Baby Rhino Murdered by poachers in the Sabi Game Park - Mozambique

“The intention of the committee is to improve communication and co-ordination among the anti-poaching initiatives by Sanparks, government, police, and security agencies, private game reserves and rhino owners as well as other conservation and wildlife organisations,” Sanparks spokesperson Sam Ferreira said.

Sam Ferreira the newly elected committee chair, said four initial priorities to fight rhino poaching were agreed upon by the committee.

First: To set up a National Number which people could phone to report rhino poaching activities.

Second: To co-ordinate the provision of intelligence from all groups to the National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit.

Third: To co-ordinate a National Fundraising Campaign for specific anti-poaching initiatives.

Fourth: To run an information campaign about rhino poaching and the use of rhino horn.

The committee was set up on Monday (23/08/10) at the Lead SA Rhino Summit, where the resolution was signed by 37 representatives of organisations including the SAPS Hawks, the Department of Environmental Affairs, Crimeline and the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

A species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species can be loosely defined as a group of individual organisms that have very similar appearance, anatomy, physiology and genetics.

What WWF is trying to do is to make sure that those species that we have the least of are not lost forever – we’ve already lost too many as it is.

It could be…

…a mammal, a tree, a coral, a fungus, an insect or a sponge (or any one of a gazillion other forms that life takes).

They can be found in near-to boiling water, sulphurous sludge, frozen wastelands, underground rivers, spiny forests, perilous cliffs or living almost all their life in mid-air.

• Together we and them make up life on this planet.
• And altogether we call this range and breadth of life ‘biodiversity’.
• WWF’s mission is make sure we don’t lose this marvellous array of life, this biodiversity.

How much diversity of life is on this Earth?

According to the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), humans know about an estimated 1,562,663 different life forms on this planet. This includes:

• 5,416 mammals
• 16,000 mushrooms or fungi
• 29,300 fish
• 950,000 insects
• 287,655 plants

Many experts feel we have still to discover many, many more species – some estimates say we have yet to discover and describe millions of ‘new’ lifeforms.

Of the 1.5 million species, what needs saving?

The IUCN maintains the red list, which lists 16,118 endangered species. See some of their photos.

What does Endangered mean?

Officially, threatened species are those listed as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU).

Practically this means:

• Critically Endangered (CR): A species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Endangered (EN): A species considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Vulnerable (VU): A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

 http://wwf.ca/conservation/species/

The appalling escalation in the poaching of rhinoceros species around the world is undermining conservation efforts to save these species, destroying people’s livelihoods, and is threatening to drive these species to extinction.    

The cruel death of one of Ndumo's white rhinos, slaughtered for its horn.

Rhinos are poached for their horn, which is used primarily in traditional medicines in Asia. Although many studies have proven that rhino horn has absolutely no medicinal value whatsoever (it is made of agglutinated hair, similar to fingernails), and CITES banned international trade in rhino horn and its derivatives in 1977, these animals are still mutilated and slaughtered every day to meet this demand. For example, the West African Black Rhino is disappearing faster than any other large animal on earth and, according to some reports, may already be extinct in the wild due to poaching.    

We must stop this appalling destruction of rhinos.    

What can you do?    

Although trade in rhino horns is already illegal, we must encourage government of countries where there is a black market demand for rhino horns to make strong statements condemning this practice, including by launching public awareness campaigns to inform citizens that rhino horns have no medicinal value. Informing people that there are cheaper products that have been proven to work to treat their medical ailments will decrease the demand for this illegal trade.    

The all-too frequent fate of a rhino.

Act now before it’s too late          

Write to the President of China and encourage him to come out publically against trading in rhino products, enact tougher domestic penalties for trafficking in rhino horns, and increase resources to enforce and prosecute those who break the law.          

          President Hu Jintao          

         President of The People’s Republic of China           

         c/o His Excellency Lan Lijun           

         515 St. Patrick Street           

         TEL (613) 789-3434           

         web: www.chinaembassycanada.org/eng           

Write to the United Nations           

         Secretary General Ban Ki-moon           

         United Nations           

         New York, NY 10017 USA           

         Phone: 212-963-5012           

         Email: ecu@un.org           

Write to UNEP and UNESCO to ask them to set up initiatives with governments to raise awareness about how rhino poachers are duping consumers.       

