biodiversity Archives - Green Africa News

Illegal Trade Robbing South Africa of Rare Succulent Plants

25Mar

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biodiversity

Illegal Trade Robbing South Africa of Rare Succulent Plants

A long-flower kalanchoe, a succulent plant species native to South Africa © Brew Brooks/ Wikimedia Commons Illegal harvesting and smuggling are stripping one of South Africa’s biodiversity hotspots of its unique wild succulent plants, pushing the rare species closer to extinction. An analysis by the Institute of Security Studies’ ENACT initiative indicates that demand from horticultural markets in Asia, Europe and the United States is driving the illegal trade. Cultivated succulents, not wild ones, be legally traded internationally. Though illegal harvesting of wild succulents is not new, especially by foreigners from Asia and Europe, it surged since the COVID-19 pandemic as locals sought to overcome limited income opportunities. The almost-weekly arrests of suspected il...

The Republic of Congo Expands Biodiversity-Rich Park

24Feb

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The Republic of Congo Expands Biodiversity-Rich Park

Paki Paki, habituated blackback gorilla in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park © S.Ramsay_WCS.jpg The Republic of Congo has expanded the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park to include the Djéké Triangle, a 95-square-kilometer area of forests rich in biodiversity and carbon. The park, created in 1993, now covers 4334 km2. Djéké comprises unlogged forests sheltering Critically Endangered western lowland gorillas and other species. It is also the source of food, livelihood and other benefits for local communities. This gazettement follows 25 years of scientific research on gorillas and two years of community consultations by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). On February 10, 2023, the Congolese Government ratified the park’s management plan, which aims to benefit nature and the people...

Rwanda’s Revenue-Sharing Model Boosts Support for Biodiversity Conservation

15Feb

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Rwanda’s Revenue-Sharing Model Boosts Support for Biodiversity Conservation

A mountain gorilla in Central Africa. Photo © Caterina Sanders/Unsplash A new study of Rwanda’s programme of sharing tourism revenue from national parks with communities shows it has strengthened support for wildlife conservation but needs reforms to boost its impact. Published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism, the first longitudinal analysis (2005-2020) of the Tourism Revenue Sharing Programme (TRSP) across the country’s three main national parks established that 84% of community respondents felt it has increased their support for conservation. So did the majority of local leaders (89%), and partner organizations such as NGOs (82%). Similarly, the study found 80% of the community respondents across all the NPs were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with ...

New Study: African Forest Elephants Critical to Climate Action

6Feb

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New Study: African Forest Elephants Critical to Climate Action

Photo: © Frank af Petersens, Save the Elephants A new study highlights how African forest elephants enhance carbon storage in tropical forests, underscoring their value in the global fight against the climate crisis. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests that elephants contribute to the abundance of huge, carbon-dense trees within tropical forests. They prefer fruits from large trees, whose seeds they then disperse through their nutrient-rich dung. They also support the growth of large trees to thrive by eating competing trees and shrubs with low carbon density whose leaves they find more palatable and digestible. "These results demonstrate the importance of megaherbivores for maintaining diverse, high-carbon t...

Mainstream Nature into Africa’s Economic Policies

31Jan

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Mainstream Nature into Africa’s Economic Policies

Photo: Amanda Silva/ Unsplash The rapid loss of nature in Kenya and Africa threatens long-term socio-economic development and people’s well-being. To address this challenge, governments and businesses should expand efforts to recognize and quantify nature's contributions to economies and integrate them into policies and decisions. This will boost the sustainable management of our natural resources. Natural capital-- forests, wildlife, land, oceans, and wetlands--provides vital goods and services to economies. These include food, fresh water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use, air filtration, pollination, flood and soil erosion control, tourism attraction, and climate change regulation. But nature’s contributions to economies are largely not part of calculat...