Dear All

Elephants going for a splash at Zambezi Elephant Trails.

Sourcing supplies

I have had a query from a farmer in Kalomo who needs a company which is willing to source various items in Livingstone. Our outlying farmers often make a mad dash round Livingstone shops to do essential shopping one day a week and they do not have time to look for odd bits like hardware. If your company does this sort of thing, drop me a line and I can advertise it for everyone.

A Break-In

The night before Christmas Eve my house was broken into. I lost my TV, laptop, camera, and lots of other stuff. It was such a shock and, of course, did not do much for my festive spirit. The police were helpful but, as I mentioned to one of them, I do not expect them to fi nd anything. Our normal police are underfunded compared to our traffi c cops who spend their time giving out fi nes for parking badly. .

In Livingstone, and throughout Zambia and other countries, everyone lives in fear of break-ins. The break-ins are by the youth, as a rule, who don’t have jobs or money and the situation will get worse as more and more children leave school with no hope of a future.

We need jobs.

I was really heartened when I saw this story from Tanzania:

Morogoro — A total of 1,423 industries have been set up in Tanzania within one year of President John Magufuli in offi ce, it has been revealed.

Principal Trade Offi cer in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Wilfred Kahwa, made the revelation here yesterday, noting that the industries were developed between October 2015 and October 2016. Some 19 industrial development projects initiated within the year (October 2015 to October 2016) are also under implementation.

John Magufuli is making a real splash in Africa by his pro-people government. I can only hope that other presidents will follow his lead … and then we will all be safer …

PS. Thank you to Bhukhans for letting me have a TV on credit so that my Christmas was not as bleak as it could have been.

LIVINGSTONE

African Parks

Our lion pride is slowly growing in Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia. We’re thrilled to report that two new cubs have been sighted, Sepo the lioness’s offspring, and that we have successfully introduced a new male lion to Liuwa’s pride! This male lion was brought in from Kafue National Park, (also in Zambia) with the help of the Zambian Carnivore Programme (ZCP) and the Mushingashi Conservancy and underwent a seven-week bonding period in an enclosure, called a boma, with Liuwa’s resident male. We are pleased to report that on the 22nd of November, the boma gates were opened and after a few hours the Liuwa male casually walked out of the boma with the Kafue lion following close behind. They strode off onto the plains, and within a day had made contact with all of Liuwa’s resident females: Lady Liuwa, Sepo, the other two females and the cubs. The initial contacts and interactions have very been positive, and we hope that all eight animals will form strong bonds over the next few months, and serve as an important foundation in growing Liuwa’s pride, and having lions roam these plains once again. To read the full story visit: http://bit.ly/lionnews Photo © Thomas Orr

Immigration Department records low revenue collection in Southern provinceLusaka Times

The Department of Immigration in Livingstone says it has not met its targeted revenue for 2016 after recording a shortfall of over sixty million kwacha. Immigration Department Director General Moola Milimo says the department had targeted K260,000,000 for 2016 but only managed K198,754,890, a shortfall of K61,245,110.

G: I feel that we should not be concerned about how much money we have collected but the implication that fewer tourists are coming to Livingstone ... we need to know why ... Our jobs depend, to a large extent, on tourism and if our tourist numbers are falling, jobs will be lost.

ZAMBIAItezhi-Tezhi to get international airportZambia Weekly

Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Radixus Pty Limited of South Africa for the construction of an international airport at Itezhi-Tezhi on the boundary of the Kafue National Park in Central Province. The airport will be built as a public-private partnership, with Radixus fi nancing, designing, building and operating the airport (and its income) for 25 years before handing it over to government. Zambia has four international airports in Lusaka, Ndola, Livingstone and Mfuwe.

Conservation Lower Zambezi

Refresher Training for the Dog UnitAfter having been operational since early August, it was time for a refresher training session for the dog unit with specialist trainer Jay Crafter from Invictus K9. The unit spent 10 days with Jay, brushing up on their detection and tracking skills, as well as their physical fi tness. He was impressed with the standard the unit is keeping up and the successes they have had so far.

ZIMBABWE

AS FQM reaffi rms its commitment to promoting tourism and resourcesLusaka Times

A full range of wildlife could one day be restored to the West Lunga Management Area (WLMA) under a project that aims to revive the delicate ecosystem in the remote part of North Western Province.As part of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) work to enable a complete and functioning ecosystem to support the full range of African mammal species that it has traditionally been home to, a new wildlife camp Mukambi was handed over to the department this week by the Trident Foundation, supported by First Quantum Minerals (FQM). ...The WLMA was once a refuge for a multitude of wildlife species and was considered to be a breeding ground for elephants. Furthermore it connects to the Kafue ecosystem which is 66,000km2 and the overarching objective of this project is to provide connectivity to all the protected areas of western and north-western Zambia to allow for the free fl ow of mammals from the KAZA Trans Frontier Conservation Area (TFCA) through West Lunga and into Angola.In 2016/17, FQM plans to recruit, train and equip more scouts, repair and maintain infrastructure at Jivundu HQ, establish more Community Resource Boards, increase the livelihood programme to additional communities, repair, maintain and expand the road infrastructure, build new scout camps in Chibwika Ntambu GMA, provide VHF communications to fi eld staff and solar power and water facilities to existing fi eld camps. ...

