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Tanzania’s black rhino population has been facing an upward trajectory since its major decline in the period between late 70’s and early 90’s, which was majorly credited to poaching, hunting of bush meat and habitat loss. Conservation efforts by the government, non-governmental and other actors play a major role in ensuring sustainable rhino management.

While speaking on, Black Rhinos of the Serengeti: A Success Story for Tanzania, during an Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group Washington DC speaker series in April 11, 2019, Rian Labuschagne, Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS)-Serengeti Conservation Program, explained that in 1972, the black rhino population in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was estimated to be about 700. However, from an aerial count in the same year, only 420 rhinos were found. At that time, the border with Kenya was closed making it hard to determine the transboundary movement.

Between late 70’s and early 90’s, rhino numbers had gone down to a mere three rhinos in Moru area in Serengeti and 12 in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Around that time, there was very little information on rhino population from the northern areas since the border closed and the area overrun by bandits. An adult male walked up from Ngorongoro about 120 km from the crater to meet up with the remaining females in Moru.

In 1993, FZS started a joint conservation project with Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) in Ngorongoro to support the authority in maintaining the last 12 black rhinos. They put in place a new rhino monitoring program, installed Very High Frequency (VHF) radio communications systems and constructed rhino observation post above the Lerai Forest in Ngorongoro.

An intense foot patrol was carried out in Moru area, in October and November 1995, in a bid to find out whether there were more rhinos, unfortunately this patrol did not yield a different result as only three rhinos were found. A female calf was born in Moru to the youngest female, Mama Serengeti, end of that year. FZS and Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) joined efforts to protect the Moru rhinos. In the same year, Amina, a young adult female in Ngorongoro was killed and its horns removed. Its 9-month old calf Richard was captured and raised near Arusha national park for two years. This was a big blow to the breeding population as there were only 4 productive females in Ngorongoro at that time.

Richard was translocated to South Africa two years later in exchange for two females, a mother with a sub-calf. The rhinos were brought from Addo National Park, which was in a project of reintroducing to East Africa the rhino population that was previously translocated to South Africa. Unfortunately, one of the females died while the other survived and has seven calves as at now. In the same year, the northern part of Serengeti was opened to tourism and reports from Maasai Mara Game Reserve indicated transboundary movement and the presence of 30-40 animals. In Moru, FZS and TANAPA set up an observation post for daily rhino monitoring, improved their equipment, put in place anti-poaching systems, and put measures to reduce human activity in the area such limiting tourism.

Another reintroduction of five rhinos, two males and three female, from South Africa took place in 2010. Unfortunately, one male was poached and one died. The three females survived.

Current measures for rhino management

SENAPA, TAWA, FZS and Friedkin Fund conducted two major rhino operations in the last two years to capture and earmark rhinos in the Serengeti National Park for easy identification by monitoring teams. A total of 43 animals were given a unique ear-notch combination. Rhino capture unit was put in place which was equipped with a 4-wheel drive truck with crane, sledge, transport crate and other equipment needed to capture, tag and move rhinos safely.

A dedicated Mobile Tracking Unit was put in place where the use of Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology was introduced for remote monitoring of rhinos. LoRaWAN system works like a cellphone network, put in the park with different towers. Non-GPS LoRaWAN equipped sensors are implanted directly into the rhino horns and sends signals to the control room. Rangers were trained by experts from South Africa in rhino and tactical man-tracking.

Rian stated that one of the issues in the 70’s that contributed to loss of rhino populations was the low work morale of the rangers due to poor working conditions. To address this issue, FZS provided food rations in the field to the three rhino protection teams, ensured that salaries and field allowances were paid on time as well as provided equipment needed, added Rian.

Heavy weight vehicles that were previously used were replaced by a less expensive light-weight 4-wheel drive vehicles that allowed for easier and faster navigation enhancing field monitoring especially in Moru where muddy conditions in wet season hampers mobility. In addition, the vehicles are less damaging to the environment. The VHF radio communication system was upgraded to digital radios that ensure full coverage of the park with a full time radio technician to ensure minimum down-time.

Poaching of rhinos for their horns by individuals from neighbouring countries, Dar es Salaam and Rwanda, who are specifically looking for black rhinos is the greatest challenge encountered. TANAPA has put in place an effective intelligence unit that works outside the park and feeds warning information to the operation unit. This has greatly contributed to the unit’s ability to minimize poaching.

The hunt for bush meat through the use of cable snares has also been posing great challenges to the rhino population, says Rian. To address this, FZS and TANAPA has introduced a new initiative where field teams are working to remove snares. The team consist of experts employed from the community program who work with TANAPA rangers in removing snares. The rangers are also empowered to arrest individuals involved in hunting for bush meat. The achievement is that close to 20, 000 snares have been removed in the last year.

