planet earthians’ tell the world leaders that you are ready for a climate deal that works.

It is said that climate change is inevitable, but the pace will have to slow down. Climate change has occurred before, but not at this pace. Let us all change the way we live, slow climate change and give the other inhabitants of this planet a chance to take on climate change at their own pace. We cannot make them adapt at our pace…they were not made that way.

Let’s slow climate change. Lets save our wildlife.

Tags: Africa, Blog Action Day, Climate change, emission, environment, extinction, global warming, greenhouse gas, wildlife

5 responses so far

Category: Africa, Gorillas, In the News, Uganda, hunting, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Oct 15 2009 | By: Maina

Conservationists are taken aback over Uganda’s re-introduction of sport hunting in selected areas outside of designated protected areas. Conservationists from Nature Uganda and WildlifeDirect voiced their concerns over Uganda’s claim that they have enough wildlife to sustainably practice this consumptive use of wildlife. Ben Simon of AFP has the complete story.

Uganda under fire over legalized big game hunting

By Ben Simon (AFP)

KAMPALA — Outraged conservationists said on Wednesday that Uganda had neither enough game nor adequate control mechanisms to reintroduce sport hunting on animals such as elephant and buffalo.

Animal and environmental protection groups were angered by the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s (UWA) decision to sell shooting licences in a bid to boost tourism revenue.

“I do not believe that Uganda has enough game animals to sustain sport hunting,” Samuel Maina, of Nairobi-based WildlifeDirect, told AFP.

UWA spokeswoman Lillian Nsubuga said population levels had recovered from years of war in some areas and argued that ending the decades-old ban would contain crop-crunching elephants and buffalos while creating jobs.

Maina voiced doubts that the 90 percent loss of the large mammal population during the unstable 70s and 80s had been reversed.

“Sport hunting is thus likely to be unsustainable in the designated hunting areas and there is a likelihood that to sustain this lucrative sector, Uganda will have to extend hunting into protected areas,” he said.

Achilles Byaruhanga of Nature Uganda, a Kampala-based advocacy group, also judged the initiative to be dangerous because it is impossible to know the real strength of big game populations.

“I would want to ask UWA: Where is your data and your information coming from? Just because some animals have moved out of a wildlife reserve doesn’t mean their numbers are strong enough for sport hunting,” he told AFP.

UWA chief Moses Mapesa said that big game hunting was happening already and that the plan was simply for Uganda to benefit from it.

“In the absence of controlled hunting we have had a loss of animals and a loss of potential revenue,” he said.

But Byaruhanga argued that the reintroduction of legal hunting was unlikely to stop illegal hunting by needy local communities or create enough guide jobs to provide a viable alternative.

Maina also warned that Uganda had not proven it had the capacity to control the hunting effectively.

“Hunting-law enforcement is going to be difficult when new hunting blocks are opened. I doubt UWA has enough personnel and machinery to prevent abuse of the hunting licenses and concessions,” he said.

Maina also argued that sport hunting was incompatible with the east African country’s current attempts to enhance its international image as a destination for ecotourism, with gorillas the main attraction.

“Ecotourism and sport hunting are more or less mutually exclusive. Ecotourists do not want to go to places where wildlife is being killed,” he told AFP.

“The growth of sport hunting tourism will give Uganda a bad name as an ecotourism destination and is thus likely to reduce earnings from ecotourism including gorilla tracking,” he added.

Tags: conservation, ecotourism, illegal hunting, Nature Uganda, sport hunting, tourism, Uganda, Uganda Wildlife Authority, wildlife

12 responses so far

Category: Africa, Climate change, In the News, Kenya, Lions, National Parks and protected areas, Rhinoceros, big cats, drought, national parks, richard leakey, tourism, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Sep 05 2009 | By: admin

In a previous story about cattle dying in the Nairobi Park We have been going purple in the face trying to raise awareness about the public health, ecological and economic threat facing Kenya as a consequence of uncontrolled movements of cattle during the current drought.