From Zambia Tourism: West Lunga National Park is one of Zambia’s less visited Parks. It was proclaimed in the 1940s to protect the population of Yellow-backed Duiker, but it has had little offi cial interest over the years and has mainly been used for hunting and fi shing by the local communities.

From World Wildlife Fund about the environment: This small but distinctive ecoregion consists almost entirely of dense evergreen forest dominated by Cryptosepalum exfoliatum pseudotaxus, known locally as “mavunda.” It falls into White’s (1983) Zambezian regional center of endemism and is mapped as ‘Zambezian dry evergreen forest.’ The two main blocks of Cryptosepalum forest are found to the north and south of the Kabompo River. Together they constitute the largest area of tropical evergreen forest in Africa outside the equatorial zone (Bingham 1995). ...Only one protected area, the West Lunga National Park, falls within this ecoregion. It is surrounded in the east, north and west by game management areas, which provide some protection to game ...

G: West Lunga National Park has no facilities and, I suspect, little wildlife. The GMAs around the park are known collectively as the West Lunga Management Area. I can fi nd no stories about any hunting in the Management Area. The only tourist facility is Kabompo River Lodge to the south of the park on the Kabompo River. Kabompo River Lodge is working with the local communities already to try to protect the park and the river. It does look as if there is some hope for the future.

Bhejane Trust

One poacher arrested with 4kg ivory and 3 kg cyanide by National Parks Investigations on Sunday. Sentenced to nine years jail today in Hwange Magistrates Court! Well done to Parks and the magistrate - swift justice!! Note - accomplices still being sought, plus the supplier of the cyanide.

National Parks Investigations arrested three suspects in possession of 145 pangolin scales. The three accused are from Binga where they found the pangolin. They kept it for three weeks trying to fi nd a buyer ( they stated they had previously sold one to a prominent businessman in Bulawayo, who refused to buy this one) before the pangolin died. They then went to Hwange where they tried to sell the scales for $7 each. They were arrested and appeared in the magistrates court in Hwange. As two of the accused pleaded not guilty, they were remanded in custody until the 3rd January, 2017. They face a mandatory nine years if found guilty.

Flooding in Hwange Town

ABOUT 200 miners were trapped underground while equipment worth thousands of dollars was damaged at Makomo Resources coal mine following heavy fl oods that hit Hwange district yesterday.

...

Traffi c along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway was also brought to a halt for about two hours as the Hwange Colliery Company’s fi re brigade and some locals battled to remove some trees that fell onto the busy road as a result of the storm.

Zimbabwe ships live elephants to wildlife parks in ChinaThe UK Guardian

Wildlife advocates said the animals, which were being readied for shipment on Friday night, were unsuitable for live export. More than 30 wild elephants were being readied on Friday evening for an airlift from Zimbabwe to captivity in China, according to wildlife advocates. The founder of Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, Johnny Rodrigues, said on Friday that their plane was still at Victoria Falls airport because offi cials could not fi nd scales big enough to weigh the animals, which were confi ned inside heavy crates.

But once that was accomplished, he added, “they’re gone”. Some of the elephants are reportedly as young as three years of age. ...

The elephants will most likely be sent to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park and the Yunnan Wild Animal Park, according to Chunmei Hu, currently with the advocacy group the Endangered Species Fund in China. Hu has closely followed a previous export of wild Zimbabwe elephants to China in 2015. As of August, she said, the elephants were still in quarantine and she believes at least one of them is dead.

Other zoos in China have requested African elephants, including the North Forest Zoo in Harbin, Ordos Zoo in inner Mongolia, and Beijing Wildlife Park, she added.

Iris Ho, wildlife campaign manager at Humane Society International, said she was highly concerned over the elephant export: “The sales of baby elephants and other animals from Zimbabwe to China are possibly the worst-case scenario for wildlife caught in shady deals.”

On the demand side, Ho said, “We have a country that continues to attract international condemnation for its deplorable treatment of iconic wild animals in captivity, from Pizza the polar bear in a Guanzhou shopping mall, to elephants forced to perform or languish in captivity.”

And on the supply side, “We have a corrupt regime that disregards human rights and freedom, and that is selling its wildlife to the highest bidder with no meaningful oversight.”

Efforts to reach ZimParks for comment were not responded to. Neither was an email to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species authority in Beijing.

ZIM-ZAM

The Hide

A wonderful sighting at Ngweshla this morning of a Cheetah and her 5 cubs. What a great way to end off the week.Photo Cred - Pam Preston

G: Recent research on cheetahs:

Cheetahs facing extinction amid dramatic decline in numbersUK Telegraph

Urgent action is needed to stop the cheetah - the world’s fastest land animal - sprinting to extinction, experts have warned.

Scientists estimate that just 7,100 of the fl eet-footed cats remain in the wild, occupying just 9% of the territory they once lived in.

Asiatic populations have been hit the hardest with fewer than 50 individuals surviving in Iran, according to a new investigation led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In Zimbabwe, cheetah numbers have plummeted by 85% in little more than a decade.