Since 1995 to present, Serengeti has experience a 13% growth rate in the number of rhinos, while the average growth rate in Ngorongoro is 6%. The total rhino population is about 160 hence it has crossed the 100 mark for total population.

For more on the presentation, watch below>

Speaker Bio

Rian Labuschagne manages the Frankfurt Zoological Society’s Serengeti Conservation Program in Tanzania. Headquartered in Serengeti National Park, the project provides technical assistance to the park’s management team, mainly in anti-poaching (aerial and terrestrial), and black rhino monitoring and protection. Prior to this, Rian worked for African Parks Network as the Park Manager of Zakouma National Park in Chad, where he was fully responsible for the management of the park for six years. The focus in Zakouma was putting anti-poaching systems in place in order to bring a halt to the rampant poaching of the park’s remaining elephants. Before moving to Chad, Rian worked for Paul Tudor Jones on the western boundary of the Serengeti Ecosystem as Managing Director of Grumeti Reserves Ltd., where work focused on wildlife protection and management. Rian has also worked in the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area in Tanzania, Liwonde National Park in Malawi, and Kruger and Kalahari National Parks in South Africa. Rian has received two awards for his conservation efforts in Africa over the past 40 years: a civilian medal was presented by President Déby of Chad in 2014 for his conservation achievements in Zakouma National Park, and he received the Tusk Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa in 2017.

Originally published by the African Wildlife Foundation

Fertile land in the Kilombero Cluster attracts large concentrations of people and livestock

Natural resources abound in Southern Tanzania’s Mngeta Corridor and Udzungwa-Magombera-Selous landscapes, located within the Kilombero Cluster. With a stretch of mountains that harbors major water catchments for many rivers, a dense forest cover both on reserve and community land, and rich biodiversity, the Kilombero Cluster is a vitally important biological area where natural resources and wildlife vie for space in the midst of growing agricultural productivity.

Due to this immense potential productivity, the cluster also forms part of the Southern Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (or SAGCOT). Apart from the abundant biodiversity and protected resources, the region is characterized by fertile land, water sources, extensive grazing land, reliable rains, and large-scale plantations — all of which have attracted large concentrations of both human beings and livestock. The region also attracts competing interests of agriculture, livestock, wildlife, and tourism. As expected, this large concentration is exerting pressure on the natural resources that render it important for proper land-use planning in the area.

Land-use planning addresses resource management in a holistic way. It is also key to ensuring sustainable utilization of resources and the avoidance of conflicts in such areas and many other parts of the world facing increasing pressure on natural resources. Covering all 20 villages in the Mngeta Corridor and Udzungwa-Magombera landscapes, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group, through Tanzania’s National Land Use Planning Commission and in collaboration with African Wildlife Foundation, undertook a detailed survey of land tenure status, land-use planning, administration, and management. Documenting current patterns will inform coordination and decision-making among stakeholders addressing challenges in land administration and natural resources management. The results of the survey are useful in sensitizing individuals and groups on the importance of land tenure security, cementing land-use planning as an effective tool for sustainable landscape management within the Kilombero Cluster.

Both the Mngeta Corridor and the Udzungwa-Magombera-Selous landscapes fall under the 2016 Kilombero District Land Use Framework Plan, which outlines how land resources in the district can be economically utilized based on their potential and limitations. This framework provides guidance for decision-making, management, and allocation of land resources for different uses, including conservation and protection of natural resources in the district. Although it is recommended that the District Land Use Framework should be prepared before developing village plans, some villages in Kilombero District had already prepared village land-use plans. which were duly incorporated into the District Plan.

Land use planning challenges

A village subdivision took place in Kilombero in 2013 and 2014, forming a new village, but distorting previous land-use plans. Although the subdivision helps provide services for the new villages, it hinders the implementation of the existing land-use plan and any other previously made decisions. Additionally, the subdivision has required a change of boundaries that has not been fully completed and a number of villages in the area do not have boundary maps. In Kilombero District, village boundary conflicts — sometimes exacerbated by a change of village governance — are also fueled by a lack of consensus among village leadership and incorrect survey plans.

With the current increase in settlement in the area, there is an ongoing dispute caused by a shortage of land. Implementation of village land administration that enhances tenure security is poor and lacking in the area, worsening the situation. Influenced by a range of factors, land-use conflicts are common in many parts of Africa. The Kilombero district has been experiencing serious land-use conflicts between pastoralists and indigenous farmers, as well as between large agricultural farms and villagers in recent years. When pastoralists move from one place to another in search of water and pastures, they run the risk of interfering with any set-aside land-use plans.

The natural resources in this area contribute to key economic and social benefits. Responsible land-use planning, administration, and management is key to ensure that these benefits are sustainable both for now and future generations. Surmounting land administration challenges will require the collaboration of stakeholders to undertake and complement the efforts of environmental management by surveying land parcels for respective uses and issuing of customary certificates of right of occupancy for land parcels allow individuals or groups to invest and reap longer-term benefits.

