. Earth Science News .
FLORA AND FAUNA
'Alarm bells' as African elephants see sharp decline: conservationists
By Nina LARSON
Geneva (AFP) March 25, 2021

Decades of poaching and shrinking habitats have devastated elephant populations across Africa, conservationists said Thursday, warning that one species found in rainforests was a step away from extinction.

In an update of its "Red List" of threatened species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlighted the broad deterioration of the situation for elephants in most of Africa.

Forest elephants on the continent have been particularly hard-hit, it said. Their numbers have fallen by more than 86 percent over three decades, and they are now considered "critically endangered" -- just a step away from becoming extinct.

The population of the African savanna elephants had meanwhile decreased by at least 60 percent over the past 50 years, IUCN said, with the Red List now listing that species as "endangered".

Previously, elephants on the continent were assessed as a single species considered vulnerable, but not endangered.

"Today's new IUCN Red List assessments of both African elephant species underline the persistent pressures faced by these iconic animals," IUCN chief Bruno Oberle said in a statement.

Just half a century ago, around 1.5 million elephants roamed across Africa, but in the most recent large-scale assessment of population numbers in 2016, there were only around 415,000 remaining.

- 'Wake-up call' -

"These are really sharp declines," said Benson Okita-Ouma of Save the Elephants and the co-chair of the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group.

While the next full assessment of African elephant population numbers is not expected until 2022 or 2023, he told AFP that the declines seen already should really sound "alarm bells".

Elephants will not disappear from Africa overnight, he said, but stressed that "what this assessment is giving us is an early warning that unless we turn around things, we are likely to (see) these animals go extinct".

"It is a wake-up call to the entire globe that we are going down a steep terrain, when it comes to... the viability of these elephants."

Experts had agreed it was better to treat African forest and savanna elephants as separate species following fresh research into the genetics of the elephant populations, IUCN said.

Forest elephants are found in the tropical jungles of Central Africa and in various habitats in West Africa, and are thought to occupy currently only a quarter of their historic range.

The largest remaining populations are found in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

The savanna elephant meanwhile prefers open country and is found in a variety of habitats in sub-Saharan Africa.

- Poaching explosion -

Both elephant species had seen particularly sharp declines since 2008, as poaching for ivory exploded.

The problem peaked in 2011, but continues to threaten populations, IUCN said.

Perhaps even more alarming, according to Okita-Ouma, is the ever-increasing destruction of elephant habitats due to expanding land use for agriculture and other activities.

"If we don't plan our land-use properly, moving forward, then as much as we stop poaching and we stop illegal killing of these animals, there will still be other forms of indirect killings as a result of poor land-use planning," he said.

Despite the overall declining trend, Thursday's report highlighted the positive impact conservation efforts can have.

Some forest elephant populations have stabilised in well-managed conservation areas in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

And savanna elephant numbers have been stable or growing for decades in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier conservation area that stretches across the borders of five southern African countries.

"Several African countries have led the way in recent years, proving that we can reverse elephant declines, and we must work together to ensure their example can be followed." Oberle said.

Okita-Ouma said the Covid-19 pandemic was taking a toll on conservation efforts as many countries had seen tourism revenues used to fund protection measures evaporate.

At the same time, he said, the dramatic decline in human activity in many areas had allowed elephants to "recolonise" areas they had previously been driven from.

"During the lockdowns, we have seen animals moving all over, and that is a positive side for the animals."

From poaching to avocados, Kenya's elephants face new threat
Kimana, Kenya (AFP) March 25, 2021 - Just after dawn, Tolstoy lumbers into view. A wandering giant, with tusks almost scraping the earth, this great elephant has roamed beneath Mount Kilimanjaro for nearly 50 years.

He has survived ivory poachers, spear attacks and terrible drought, but the mighty bull could be confronting a new threat to his natural realm: surging demand for avocados.

A turf war has erupted over a 180-acre (73-hectare) avocado farm near Amboseli, one of Kenya's premier national parks, where elephants and other wildlife graze against the striking backdrop of Africa's highest peak.

Opponents of the farm say it obstructs the free movement of iconic tuskers like Tolstoy -- putting their very existence at risk -- and clashes with traditional ways of using the land.

The farm's backers refute this, saying their development poses no threat to wildlife and generates much-needed jobs on idle land.

The rift underscores a broader struggle for dwindling resources that echoes beyond Kenya, as wilderness is constricted by expanding farmland to feed a growing population.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned Thursday that poaching and habitat destruction, particularly due to land conversion for agriculture, was devastating elephant numbers across Africa.

The population of African savanna elephants, like those around Amboseli, decreased by at least 60 percent in the last half century, prompting their reclassification as "endangered" in the latest update to the IUCN's "Red List" of threatened species.

A sub-species of forest elephant found in Central and Western Africa, meanwhile, were listed as "critically endangered" -- just a step away from extinction.

- Green gold -

Kenya is a major avocado grower and exports have soared as the green superfood has become a hipster staple on caf� menus around the globe.

Already the sixth-largest supplier to Europe, Kenya's avocado exports rose 33 percent to $127 million (107 million euros) in the year to October 2020, according to the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya.

In the middle of that bumper year, Kenyan agribusiness KiliAvo Fresh Ltd received approval from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to start its own avocado farm on land it purchased from local Masai owners.

The acreage was razed of shrubbery and fenced off, alarming neighbouring title holders and conservation groups.

They argued that large-scale agriculture was prohibited in that location under management plans governing land use in the area.

In September, under pressure to revoke KiliAvo's license, NEMA ordered them to stop work while it reviewed the case.