The cheetah’s dramatic decline has now prompted calls for the animal’s status to be upgraded from “vulnerable” to “endangered” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. ...

According to the news, the KAZA Visa has been re-instated.

BOTSWANA

Elephant Rides bannedIOL

From the end of this month, no elephants will be permitted to be ridden in Botswana. Abu Camp, the only facility that allowed elephant back riding in the country, has been directed to terminate its elephant back safaris. ...

The ban on the riding of elephants is an extension of these moves linked to a new government policy, guided by Minister of Environment TK Khama, to improve the welfare of elephants in captivity. His department studied their subjugation in being forced to carry tourists and found it unacceptable.

For centuries, Asian elephants were trained to be ridden as working animals, but recently conservation organisations have highlighted the cruelty involved.

The fi rst commercial elephant rides in Africa began in Zimbabwe in the late 1990s and soon spread throughout Southern Africa. In the region there are now 39 commercial elephant venues, holding around 215 captive elephants. At least 25 of these offer elephant rides. Seven of them force elephants to do tricks for tourists.

According to the NGO World Animal Protection, most tourists go on elephant rides because they love elephants. They don’t know about the intense physical and psychological pain involved.“They will not be told that baby elephants are cruelly taken from their mothers, and their spirits harshly broken for training to give rides and perform tricks for tourists.“This includes chaining and close confi nement, loneliness, tight restraint with ropes or chains and isolation from other elephants and deprivation of food and water. Severe pain is often infl icted with pointed metal bullhooks, wooden battens, and whips.“The cruelty elephants endure during breaking stays with them throughout their lives and can leave them suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. And after breaking there is no end to their suffering.”

Abu Camp supported the Botswana ban. “Following an extensive review of its programme and in compliance with recent government directives” it said in a press release, “as of 31 December 2016, Abu Camp will no longer allow guests to ride elephants.

“The camp will continue to focus its programme on respectful, less intrusive forms of elephant interaction and education … including its immersive walking-based experience.”

Among the 39 facilities in Southern Africa that offer elephant experiences, 15 of them in South Africa offer rides, seven in Zimbabwe and two in Zambia.

In 2014 photographs and graphic video footage showing baby elephants being abused at Knysna Elephant Park and its subsidiary, Elephants of Eden, sparked a global outcry. The NSPCA laid criminal charges against their directors and management.

Existing South African Elephant Norms and Standards(ENS) prohibit the capture of wild elephants for permanent captivity as well the import or export of elephants, a move which effectively capped the booming elephant-back safari industry.

G: I have visited Zambezi Elephant Trails in Livingstone many times and I know the story of those elephants. They were all orphans and they have never been mistreated. They are trained to give rides to people through kindness and by the giving of treats.

We are now facing a situation of many elephant orphans because of poaching. It is possible, but very diffi cult, to raise orphans and to get them back into the wild, as is being attempted by Game Rangers International.

Looking after orphaned elephants is an extremely expensive business. Game Rangers International is funded by thousands of dollars every year to care for their orphaned elephants, most of which comes from overseas.

We have all seen photographs of the Asian elephants being mistreated. I have seen photographs of the elephants at Knysna Elephant Park. I fi nd these images very disturbing. I do not think, though, that all companies should be tarred by the same brush.

I do not know what the solution is. That a group of unscrupulous people have hurt elephants in order to train them to give people rides in Africa is a sad day for all of us. But world opinion has been changed by such behaviour.

Wildlife crime - Public outragedInformante

Namibia’s citizens and environmental organisations are becoming increasingly outraged by the ongoing commercial wildlife and ecological crimes being committed by some Chinese nationals in Namibia.

They are equally frustrated by the apparent lack of action being taken by the Chinese embassy in Namibia and the Chinese state to put a stop to the unlawful actions of their nationals. Quiet behind-the-scenes diplomacy has failed to have any discernible impact.

The full text of this ground-breaking statement of the Namibian Chamber of Environment to the Chinese ambassador to Namibia follows:

OPEN LETTER TO AMBASSADOR XIN SHUNKANG OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO NAMIBIA

Dear Ambassador Xin Shunkang, 21 st December, 2016

During the past few weeks, several Chinese nationals have been apprehended and charged with wildlife crimes, including illegal possession of rhino horn, ivory and pangolin skins and scales. Your embassy is on record stating that “it will not allow a few of its nationals who have been arrested in connection with poaching to tarnish its country’s image”. While we recognize that not all Chinese nationals are involved in wildlife crimes, Namibia’s environmental community believes that the situation regarding Chinese nationals committing wildlife crimes in Namibia is far more serious and broad-based than you have acknowledged. The fact is, unless effective action is taken now to halt wildlife crime, your country will get an increasingly bad name. And you and your country are best placed to address the problem.