Undertaking detailed management planning and sensitizing communities in areas prioritized for key land uses, such as agriculture, livestock keeping, and human settlements is imperative as the Mngeta Corridor, the Udzungwa-Magombera-Selous landscapes, and the entire Kilombero Cluster attracts different types of investments. The integrated landscape approach will encompass inclusive stakeholders in the region to protect the natural environment while promoting the sustainable utilization of land.

Read orginal post: Sustainable land-use planning balances agriculture, natural resources in Kilombero, published by AWF on April 30, 2019

Read the full report: Status of Land Use Planning, Land Tenure and Biodiversity Conservation: A Focus of Udzungwa-Magombera-Selous Landscape and Mngeta Corridor in Kilombero District

The Tsavo-Mkomazi landscape is an extensive semi-arid landscape. It covers south eastern parts of Kenya and north eastern part of Tanzania with diverse vegetation comprising of shrubs, grasslands, bushlands and forests. The six diverse communities who live in the landscape include the Maasai and Orma who are pastoralists and livestock keepers, the Taveta, Dawida and Wasambaa who are crop farmers, and the Pare and Watta who are hunters and gatherers.

The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group featured Kenneth Kimitei, Landscape Ecologist, Tsavo-Mkomazi Landscape, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and George Okwaro, Chief of Party, Strengthening LUMO conservancy to protect wildlife and provide community benefits project, AWF, to speak about Engaging Local Community in Sustaining the Large Population of Elephants in Tsavo-Mkomazi Landscape on April 16, 2019.

In the 70’s and early 80’s, explains Kenneth, elephant population in the Tsavo was about 50,000. This number declined significantly to about 6,000 in 1989 as a result of poaching. Nonetheless, as a result of community participation in conservation, amongst other measures, the number has had an upward trajectory since then. According to the 2017 census, the elephant population had increased to 12,800. However, challenges such as illegal wildlife trade, human elephant conflict, water scarcity and infrastructure development, continue to face the elephant population.

While engaging the local communities in the Tsavo-Mkomazi landscape, AWF has put in place various interventions to reinforce anti-poaching activities. Establishing community scout units within critical areas considered dangerous to elephants poaching and human-wildlife conflict. These scouts are selected from the local communities. The establishment of scouts has especially been beneficial to the landscape’s Toloha region that suffered six years of produce loss due to crop raids by elephants. After introducing scouts in 2017, all households were able to harvest their produce. The ripple effect is that poaching has declined, evidenced by the 200 elephants residing within the community now as compared to 20 elephants in 2017.

Due to the vast landscape, having rangers or scouts in all these range is nearly impossible, says Kenneth. To help communities tackle human wildlife conflict, AWF makes sure that the farmers are the first responders to human wildlife conflict. This is done by identifying hotspot areas and training farmers to use simple methods to scare elephants as well as equipping them to communicate and relay information to the village crop protection teams. Made up of volunteers from the village, the crop protection team then alerts the village game scout, who will link with the game officer/warden.

Another intervention is the establishment of grassroots meetings which involves engaging the communities in discussing issues that may arise and strategize on best ways to solve them. This ensures that the communities are part and parcel of making decisions on wildlife conservation.

AWF initiates simple methods that communities can replicate to scare away elephants such as the iron sheet fence. This involves the use of poles from tree branches, binding wire(s) and a 32-gauge iron sheets that is cut into strips. When wind blows, the iron sheets strips produce sound that scare away elephants. The iron sheets also reflect both sun and moonlights, which too scare away elephants.

To respond to the water scarcity threat, AWF provides water for wildlife both inside and outside protected areas through de-silting of earth water pans and in some special cases sink boreholes. Livestock, wildlife and Humans can then utilize this water harmoniously.

In addition, it advocates for land use planning to ensure wildlife conservation, livestock husbandry and crop production be carried out without conflict.

Conservation enterprises within the landscape
George opines that, it is the need to sustain the above development that led to the conceptualization of conservation enterprises. These enterprises ensure that communities improve economically as they contribute to conservation. Other than meeting operation costs of conservancies, and providing benefits to communities, conservation enterprises reduce threats to conservation objectives. 

There are several success story of working conservation enterprises. In DRC, locals who were primarily agriculturalists were not able to access market for their products hence substituted with bush meat to meet their budgetary deficit. To help the farmers, AWF provided a marine vessel that would help the farmers ferry their products from production point to market place in Kinshasa from MLW interior. Access to market helped reduce demand for game meat and subsequently reduction in wildlife killings.

LUMO Conservancy
In LUMO Conservancy, the objective of the enterprise is to create more space for wildlife. AWF therefore supported the coming together of three ranches (Lualenyi, Mramba and Oza) to form LUMO conservancy in the ancient elephant corridor between Tsavo East and West national parks. The community must own conservation enterprises in order to provide tangible benefits to landowners. However, the communities in most cases may not have the necessary technical and or management skillsets to manage these enterprises.