         Mrs. Irina Bokova                                                                                     

         Director-General, UNESCO                   

         7, place de Fontenoy 75352           

         Paris 07 SP France           

         Phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00           

         www.unesco.org           

         Mr. Achim Steiner                     

         Executive Director, UNEP           

         United Nations Environment Programme           

         United Nations Avenue, Gigiri           

         PO Box 30552, 00100           

         Nairobi, Kenya           

         Tel: (254-20) 7621234           

         Email: achim.steiner@unep.org           

         www.unep.org          

Dr. Keith Martin, MP, touring Avatar Grove

These trees are more valuable for tourism and to our ecosystem than as lumber

 by Dr. Keith Martin, MP

Port Renfrew is the furthest outpost of my riding. It is a land of extraordinary beauty with mountains that hug a rugged coastline, rivers that run through deep valleys, and a land that harbours significant biodiversity. This area also contains some of the oldest and most majestic living things on our planet. In the area of the Gordon River Valley and further north in the upper Walbran Valley are some of the largest trees on the planet. A few weeks ago, I went into this remote area with a small team from the Ancient Forest Alliance to document these giant Western Red Cedars, Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir that jut out of the surrounding valley floors like spires from cathedrals.

These trees are very important as they harbour a wide variety of plants and animals when alive, and when they fall, they also provide homes for everything from black bear to fungi. As standing behemoths or fallen giants, they are integral parts of their ecosystems.

However, my trip was also a race against time. For as you read this article, these giants of the forest are being cut down. As I stood in the middle of a clear-cut, I could hear the sharp crack as another tree was being cut down. Less than one kilometre away, I could see the top of a mountain being clearcut. In this clear-cut I stood atop a stump of a recently fallen tree that was at least 6 metres in diameter. Looking at the tightly packed rings of the tree showed that it was more than a thousand years old, yet it would have taken only minutes to cut it down.

Beyond the obvious loss of these magnificent giants is the tragedy that we can do better; cutting down these trees provides a short term benefit and a much larger, long term loss. We can save these trees and in fact get more money from them alive than dead. Ecotourism walks to see these giants and their habitats with informed guides can provide much more revenue and jobs than cutting these trees for lumber and paper. Secondary growth could still be harvested. This would provide employment in an area that has had chronically high unemployment and low incomes. In many communities, aboriginal and non aboriginal people have created businesses to guide people through the beautiful areas they live in. It is especially valuable when ethnocultural tours are provided. The region from Sooke to Port Renfrew is an ideal area for ethno-cultural tourism. Only two and a half hours from Victoria, it is a much shorter drive than to go to Cathedral Grove up island, and is much more impressive.

Let’s work to stop the clear-cutting of old growth trees on South Vancouver Island. If we do this then we will provide long term economic opportunities and save these giants forever.

Gulls flock in the Pacific Ocean. Credit: Ami Vitale.

The Washington Post today has an interesting story (registration required) about how the Earth’s oceans are getting crowded with competition for use — and how more and more ocean experts are pushing ocean zoning as the answer.

But even though such zoning (which experts call “marine spatial planning”) has high-level support within the Obama administration, it’s anything but easy.

Overlaying the maps of the many uses of the sea in any given area — uses ranging from fishing to fossil fuel extraction to recreation to sand mining and wind farms — “quickly becomes a train wreck,” according to Duke University ecologist Larry Crowder.

Still, Europe and Australia have been doing integrated ocean planning and zoning for a while. And scientists at The Nature Conservancy say the risks of not making a sea change in the way we do ocean management outweigh the inherent conflicts of trying to balance dozens of competing resource demands. As Conservancy scientists Lynne Hale, Mike Beck and Scott Smith wrote in March on nature.org:

In some U.S. states, one agency manages the habitats on the bottom of the sea, a separate agency manages the water above it, and a third manages the gas and minerals beneath the bottom. Even conservation organizations that advocate protection don’t always take into account fully the way people — often the poorest and most marginalized — depend on ocean resources for their livelihood.

Hale, Beck and Scott argue that we can take lessons learned in using zoning for terrestrial conservation — like transparency and interactive web-based maps — and apply them to seascape management practices. The Conservancy is already advising countries on how to make these knowledge transfers — for instance, helping the Venezuelan national energy corporation to preserve critical reef areas in the waters of that country while allowing for energy extraction.