Until the arrival of Chinese nationals in signifi cant numbers in Namibia, commercial wildlife crime was extremely low. As Chinese nationals moved into all regions of Namibia, setting up businesses, networks, acquiring mineral prospecting licenses and offering payment for wildlife products, the incidence of poaching, illegal wildlife capture, collection, killing and export has increased exponentially. Chinese nationals have been involved in, and/or are the commercial drivers behind:• the escalating poaching of rhinos and elephants in Namibia and the illegal export of rhino horn and ivory,• the capture, trade and export of pangolins,• the import of Chinese monofi lament nets in industrial quantities via Zambia to the north-east of Namibia, which are destroying the fi sheries of the Zambezi, Chobe, Kwando and Okavango Rivers,• the unsustainable commercialization of fi sheries in these north-eastern rivers and wetland systems for export to cities and towns in neighbouring countries,• the capture and killing of Carmine Bee-eaters at their breeding colonies by means of nets• the rise in bush-meat poaching wherever Chinese nationals are working on road construction and other infrastructure, including tortoises, monitor lizards, pythons and any other form of wild meat, including from protected and endangered species,• the illegal collection of shellfi sh on the Namibian coast,• the illegal transit through Namibia and attempted export of poached abalone from Cape waters through Namibian ports.

We are also aware of long-standing interests by some Chinese nationals to start a shark fi n industry in Namibia, a practice that has caused widespread damage to shark populations in many parts of the world, including in South Africa.And more recently, Chinese nationals have proposed to capture marine mammals and seabirds for the Asian aquarium market. The Namibian scientifi c and environmental communities have strongly rejected this proposal on sound conservation and ethical grounds, as has the Namibian public.

NAMIBIAKwando Carnivore Programme

The wet season is well and truly upon the Zambezi Region with much improved rainfall compared to the past couple of years. In the Malombe pan system, pans have overfl owed and vehicle tracks are getting fl ooded in the park. This is very encouraging as we hope, along with the rest of Namibia, to have our annual average at the very least. Mukolo camp has already had over 230 mm.

We are concerned by an apparent total disregard by some Chinese nationals for Namibia’s wildlife, conservation, and animal welfare laws and values. Namibians are proud of their environmental heritage, their rich wildlife resources and the institutional mechanisms that are in place to sustainably manage them. Namibia as a nation has worked hard to protect and nurture these natural assets. Namibia’s wildlife management provides an international example for good conservation and sustainable use. We have not made these investments so that some Chinese nationals, or anyone else, can pillage them.

The illegal commercial interests of some Chinese nationals towards Namibia’s protected wildlife has exploited the vulnerability of poor Namibians and divided societies. It undermines local ownership of natural resources and the empowerment of communities to managing their wildlife wisely, for long-term communal benefi ts. It undermines Namibia’s globally acclaimed Community-based Conservancy programme, and it does considerable damage to Namibia’s international conservation and sustainable development reputation.

The recent announcement by the Chinese business community that it is contributing N$30,000 to counter rhino poaching, while acknowledging that Namibians are deeply concerned about the situation caused by some Chinese nationals, totally fails to understand the economic scale of the problem. Indeed, it is an insult to the environmental sector in Namibia and to Namibia’s environment. An initial very conservative estimate of the extent of the losses to Namibia’s wildlife and ecosystems caused by Chinese nationals is about N$811 million. And this does not include the signifi cant additional resources that Namibia’s government, donors, communities, private sector, and NGOs have had to commit to combat escalating wildlife crimes. These funds should rather have been spent on more productive activities such as continuing to develop the wildlife and tourism sectors to improve the lives and livelihoods of rural communities.

We do not claim to fully understand the relationship between Chinese nationals and the Chinese state. It appears that Chinese nationals are not at liberty to obtain passports and travel independently around the world, bringing their personal capital and starting businesses in their own names in whatever country would have them, independent of the Chinese state. As such, Chinese nationals in Namibia appear to be part of a state supported system. So, as the highest ranking Chinese offi cial in Namibia, we would expect all Chinese nationals in Namibia to fall under your authority.As such, we now call on you to put an immediate stop to the illegal wildlife crimes perpetrated, encouraged, funded, incentivized or otherwise committed and supported, by some Chinese nationals in Namibia. Further, we call on the Chinese government to make good, by investing in Namibia’s environment sector in a transparent and internationally recognized manner, and in proportion to the damage caused, to help rebuild Namibia’s wildlife populations, ecosystems, management systems and reputation.

This letter does not represent only the views of the 40 environmental organisations listed below, but also represents the views of countless members of the Namibian public and our international friends. The sentiments expressed in social media over the past months, from across a broad spectrum of Namibian society, and their outrage at the leading role that Chinese nationals play in wildlife crime have surely been noted by you and members of your embassy. You will also be aware of the sentiments expressed by our President, by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, and by the Namibian Police Inspector General as reported in the local media.

The time for inaction is over. China has a policy of non-intervention and yet these actions by some Chinese nationals, and the apparent inaction of your embassy to address the problem, are direct and indirect interventions that have disastrous impacts on our policy and legal framework, on our environmental culture and ethics, on our natural heritage and on our national conservation and development programmes. They also have huge negative impacts on our people and their livelihoods, and on our international reputation.

In late 2014 the out-going US President Barack Obama, in an interview with the New York Times, accused China of being a “free rider” for the last 30 years in not taking on more of its international obligations. In the last couple of years, particularly under the leadership of your President Xi Jinping, China has taken a decidedly more active leadership role in global issues. It is time to extend that leadership to natural resources and in particular, to wildlife conservation. Indeed, the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, almost 2,000 years ago, may have been amongst the fi rst to advocate for ecological sustainability within a philosophy of coexistence between man and nature. If China is to live up to its stated aims of having positive interactions between peoples and countries then this, for us in Namibia, is a critical issue.