Three common models of managing these enterprises have been tried with varied success. Enterprise owned and run by community including conservancy. Enterprise owned by community and run by private individual or company on a greed terms with community meeting the day to day management costs of conservancy and enterprise owned by community run by private person or company but community still manage the conservancy. The last model has recorded a significant success across many conservancies. As is the case of LUMO, a co-management model between community and the proprietor is applied. The community retains the responsibility to manage the land, meet the cost of operation and hire managers and ranges while the proprietor runs the facility that is, conservation enterprise that generates incomes to conservancy through; the rents/lease fees, gate entry fee and a percentage of bed night fee. Once operation costs have been met, the balance is shared as benefits on agreed sharing formulae.

Through this model, AWF has been working with LUMO conservancy to create more space for wildlife as well as an increase in socio-economic development in order to reduce human-wildlife conflict and promote conservation stewardship. Since its active involvement in mid-2016, there has been an improvement in revenue collection including gate fee, bed nights and the lease fee. Successes include a 300% increase in community bursaries, a 200% growth in community shares, and introduction of community livelihood fund that provides money ready for borrowing by the larger community with aim of spuring up economic development at the local level. Improvement in staff’s salary and community social infrastructure such as water tanks and, students desks to schools amongst others.

For a successful conservancy enterprise, says George, it is important to make a business case from the very beginning, evaluate its viability including all costs of establishment and running against potential income to be generated. The idea must be integrated with the regional economic framework (identify opportunities and synergies with existing and proposed enterprises from other sectors including tourism) and have a credible benefit sharing plan which all players agree on (to reduce over reliance on donor funding). It is important to practice transparency on revenue generation and expenditure (to reduce speculation, suspicion, politicking, restores trust and build cohesion among members), build strong partnerships and communication between conservancies and protected areas and build capacity on the leadership of the conservancy.

Click below to watch the webinar recording for more in-depth information:

Featured Speakers
Kenneth Kimitei is a wildlife manager by profession with over 13 years of conservation work. Most of his work is guided by data and modeling to establish more ideal strategies to solve poaching, human wildlife conflicts and other emerging issues. He is interested in the involvement of the local community and government authorities in the collective responsibility of managing and conserving wildlife in the transboundary landscape where wildlife does not know boundaries.

George Okwaro has over 10 years of conservation experience spanning from forested landscapes to terrestrial ecosystems. Currently, he is engrossed in the economics of conservation field, where he is interested in the use of economic tools to understand the costs and benefits of sustaining natural ecosystems. Aimed at accomplishing more widespread and lasting conservation by lowering its costs, revealing its benefits and fitting it within genuine economic development. George is currently the chief of party of a USAID funded AWF project supporting LUMO conservancy.

This event was hosted by The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group as a part of its Nairobi, Kenya speaker series, which aims to foster information exchange and lessons sharing among cross-sector practitioners. To participate as a featured speaker, please contact Evelyn Namvua at enamvua@abcg.org and view the Guidelines to Speakers here.

On March 7, 2019, communications professionals from 20 conservation organizations in Kenya held an inaugural meeting at the African Wildlife Foundation, Nairobi, to discuss avenues for collaboration and effective engagement in conservation.

As a critical function of any business, communications can inform, educate and persuade stakeholders on key issues. Even more important in conservation, communications has the potential to influence the management or mismanagement of our natural resources.

Kenya, for example, has achieved tremendous progress in conserving its wildlife, which contributes to economic growth and provides critical ecosystem services. However, these benefits are sometimes undermined by negative propaganda, misinformation and disjointed messaging by the conservation sector and wider public.

While making the opening remarks at the forum, Charles Musyoki, the acting Director General of the Kenya Wildlife Service, noted that the meeting was important in creating synergy and harmony among communicators that would ensure that conservation efforts are projected to the world from a positive perspective.

Lack of understanding of audience needs is a challenge in communications that leads to development of messages that do not adequately meet their needs. In addition, a significant portion of communications is aimed towards donors, leaving out other key audiences and stakeholders in natural resource management, like the communities and the general public. It’s important that messages are designed to suit the different audience categories.

While speaking on, leveraging social media to engage with audiences and positively shape perceptions about conservation, Noah Miller, Sochin’s Managing Director, reported that the use of social media is also ineffective in many instances. The use of influential people to create awareness of environmental issues has been low in many conservation campaigns. The issue is further compounded by the fact that many conservation communicators lack the large following that influential figures and international celebrities yield on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Whereas, there are good efforts to generate content on these platforms, global awareness on the information shared is at times very low, leading to non-effective communications.

Limited resources are another challenge that impacts broader, and more targeted communications. Miller, explained that paid advertisement and campaigns have the potential of increasing the reach and impact of messages. Many communicators are working on limited budgets and in small teams to execute a wide range of activities, and speak to broad audiences.