But ocean zoning needs to be adopted widely if it’s going to work, say Hale, Beck and Smith. Individual efforts that don’t affect business as usual at the seascape level, they add, will just mean further decline of our marine resources.

Written by Robert Lalasz, http://blog.nature.org/2009/05/a-sea-change-for-ocean-management/

News Flash !! - Suspected poacher’s gang murder Gilberto Vicente – Manager of the Special Maputo Wildlife Reserve.

Maputo — Unknown assailants murdered the manager of the Special Maputo Wildlife Reserve, Gilberto Vicente, on Sunday night. According to a report in Saturday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the murder occurred at around 19.00 in Chigubatana locality, in Boane district, as Vicente was driving from the Reserve to Maputo City, where he had meetings scheduled for the following morning. According to the police, the Toyota Hilux in which Vicente was traveling was ambushed by six men, each armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. Eight shots were fired, instantly killing Vicente, and seriously injuring his companion, Carlos Nunes, who is now undergoing medical treatment at Maputo Central Hospital.

The gang made no attempt to steal anything from the car, and after the murder made off at high speed in their own vehicles. The police suspect that this was a contract killing, since Vicente was a thorn in the flesh for organised groups of poachers. Vicente had earlier worked on the restocking of the Limpopo National Park, in Gaza province, with large mammals (imported from South Africa), and was preparing to do the same in the Maputo Special Reserve.

All the conservation community will be angered and mourn his tragic loss – makes you contemplate with contempt last week’s story of the Swazi poachers lawyer being awarded the US Goldman Environmental Prize !! 

Tim Condon  – ZWF Secretariat Co-Ordinator – 09/08/10

Photos above – Alive (left) & Dead (right)

From : wildvet@googlegroups.com  Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 1:36 PM Subject: [Wildlife VetNet] Mutilated rhino

Hi again everybody – Many may wonder why I get so passionate about things like drug control. I have attached  a photo of a white rhino cow that was darted last week from a chopper and had her face cut off with a chainsaw. She had a 4 week old calf which has subsequently been found dead – obviously the mother had no way of smelling or calling her calf now that she has no nasal turbinates and is now breathing through a hole between her eyes!

People we need to act. We need to exterminate the vermin that are capable of cutting an animal’s face off with a chainsaw. We need to regain some control and respectability of our profession. The good people need to get angry. — wildvet@googlegroups.com

ZWF Comment - These are the cruel, barbaric, callous, arrogant & criminal acts,(words are inadequate) - the-face-of-the-rhino-horn poachers (many ring-leaders are from, or pose as Profesional Hunters which casts shame on their Sport & Industry – which itself needs to urgently become more publically involved in the outcry against these illegal “hunters” - a perusal of the numerous Professional hunting websites mostly reveals a deafenning silence in their anti-poaching voice & stance) – readers will be shocked to know that last month’s ”Colenso” rhino on the top left, was darted & poached by “white-hunters” from a helicopter at night, WAS IN FACT STILL ALIVE – breathing through a hole in the top of it’s head !! The rhino on the right was the lucky one having been shot & killed by a frontline foot soldier in cahouts with the “R-Mafia” masterminds – whether African,White or Oriental.

Following our request to urgently alert all Zululanders in the wildlife reserves & ranches of a possible rhino poaching threat posed the “Musina Mafia” as featured in the Beeld Newspaper expose re their activities below :: 

Pretoria – Hunting rifles stolen in South Africa are being fitted with silencers and allegedly smuggled into Zimbabwe by a Musina hunter to be used in poaching rhino. A Beeld investigation reveals that ruthless South African hunters and safari-operators are plundering Zimbabwe’s wildlife stocks and making a killing from illegal hunting and the trade in rhino horn. A Musina hunter, Johan Roos, has been identified as one of the alleged “masterminds” behind illegal rhino hunting in Zimbabwe. He appears to be a hardened poacher with a string of previous convictions.

Immediately the ZWF launched an urgent Zululand (KZN) Hotline - within a day we received, from a confidential KZN wildlife source, to our new  ZWF Anti- Poaching Confidential Hot-Line -  information that the despicable Peter Roos of the “Roos Musina Marfia” gang was seen at the end June/early July in Greytown/KwaZulu ?? Since then the Hotline has been on the boil with comments and allegations that have yielded some “Hot” dynamite issues which have to keep confidential for security reasons – you’ll notice we now use the term “R-Mafia” – R for rhino – R for the Roos gang & R for the initial of some of the other poachers and collaborators, some even suspected within the army, police, conservation services, professional hunters/safari operators, private land owners & helicopter owners – some Mailbag comments -  

“it’s a hell of a dangerous mess in a high stakes game and indictment to high level corruption & greed – even murder !!”

