Elephants-Keystone Species for Survival

I came across the below article by Lauren Shuttleworth of the Project Elephant and it is an excellent summary why we need to fight for the survival of the elephant, a keystone species.  Please read below how important the elephants are as ecosystems engineers:

 " In the African savannah, elephants push over and strip trees, making way for a plethora of grass species. The grass feeds the grazing herbivores such as zebra, antelope and buffalo, which in turn feed the carnivores, such as lions and leopards. Asian elephants and African Forest elephants are hugely important for seed dispersal, as they eat the fruit of various pant species and ‘deposit’ it across vast distances."

However the threats to their survival are numerous from habitat loss to poaching for ivory.

The excellent article below shows that the consequences of extinction of the elephants are wide ranging and impact our own survival.

Thank you to all of my readers for your interest and for helping making the planet a better world for all.

Til next time, 

Meggi

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Why Saving the Elephants Could Save the World

 by Lauren Shuttleworth;  Project Elephant

If the current rates of population decline continue, 

elephants will be lost from the wild within 12 years. 

A world without elephants is not one we want to live on!

I should probably begin this post by confessing that I am a huge animal lover (surprise!).

I care deeply about the welfare and conservation of all species, and believe that we should be invested in their protection simply because it is the right and just thing to do. Considering that human activity has contributed almost exclusively to endangerment, I think we have a moral responsibility to step up and take action. But outside of that, there are some key reasons as to why the preservation of particular species is seriously important. And in my somewhat biased opinion, one of the most significant of these animals is the elephant. The impact they have on the environment, national economies, international security and even the human spirit is so large that it has to be said; if we can save the elephants, we might just save the world. Here’s how:

Elephants are a Keystone Species, playing the role of Ecosystem Engineers.
To borrow the trusty Wikipedia definition, ‘a keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance’. Basically, they play a critical role in the creation and survival of their ecosystem. And considering that elephants span across the African and Asian continents, we’re talking about a pretty large ecosystem indeed.

In the hierarchy of keystone species, elephants score the pretty cool job title of ‘Ecosystem Engineers’. In the African savannah, elephants push over and strip trees, making way for a plethora of grass species. The grass feeds the grazing herbivores such as zebra, antelope and buffalo, which in turn feed the carnivores, such as lions and leopards. Asian elephants and African Forest elephants are hugely important for seed dispersal, as they eat the fruit of various pant species and ‘deposit’ it across vast distances. In one study, it was found that elephants dispersed seeds over 57km, whereas most animals will just spread seeds a few hundred meters away from the source. This ensures the diversity and health of many of the world’s largest rainforests, which in turn are responsible for stabilising the climate of the ENTIRE WORLD. So elephants can pretty much add ‘Climate Change Superheros’ to their resume.

Eco-Tourism is a really, really big industry.
As outlined above, elephants are pretty essential to the health of their ecosystems. Without them, many other flora and fauna species would suffer – if not altogether perish. It’s easy to see the effect this would have on the eco-tourism industry, considering that millions of tourists travel to places in Africa and Asia each year, entirely for the purpose of viewing animals in the wild and experiencing the wonders of nature. In Africa, the eco-tourism industry is said to be worth some 50 billion dollars – hugely significant for many national economies and local communities. The Kenyan government has been particularly vocal about the economic impact of ivory poaching, claiming it threatens over 300,000 jobs alone.

Ivory poaching is funding terrorist organisations and international crime networks.
I’ve spoken before about the ties between ivory poaching and terrorist organizations and international criminal syndicates. The Somalia-based wing of Al-Qaeda raises $600,000 a month from poaching to fund its activities, as does Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army – the Ugandan rebel group notorious for abducting and enslaving children. Boko Haram – the group responsible for the recent kidnapping of 234 school girls in Nigeria – has also been explicitly identified as receiving funding from the ivory trade. A kilogram of ivory will sell for as much as $2,200 on the black market, and with a pair of bull tusks weighing around 120kg on average, that’s a hell of a lot of money. Chinese mafia organizations mostly do the buying and distributing of ivory once it has been obtained. If we can focus on putting an end to the demand of ivory through increased education and awareness in the Chinese market, as well as heighted protection in Africa, we would in turn dry up a significant portion of the funding for some of the world’s most notorious criminals.

