WWF - WWF Tanzania office

Treaty parties learn of 40 proposed wildlife trade rule changes

2009-10-26

Gland, Switzerland - Proposals for tighter trade controls for species such as the Atlantic Blue Fin tuna, sharks and corals have been submitted for the next meeting of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

The meeting, which will have changes to trade rules for an unusual proportion of marine species on its agenda, will be held in Quatar in March. Controversy is also expected over conflicting proposals concerning elephants.

WWF especially welcomes the proposal by the Principality of Monaco to list Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix I to the convention, which would ban international trade for commercial purposes and was submitted as Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are declining dramatically because of uncontrolled overfishing.

“An Appendix I listing for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna has become imperative if we are to save the species,” said Amanda Nickson, Director of the WWF International Species Programme.

“If we act now we can secure the future of this species and guarantee that fishing can be resumed in the future, but at a sustainable level.”

WWF was also encouraged to see that proposals to list several shark species on Appendix II, which allows for international trade but imposes strict regulations and requires proof that trade is sustainable and legal, were submitted. Threats such as bycatch and shark finning and illegal fishing and overfishing have caused serious declines in shark populations.

Also proposed for an Appendix II listing were red and pink coral, which are used to make jewellery. Red and pink corals are found throughout the world’s tropical and temperate seas but the absence of effective international trade controls has led to overharvesting.

Elephant debate expected to be controversial

Elephants, one of WWF’s priority species, will be a topic of debate at the CITES meeting as potentially conflicting proposals were submitted for elephants. Kenya submitted a proposal – together with a group of west African countries - that would impose a 19 year ban on other countries seeking permission for one-off ivory sales, such as the one that took place under CITES supervision in 2008, and that would suspend the legal sale of ivory souvenirs in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

One the other hand, Zambia and Tanzania submitted proposals that would have elephant populations within their borders moved from Appendix I to Appendix II in order to ease the permitting rules for trophy hunting and allow for the sale of government-owned ivory stockpiles.

“WWF recognizes that some southern African Elephant range States have successfully demonstrated that their populations should be placed on Appendix II," said Nickson.

"However, Tanzania and Zambia have yet to prove their case by demonstrating that their management of ivory stockpiles is adequate enough to prevent laundering of poached ivory.

“And while we acknowledge the concerns that have motivated Kenya’s proposal, we must focus not forget to address what WWF sees as the main issue driving elephant poaching – that is, unregulated domestic markets in central and West Africa.”

Two other of WWF’s priority species that were not the subject of listing proposals but that will be discussed at the meeting are tigers and rhinos, which are both critically endangered and are being poached in order to feed the illegal market for their parts and derivatives. Tiger numbers could now be as low as 3,200 and rhino poaching has reached a 15 year high according to new research released this summer.

WWF will now engage with its partners TRAFFIC and IUCN, which will do a full analyses of the proposals in order to assess whether or not they meet the criteria required for a species to be listed in the CITES appendices. WWF will formulate its position on each proposal based on this analysis.

“WWF looks forward to the CITES meeting,” said Ms Nickson. “There has never been a meeting where marine animals featured so prominently. Now is an opportunity to show that CITES has the capacity to address the pressing issues concerning the trade in these species.”

Flow plan for less talk and more action as climate change hits rivers

2008-08-21

Managers and stakeholders in freshwater systems need to stop talking about adaptation to climate change and start doing it, WWF told the World Water Week symposium in Stockholm today.

The global conservation group presented a series of case studies from four continents showing that measures to improving the health of stressed water systems now would improve their ability to cope with projected climate impacts in the future.

"There are no regrets to many of the actions we can take now," said WWF freshwater researcher Jamie Pittock. "We are talking about improving river management and restoring the flood holding and drought proofing services of flood plains and wetlands, all of which can be shown to have short term economic, social and environmental pay-offs.

"The fact that they help climate-proof our river basins now is an added benefit."

Launching the new WWF report Water for life: Lessons for climate change adaptation from better management of rivers for people and nature at World Water Week, Mr Pittock said climate adaptation strategies that neglected freshwater systems were asking for trouble.

"Setting biofuel targets without considering where the water to grow biomass crops will come from is a recipe for a worsening water crisis in many regions and freshwater systems less able to cope with extreme weather events," Mr Pittock said.

"More dams for hydropower is a recipe for even more fragmented rivers that will inhibit freshwater species - the food for millions - adapting to climate impacts by migrating up or down river systems."