“My belief is that we are concentrating our efforts in the wrong place and because of the extent of the poaching the authorities are actually forced
into being reactive and not proactive. The shear number of dockets are too much to handle which does not help. Further to that those who want to get going get stopped by the powers above?”

” I can’t trust anyone – don’t know who are good ous, there are some vrot eggs in the poaching & hunting community – Gatvol !!”

“Why hasnt roos been nailed yet pls?” – SAVE FOUNDATION & Nicholas Duncan <save@savefoundation.org.au>

In commenting on the escalating rhino poaching, we see some positive moves as the courts take more stringent action and some of the hunting fraternity are getting angry as it casts them in bad light, as well as suspicion on them – the idea of launching in our area a ZWF Confidential Rhino Poaching Hotline has in just a few weeks hit many “touchy” spots – the Roos expose certainly has created quite a stir as well as the helicopter surveillance – new web pages have sprung up refer below ::

http://www.antipoach.co.za/

http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/default.aspx

http://bushwarriors.wordpress.com/category/africa-rhinos/

http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/poachers-kill-last-female-white-rhino-south-african-reserve.php

An excellent contact is Mark Brightman on his Facebook at Anti-Rhino Poaching page

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51049284695&v=wall#!

All conservationists will welcome the news below of the EWT initiative to launch a National Hotline which can do much to identify, and hopefully help convict the criminals. A major priority is to apprehend those R22 helicopter pilots with blanked out ID numbers.

As long a “man-the-monster” inhabits the Planet – the slaughter will go until the last animal standing – that’s our challenge to see that it’s never allowed to happen !!

Tim Condon – ZWF Secretariat Co-ordinator

—– Original Message —–

From: Joel Thosago

To: Tim Condon

Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 7:22 AM

Subject: The EWT Launches Rhino Poaching Hotline

THE ENDANGERED WILDLIFE TRUST LAUNCHES IT’S RHINO POACHING HOTLINE:

082 404 2128

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), in recognising a dire need to urgently address the rapidly escalating problem of rhino poaching in South Africa, has developed a project to strengthen the security of rhino in South Africa. The Rhino Security Project is addressing rhino security concerns on privately owned game farms as well as in formally protected areas by improving communication between rhino owners and the relevant government officials, supporting investigations into rhino poaching incidences,  working with relevant bodies to identify causes and drivers of the trade in rhino horn and enhancing current knowledge of, and information on the demographics of rhinos in situ in collaboration with other existing initiatives.

Through the EWT’s Rhino Security Project it has become evident that members of the public often become aware of information about poaching incidents or the sale of rhino horns which should be reported to the authorities for action. In response to this, the EWT has established a Rhino Poaching Hotline to which information can be submitted for appropriate action by the enforcement agencies or other bodies.

The EWT Rhino Hotline number is 082 404 2128 . We call on every person who becomes aware of any illegal, or suspicious activities concerning rhino poaching or the sale, movement and or trade in their horns, to please make use of this number in order to get the information to the relevant enforcement agencies. Other relevant information is knowledge of pilots or veterinarians involved in poaching through the use of aircraft and scheduled drugs and the unethical conduct of any professional hunters or outfitters to obtain rhino horn for the trade. All information will be channelled through the EWT’s Rhino Security Project’s lines of communication to the relevant authorities for investigation. Any person who wishes to stay anonymous may do so and details of callers will be protected.

With 153 rhino having been poached between January and the end of July this year, it is time that every South African citizen becomes involved in the fight against the wanton killing of our rhino. Amidst the illegal shooting of rhino by poachers on foot, there are those who also operate from the air with helicopters and dart guns. We believe that there are individuals out there who have valuable information that will greatly assist in these investigations and we urge them to make use of the Rhino Hotline to report this information.

We also request all landowners who have been approached by individuals offering to dehorn their rhino as a security measure, and at the same time buying these horns, to report this. It is an offense to capture and dehorn rhino if you are not in possession of a valid permit which authorises this activity. Such horns must then immediately be micro chipped and declared to the authorities in order to obtain possession permits for them. It is also illegal to buy, donate, sell or dispose of rhino horn in any way whatsoever if you are not in possession of a valid permit which authorises this.