We support our government’s policy of attracting foreign investment to stimulate growth, employment and development. And we counter all forms of xenophobia and profi ling. However, we expect foreign investors and their nationals to abide by Namibia’s laws, and to embrace Namibia’s cultures, ethics, and values. Too many Chinese nationals have abused Namibia’s environmental laws, and this is causing growing resentment and anger amongst Namibians. By their criminal actions, some Chinese nationals have drawn attention to themselves and their nationality through their blatant disregard of Namibia’s legal and environmental values. We are also concerned at how little action the Chinese embassy in Namibia appears to be taking to address the problem.

We as concerned Namibian Environmental NGOs and businesses, who it should be stated, are pro-sustainable use, stand ready to work with a China that willingly takes on greater responsibility and leadership in addressing the illegal trade in wildlife and, in particular, commits to putting an immediate stop to all wildlife crimes in Namibia by its Chinese nationals.Yours sincerely, Dr Chris BrownCEO: Namibian Chamber of Environment, and other environmental organisations NAMIBIAN CHAMBER OF ENVIRONMENT MEMBERS

African Penguin Conservation ProjectAfricat FoundationCheetah Conservation Fund (CCF)Desert Elephant ConservationEarthlife NamibiaEco Awards NamibiaEdu VenturesEnvironmental Compliance ConsultingEnviroScienceFrank BockmühlGiraffe Conservation FoundationJaro ConsultancyNaankuse FoundationNamib Desert Environmental Education TrustNamibia Animal Rehabilitation, Research & Education Centre (NARREC)Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF)Namibia Scientifi c SocietyNamibian Association of CBNRM Support Organizations (NACSO)Namibian Hydrogeological AssociationNamibRand Nature ReserveOngava Game ReserveOtjikoto Environmental and Education TrustProgress Namibia TASResearch and Information Services of Namibia (RAISON)Southern Africa Institute for Environmental Assessment (SAIEA)Save The Rhino Trust (SRT)Scientifi c Society SwakopmundSustainable Solutions Trust (SST)The Namibian Environmental and Wildlife Society (NEWS)Tosco Trust Venture PublicationsOTHER NAMIBIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS SUPPORTING THIS LETTERBotanical Society of NamibiaBrown Hyena Research ProjectGondwana Collection NamibiaGame Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA) – Namibian ChapterIntegrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC)Kavango Open Africa Route (KOAR)Legal Assistance Centre (LAC)Namibia Bird ClubWilderness Safaris – Namibia

And then, later:

Chinese rhino hunt prompts diplomatic impasse … As they feel Namibia is undiplomaticConfi dente

CHINESE embassy offi cials in Windhoek are reportedly angry with Namibia’s senior govern ment offi cials for pulling no punches when they castigated Chinese nation als operating poaching syndicates in the country last week, Confi dente has learnt.Confi dente is informed that the Chi nese feel that Namibia has lately been undiplomatic when it publicly con demns Chinese nationals involved in poaching activities.The country since 2015 has report edly lost nearly 200 rhinos and el ephants to poachers.

The latest move by the Namibian Po lice that has seen Chinese nationals also being searched thoroughly at police checkpoints, roadblocks and random stop and search operations has report edly not gone down well with them as well. President Hage Geingob also last week condemned the poaching of the country’s wildlife saying the war against poachers should be intensifi ed. “We condemn what is going on. We must intensify what is going on. It is unacceptable. Poaching, there must be inside jobs also. Chinese cannot come here and know everywhere to get the rhinos,” he said.The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, Monday said Namibia was now frustrated with the behaviour of some Chinese na tionals and will soon introduce laws to ensure that any Chinese national convicted of any poaching crime/s will never be allowed entry into the coun try. “We are frustrated. The Chinese embassy must reprimand its nationals to abide by the laws of the country (Na mibia). We won’t tolerate the poaching of our wildlife. From now on we are going to make sure that any Chinese or any other foreign national convicted of poaching after serving their sentence or paying a fi ne imposed will be deported and we won’t allow them back, they be come persona non-grata.

“It’s not a question of us not be ing diplomatic because they are the ones that started this and it’s too much now. That decision to search all Asians came out of frustration and it is reap ing results because some have already been arrested with wildlife contraband hidden. This poaching of our wildlife has been going on all these years,” an unamused Shifeta said. Shifeta refuted reports that Namibia was merely tar geting Chinese nationals without any reasonable grounds.“It’s not a question of targeting them but it’s what the statistics prove that counts. We have to now procure sniffer dogs and put them at every port of en try because there we have also had sev eral cases of our wildlife products being