WWF field studies show that work already begun on opening up Danube River floodplains and wetlands and reconnecting lakes to the river is improving fishing and drinking water availability, bringing back birds and reducing vulnerability to floods.

"Restoration of the 37 sites that make up the Lower Danube Green Corridor is estimated to cost €183 million, compared to damages of €396 million from the 2005 flood and likely earnings of €85.6 million per year," Mr Pittock said. "This is adaptation to climate impacts even if it is not planned or labeled as adaptation."

Perrenial flows in Tanzania's Great Ruaha River stopped in 1993 after years of declining rainfall and increasing water extractions, putting at risk important hydropower generation and tourism and reducing livelihoods for low income upstream and downstream communities.

The establishment of local water users associations and their work in restoring catchments, rescheduling diversions by major agricultural enterprises and the shutting off of illegal diversions resulted in year round river flows to the important Ihefu wetlands beginning again in 2004, with improved water security and livelihood opportunities to local communities.

Restoration of silted-up and abandoned water tanks used from around 1200 years ago to collect monsoon waters in a tributary area of India's Godavari River is lifting depleted groundwater levels, bringing dried out wells back into service and improving soil fertility and crop yields for disadvantaged farmers. Scaling up the project to cover all tanks in the area would cost $US 635 million to store about the same amount of water as a projected dam project costing $US 4 billion with significant adverse social and environmental impacts.

"This is adaptation that involves and respects the needs of local communities and people and provides immediate benefits, Mr Pittock said.

And in China's central Yangtse, WWF began working with local communities in 2002 to reconnect lakes and wetlands to absorb flood flows and counter sever pollution linked with increased heat and droughts.

Other benefits have been an increased variety and quantity of fish and improved access to safe water for communities.

"Our studies show that it is often a disaster that leads to the river restoration activities that will increase resilience to climate impacts," Mr Pittock said. "It would make more sense to avoid or reduce the impact of disaster by restoring and strengthening our river systems now.

WWF also released an overview on climate change adaptation for freshwater systems, as a guide to planners and managers.

The author of the guide, Dr John Matthews, said "Uncertainty is no reason for not acting on climate change impacts on vital water systems. We are certain there will be significant impacts even if we can't put as many decimal points on them as we would like to."

Notes:
• Adapting Water to a Changing Climate: An Overview by Dr John Matthews & Dr. Tom Le Quesne.

• Water for life: Lessons for Climate change adaptation from better management of rivers for people and nature by Jamie Pittock.

For further information:
Jamie Pittock – Mob: +61 407 265 131, e-mail: jpittock@wwf.org.au

Dr John Matthews – Tel: +1 202 203 8957, e-mail: john.matthews@wwfus.org

Phil Dickie – Mob: +41 79 703 1952, e-mail: pdickie@wwfint.org

About WWF
WWF, the global conservation organization, is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations. WWF has a global network active in over 100 countries with almost 5 million supporters.

WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

More of Africa urged to boost rhino numbers

2008-03-14

KwaZulu Natal, South Africa – After bringing Africa’s black rhinos spectacularly back from the brink of extinction one of the world’s most successful conservation programmes is to celebrate its first decade by seeking to extend its operations to more of Africa.

Representatives of the governments of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia are expected to join in WWF’s African Rhino Programme (ARP) 10th anniversary celebration in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, today. They will join government and wildlife representatives, community representatives and eco-tourism operators from the current ARP participating States of in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

“What we have shown is that in partnership with governments and communities and business it is possible to stave off extinction for the rhino in some of its former range,” said WWF International’s Species Programme Director Dr Susan Lieberman. “The task now is to secure a future for the rhino in the rest of its range, where threats from poaching and development urgently need to be addressed.”

Africa’s savannas once teemed with more than a million white and black rhinos. However, relentless hunting by European settlers saw rhino numbers and distribution quickly decline. The southern white rhino was close to extinction by the late 19th century but concerted conservation efforts by KwaZulu Natal and others has led to a significantly larger population.

Added to hunting and habitat loss, trade in rhino horn peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, when huge quantities were shipped to the lucrative markets of the Middle East and Asia.

Responding to the crisis, both species of African rhino were listed in 1977 in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibited all international trade of rhino parts and products. Despite this international legal protection, the black rhino population at its lowest point dipped to 2,400 in 1995.