The company challenged that decision in Kenya's environmental tribunal, which this week instructed KiliAvo to halt activity at the farm until the next hearing on March 31. KiliAvo's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

The farm has progressed at a clip since that first stop-work order was issued six months ago.

On a morning earlier this month, beneath a snow-capped Kilimanjaro, farmhands laid irrigation lines to water rows of avocado saplings. The property has water tanks, a shaded nursery, and boreholes.

Jeremiah Shuaka Saalash, a KiliAvo shareholder and farm manager, said the farm had "rescued" many tourist workers left jobless when nearby safari lodges closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said there was room for both industries to thrive, pointing out that a bigger farm was already harvesting vegetables nearby.

"I am championing for the co-existence of wildlife, and for us to have another source of income," Saalash told AFP, as tractors tilled the red soil.

- Avocados or elephants? -

Adjacent landowners and wildlife experts are adamant the two cannot exist side by side.

They say elephants have already collided with KiliAvo's electric fence -- proof that it impedes migratory routes used by an estimated 2,000 tuskers as they depart Amboseli into surrounding lands to breed and find water and pasture.

"Can you imagine if elephants in Amboseli died of starvation so that people in Europe can eat avocados?" Kenyan conservationist Paula Kahumbu, who heads the campaign group Wildlife Direct, told AFP.

The revenue from Kenya's booming avocado business is a blip compared to tourism, which reaped $1.6 billion in 2019.

Critics warn allowing KiliAvo to proceed would set a dangerous precedent for an already stressed ecosystem being keenly eyed by other farming prospectors.

Billboards advertising land in Kimana, a fast-growing township near Amboseli, hint at the development afoot.

Tolstoy, and other wildlife big and small, already compete with cars to cross into Kimana Sanctuary, a crucial linkage between Amboseli, surrounding rangelands, and habitats further beyond in Tsavo and Chyulu Hills parks.

"If we continue like this, Amboseli National Park will be dead," said Daniel Ole Sambu from the Big Life Foundation, a local conservation group.

"These elephants... will go, and the park will be finished. And that would mean tourism in this area would collapse."

- Way of life -

Traditional landowners say they were inadequately consulted about the proposal and warn industrial irrigation, especially for notoriously thirsty crops like avocados, would further strain the drought-prone ecosystem.

The majority of Masai around KiliAvo agreed to keep their land open so that wildlife but also cattle -- the lifeblood of their herding community -- could roam free.

Farms and fences threatened the unencumbered movement enjoyed by the Masai for generations, said Samuel Kaanki, the head of an association of 342 title holders whose land surrounds KiliAvo.

"The Masai culture will be totally lost. We will lose our way of life," he told AFP.

Kahumbu said commercial farming in Kenya had become "far more dangerous for animals than poaching" and urged supermarkets overseas to know what they were buying.

She pointed to UK grocery giant Tesco, which in October cut ties with a major Kenyan avocado plantation accused of workplace abuses.

"You can't call avocado farming in a wilderness area like this sustainable," Kahumbu said.


Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


FLORA AND FAUNA
Australians warned of deadly spider 'plague' after floods
Sydney (AFP) March 24, 2021
A "plague" of the world's most venomous spiders could swarm Sydney after torrential rain and flooding, the Australian Reptile Park said Wednesday, warning that the deadly arachnids could seek refuge in homes as they escape the deluge. Relentless downpours have caused vast flooding in New South Wales state, with parts of suburban northwest Sydney still under water. Residents welcomed sunshine on Wednesday after days of rainfall, only to receive an "urgent warning" to brace for an influx of the de ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

FLORA AND FAUNA
Food ferried to isolated Australians as flood threat lingers

Models link 1 degree of global warming to 50% spike in population displacement

Fire, wind and water: The new normal in a land Down Under

Biden under growing pressure over border 'crisis'

FLORA AND FAUNA
Hong Kong's fragile coral reefs boosted by 3D printing

Illegal mining surges on Yanomami indigenous land

Pioneering study gives new insight into formation of copper deposits

Decades of radiation-based scientific theory challenged

FLORA AND FAUNA
26.5 million Nigerian children lack access to water: UNICEF

Warming drives 'fundamental' changes to ocean, scientists warn

France's EDF says Myanmar dam project halted over coup

Sea bed dredging emits as much carbon as aviation: study

FLORA AND FAUNA
Icy ocean worlds seismometer passes further testing in Greenland

Army releases Arctic strategy focused on Russia, climate change

Biofluorescent fish documented in the Arctic for the first time

Ancient leaves preserved under a mile of Greenland's ice

FLORA AND FAUNA
Beef-addicted Uruguay aiming to make farming greener

Rodent rampage: Mouse plague sweeps Australia's east

Seaweed could reduce levels of methane cows belch into the atmosphere

Insect diversity boosts longterm stability of crop pollination services

FLORA AND FAUNA
Guatemala closes international airport due to volcanic ash

Australia begins 'long haul' to recovery as floodwaters recede

Australia's 'Big Wet' eases, but thousands still isolated

Three dead in 5.4-magnitude quake in Xinjiang: state media

FLORA AND FAUNA
The Sahel: Terror, poverty and climate change

French general rejects allegations over army's role in Rwanda

The Sahel: Terror, poverty and climate change

Emblems of a city, the bats of Abidjan face troubled future

FLORA AND FAUNA
Overhearing negative social remarks can inspire bias in children

Natural soundscapes boost health markers, lower stress

Bones of ancient Mayan ambassador reveal a privileged but difficult life

Humans evolved to be the water-saving ape









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.