HWANGE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s already dim electricity supply faces a new threat, as the country’s main power plant says it needs to dig for new coal reserves under a river inside a national park to keep running. Hwange Colliery says it only has enough coal to power its 940 megawatt plant for three more years. More online at Google News…
KENNILWORTH // An increasing elephant population is forcing the animals from wildlife reserves and into greater contact with people, leading to an economic and environmental crisis in parts of Zimbabwe where some are calling for greater numbers of the animals to be culled.
The World Wide Fund for Nature and African Wildlife Foundation estimate that Zimbabwe has 110,000 elephants, above the optimum capacity of between 45,000 and 50,000. For communities living next to the wildlife reserves where the elephants are flourishing, the increased numbers are proving dangerous, destroying farmland, driving people from their homes and, at times, trampling people to death. More online at The National…
That Robert Mugabe should lead an entourage of sixty Zimbabwean technocrats on an expensive frolic to participate in discussions on global warming in Copenhagen is a grave travesty of justice. How a man under ‘EU sanctions’ can evade arrest for crimes against ‘nature and humanity’ is only explainable by the mysterious world of United Nations protocol. Moreover, though the general position is that African and G77 countries are the least offenders in carbon dioxide emission, there is critical evidence to prove that Mugabe’s violent ten-year land grab has been responsible for desertification of previously arable commercial farmland. More online at Joy Online…
HARARE – CITES secretary general Willem Wijnstekers is expected in Zimbabwe next month for talks with President Robert Mugabe over rampant poaching decimating wildlife in the southern African country and said to involve top politicians and army officials.
A senior official at the government’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management told ZimOnline that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) official was also expected to meet Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, police chief Augustine Chihuri and Attorney General Johannes Tomana. More online at The Zimbabwean…
Harare — AIR Zimbabwe aborted a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa a fortnight ago following the invasion of the runway by a flock of birds at the Harare International Airport, while a South African Airways plane hit two warthogs nine days ago during take off.
These incidents took place barely a month after another Air Zimbabwe flight to Bulawayo was cancelled after the plane hit warthogs. More online at AllAfrica.com…
ZIMBABWE has 26 tonnes of ivory worth more than US$4 million but the nine year embargo imposed by the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) on trade in ivory is denying the country an opportunity to benefit from its own natural resources, Sunday Business can reveal. More online at the Sunday News…
Globetrotting Robert Mugabe is said to have ‘commandeered’ an Air Zimbabwe plane on Monday evening to fly him to the United Nations climate summit, which is underway in Denmark . It is reported that he went with a 59 member delegation, on top of an advance team that is already at the summit in Copenhagen .
The Zimbabwe government has come under attack for sending such a large delegation of officials, at a time when the bankrupt government should be streamlining.Last week Finance Minister Tendai Biti revealed in parliament that Zimbabwe had gobbled up more than US$28 million in 2009, in foreign trips. More online at SWRadio…
NEWMARKET, ONTARIO — 12/10/09 — A fifteen-month wildlife enforcement investigation conducted by Environment Canada has ended with an individual pleading guilty to six counts in the Ontario Court of Justice – Criminal Division in Newmarket.
Cyril D’Souza of Uxbridge Township, Ontario, pleaded guilty to three counts of knowingly furnishing false or misleading information and three counts of unlawfully exporting an animal part from Canada. The charges involve three African Lion hunting trophies, allegedly from South Africa and Zimbabwe. The fines paid will total $18,000 – $3,000 for each count. More online at Earth Times…
HARARE – Zimbabwe has lost 149 rhinos over the past three years to poaching resulting in a marked decline in the country’s rhino population, conservation groups have said.
According to a report compiled by five animal welfare groups including Africa Rhino Specialist Group, Asia Rhino Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, TRAFFIC and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) South Africa has lost 152 rhinos and Kenya 16 over the same period. More online at ZimOnline…
Harare — THROUGHOUT Zimbabwe, trees have been reduced to ash on the hearth or fireplace as they are being used for energy for cooking and heating. While rural dwellers used to use firewood for cooking, their urban counterparts have joined the fray due to the power outages that were being experienced.
As we are in the annual tree-planting season, it is vital that we understand the centrality of trees to our existence. And as we follow deliberations at the historic Climate Change Conference underway in Copenhagen, Denmark, let us not forget the role trees play in absorbing carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases that absorb heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. More online at AllAfrica.com…
SAFARI operators have been called upon to aggressively market the country as a prime-hunting destination in order to claim their share of international hunters.
Safari Club International chairman, Mr John Boretsky, made the call during the just ended the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe annual general meeting held in Bulawayo last weekend. More online at The Herald…
HARARE – Global environmental and wildlife watchdogs have named Zimbabwe and South Africa as the “epicentre” of poaching of the endangered rhino in Southern Africa. In their latest joint report released last week, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organisation – and wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said since 2006 95 percent of the poaching in Africa has occurred in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“These two nations collectively form the epicentre of an unrelenting poaching crisis in southern Africa,” said Tom Milliken of TRAFFIC, an organisation that works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. The report, which has been submitted to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ahead of its 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) in March, documents a decline in law enforcement effectiveness and an increase in poaching intensity in Africa. More online at The Zimbabwean…
HARARE – Zimbabwe has suspended wildlife hunting licences in what sources said was part of efforts to curb poaching that has been on the rise since the start of the year.
The Department of National Parks and Wildlife, in charge of national parks in the country, flighted adverts in the press on Monday warning permit holders currently on hunting sessions to stop hunting with immediate effect. More online at ZimOnline…
SA HAS done a superb job of growing rhino numbers from about 100 in 1900 to 18000 today. In the rest of Africa, rhino populations have declined from 100000 in 1965 to 5000 today. Poachers are now focusing on SA as the main remaining reservoir. SA has had 100 animals poached so far this year and a further 150 shot in disguised trophy hunts. Together with Zimbabwe losses, the total for the year is likely to exceed 300 animals. More online at Business Day…
Harare — AMERICAN Indians, who were the first not citizens of America (including Mexico and Brazil) used to maintain that we do to inherit land from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our children.
That gives us, adults, a very heavy responsibility of seeing that a future generation shall receive from us the land in a better condition than it was when we had responsibility for managing the environment. More online at AllAfrica.com…
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — African authorities raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768 kilograms) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation, Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said Monday.
During the three-month-long operation, authorities also seized leopard, crocodile and snake skins, among other illegal animal products, said Awad Dahia, Interpol’s eastern Africa chief. More online at Daily Press…
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