ZimConservation

Climate change at face value may seem to have nothing to do with gender-based violence. But there are a few poignant points to think about, especially when considering the Zimbabwean scenario. More than three quarters of the female population live in communal farming areas where they constitute more than half of the farmers and provide 70% of the labour. Not only is the work of women farmers essential for food security, but most women are unpaid family workers. Rural women work long hours, 16 to 18 hours a day, spending almost 50% of their time on agricultural activities and about 25% on domestic activities. Rural women, among other things, do almost all the water fetching, food processing and preparation, firewood gathering, cooking and domestic work. Read more: http://www.thenewage.co.za/36412-1061-53-Climate_change_will_erode_gender_progress

Harare, November 26, 2011 – She comes across as a very shy woman, but you soon begin to not only visualise her strength, but also feel her humanity, while she speaks to more than 50 people gathered for her “Special Talk”. “The rhino is more valuable than gold,” Charlene Hewatt, quickly tells her audience comprising citizens from all sectors of Zimbabwean society. “Unlike what you know about the rhino horn it is compact matted hair and not an aphrodisiac. Its extinction, however, is forever.” Read more: http://www.radiovop.com/index.php/travel/7603-rhino-girl-039-strives-to-save-endangered-species.html

Harare – Approximately 200 elephants have died of thirst in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park due to searing heat and chronic water shortages, a local conservationist said Thursday. Zimbabwe, which, as a southern hemisphere nation, is currently in the middle of summer, has been experiencing record-high temperatures since October. ‘There have been 200 elephants that have died so far, and they are dying every day,’ Johnny Rodrigues of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force told dpa. Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1677282.php/Heatwave-kills-200-elephants-in-Zimbabwe-national-park

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — More than 77 elephants have died in a three-month heat wave that has dried up watering holes in western Zimbabwe, wildlife authorities said Wednesday. Rangers in the Hwange National Park have counted 18 calves and 21 adolescent elephants among the dead animals, the state Parks and Wildlife Authority said in statement. Elephant carcasses were found mainly in large areas of bush surrounding three tourism and conservation camps in Zimbabwe’s biggest nature preserve. Since September, Hwange National Park has seen temperatures soar to above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 C), far higher than annual averages. Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hqqaLLlydFp9KtPm88bbxWyKqStA?docId=fca5f3b89d284ab58e8b9320399be7d9

THE establishment of a tourist visa (Univisa) for the Southern Africa Development Community should become reality by 2013, an official in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry has revealed. This means a Sadc Univisa will coincide with the co-hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly conference by Zimbabwe and Zambia. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201111230649.html

Read more: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid={fae5f00b-fe35-4183-82f9-1942c7b2eda4}

For all of her adult life Judith Moyo, 37, has survived by selling fish. She lays her wares outside a municipality beer hall in Bulawayo where fish remains cheaper than meat for many in working-class townships. Moyo sells fresh bream and dried kapenta but she is increasingly worried that she is no longer getting the fish supplies as regularly as she used to. “Our suppliers simply tell that the catch is no longer a bountiful as before,” she said. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/11/22/Poaching-stanches-fish-stock-in-southern-Africa/UPIU-6421321631715/#ixzz1eVowkuUW

Wildlife conservationists who spoke to The Zimbabwean said the current heat wave had worsened the situation in the park where jumbos and buffaloes are reportedly dying every day due to thirst and stress. “Elephants and other wild animals are competing for water at the few remaining water sources in the park. To worsen the situation, veld fires have destroyed grass and edible trees for elephants. Elephants are now travelling to neighbouring Botswana in search of food and water,” said Helen Martin, a wild life conservationist doing research in the area. Read more: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/news/zimbabwe/54813/elephants-in-grave-danger.html

As life support systems collapse around us, urgent and wise responses are needed. One such response is environmental education meant to create an environmentally knowledgeable society. A knowledgeable and well-informed public (society) on environmental issues is taken as one that is essential for effective environmental conservation and management. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201111160155.html

The theme for 2011 Clean Up the World is “Our Place, Our Planet, Our Responsibility” inspiring communities to clean up, repair and conserve their environment. The 2011 World Tourism Day was “Tourism Linking cultures” and this was celebrated by performances from cultural dance groups and local school children recited poems and gave speeches which were related to the themes of the two events. The Clean Up was sponsored by Environment Africa’s Victoria Falls Green Fund through funds raised from the ‘green dollar’ initiative and green dollar monthly contributions from local businesses. Read more: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/life/environment/54001/major-clean-up-for-vic.html