This is Dauti Kahura  story published in today’s East African Standard

A week ago, a man died of anthrax in Nyeri after eating infected cow meat. A week earlier, although not reported, two rhinos from Nairobi National Park died of anthrax. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) confirmed the cause of deaths.

The death of the man should raise the red flag. There is great fear that some of the meat being sold in and around Kitengela and Ongata Rongai butcheries could be contaminated with anthrax, foot and mouth and east coast fever. Investigations by The Standard on Saturday revealed that sick and dying cattle are slaughtered on the roadsides and expose nearby communities to outbreaks.

Temporary bomas

Last week, five kilometres into Masai Lodge Road in Ongata Rongai where herders have set up temporary bomas, The Standard on Saturday team found sickly cattle being slaughtered for distribution to neighbouring butcheries.

Mr Rolf Schmid, a restaurateur who has lived in the area for almost two decades, raised the alarm.

“My first instinct was to contact the Ministry of Health and veterinary officials to come and witness the slaughter of dying cattle,” he said.

The Ministry of Public Health officers and vets from Kajiado concur that some of the cattle appeared sickly although not all were emaciated. The Government health officials, who sought anonymity because they are not authorised to be quoted, confirmed that the animals pose danger.

Due to drought, Maasai herders drive the cattle up to the city and many of them are kept in bomas along Mombasa Road. Tens of thousands of cattle that have been migrating from Loitokitok, Tsavo West, Kibwezi, Sultan Hamud and Kajiado are also being held in bomas on the northern and southern sides of the Nairobi National Park.

By day, these cattle are hosted on the local ranches around the park and by night driven inside it for grazing. Early this week, The Standard on Saturday observed hundreds of cattle being driven into the park on the southern end from the Masai Lodge Road. Tired and exhausted, they walked in a profile, with some not completing the journey.

herding in parks

According to a KWS senior warden, herders have been cutting the fence to allow large numbers of cattle into the park. KWS impounded 1,000 cattle and when the herders came for them the next day, they said some of the animals belong to “well connected Kenyans”.

Due to severe drought and exhaustion of grazing fields, Nairobi National Park is the only location in city with ample grazing field.

But now it is also massively threatened with decimation. More worrying is the fact that the wild animals are also at great risk of being infected with diseases. KWS officials say some antelopes have been infected with foot and mouth.

Tags: anthrax, cattle, Dauti Kahura, Lion, Lions, LIvestock, Nairobi Park, rhino, wildlifedirect

2 responses so far

Category: Africa, Climate change, drought, national parks, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Aug 24 2009 | By: paula

In a meeting this weekend with the warden of Nairobi National Park, Mr. Michael Wanjau of KWS and some other government officials as well as residents of the area, it was revealed that tens of thousands of cattle are grazing in the Nairobi National Park as a result of the ongoing devastating drought.

Mr Wanjau admitted that the numbers of cattle in the park has reached record levels. So weak from walking hundreds of kilometers in search of grazing, many do not make it.

Some herders are cutting the fence of the park to let cattle in. Some are being herded across rivers.

The southern part of Nairobi park is littered with cattle carcasses and vultures, hyenas and lions have eaten their fill.

Out on the staging grounds in Kitengela adjacent to the park where cattle are gathering, hundreds are dying and nobody is removing carcasses. The Kenya Meat Commission tried to buy up the herds for Ksh 8,000 per cow (about 100$) but herders have refused to sell, they say they are hoping for rain.

Some dead and dying cattle are being butchred on the roadsides which poses a horrific public health situation. The Ministry of Health is being informed as I write this blog post.

Many cows affected by foot and mouth disease simply cannot walk anymore like this calf. She lay down by one of the entrances to KWS and just died right there. It broke my heart that no one would touch her or put her out of her misery for fear of whatever disease she was suffering from.