The world is facing numerous environmental challenges, such as climate change, loss and degradation of habitat, species extinction, human wildlife conflict and pollution. Conservation researchers and other players are making every effort to tackle these issues through new business approaches, innovative tools and technology, enhanced research, among other ways. Inadequate and inappropriate communications should not be seen as yet another barrier to conveying the successes and breakthroughs in the conservation sector.

By repackaging messages for different audiences, providing accurate facts, highlighting milestones and successes made in conservation, communicators are able to correct these contrary narratives and raise the awareness of conservation issues globally. In addition, developing more synergy, leveraging on each other’s strengths, and collaborating more will result in greater influence and impact.

As a community of international conservation and development practitioners who convene, collaborate and co-create practical approaches to address high priority conservation challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, communications is an integral component to the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG). Through strengthening relations and building meaningful partnerships, ABCG fosters collaborative and adaptive learning opportunities that help practitioners improve, scale and replicate, while generating valuable user-driven knowledge that can be disseminated globally. The coming together of conservation communicators to strategize on how to collaborate, presents yet another good opportunity for ABCG, and other actors to further enhance their communications efforts.

Majority of local communities in Africa viewed conservation efforts as donor-driven and funded. The success of conservation, however, lies in constructive community participation where individuals can be involved in every step of the program design.

Tom Lalampaa, CEO Northern Rangelands Trust, (NRT) through Africa Biodiversity Collaboration Group speaker series held in Washington DC on April 2, 2019, explained that NRT was formed to help create community-led institutions and community driven models of conservation. This is done by providing support and ensuring that implementation is done by the local communities, through an integrated rural approach where a local committee is formed and works with the county government, the government and donor organizations in coming up with conservation strategies as well as monitoring conservation progress, added Tom.

“Governance is the heart of everything, because good governance will allow the attainment of the rest of the objectives.”
Tom Lalampaa, CEO, Northern Rangelands Trust

Supporting 39 community conservancies in Kenya, sitting on a 4.2 million hectares of land, NRT came up with four objectives for their 2018-2022 Strategic Plan. These are, governance, peace and security, livelihood and business, and conservation of natural resources.

Governance is the heart of everything, stated Tom, because good governance will allow the attainment of the rest of the objectives. To ensure that local communities are well governed, NRT in collaboration with the communities select local leaders who are taken through leadership and management training. NRT also works closely with the government to see that there are supportive legislative policies towards community-based conservation efforts.

Peace and security is a major challenge in the Northern Kenya. It ranges from human wildlife conflict to ethnic conflict, usually ignited by the scarcity of water and pasture. Ensuring that there is peace is paramount to the local communities. NRT is helping to build peace between ethnic communities and helping the government in ensuring security for people and wildlife.

NRT seeks to invest in community priorities for improving their livelihood, and create the conditions for growing jobs and businesses. A large extent of Northern Kenya has experienced little development and hence the need to tie conservation to other development projects, said Tom. In this regard, NRT has registered an independent entity called NRT Trading that ensures all the 39 community conservancies explore potential business opportunities around them.

The need for the conservation of natural resources is further fueled by the fact that majority of the communities involved are pastoralist. For many years, the rangelands have been poorly managed and have experienced severe degradation. Pasture has been replaced by deadly invasive species of plants. To mitigate this, NRT is using informed behavior change among the communities such as plant rehabilitation and the use of cartoons to pass conservation message.

Click below for in-depth information on NRT’s involvement in community-based conservation.

Download PDF here

Featured Speaker

Tom Lalampaa, CEO, Northern Rangelands Trust. Born and raised to the semi-nomadic rhythms of traditional Samburu life, in what is now Westgate Community Conservancy in Kenya, Tom’s roots lie firmly in the lands and people he now serves as the Northern Rangelands Trust’s Chief Executive Officer. For the past 10 years, Tom has been a leader in the design, development and expansion of the Northern Rangelands Trust, as the organization has grown from supporting 14 community conservancies to 39, helped shaped best practices, and influenced county and national government legislation. He is the founding Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, a trustee of the Kenya Wildlife Service Board, and has also served as the Vice Chair of the Wildlife Security Task Force – formed by the government of Kenya. He has been awarded the Stanford University Law School Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability and the Tusk Conservation Award.

A compilation of ABCG’s January – March 2019, updates

Get to meet some of our members as they share about their conservation journey, the value of working together, and how our joint projects have been able to influence areas of their work. Read on how we are engaging with communities to integrated biodiversity with global health, and other conservation news.

In the latest publication section, we feature current reports in the areas of, Land Use Management, Land and Resource Tenure Rights, and Population, Health and Environment.

Missed any of our events? You can find summaries and recordings of these events, as well as upcoming events details in this April 2019 News Digest.