It is a criminal offense to not report wildlife crime!

The EWT’s Rhino Security Project is kindly supported by the International Rhino Foundation, the SA Mint Company, San Francisco Zoo and various individual donors.

Ends

For more information please contact: 

Faan Coetzee
Project Executant
Rhino Security Project
The Endangered Wildlife Trust
Email: faanc@ewt.org.za
www.ewt.org.za
082 563 0402

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What can you do to help ??

Your support would be invaluable by sending an email urgently requesting the Professional & Sport Hunting Organisations to appeal further to their members, some of whom must know who someof the culprits are ?? - to support the hard pressed authorities by passing any information onto any of the reputable Confidential Anti-Poaching Hotlines - addresses below ::

Professional Hunting Association of South Africa (PHASA) c/oAdri Kitshof – CEO at  ceo@phasa.co.za or PHASA – Info @ info@phasa.co.za Refer

http://www.phasa.co.za/

South African Hunters and GameConservation Association (SAHGA) c/o Prof.Pieter Potgieter (President) @ pieter.potgieter@nwu.ac.za

Zelda van Rensburg – SAHGA – Impithi Branch – sajagtersdbn@worldonline.co.za

______________________________________________

PLEASE FORWARD TO CONCERNED CONSERVATIONISTS, BIRD LOVERS, WILDLIFE RANGERS & MANAGERS, NGO’s, ECO-TOUR OPERATORS, POLITICIANS, MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES & INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN THE WORLD OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION.

If possible please post this information on as many Internet Social Network Sites, such as Facebook – Twitter - any Blogs and others.

To receive the regular ZWF Information Bulletins please send an email to tim.condon@shaw.ca  just saying “Subscribe” which is at no cost or should you wish not to receive these bulletins please just send a blank reply email.

Visit & join ourFacebook Page at ::  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=100757903525

Important Note: The ZWForum is committed to promote the Awareness of all conservation issues, whether controversial or positive, plus any projects & publications that include relevance to Southern African Regional Issues, which could impact on the fate & future of Zululand’s Game Reserves and Wildlife.The opinion and contents of any of the published articles are circulated FYI in the concept of a Forum Debate, and are not necessarily those endorsed by the ZWF.

“Let’s hear from you !!” – We welcome & thank you for your support with any input but regret to advise that due to the overwhelming flood of emails, it’s most difficult to acknowledge every submission.

Please contact the ZWF Anti- Poaching Confidential Hot-Line with any information in strictest confidence to our Secretariat email at tim.condon@shaw.ca !!

One of the world's few remaining wild tigers.

There are as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild. Scientists say the situation is so bad that, unless we act urgently, tigers will be extinct in the wild by the time of the next Chinese Year of the Tiger in 2022.  

The good news is that it is not too late to prevent this.

Here are some things you can do to help save the tiger:

Join WWF’s Tx2 campaign:
WWF’s Tx2 campaign aims to double the wild tiger population by the next Chinese Year of the Tiger in 2022. Your support will encourage anti-poaching efforts, raise awareness against trade and the consumption of tiger parts and products, and build political will in tiger range countries to protect tiger habitats.

Spread the word:
Send an e-card to your friends and tell others that the tiger and its habitat are under threat and that they need our help.

Be a responsible tourist:
The wilderness is to be experienced and not to be disturbed and polluted. Follow the forest department guidelines when visiting any wilderness area, especially tiger reserves. As the saying goes “Don’t leave anything behind except footprints, and don’t take anything away except memories.”

Voice your concerns with the policy makers:
If you are really concerned and feel that more needs to be done for tiger conservation, then write polite letters to the decision makers – the Prime Minister, the Environment Minister or even your local MP.

Help prevent illegal wildlife trade:
Say “NO” to tiger trade by refusing to buy tiger parts and items prepared from tiger derivatives. If you know of any information on poaching or trade of illegal wildlife, inform the local law enforcement agencies. You can also contact TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade program of WWF and the IUCN. TRAFFIC works diligently to stop poaching and end illegal wildlife trade. They will pass on your information to the correct authorities.

Reducing pressure on tiger habitats:
By reducing the use of natural products, such as timber, derived from tiger forests.

Volunteer to help protect tigers:
Volunteer with WWF-India for an opportunity to help protect tigers and its habitat.