Elephants hold a pretty special and powerful place in our hearts.
As our largest and perhaps most iconic land animal, elephants are revered across the world. Elephants are one of a handful of animals considered a flagship species, meaning they play an important role in promoting universal conservation awareness and engagement. By focusing on the protection of flagship species, organizations such as WWF are able conserve many other ‘umbrella’ species which share the same habitat or are vulnerable to similar threats. Additionally, it is the intelligence and human-like emotion of elephants that builds an important bridge of understanding for many people. Being able to relate to the social bonds and interactions of elephant brings an awareness that ALL animals are of importance, and that there right to live on this earth is as deserving and necessary as our own.

Published by Project Elephant

[Ref:  http://projectelephant.com.au]

Nepal: Full year without Poaching

Good News for Animals in Nepal: A Full Year Without Poaching

A few years ago during my travel to Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan, I visited the Chitwan National Park in Southern Nepal.  I was fortunate to have 2 encounters with wild rhinos, and learned about the country's efforts to halt poaching in the National Parks and remaining wild lands.  I am very happy to read the below report published by Focusing on Wildlife and National Geographic.  It is a huge achievement that no rhinos, tigers or elephants were killed during the last year. Moreover, in the 2011 census, the country reported a ~20% increase in the rhino population from 425 in 2008 to 534 animals, and an increase of tigers from 121 to 198 (2009 to 2013).  But danger still lurks in this small mountain country between China in the north and India in the south since border control is difficult and organized crime focusing on wildlife trade could hone in on the increased numbers of rhinos and tigers.

However, for a small mountain country like Nepal the zero poaching is a huge achievement and needs to be celebrated!

Please read the full story below: 

On World Wildlife Day, March 3, Nepal celebrated 365 days with zero poaching. No rhinos, tigers, or elephants were killed. It’s the second year of such success in Nepal. In 2011 the country also had none, and in 2012 it lost just one rhino to poaching.

A greater one-horned rhino drinks from a river bordering Chitwan National Park, about 44 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Kathmandu, Nepal – PHOTOGRAPH BY GEMUNU AMARASINGHE, AP 

This achievement is particularly notable in the face of increased poaching elsewhere. Since February 28, according to press reports, Kenya lost three rhinos to poachers in the span of one week in heavily guarded Lake Nakuru National Park, and one more in Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

On February 28 in South Africa, the epicenter of the rhino poaching crisis, tourists in Kruger National Park found a blinded and mutilated rhino wandering alive. That horror prompted a social media storm and generated intense interest from the Belgian ambassador to South Africa and senior members of the European Parliament. (The personal secretary and aide to Belgium’s deputy prime minister was one of the tourists.) In South Africa last year, 1004 rhinos were poached; so far this year, 146 have been poached.

Against this backdrop, Nepal’s record stands out.

According to John Scanlon, secretary-general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Nepal’s success is the result of “strong and committed leadership, excellent national collaboration among enforcement entities and with parks agencies, very effective engagement with local communities, and targeted intelligence-led enforcement actions leading to arrests of key players at the top of the criminal chain.”

More than 700 criminals were arrested for wildlife-related crimes this past year, including many “kingpins.”

“Efforts on the ground have been intensified, with rangers and the Nepal[ese] army patrolling protected areas with support from community-based antipoaching units outside the parks,” notes Shubash Lohani, deputy director of the Eastern Himalaya Ecoregion Program at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

“In addition, active enforcement by the crime investigation bureau of Nepal’s police has been crucial to breaking down the presence of illegal wildlife trafficking networks.”

A joint operation in October 2013 by the Nepalese army and the special police led to the dismantling of a rhino poaching network and the arrest of Kathmandu-based kingpin Buddhi Bahadur Praja. Praja allegedly ran a cross-border smuggling enterprise from Nepal to Tibet and killed 12 rhinos over six years.

Also in December 2013, at Nepal’s request INTERPOL issued a Red Notice for another notorious rhino poacher, Rajkumar Praja, a 30-year-old Nepali wanted for killing 15 rhinos in Chitwan National Park. Praja was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison.

A photo of game rangers carrying a confiscated tiger skin drying on a rack – PHOTOGRAPH BY MAGGIE STEBER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Zero Tolerance for Wildlife Crime

“There is very much a zero-tolerance attitude to wildlife crime, whereby justice is often swift and harsh,” notes John Sellar, an anti-smuggling, fraud, and organized crime consultant and former CITES enforcement chief.