smuggled out of the country. We are very serious,” Shifeta added. Shifeta also revealed that out of the more than 35 lo cal people arrested recently for poach ing related crimes upon interrogation and further investigations by the police it came out that they were connected to the Chinese. “Namibians are being en ticed to poach by some of these people. We are not saying all Chinese are bad. They are good Chinese people in this country but how do we know that the good are not bad as well?” Shifeta que ried. Shifeta also said his ministry was now busy working with the ministries of Justice and Home Affairs to come up with a law that ensures that any foreign national convicted for poaching will never set foot in Namibia again.“We want foreign nationals con victed for poaching deported and never allowed back in the country because we have realised that those that are fi ned go back to engage in the same thing again,” he said.Inspector General of the Namibian police, Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga echoed Shifeta’s sentiments adding that Namibia can’t be diplomat ic to criminals.“Our strong stance or harshness is not targeted to every Chinese national. We know that they are many law abid ing Chinese nationals who are in the country but we also have to address their fellow kinsman who come to Na mibia and poach our animals. If they are not happy, we are also not happy, we can’t be diplomatic or talk politics with criminals while they are fi nishing our animals. We are not directing our state ments to law abiding citizens but crimi nals. We will never surrender and anyone who feels disturbed by our actions should stop poaching. We are not only talking to foreigners but Namibians as well whom a majority are those being arrested for such crimes,” Ndeitunga said.Ndeitunga said a committee compris ing of Chinese nationals and local en forcement agencies was being formed to work on bringing poaching to an end. “All Chinese are being searched now and innocent people are suffering because of this inconvenience to law abiding Chi nese and Namibian people but we say enough is enough we have to take action and these searches now target everyone, they know no colour or nationality so the new measures we have taken apply to ev eryone Namibian or not.” Ndeitunga also took a swipe at locals whom he accused of poaching the country’s precious fauna for mere peanuts. “Namibians are more in numbers than the Chinese who go into game parks but Namibians are paid peanuts to destroy their own fauna so yes my harshness is towards criminals who are the enemies of peace, enemies of our fauna and enemies of progress. We are tar geting those that are engaged in criminal activities.” Efforts to get comment from the Chinese embassy proved futile as a written request for an interview with Am bassador Qiu Xuejun sent to them nearly a week ago was never responded to.

G: Well done, Namibia. It is about time something was said. As the articles point out, it is not all Chinese people who are bad but there are some who are. It is important that the trade in rhino horn and elephant ivory is stopped and then our poaching will stop. It is only the Chinese government who can stop the trade. They must act now.

Proposed Live Captures of Cetaceans, Seals and Penguins in NamibiaPosted on December 15, 2016 by Natalie SandersIUCN

In March 2016 a proposal to capture African penguins, marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds) and sharks was submitted to the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) by a partnership of two companies: “Welwitschia Aquatic and Wildlife Scientifi c Research Pty Ltd” and “Beijing Rare Animal Breeding & Promotion Co”. According to an article in the newspaper The Namibian, the proposed captures would include, annually, “…300 to 500 African penguins; fi ve to 15 killer whales; 50 to 100 common bottlenose dolphins; 50 to 100 Indo-Pacifi c bottlenose dolphins; 500 to 1 000 Cape fur seals; and various sharks.”

Concern was raised in May 2016 when a Russia-registered ship named the Ryazanovka docked in Lüderitz before moving onto Walvis Bay. The Ryazanovka has been involved in the capture of killer whales in eastern Russia, most recently two killer whales captured in the Magadan region (northern Okhotsk Sea) in 2015. Chinese and Russian parks have been the principal buyers of killer whales captured in the Russian Far East in recent years. According to a recent report by the China Cetacean Alliance, as of October 2015, there were captive cetaceans in at least 36 parks in China, with others under construction. Demand for exotic marine exhibits is clearly high. The vessel has apparently been sold to local buyers in Namibia (according to the Namibian newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung) and has since been at anchor in Walvis Bay, although a 9 December article suggests the vessel is bunkering and taking on other supplies.

Namibian conservation groups commented on the proposal soon after it was received. Their concerns included the fact that African penguins are greatly threatened (Endangered on the IUCN Red List) and the scale of the proposed captures would, if successful, deplete, if not eradicate, local populations of bottlenose dolphins and killer whales in a very short period of time. The most recent abundance estimate of coastal bottlenose dolphins in Namibia is ~100 animals. The proposal attempts to justify the capture of penguins and marine mammals by suggesting this would slow declines in fi shery production, an unfounded and widely discredited assumption worldwide. Opposition to the proposal has also been prevalent in the Namibian press, and both national and international NGOs have submitted letters of objection to the MFMR.

The Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission submitted a letter ... to the Permanent Secretary of MFMR on 14

October (copied to the Minister and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism). The immediate response from the Permanent Secretary was that a decision had not yet been reached and that the application did not guarantee permission. This was further to assurances that a decision would be made in early October. However as of 14 December no offi cial decision had yet been forthcoming.

And then, later ...

Namibian SunIn a strongly-worded statement the Beijing Ruier Animal Breeding and Promoting Company has blamed white-skinned Namibians of railroading their marine wildlife project.

WITHDRAW: Beijing Ruier Animal Breeding and Promoting Company say it is withdrawing its proposal to capture Namibian marine wildlife. Photo: FILE

The Chinese company that planned to purchase wild-caught marine wildlife from Namibia has blamed the country’s apartheid history and wealthy people with their “white skins” as some of the main obstacles it encountered and as the reasons for withdrawing its proposal.