No matter where you live, no matter how small your actions are, we ALL have a part to play in saving the tiger—and our planet as a whole. We must act now before it’s too late.

Learn more at: http://wwf.ca/conservation/species/tigers/

Photo by MICHAEL NEUGEBAUER

It has been 50 years since Dr. Jane Goodall, world-famous primatologist and UN Messenger for Peace, first set foot on the shores of Lake Tanganyika to begin the ground-breaking study that introduced us to our closest animal relatives. Since then, the chimpanzee research she pioneered at Gombe has produced a wealth of scientific discovery, and her vision has expanded into a global mission to empower people to make a difference for all living things.

Visit www.janegoodall.ca to learn how the Institute is helping to deliver that global mission and how her work with chimpanzees is helping to redefine our place in the natural world.

http://www.janegoodall.ca/Gombe50.php

According to the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, the hunting of and trade in bushmeat represents “the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in Africa”.

Traditionally, bushmeat hunting was a subsistence activity.

It is now a multi-billion dollar international trade involving hundreds of species, from forest herbivores such as duikers and other antelopes to wild pigs, rodents, elephants and primates.

The exponential increase in the trade over recent years is being driven by demand from the exploding and ever more urbanised human population in Africa, and the increasing international value and demand for bushmeat products.

Commercial logging and the associated infrastructure development and expansion have given hunters easy access to previously impenetrable African forests, and ready-made transport routes to towns and cities.

Unsustainable consumption

The term bushmeat is normally used in reference to the illegal trade.

The trade may be illegal because the species concerned is protected under national or international laws, the method of killing is prohibited, or because the animal is taken from a protected area.

The food source was originally exploited because of its low cost, lack of ownership issues, weak law enforcement and the lack of alternatives.

Bush pigs, duikers, and monkeys for sale at a market in Gabon Calls for bushmeat ban rejected

Now, the increasing value of bushmeat has attracted criminal syndicates, with sophisticated and efficient logistical capabilities.

Law enforcement agencies in many African countries do not have the resources to keep up, and in some cases high level involvement in the trade may protect it from official interference.

This makes accurate estimates of the trade difficult to obtain, although Central African consumers alone may be eating more than 2.5m tonnes each year.

Many target species have already been extirpated from parts of West Africa. Wildlife in Eastern and Southern African countries is increasingly being targeted, and Kenya is estimated to have experienced a loss of about 50% in its wildlife in recent decades, largely as a result of the bushmeat trade.

A recent study, involving researchers from the Zoological Society of London, estimated that as much as 270 tonnes of bushmeat might be coming through a single airport in Paris annually, destined both for personal consumption and to supply the lucrative trade in high value products.

It is also estimated that more than a quarter of all mammal species hunted for bushmeat are threatened with extinction.

Feeling the loss

Widespread hunting of animals for bushmeat depletes populations of affected species, and can lead to local population crashes or extirpation.

There are, however, much wider potential impacts.

Species have functions: as prey for other species, seed dispersers or forest rebuilders. So reductions in certain species can have far reaching impacts on others, causing a loss of biodiversity and a crisis within ecosystems.

Ghanaians started breeding their own bushmeat rather than hunting it Ghana’s farmers’ bushmeat boom

The loss of biodiversity leaves us with a predominance of a few so-called “weedy species”, such as those that thrive in continually disturbed, human-dominated environments.

Small populations of highly endangered animals can be disproportionately affected.

Although the number of Great Apes involved in the bushmeat trade is small, their removal can have devastating impacts on populations, and Great Ape species in Africa are thought to be at risk of extinction over the next two decades if the trade continues at its current rate.

The commercial bushmeat trade also threatens the livelihoods and food security of indigenous rural people, which can result in social and political instability.

Bushmeat can also carry potentially devastating diseases – from anthrax to ebola, monkey pox to retroviruses – that may have disastrous impacts on livestock and far-reaching consequences for human health.

Food for thought

For the bushmeat trade to be controlled so that it does not cause further decimation of Africa’s wildlife, multi-faceted solutions need urgently to be put in place.

As renowned conservationist Ian Redmond suggests, we need to aim for the trade to be Legal, Sustainable, and Disease Free.

Until recently, most conservation projects concerned with bushmeat have tended to focus on research, education, and enforcement, with few attempts to provide alternative livelihoods or food sources.