The meeting on Saturday felt that the situation is a crisis and are demanding that the governmetn conduct compulsoray purchase of cattle to avert a public health and environmental disaster. But it is being whispered that these cattle are owned by rich and powerful Kenyans, a challenge that few Kenyans are willing to take head on.

Technorati : Nairobi National Park, cattle, disease, drought, wildlife, wildlifedirect, zoonosis

Tags: cattle, disease, drought, nairobi national Park, wildlife, wildlifedirect, zoonosis

2 responses so far

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: Africa, Kenya, big cats, national parks, predators, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: Aug 17 2009 | By: paula

Dear friends, we’ve just been sent these photos by Heather Clarke for identification. We have no clue what this cat is but wonder if you can help us identify it?

This cat was seen recently in Tsavo East - there may have been a pattern of spots below its black coat and according to Heather, it was the size of a young cheetah.

Anyone out there know what it is?

Technorati : Kenya, Taita, Tsavo, black cat, feline, melanistic, predator
Del.icio.us : Kenya, Taita, Tsavo, black cat, feline, melanistic, predator

Tags: black cat, feline, Kenya, melanistic, predator, Taita, Tsavo

13 responses so far

Category: Appeals, wildlife | Date: Jun 25 2009 | By: Maina

On the Fourth of July, America will be celebrating their great country’s birthday. This is a time to appreciate freedom of the American people.

We should join them in celebration.

But our wildlife also need freedom from persecution, and extinction. On this important day, therefore send our Independence Day greeting card to an American and contribute to the freedom of our wildlife. When you make a donation, you will be giving WildlifeDirect the strength to support the more than 100 projects that blog on this platform. You will also get a card sent to your email so that you can send to your family and friends.You dont have to be American send this card…you can send to your American friends this beautiful card that shows you care not only about them, but also about the wildlife of this planet.So why not CHANGE today and send a card with a cause? Afterall, Independence Day has been arround for 233 years a little change ($25) will make a great change.Happy Independence Day!

Tags: America, donation, extinction, Fourth of July, freedom, Independence Day, wildlife

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Category: Hells Gate, Kenya, National Parks and protected areas, Snares, wildlife | Date: Jun 03 2009 | By: admin

March 29th 2009, from high above the cliff opposite the famous landmark, Fischers tower, when looking straight down, a strange tan rock like object with four, spindly and narrow branch like appendages extending from the right side lay motionless on the plain below. Could it be a carcass? The position and overall appearance of the object looked far too obscure to be one. Perhaps it is just a rock.

A couple of hours later driving in the park, my friend and I stopped the car on the track closest to a conspicuous fig tree with roots anchored between a large boulder, splitting the once complete mass into segments. The object we could see from the cliff turned out to be a hartebeest carcass, nothing unusual there except when you are standing right above it. A thick wire was wrapped several times around one horn and extended outward, the entire length of the carcass. The bizarre, contorted position of the hartebeest could now be explained by the presence of the wire. The carcass was so far decomposed, that all that was left was the hide. There was no evidence of the internal contents.

Perturbed by the sight of what looked to be a snare and the obvious neglect of the park authorities and rangers we walked closer toward the rocky outcrop facing the magnificent fig tree. Why hadn’t the park rangers taken the carcass for analysis, what was it doing lying out in plain sight of all the park tourists, right next to a track? What had happened to the hartebeest? If it was snared for bushmeat why was it still left there?

There was litter lying around on the rock, graffiti and someone had painstakingly chipped off a portion of the granite from the top. Our confusion quickly progressed into anger at careless and disrespectful tourists for defacing the park and the lack of supervision by the park authorities.

Further to the carcass lying out on the plain, I stumbled upon a tree adjacent to the rock with the graffiti, where another hartebeest carcass had been intentionally wrapped around the trunk of the tree with the same kind of wire attached to the first carcass. Frantically looking around the site for some kind of explanation I saw some used and filthy gloves anchored by a rock, acting as a weight. The gloves were on a rocky outcrop directly in front of the tree. It must have taken more than one person to accomplish securing a full size hartebeest carcass to a tree. At the base of the tree was a severed hartebeest head and it did not come from either of the two wire entangled ones, as each had the head attached. Neither of us could understand what was going on. It was most bizarre, to say the least. Was this some kind of research? What kind of research would be so twisted? Are the park authorities aware that there is something so disturbing in plain view of anyone who visits the park? What sort of an impression is this creating?