Photo: Tsavo elephants by African Wildlife Foundation 

Cranes are the largest family of birds. They are embedded in different cultures across the world including Asia as a symbol of happiness and youth. The Grey Crowned Crane is the national bird of Uganda, appearing on the national flag and coat of arms. Many African countries honor cranes as it appears on a number of stamps as well as in their traditional folklore. Even with its significance among different cultures, 11 out of 15 species of cranes are formally endangered.

The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group featured Richard Beilfuss, President and CEO International Crane Foundation to speak about Cranes as Flagships for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods in Africa, as part of its Washington DC, speaker series on April 2, 2019.

Richard explained that in Africa, there are four crane species that are scattered across the continent. The Grey Crowned Cranes fall in the category of endangered species with a population of less than 31,000 which is rapidly decreasing. These are majorly found in western Kenya, Uganda and northern Rwanda. The Black Crowned Cranes, majorly found in western Africa are considered to be in a vulnerable situation with a population of about 35,000. Wattle Cranes are found in South African countries and are also in a vulnerable situation as they are rapidly decreasing. Currently, they are less than 10,000. Blue Cranes are majorly found in South Africa with a success story of an increasing state of more than 25,000.

Cranes, like other endangered species face a number of threats including; overexploitation of wetland areas, hydrological changes, catchment degradation, water quality degradation and uncontrolled fires, The charisma of Cranes is what has inspired International Crane’s Foundation involvement in community and protected land conservation, stated Richard. Since 1990, International Crane Foundation has been working with community-based leaders towards community based conservation efforts in Kenya and Uganda by establishing Community Site Stewardship Network. These efforts were geared towards the conservation of Grey Crowned Cranes. The Foundation has been working with communities on ways of creating and promoting conservation awareness in these areas through, the use of drama, dance, debate, conservation clubs and wildlife clubs. Conservation efforts involved the promotion of an alternative to intensive wetland use that is compatible with crane conservation. This practices include developing fish points adjacent to sensitive wetlands areas, reforesting catchment areas with indigenous species and restoring abandoned farmland back to productive wetlands.

There is, however, an urgent need to scale up. Conservation challenges, as he explained, are growing significantly with population, health and environmental pressures as well as declining livelihoods in the regions. In Uganda for example, energy demands such as the demand for biogas generators are among issues that contribute to degradation. In as much as there is working legal and policy frameworks, such as Uganda’s legislation governing the ownership, use and access to wetlands and their resources called Wetlands and the Law, these are still insufficient because of pressures for livelihood and from the community.

In Southern Africa floodplains, 80% of global Wattled Cranes population lie in the Okavango Delta and Zambezi delta. Kafue flats in Zambia is of great interest as it has more than 470 bird species hence considered an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International and Wetland of International Importance by Ramsar Convention. It is home to more than 1/3 of world’s Wattled cranes population. There’s hundreds of thousands of people dependent on the floodplain ecosystem services for water and fisheries.However, degradation of land upstream affects ecosystems and biodiversity downstream by depositing sediments and affecting water quality, and loss of downstream ecosystem services that sustain human well-being reducing the capacity to adapt and cope with climate change. There is therefore an urgent need to target local conservation impact. International Crane Foundation is working to recover substantial flood plain through correctly timed annual floods.

International Cranes Foundation is promoting a shift into adapting a more holistic conservation approach through Population, Health and Environment sustainable livelihoods frameworks: Population through empowering women and men to make informed household decisions, supporting girls to stay in school for full education, and focusing on most vulnerable sectors of communities, Health and Climate resiliency by targeting key environment issues linked to community health and finally Environment and Sustainable livelihoods by significantly scaling up bamboo production and market access, scaling up upland fodder production, shifting from training to mentoring successful implementation and point water sources and water tower protection.

Click below to watch the webinar recording for more in-depth information:

Click here to download the pdf presentation.

Featured Speaker
Dr. Richard Beilfuss is President & CEO of the International Crane Foundation (ICF), a nonprofit organization working worldwide to conserve endangered cranes and the wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural systems on which they depend. Beilfuss provides oversight, direction, and prioritization to ICF programs across Africa, Asia, and North America, working closely with ICF regional offices in Zambia, Uganda, South Africa, China, Cambodia, India, and Texas. Through the charisma of cranes, ICF brings people together to protect and restore the landscapes they depend on—and by doing so, find new pathways to sustain our water, land, and livelihoods. From 1992-2006, Beilfuss was responsible for developing and managing ICF’s regional program in Africa, working with partner organizations in more than 20 countries across the continent and spearheading public and private efforts to implement innovative water management practices in the Zambezi River Basin for the benefit of cranes, many other species, and human livelihoods. From 2006-2009, he served as Director of Conservation Services for the Gorongosa National Park Restoration Project in Mozambique. Beilfuss is a licensed professional hydrologist and teaches a graduate course on environmental flows at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rhinos have over the years faced risk of extinction due to their horns that are used in various Asian countries for medicinal value, as well as habitat loss over the years. However, with conservation efforts both from government, non-governmental actors, private sectors and other actors, the number of both the white and the black rhino has increased considerably over the years.