Many of the countries central to the trade are poor and suffer from corruption.

Chimpanzees carry viruses which can jump to humans Ape hunters pick up new viruses

These countries need resources, incentives and training if they are to apply and enforce national and international regulations.

Prosecution of illegal traders often fail because of inadequate availability of resources to identify the type of meat concerned, so laboratories need to be set up to enable simple and inexpensive forensic services.

In importing countries, bushmeat is often not considered a high priority by customs authorities when compared with, for example, drugs or arms; so the profile of bushmeat in the international enforcement arena needs to be raised.

Extensive public awareness programmes are required, aimed at educating people at all levels of the trade.

A number of umbrella organisations have been established in recent years to try and improve local education, such as the Bushmeat-free Eastern Africa Network (BEAN) initiative. Some have been very successful.

However, far more effort is needed, with co-ordination at an international level.

Perhaps most importantly, people who currently rely on the illegal bushmeat trade for their livelihood or as an essential protein source need to be given alternative options; and herein lies arguably the greatest challenge.

Some good initiatives exist, including the development of fish farms, apiaries, and arable agriculture projects. Many more are required if the trade is to be significantly reduced.

Local actions to curb the bushmeat trade need to be resourced through global responses, requiring significant investment at a time of international financial instability and introspection.

If Africa’s unique wildlife, and its rural communities, are to survive the impacts of the bushmeat trade, continued well-directed development aid for the poor countries of Africa throughout this period of global financial uncertainty is essential.

Mark Jones is programmes and fundraising director of Care for the Wild International, a UK-based conservation charity. www.careforthewild.org

The first draft of global standards intended to measure and identify environmentally and socially responsible salmon farming was recently released for a 60-day public comment period.

Developed through the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogues (SAD), the standards aim to make salmon aquaculture operations around the world more sustainable by establishing a set of science-based, measurable guidelines, and incentivizing compliance through third-party eco-certification. The current draft standards represent the collective efforts of dozens of independent scientists, conservation groups, industry representatives and other stakeholders who have worked with the SAD steering committee over the last several years.

The Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) has been an active participant in the multi-year investigation into the impacts of salmon farming on the environment and wild salmon in particular. However, there are still many unresolved issues and not all parts of the draft represent consensus agreement among members of the steering committee. While the coalition applauds the effort of many in the aquaculture industry to address the ecological and social impacts of salmon farming, many of the standards aimed at reducing or eliminating these issues have yet to be resolved in the document.

“A lot of information has been gathered and hard work done to identify both the problems associated with salmon aquaculture and the ways to measure the best ecological and social operations,” said Jay Ritchlin, director of marine and freshwater conservation at the David Suzuki Foundation and SAD steering committee representative for CAAR.

“We’re encouraging stakeholders to review and provide feedback on these draft standards, especially where uncertainties remain, to ensure they are of the highest possible quality, and offer the greatest opportunity for safeguarding our oceans.”

Nearly all of the issues around the ecological and social sustainability of salmon farming can be addressed through the use of closed containment technology. This technology, which is already providing product to retail outlets, is the most economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way of ensuring that salmon farming does not endanger wild salmon in British Columbia.

The standards themselves are meant to be “technology neutral” and do not mandate any one technology. Closed containment, however, does address the key ecological issues in the draft standards and also solves many of the unresolved problems that otherwise will require extensive monitoring and science to measure. Given the serious risks to wild salmon from open net cage salmon farming, the final resolution on how to measure key environmental impacts and on what levels of impact are deemed to pass the standard will determine CAAR’s support for the outcome of the standards process.

CAAR urges anyone concerned about salmon farming to review the standards document and submit comments that support meaningful and effective salmon aquaculture standards. CAARs own submission to the public comment period will be available on its website later this month.

Convened by the World Wildlife Fund-USA, the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogues began in 2004 and involved the efforts of a nine-member steering committee that includes five industry members (Marine Harvest, Skretting, Salmon Chile, the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance, and the Norwegian Seafood Federation) and four NGOs (CAAR, Fundacion Terram, Pew Environment Group and WWF-US). Additional stakeholders provided feedback during 13 dialogue meetings held around the globe.

The process has produced a set of draft standards along with seven technical papers that summarize the state of science around feed, social impacts, disease, sea lice, chemical use, pollution and benthic impacts.

For more information, please visit Farmed and Dangerous.