The ranger or warden at the gate could not tell us what was going on. He looked at the photos and repeatedly confirmed the location where we encountered this was the ‘green tree’. He did not know of any research groups working around that area. It was quite a miserable effort on the parks behalf to assure us that someone was going to look into it. His manner was rather nonchalant.

I asked some of my colleagues at WildlifeDirect for their interpretation of the photographs. It seems like leopard baiting is the most plausible. Whether for research conducted by scientists or poachers, it is unclear. If it were for research, how were the hartebeest carcasses obtained? Were they killed by someone for this purpose or did the hartebeest die of natural causes and their carcasses used as bait? By whom? Does KWS know? Have they consented to such research, if it is indeed the reason? I want some answers. There is no procedure I am aware off where a visitor to any Kenyan National Park can file a formal complaint that is documented and given a response to. It seems to be upon the discretion of park visitors to report any incidences witnessed inside KWS protected areas. So much information is lost that way. There were also illegal cattle grazing at the southern end of the park on the far end of buffalo circuit, something I have seen year upon year but no action seems to be taken against such activities. They have been reported informally at the gate several times.
What do you think the hartebeest scenario looks like? Some answers and/or explanations to this would be welcome.

Tags: bushmeat, Hartebeest Carcass, Hells Gate, Kenya, KWS, national parks, Snare

5 responses so far

Category: Mara Triangle, National Parks and protected areas, conservation, poaching, wildlife, wildlifedirect | Date: May 18 2009 | By: admin

A new study has found that the Masai Mara is in a crisis. Based on an analysis of the monthly sample counts indicates that the losses were as high as 95 percent for giraffes, 80 percent for warthogs, 76 percent for hartebeest, and 67 percent for impala. Researchers say the declines they documented are supported by previous studies..” and  “Researchers found the growing human population has diminished the wild animal population by usurping wildlife grazing territory for crop and livestock production to support their families. Some traditional farming cultures to the west and southwest of the Mara continue to hunt wildlife inside the Mara Reserve, which is illegal, for food and profit.”

The report which is based on the analysis of 15 years of monthly counts for 7 species of ungulates; Cokes hartebeest, warthog, waterbuck, zebra, giraffe, impala and topi. The researchers didn’t examine the data in its raw form but manipulated it with a statistical model to illustrate the trends. In doing so, the authors claim that they were able to remove the effects of rainfall in order to highlight the individual impacts of land use, poaching, competition from cattle, range contraction and deterioration of habitat on the ungulate populations.

The graphs in this paper illustrate population trends in all 7 species. For all except zebra, populations initially decline between 1989 and 1993. This is followed by a recovery period peaking in 1995 and then further decline and stabilization until 2001/1 /. After this all species show upward trends as populations recover to 2003. The zebra population however is simply stable from the start of the study in 1989 until 2000 when it shows a dramatic increasing trend to the end of the study in 2003.

Finer detail is provided in a series of 21 graphs illustrating trends in each species giving a clearer picture of how these species numbers have changed in there different blocks of the Masai Mara Reserve. Many show a general downward trend between 1989 and July 2000, and almost all illustrate upward trends after 2000.  For the life of me I cannot find the 95% decline in giraffe in any of the blocks – the greatest decline that I can find is in block 3 where numbers of giraffe decline from 37 to 12 individuals.  That’s only a 67% decline.

The study has attracted global attention and hundreds of news articles. Here in Kenya the report caught many by surprise and prompted disbelief. One paper condemned the report as false  and at least one manager in the Mara refuted the results and said he did not know which part of the ecosystem the study actually referred to.  I spoke to the lead author, Joseph Ogutu to find out more.