In March this year, Richard Emslie, chief scientific officer for the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and head of African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG), told a meeting of top rhino experts gathered in South Africa that poachers had slaughtered more than 800 rhinos in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2010 alone. Read more: http://www.thestandard.co.zw/local/32187-sundayopinion-zanu-pf-aliens-colluding-in-poaching-syndicates.html

This is the first of 12 installments on Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) aimed at communicating with the authority’s stakeholders who among others include farmers, industrialists, local authorities, mining companies, social institutions like schools, hospital and prisons and individual water users across the length and breadth of this country. Zinwa was established in 2000 through an Act of Parliament, the Water Act Chapter 20:24. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110210373.html

CHIPINDA POOLS – Like a gigantic wedding cake, the stunning Chillojo Hills rise from the southern bank of the meandering Runde River deep inside Zimbabwe’s second largest national park: the Gonarezhou. Loosely translated, Gonarezhou simply means elephant wilderness. The 5 000 square kilometre animal wilderness is not only home to the earth’s largest mammal (the elephant), it is also a habitat for the rhino, leopard, buffalo, lion as well as 147 other mammal species and 500 bird species. Read more: http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/national-report/10319-gonarezhou-ravaged-by-illegal-settlers.html

All too often, we pack so much into our holidays that when they’re over, we really need some time off. But not when it comes to taking a two-day cruise aboard the Southern Belle, the largest houseboat on Lake Kariba; Africa’s largest artificial lake. Aboard this luxurious vessel, you’re actually encouraged to do little more than lift a drink to your lips as you bask in the sunshine, or turn your head to witness the abundance of wildlife in and around the lake. Repeat after me: r-e-l-a-x… Read more: http://travel.iafrica.com/destin/africadest/758573.html

A herd of 70 elephants at the Chiredzi Conservancy is under threat after poachers, war veterans and politicians invaded the area and are threatening to drive out wildlife. Already two elephants, including one lactating, have been killed, while some calves have reportedly gone missing. The invaders and poachers reportedly threaten the lives of wardens at the conservancy, while politicians turn a blind eye to the decimation of the elephant population. In a statement, Glyn Hunter, a spokesperson for the conservancy, said the invaders were chasing the elephants, snaring them and in some cases had threatened to shoot the animals. Read more: http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=200947

When it comes to hunting Africa’s most challenging and dangerous game, few people have the opportunity to take all five of the animals that make up the “Big 5″ and even fewer try to do so using only archery equipment. But that’s exactly what Butch Meilinger accomplished last spring, becoming the first person to complete the African Big 5 Grand Slam with a crossbow when he harvested a 10,000-pound elephant in Zimbabwe. Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/butch_meilinger_becomes_first.html

Wildlife areas are largely situated in arid parts of the country, marked by skittish and unreliable rainfalls, poor soil and, thus, mostly unsuitable for sustainable agriculture or cattle ranching. This is true of National Parks, Campfire areas and conservancies. Since wildlife is the recommended and often the only long-term sustainable land use in these areas, is it important to Zimbabwe as a whole? — The answer must be a resounding; “YES”! Use this land for wildlife or risk destroying it’s potential for future generations! We can offer the Victoria Falls, the Great Zimbabwe monument and many one-day attractions in Zimbabwe. But our complimentary and competitive advantage asset is wildlife. Viewing wildlife, hunting, birding and fishing are activities which make tourists stay for extended periods. Read more: http://www.thestandard.co.zw/local/32059-wildlife-a-national-asset-under-threat.html

Wildlife conservation has remained under the control of a few white farmers 31 years after independence. The sector offers lucrative business opportunities if fully supported but the illegal sanctions are impeding full recovery of the sector. Our reporter Tendai Mugabe talks to Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director-general Mr Vitalis Chadenga. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110150111.html

ZANU-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo has dismissed as false a story which appeared in the Financial Gazette last week alleging that he owned a conservancy. He said the story was baseless and factually wrong. “I neither own a conservancy in the said area nor in any part of Zimbabwe,” Cde Khaya Moyo said yesterday. “The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management can vouch that my name does not appear in their records relative to this matter. I have no interest in such things. I have never had one conservancy. The only conservancy I have is a pile of political literature in my office at the party headquarters. I don’t have time to be chasing wildlife. I am too busy for that.” Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110140538.html

REPORTS that Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is sitting on 44 tonnes of ivory worth US$10 million, which it cannot sell are disturbing. Once again we have a situation where an international body, in this case the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), is working against the interests of Zimbabwe. We have a situation where Zimbabwe is being stopped from trading in its wildlife products to raise money to sustainably manage the wildlife for posterity. Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110140202.html