The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group featured Dr. Michael Knight, Chair, IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group and WWF Kavango–Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area Trans-boundary Leader, to speak about the Situation of Rhino in Africa, as part of its Washington Dc, speaker series on March 15th 2019.

“Between 1970s and mid ‘80s, there was a total reduction in the number of black rhinos by 94% due to a combination of poaching, fragmentation and exploitation. In the 1970s there was a total of about of 40, 000 black rhinos in the continent of Africa with about 4,000 white rhinos. This number of black rhinos decreased drastically to a little above 2,000,” Dr. Mike Knight.

Knight explained that measures such as use of eRhODIS app which helps wildlife investigators link poachers to crime scenes, increased ranger patrol, policies that protect wildlife and increased involvement by the private sector have contributed to an increase in the number of Rhinos in the continent in this decade. . Introduction of rhinos to new ranges and the reintroduction into former rangers has played a significant role in the conservation of rhinos in Africa, with 75% of rhinos being reintroduced to former ranges. From 2012 to 2017 the proportion of white rhino in city and private land has gone up almost close to 15%. This has contributed to an increase in the number of rhinos in the continent.

This webinar recording of the event explains in depth the situation of the rhinos as well as challenges faced in conservation:

Featured speaker
Dr. Michael Harrison Knight, Chair, IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group / Kavango–Zambezi Trans frontier Conservation Area Transboundary Leader, WWF, holds an interest in the conservation of important charismatic species, such rhinos, given the present threat facing these species, and their flagship/ecological diversity status under which numerous other ecological and conservation related functions/issues hinge. In this regard, he chairs the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group. He has a passion for Africa’s wild areas and its unique wildlife, as well as its close association with the people of the continent. Dr. Knight joined WWF in August 2018 as the Kavango–Zambezi Trans frontier Conservation Area Transboundary Leader. Prior to joining WWF, he served as the Senior General Manager of the Park Planning & Development section in the Conservation Services Division of SANParks, South Africa.

Protected areas are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. It is, however, alarming that only 24% of protected areas have sound management (Leverington F. et al, 2010). This is in the wake of a tremendous increase in the demand for wildlife products, as well as an increase in well-financed, organized and connected wildlife crime. There is therefore need to put the available limited resources to maximum use for best outcome.

On November 15, 2018, as a part of its Washington DC speaker series, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) featured Drew T. Cronin, the Program Manager for the SMART Partnership, who explained the use of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) for adaptive management of wildlife law enforcement. The SMART approach covers three areas: software, capacity building and site-based protection standards. With a global need to improve protected areas management effectiveness, this approach ensures that the available resources are best deployed in order to give best returns.

The SMART approach employs the use of the SMART tool, which plays a major role in adaptive management including; data collection by ranger patrols, data entry, analysis and report, debriefing and strategic planning. Rangers use this tool to capture data on threats in close to real time and transmit the information to the HQ. This allows the HQ to deploy rangers in response hence mitigating the threat.

According to the presentation, SMART, now the leading tool globally for wildlife law enforcement and protected area monitoring, has been effectively used to improve conservation in various protected areas including; Dja Biosphere, Cameroon, in protecting great apes, the approach has contributed to an increase in patrol efforts by 86% of coverage in 2017. In Kenya, the cyber tracker interface uses icons to represent animals and threats in a SMART configured data model. This improves patrol reporting for all community rangers as well as motivating ranger teams to meet targets. This has resulted in 4 times increase in patrol coverage with a 74% decrease in poaching. In Cambodia’s community managed fishery, SMART helped identify illegal activity hotspots, which was key in reducing fishery infractions by 40% over 3 years. And, in the conservation of tigers in 100+ tiger sites globally.

SMART is an illustrative example of the wide-ranging adoption of an ABCG-supported tool. ABCG was instrumental in scaling adoption of SMART to Africa (SMART was originally developed and piloted in Asia) by developing a global network of trainers, enhancing capacity to implement this adaptive management approach, and expanding the user base for broad application.

As a result of ABCG’s work: 1) SMART has become a standard system for wildlife law enforcement for World Wildlife Fund-US and Wildife Conservation Society, and is used for all of their work in the Congo Basin; 2) The Jane Goodall Institute is using the SMART system to collect data in the Congo’s Tchimpounga Nature Reserve; 3) African Wildlife Foundation field staff in Kenya and Tanzania are providing training on the system, including for use by the Kenya Wildlife Service and for community game scouts in southern Kenya and in Tanzania; and 4) the Gabon and Uganda governments have been trained in the use of the system and have begun using it for law enforcement management.

ABCG’s promotion of the SMART system has enabled the technology to be deployed more rapidly and more widely by broadening knowledge and acceptance for its use within ABCG membership, and by building the capacity of African governments and NGOs.

