Habitat destruction – Page 18

March 24, 2021July 1, 2022

The Rwandan president Paul Kagame intends to make conservation his countries next battle

In many parts of the world, conservation is an afterthought. After looking after your human population, if there is any money left then alright do conservation but not before. However, this does not work. There are many positive benefits of wildlife , and if these are not allowed to thrive it will damage the local people – by thinking of this last you end up damaging the local people.

Countries such as Rwanda are also heavily dependent on the money that tourism brings to their country.

This new aim, is to grow the economy and improve the lives of Rwandans while at the same time protecting the natural environment and keep as much forest standing as is possible.

Currently, Rwanda gets 15.1% percent of GDP from tourism, however back in the year 2000, this was just 4.7%. That gives an annual growth of this sector at more than 7%, far above all other areas. #

Importantly, tourism is a great leveller. Anyone who lives around wilderness can set up their own business. As a result, this can be a way to lift poorly served communities out of poverty.

I hope in the future that this site can assist in that process.

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021

Nigeria is becoming the clearing house for poached animals from throughout west Africa: they must stop it

Between 2015 and 2019 30 tonnes of ivory and 167 tonnes of pangolin scales were seized. This equates to roughly 4400 elephants dead, and 167,000 pangolins. As in other places, the illegal wildlife trade tends to bring in crime, with the same gangs handling humans drugs minerals and weapons..

March 21, 2021March 23, 2021

Liberia has huge areas of intact rainforest: some of the last in west africa. Now its under threat

After the civil war, the Liberian government made a sensible decision in giving communities control to conserve the rainforests around their villages.

Despite this exploration companies have started turning up with permits to explore. These are often dubious, but it is quite common that by the time a permit has been proved false, it is too late.

March 20, 2021March 23, 2021

Lion population expected to half in the wild during the next 15-20 years

While increasing amounts of land is given to wildlife in southern Africa and the lion population grows, unfortunately in east and central Africa the opposite is happening.

Unfortunately in west and central Africa, the lions (many of these lions are orphaned relict populations of the Asiatic lion, and therefore highly important) tend to live in fragmented and small groups cut off from others of their kind. If humans can reconnect these populations then the dramatic decline that is expected in this region, could be halted.

March 20, 2021March 23, 2021

Synthetic palm oil brewed like beer? Bill Gates investing in the possibility

Palm oil is a wonder material. Being used in a vast range of different products, it is almost impossible to avoid it in the west. Why should we try? because it has been the cause of much of the rainforest destruction on Sumatra, Borneo and lately even in the last great rainforests of west Africa.

Could we have all the palm oil we want, while at the same time replanting the rainforests which were lost?

March 19, 2021July 1, 2022

It seems that the mara river is threatened as well as the ecosystem

There are many threats to the Serengeti mara ecosystem, from roads crossing to global warming and more. Unfortunately fish in the river are now being driven to extinction as well – putting the livelihoods of millions of people in jeopardy.

Could sites like this become a thing of the past?

From farming deforestation mining illegal fishing and invasive species, there are many different factors damaging this population.

March 19, 2021March 23, 2021

The palm oil giant Wilmar is making clear its deforestation commitments mean nothing

An area of around 1500 football pitches has been cleared on an oil palm plantation during last year. The concession is managed by PT Medcopapua Hijau Selaras a supplier to Wilmar. Wilmar is the worlds largest palm oil trader, and includes amongst their customers huge companies such as Kelloggs nestle and unilever.

Rather than denying the deforestation occurred, Wilmar has claimed that less land was cleared than is claimed (this is a foolish claim to make as we have satellite pictures from before and after), and then claims that they are not responsible anyway and that the clearing was done by smallholder farmers.

March 17, 2021March 23, 2021

Indonesia has recently changed its rules, designating large areas once protected forests for food production

I wrote the other day, about the ability of brewing palm oil, rather than creating huge estates to grow it. Perhaps these two issues could be combined to solve both problems

Well a few months ago, Indonesia changed its regulations which would allow large areas of protected land to be cleared for food production.

March 16, 2021March 23, 2021

The Ugandan environmental authority allows clearing of Bugoma forest

Sugar cane companies managed to get the rights to the land on which this forest stands in controversial circumstances, yet they were given the right to clear the land.

Bugoma forest is an area which supports many chimpanzees and monkeys. Through a corrupt sale it is now going to be lost

Home to both around 5000 chimpanzees and Mangabeys, under the “common good of the citizens of Uganda act” from 1998, areas like this are held in trust and may not be leased out or sold by the government.

March 12, 2021July 1, 2022

Might rising temperatures kill the Congo rainforest? Its a carefully balanced system

Recent studies have shown a potential problem for the Congo basin rainforest – one of the remaining “lungs” of the world.

It would appear that rising temperatures are having an adverse impact on the amount of fruit that is produced by this forest.