“Nepal’s forest law empowers district forest officers and chief wildlife wardens to deal with offenders and impose prison sentences of up to 14 or 15 years,” according to Sellar.

“Whilst this scenario might seem at odds with other judicial systems,” Sellar says, “probably its greatest advantage is that it means that any poacher who is caught can expect to be dealt with much quicker than in other countries suffering high levels of poaching, where court systems regularly have lengthy backlogs and where, currently, insufficient deterrence is present.”

Thanks to Nepal’s efforts, its current estimated population of tigers in national parks increased from 121 in 2009 to 198 in 2013, a promising uptick for a species that’s in desperate trouble globally.

A 2011 census of Nepal’s greater one-horned rhinos showed an estimated population of 534, up 20 percent from 425 in 2008, with more than 500 of them in Chitwan National Park.

The Nepalese army patrols the national parks to ensure their protection. But poaching increased during the Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006, when soldiers were redeployed and the number of army monitoring posts in and around the park fell from 30 to 7.

As a result, Chitwan’s rhino population reportedly fell from 612 rhinos in 2000 to some 380 in 2006, when a peace accord was signed.

Today, according to BBC reports, at least a thousand Nepalese soldiers patrol Chitwan from more than 40 posts.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GEMUNU AMARASINGHE, AP A Nepalese wildlife ranger riding an elephant holds an antenna as he tries to trace a rhino with a radio collar in Chitwan National Park.

Cooperative Approach

At the national level, Nepal’s Department of Forests, the country’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) anti poaching staff, and the Nepalese army all share information and work together to fight wildlife poaching and trafficking. At the local level, communities provide the DNPWC with information, which allows officials to target poachers and dealers.

“There has been collaboration across the board in Nepal to stop poaching by putting more rangers on the ground in a cohesive, sophisticated way, actively enforcing anti-trafficking laws to break down illegal wildlife trade networks, educating local communities, and building a shared ethic of conservation across Nepali society,” says WWF’s Lohani.

For years Nepal has ensured local communities benefit financially from the parks and ecotourism. Those benefits come not only from employment, but also from sharing revenue, such as entrance fees and license fees for tour and lodge companies, with local people.

“The government actually gives 50 cents of every tourist dollar to local communities, which makes them hold more value for rhinos alive than dead,” Lohani notes.

Further, Nepalese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), such as the National Trust for Nature Conservation, and international NGOs, such as WWF, have a long history of fruitful interaction with local communities. The result is citizens with a strong sense of ownership and commitment to wildlife protection.

Dedicated leadership at high levels has also been important. Nepal’s prime minister chairs the national wildlife crime control bureau. The country hosts the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) secretariat, and the director-general of DNPWC serves as SAWEN’s chief enforcement coordinator.

In addition, Nepal was a major force in the early days of the Global Tiger Initiative, which assists the 13 tiger range states in carrying out their conservation strategies through planning, coordination, and communication.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GEMUNU AMARASINGHE, AP Tourists prepare to ride an elephant during a wildlife safari in Chitwan National Park.

Danger Lurks

Nepal’s location—between China to its north and India to its south, east, and west—places it at great risk for trafficking. The country’s rough terrain makes border control difficult, and Kathmandu Valley is believed to be a major transit point for the illicit wildlife trade.

“Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that Nepal’s growing tiger and rhino populations will inevitably continue to be targets,” Sellar warns. “Personally, my concern would be that we see the South Africa scenario replicated—i.e., heavily armed and determined foreign gangs entering Nepal’s national parks in search of horns, skins, and ivory.”

But Nepal is aware of the dangers. Already, it has sought to employ the Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit and collaborate with the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) to strengthen its approach to wildlife crime.

As Klairoong Poonpon, former chair of INTERPOL’s Wildlife Crime Working Group and senior technical officer of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, summarizes, “Nepal’s remarkable achievement at zero poaching for a second year gives lessons for other countries and hope for the future of our wildlife.”

This article was written by Laurel Neme for National Geographic.

[Ref:  http://focusingonwildlife.com]

Til next time,

Meggi

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For all Friends of Wildlife and Elephants, this Photo Tour is for you!

Did you know that we have an Elephant Sanctuary PAWS here in California?

Join me for an unforgettable day with the elephants at PAWS - 

read more about my 2012 visit at PAWS and the then 7 elephants at the sanctuary here.

A few spaces available for the October 2014 Photo Tour.

To read the full details, click here.

To register, pl email me at mraeder33@gmail.com.