The Beijing Ruier Animal Breeding and Promoting Company, based in China wrote a letter to the coastal weekly newspaper Namib Times yesterday, stating that it will no longer pursue the Namibian government’s approval for the export of captured, live marine mammals from Namibian waters. The company applied for a licence from the fi sheries ministry to capture live dolphins, seals, whales, penguins and other marine creatures. It, however, confi rmed in the letter that it has withdrawn its request.

The company, which claims to own the now notorious vessel Ryazanovka, said through the vessel’s master Ilya Sharapov that the negative publicity the project received is regrettable and that it was an investment opportunity worth N$100 million for Namibia. While Namibian Sun has been reliably informed that there were processes launched to re-register the vessel, the most recent documents show that Ryazanovka is owned by Vasiliyev OA, based in Petropavlovsk, Russia, also the registered harbour for the vessel.

Beijing Ruier Animal Breeding and Promoting Company applied for a licence with a local partner company (Welwitschia Aquatic and Wildlife Scientifi c Research) to the fi sheries ministry and the company says the purpose was to utilise these resources in a “sustainable manner”.

However, locals yesterday described the letter as insulting and an eye blinder.

“We don’t believe the statement; it was issued by the captain of the vessel and not the Chinese representative who is a businessman in Namibia. Yesterday there were enquiries made to have repairs and maintenance done on the “Ryazanovka” and she is still attempting to be classed for registry. The statement borders on being rude,” a spokesperson of the Namibian Anti-Plunder Group said.

The permanent secretary in the fi sheries ministry Moses Maurihungirire told Namibian Sun that he knows nothing of the company withdrawing its proposal and that it is still with the minister for consideration.

The Chinese-based company says that it was trying to “assist Namibia through diversifi cation of economic activities to create more employment, wealth and income and prosperity for the people of the country to come out of the poverty trap which was caused by the historical injustices of the previous apartheid administration”.

However, it continued by saying that “there were objectors who were mostly wealthy people inside and outside Namibia whose countries supported apartheid in the past which led to the current economic oppression of thousands of Namibians, and some of those who because of their white skin directly benefi tted from the discriminatory apartheid policies.”

The company says that these people’s voices have been very strong and even “insulting, and claiming that the project is either criminal or have some underhanded objectives”.

“In Namibia, we together with our local partners made a transparent application to the ministry, which should have been handled through the normal procedures. How can investment come to Namibia when investor applications are leaked to the media even before the ministry has pronounced itself on the merits of the application, and some animal zealots start to denounce the application?”

The company further says that it is unfortunate that the ministry never afforded them an opportunity to state precisely what they planned to do.

It says that they planned to invest over N$100 million in Namibia in the beginning stages and expand this investment later to much more by building a state-of-the-art marine park at the Namibian coast which would have allowed Namibians to benefi t from the presence of marine mammals.

The spotlight is on DRC again. President Kabila does not want to stand down from being president even though he has completed 10 years, the presidential limit. He is citing election problems. We await to see what will happen but there are guns galore in DRC and I would hate to think that civil war is on the way again. Wouldn’t that be too awful.

Anyhow, because I didn’t know anything about DRC National Parks it gave me an excuse to have a look on the internet and see what I could fi nd out.

There are 8 parks, most of which are in a pretty bad shape.

Kundelungu and Upemba, near to us in Zambia. Kundelungu is the site of Lofoi Falls, a 165 metres (541 ft) high waterfall (one of the largest in Central Africa.) The wildlife was almost poached out. In 2013 Frankfurt Zoological Society was asked to write up a master plan for the recovery of the parks.

I don’t expect much has changed since then because FZS does not mention either park in their list of projects now. There was one report recently which said that the zebra were making a comeback and that Kundelungu now had 40 zebra.

From National Geographic:... this tragedy shows ... the deadliness of the low-level confl ict that is happening in the Katanga Province. With an estimated $24 trillion in mineral wealth and a huge ongoing mineral extraction process, this is the richest region in the world. Its people are the poorest. The World Bank ranks the Congo dead last in a list of worst places in the world

to do business. There is much international news about the fi ghting and civil unrest in the Kivus in the north of the country but while these stories grab the headlines, there is a nasty little war taking place in and around the Upemba and Kundelungu National Parks. It’s a war about poverty, criminality, superstition and tribalism. ...

The Mai Mai are groups of militia set up by an ‘overlord/chief’. They range throughout DRC especially in the east.

DRC

Kahuzi-Biéga National Park

From Wikipedia: The Kahuzi-Biega National Park is ... named after two dormant volcanoes, Mount Kahuzi and Mount Biega, which are within its limits. ... It is one of the last refuges of the rare species of Eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), an endangered category under the IUCN Red List. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1980 for its unique biodiversity of rainforest habitat and its eastern lowland gorillas.

From their offi cial blog:Since Democratic Republic of Congo’s deadly civil war, its fauna and fl ora has yet to experience a moment of peace – from the devastation of its forests to the traffi cking of baby chimpanzees. Recently a baby chimp of about 2 years of age was confi scated from poachers in Bili Uele protected area complex...