Current SMART partner members include: Frankfurt Zoological Society, Global Wildlife Conservation, North Carolina Zoo, Panthera, Peace Parks Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Protection Solutions, World Wildlife Fund, and Zoological Society of London.

Event resource 

Click here to watch the webinar recording: 

Featured Speaker

Drew Cronin is the Program Manager for the SMART Partnership. Prior to his two years with SMART, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program focused on the drivers and dynamics of bush meat consumption and quantifying the impact of human activities on wildlife. He is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Africa Section, and is also the Interim Coordinator of the Red Colobus Conservation Action Plan. Drew has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Drexel University and is based at Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City.

Kimberly Holbrook is Manager of External Affairs, Africa Region at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and manages TNC’s activities in the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG). She talks to ABCG about her conservation journey and the importance of collaboration in tackling conservation issues. 

What sparked your conservation interests?
I had always been interested in science and, in particular, biology for as long as I can remember. Early in my life, I got the opportunity to travel to Indonesia and many other countries in Asia. During those travels, I became interested in tropical forest ecosystems and the biodiversity that they support. I still remember the first time that I saw and heard a hornbill flying overhead while walking in a forest in Sumatra, Indonesia. This memory later led me to pursue graduate degrees in biology to understand the important role of hornbills and toucans as avian seed dispersers in tropical forests.

How has your career ladder been?
After completing my PhD, I considered the option of continuing research and becoming a professor, but decided that I would be more satisfied pursuing a career in applied conservation and policy. This led me to apply for and receive a Science & Technology Policy Fellowship through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. where I was posted at the United States Department of State for two years. Following the fellowship, I worked for the University of California, Los Angeles as a Senior Research Fellow and then, in 2013, I joined The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to work in the Africa program.

For how long has TNC been a member of ABCG and what are your responsibilities in the collaboration?
TNC’s engagement with ABCG, dates back to 2007 when TNC joined the group. Upon joining TNC’s Africa team, I became responsible for managing our ABCG project and for representing TNC on the ABCG steering committee that includes a member from each of the seven conservation non-governmental organizations.

What activities is TNC tackling in the collaboration?
During the first three years of the current phase of ABCG (2015-2018) we were involved in four activity areas:

Land Use Management: In this activity, we are contributing to the development of spatial planning tools and approaches that can be used by decision makers to develop interventions in land use planning and management. In Gabon, for example, we are providing technical expertise to the government on implementing their land use planning process.

Global Change Impacts: To understand how human responses to climate change indirectly affect biodiversity, we are providing data through field surveys on human adaptive responses to climate change in different countries in Africa and conducting historic and future climate analysis in target countries. Through this activity, ABCG will come up with coping strategies that reduce the indirect negative impacts to biodiversity due to human responses to climate change.

Land and Resource Tenure Rights: We collaborated with the Jane Goodall Institute in Western Tanzania to place greater land rights and resource management authority in the hands of local resource users, thus creating the capacity and the necessary incentives for them to exercise their authority in ways that are consistent with biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of renewable resources.

Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation: Within the Population, Health and Environment sub task of this activity, our Tuungane Project in western Tanzania helped to build the capacity of the communities and individuals to practice positive behaviour changes to support healthy families, forests and fisheries through the Model Households, Model Villages and Model Farmers approach.

In these next two years (2018-2020) of ABCG’s USAID funding, we are continuing our work in the Land Use Management and Global Change Impact tasks.

What are some of the demonstrated benefits of this partnership to TNC?
Through the ABCG collaboration, TNC has been able to build relationships with stakeholders in Africa and the United States that otherwise would have been challenging. ABCG has supported the dissemination of our work and that of our partners, through its platform and networks, increasing awareness of conservation work in Africa by TNC and others. The knowledge products and approaches that the collaboration has developed has helped influence some of our work and the design of activities.

Would you say that ABCG is achieving its vision?
Yes, ABCG projects are designed to provide evidence and knowledge products that can influence policy and practice. In one of our past activities, we worked on carbon sequestration in partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust and Syracuse University in Kenya. From the development of a soil carbon sequestration methodology that we did through ABCG, we were able to scale up work on carbon and soil in northern Kenya and Zambia. In the current Global Change Impacts work, we are beginning to see results that have the potential of influencing other areas of work on climate adaptation.

The ability to have different institutions coming together to jointly tackle issues, and to have a wide geographical reach through members and partners’ presence in different locations across Africa, has contributed to a greater understanding of conservation challenges and their solutions that a single organization would not be able to realize on their own.

Meet more ABCG coalition members here: 

Championing for Community Involvement in Conservation: Peter Veit Shares

Conservationist Peter Apell Shares on Integrating Social Development and Environmental Management

Photo: Kimberly Holbrook. Photo credit: Kimberly Holbrook