Q1. Is the Masai Mara really in trouble?

Ogutu: This study found that the numbers of giraffe, warthog, impala, topi and hartebeest fell by 50% or more between 1979 and 2002. These declines were linked to rapid growth of Maasai settlements around the reserve.

Q2. Your paper documents a fantastic explosion in huts and bomas in the Koyiaki Group Ranch – some people say that this is an exaggeration.

Ogutu. We physically counted and mapped using a hand held GPS. We also used national census data which show more modest population increases. The number of homesteads or bomas increased dramatically because of the recent break up of group ranches into individual land titles. Families that once lived in small communal bomas in a large land area, have now built their own homesteads on their individual parcels of land. This multiplication of settlements has greatly increased the human footprint.

Q3. But the increasing human populations is occurring outside the reserve, how can this affect resident wildlife inside the reserve if these animals are non migratory?

Ogutu. The wildlife that are residential in the Mara Reserve are non migratory but they still move between the ranches and the Reserve seasonally. This is because the constant grazing of livestock outside the reserve keeps the grass low and nutritious in wet season. Inside the reserve the grass grows much faster than it can be consumed and gets tall and fibrous. Tall grass is not only unpalatable, it also hides the predators so grazers seek short grass for safety.  Once the wildebeest arrive on the annual migration, and after fires burn down the grass, these animals move back to the Reserve. Therefore anything that happens outside the Reserve affects what happens to migratory and resident species inside.

Q. 4 I witnessed the migration last year which was hailed as one of the best in recent years. Haven’t you guys exaggerated the situation a little?

Ogutu. Let me warn you that we are in for catastrophic declines in wildlife if we do not act now. He said that it was unfortunate that some people have challenged the study without looking at the data. If you are in the Mara Triangle you will only observe a small part of the ecosystem, and you will be oblivious of what is going on in the entire landscape. The Mara conservancy is a small section of the reserve where wild animals are increasing in number simply due to displacement of wildlife from elsewhere including the Loita plains

Q 5. Is it too late, is the Mara ecosystem collapsing? 

In the Mara Reserve some species are declining to worrying levels, but it is in the greater system Lemek Koiyaki, Loita and Siana there is a real cause for alarm” He says. According to Ogutu, we have already reached the tipping point in the northern wildebeest migration, which is restricted to Kenya. This unique but smaller migration involves the movement of wildebeest from the Mara Reserve to the Loita plains group ranches. The number of wildebeest has dropped from 120,000 – 190,000 in 1979 to fewer than 10,000 today. The wildebeest calving grounds of the Loita Plains have been ploughed, fenced and filled with cattle. Ironically, the increasing numbers of cattle have been paid for from tourism earnings.  Having studied wildlife in the Mara for 20 years now, Ogutu says that it is not clear if this northern migration exists anymore and laments that people see this everyday but nobody is saying anything about it.

Q 6. Scientists like David Western claim that the Masai way of life is wildlife friendly, your study suggests that they are villains causing to the collapse of the Mara ecosystem.

Ogutu. The traditional Masai way of life can co-exist with wildlife if their numbers and cattle do not exceed a certain density. Individual land ownership has led to the abandonment of traditional nomadic pastoralism in favour of cultivation which is now occurring right up to the Mara Reserve boundary. Subsistence farming and large scale commercial wheat farming are filling up the plains and destroying wildlife habitats, while rapidly growing developments including the settlements of Talek, Sekenani and Aitong are also blocking the migration routes. Add to this the illegal and unregulated extraction of water from the Mara river, and the destruction of the Mau forests which feeds the Mara River and we have a ticking time bomb. “Without the Mara River, the migration will cease” Ogutu warns.