Virunga National ParkFrom WikipediaThe park ... is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site since 1979.Virunga’s fauna, which includes elephants, lions, hippos, chimpanzees, and okapi—striped forest-dwelling mammals most closely related to giraffes—is just as varied. The park’s most prized inhabitants, though, are 200 of the world’s 880 remaining mountain gorillas, which inhabit the lower slopes of several extinct volcanoes that rise from the southeastern edge of the park and cut across the borders of Rwanda and Uganda.Nat Geographic:Owing to the region’s chronic instability, a mere one-tenth of Virunga is accessible to visitors—and really only half of that could be described as tourist friendly. The park’s VIPs—the 250 to 300 mountain gorillas that are habituated to humans—are kept under daily watch by a security team of 80 humans, as would befi t a president or a pope

FZS: Unfortunately, this border region has been impacted by ongoing confl ict and civil war.Mountain gorillas and chimpanzees are amongst the species that have fallen victim to these confl icts. There are approximately 800 mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) alive, about half of which live in the mountainous forests of the Virunga volcanoes. A small section of the park called the Tongo forest has been a focus of FZS as there are approximately 30 chimpanzees habituated in the area. Fertile volcanic soils make the region one of the most cultivated and densely populated regions in Africa, with crop fi elds bordering the park boundaries and human settlements numbering more than fi ve hundred people per square kilometre. It is one of the most densly populated places in Africa. The charcoal that constitutes 98 percent of a household’s energy source comes from the park’s

hardwood forests. Destruction of the forest habitat and a steady increase in poaching pose a signifi cant threat to hippos, elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees. Without regular monitoring and protection by the National Park rangers, these forests and their inhabitants could disappear rapidly.

Maiko National ParkFrom FZS: Maiko National Park, a forested area deep in the DR Congo, holds critically important species and is of global importance as a massive carbon sink. Despite being situated in an incredibly remote area of the DR Congo, we are taking strides to support the Congolese Park Authority ICCN to protect the park and support nearby communities.Maiko contains all three of the DRC’s most important endemic species: the Grauer’s gorilla, the Okapi, and the Congo peafowl. The park also contains signifi cant populations of elephant, chimpanzee, bongo and leopard. Unfortunately, the park has received little national or international attention or management support since its creation in 1970 ...Due to the park’s inaccessibility and remoteness, the forest block remains a bastion for a group of people known as the Simba Mai Mai, who took refuge there in 1964 after the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. Refusing to accept or acknowledge the legitimacy of the Mobutu regime, the Simba have remained in the park ever since, making a meager living from the park’s resources and protecting it from other rebel groups fi ghting in the region.We are now working to protect the park with the Simba while simultaneously relocating them and their families (estimated at 500-700 individuals) who have been living in the park for nearly half a century. ...

Garamba National Park

African Parks: Garamba, one of Africa’s oldest national parks, sustains an exceptionally high level of biodiversity. Ancient and majestic, this awe-inspiring landscape of dense forest and savannah spans 4,900 km² of the DRC, sharing 200 km of its border with war-torn South Sudan. Despite being situated in one of the most hostile parts of Africa, Garamba is teeming with life, including 340 species of bird and the critically threatened and last remaining Kordofan giraffe in the DRC. Tragically, militant ivory and bushmeat poachers have all but decimated the natural resources of this World Heritage Site.

Salonga National Park

World Wildlife Fund:Largest Forest Park in AfricaDeep inside the Democratic Republic of Congo, Salonga National Park extends over 33,350km2, which makes it the largest forest national park in Africa and the second largest tropical forest park in the world. It was created in 1970 and classifi ed as a World Heritage Site in 1984.A mosaic of rivers, forests, savannas, swamps and fl ooded forests, the Congo Basin is teeming with life. Gorillas, elephants and buffalo all call the region home.

... A growing problem has been road-building by logging companies, which gives bushmeat hunters access to the heart of previously remote forests. This has led to extreme over-hunting of vulnerable species such as the western lowland gorilla, elephant and leopard.

From Bonoba & Congo Biodivesity Initiative:The Salonga represents the largest expanse of legally protected bonobo habitat in DRC. As the centerpiece for

bonobo conservation, the park protects approximately 15,000 individuals, or possibly 40% of the world’s bonobo population. It is the only protected area in DRC where bonobos and elephants still occur together in substantial numbers and where elephants still play a major role in forest regeneration and growth. Because of its size and

intact ecosystem, the Salonga is one of the few places left in DRC that, if poaching could be stopped, has the ecological capacity for its forest elephant population to eventually recover.

In addition to the bonobo and forest elephant, the Salonga is home to many species, some endemic to DRC, and all of high conservation concern:

Lomami National Park

From Wikipedia:The Park was formally declared on July 7, 2016. It is the 8th national park in the country and the fi rst to be created since 1970.

Lomami National Park consists of 8,879 km² (887,900 hectares) of tropical lowland rainforest with savanna islands in the south and hills in the west. It is home to several nationally endemic species including Bonobo (Pan paniscus), Okapi (Okapia johnstoni), Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis) and a newly discovered primate species called Lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis), as well as the rare Dryas monkey known locally as Inoko (Cercopithecus dryas). An important population of African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is still protected in the northern part of the park.

Have a good two weeks

Gill

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