Q. 7. Is it too late to save the Mara?

Ogutu. One of the most positive signs of hope is the growth in community owned wildlife conservancies. If this can be supported we can keep large parts of the the Greater Mara ecosystem open. Conservancies are becoming increasingly popular. The Masai like the conservancy idea because the land is rented by tourism companies from the individual land owners. This eliminates the corruption which was rife when dealing with elders and chiefs representing large communities on group ranches.

Q. 8 Given the economic opportunity, why have so few conservancies in the Mara ecosystem worked?

Ogutu. It’s no easy task to create a conservancy. Since the land is divided into 100 or 150 acre individually owned units, creating a conservancy needs the collective and coordinated action of numerous families. This can be difficult and slow. Nevetheless, families are signing contracts with tourism concerns. These leases typically run for up to 5 years, it is not a long enough period to ensure sustainable long term management. Longer leases would benefit both the investor and the land owner but neither side is willing to take the risk. Given what happened after the elections in 2007, investors are hesitant to accept full liability should tourism nosedive again, while families want to be assured of payments regardless of visitation.

Another problem that is holding back the speed with which conservancies are being registered, is the absence of policy framework or legal foundation for establishing private conservation areas in Kenya.  KWS, he says, provides no leadership or direction in this area, and are virtually absent on the ground.  As a result, each group ranch works independently, with little or no legal support.

Q 9. What can the world do to help the Masai participate in keeping the land open and saving the Mara and the great migration?

Ogutu. It is critical that some form of security is needed to back up or insure the land owners and investors. We need to create a trust fund to ensure the long term viability of wildlife conservancies in the greater Mara.  He is hopeful that this can happen because many people are interested in saving the Mara, and he mentioned in particular Sir Richard Branson.

After talking to Ogutu I am convinced that we have a crisis on our hands, not only in the Mara but in many of our other ecosystems too. Ogutu fears that this dismissal of the results will delay or even prevent the government from taking action. “KWS and DRSRS have been monitoring wildlife numbers for decades, but are they simply monitoring them into extinction? Why are they not analyzing trends and making the findings available to the public, the policy makers and the land owners?”

Ironically, KWS recently celebrated the launch of their new strategic plan which was proudly presented to the public by the Minister for Wildlife and the KWS Chairman who hailed it’s contribution to Kenya’s vision 2030. I asked the Director why members of the conservation community who contribute so much to the state of knowledge of wildlife in Kenya and on whose land most of Kenya’s wildlife resides, were not involved in drafting the document. He said it was done in-house but did not seem to agree that the voices of the public would have helped to create a more useful document. Amongst his strategies, he intends to improve customer service and raise park fees to improve the viability of the KWS.

I can’t help feeling that this blind business approach is why we are hemorrhaging wildlife in Kenya. No longer are wildlife or wilderness areas viewed as worth saving in their own right. Wildlife is now viewed as a commodity, something that should be paid for, and it’s assumed that only tourists appreciate it.  To everyone living outside of conservation areas, wildlife is a pest that costs $$ and should therefore be eliminated.  To unscrupulous traders wildlife anywhere, represents trophies or meat that can be sold for $$. To pastoralists and poor communities, parks are just stolen grazing or farming lands and many are fighting to have these protected areas degazetted.

There seems to be a shrinking community of Kenyans who visit wilderness areas to enjoy the peace and pleasure of unspoiled landscapes, to hike for health reasons, and who are excited by just watching zebras playing, lions greeting each other, or birds feeding their young. I can’t tell you all how sad I was to see that the new KWS strategy does not mention strategies to inspire Kenyans to care about wildlife. Instead KWS is looking to extract more money from the few Kenyans who do still go to the parks. No wonder, the KWS Director feels alone when neither the public nor businesses come out to support his proposals for greater government commitments to our wildlife heritage.

Leave a comment with your ideas, how can we turn around the situation in Kenya around. Or send me a question to ask the KWS director! What can we do to win over the general public, the communities, the government bodies and the management authorities?

Tags: Kenya, Mara Triangle, Masai Mara, migration, poaching, population crash, wildebeest, wildlifedirect

2 responses so far