In 1997, there were 8,466 white rhinos and 2,599 black rhinos remaining in the wild. Today, there are 14,500 white rhinos and nearly 4,000 of the more endangered black rhinos.

Today, most of Africa’s black rhinos are found in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, where the species’ decline has been stopped through effective security monitoring, better biological management, wildlife-based tourism and extensive assistance to enable communities to benefit from rather than be in conflict with wildlife.

According to the African Rhino Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Africa’s white and black rhino numbers have shown annual growth rates of 6.8 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively, since 1995.

“What we know from looking back at the last ten years is that sustained conservation can and does work,” says George Kampamba, WWF International’s African Rhino Programme Coordinator.

Although WWF has worked on Rhino conservation throughout its 45-year history, the ARP was notable for its overall approach. Working through field projects, it combined action at every level from local communities to global policy.

One striking, if unanticipated, indicator of the success of the programme is that land prices immediately increase in areas where rhinos are re-introduced through a range expansion program. The ARP, which has had experience reintroducing rhinos to national parks, also passed a milestone last year when a KwaZulu Natal community received black rhinos for community-owned land dedicated to wildlife and ecotourism uses.

“Rhino conservation in Africa is going from strength to strength,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme. “But poaching, illegal trade, and unplanned development remain significant problems across the rhinos’ range and there is no room for complacency.”

In celebration of a decade of rhino conservation, WWF honoured six leaders as “rhino champions” today at Pongola Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal. "These rhino champions have made extraordinary contributions to rhino conservation," Dr Lieberman said.

The champions are:.

Emmanuel-Cebo Gumbi (known as “Nathi Gumbi”) director Somkhanda Game Reserve and member of the Gumbi royal family

Kevin John Pretorius, regional director for Phinda Game Reserve

Clive Vivier, owner Leopold Mountain Game Reserve

Manfred Kohrs, former chairman Pongola Game Reserve Association

Dr Jacques Flammand, project leader WWF/Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Black Rhino Range Expansion Project.

Taye Teferi, conservation director of WWF’s East Africa Regional Program

Jackson Kamwi, Senior Rhino Monitor at the Lowveld Conservancy Project, Zimbabwe

See under media releases for further information and contact details

New guide to reducing bycatch goes online

2008-02-12

As a service to the long-term sustainability of both fish stocks and fishing communities, WWF has established an online resource providing up-to-date information on bycatch (the capture of non-target creatures in fishing gear) and how to reduce it.

The new website, accessed through WWF’s familiar www.panda.org portal, aims to take fishers, consumers and those simply concerned, through the whole bycatch story, from problems to proven or potential solutions.

“Bycatch costs fishers time and money,” said Amanda Nickson, Head of WWF’s Bycatch Initiative. “It contributes to the already critical problem of over-fishing, it jeopardizes future revenue, jobs and long-term food security.

“It is also a major killer of marine wildlife. How many more reasons do you need to change the way we fish?”

Each year, many millions of tonnes of marine animals such as turtles, whales, dolphins, sharks, and seabirds, right through to juvenile fish, corals, crabs and starfish etc are caught by modern, indiscriminate yet highly efficient fishing gear and thrown back into the water (‘discarded’), dead or dying.

In the tropical shrimp trawl fisheries, for example, bycatch may outweigh the shrimp catch by 20 to 1 or more, according the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.

Much of this bycatch consists of juvenile and low-value fish which are then often discarded, usually dead. Such wastages constitute a serious mismanagement of our valuable ocean resources. In many cases, however, bycatch can be reduced with modifications to fishing gear, which according to Nickson makes “the ongoing high level of bycatch unethical”.

“It's time to change - and we hope this site and the resources we've provided will help us all contribute to bycatch reduction," she said.

The new site maps where fisheries are working to reduce bycatch and includes a new searchable database that showcases bycatch solutions through fishing gear modifications. WWF, which is devoting major new resources to tackling this problem in key fisheries, is confident the new site will become an invaluable source of information for everyone, including fishers, politicians, technical experts, journalists and interested members of the public.

The site is found at www.panda.org/bycatch

Search for "night time spinach" threatens wildlife, local livelihoods

2008-01-22

Meat hungry refugees are sustaining a thriving wildlife poaching trade in Tanzania, according to a report by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

Wild meat, cooked after dark in the refugee camps of northern Tanzania, is called "night time spinach". Generally cheaper than beef and culturally more appetizing, poaching or trading wild meat is one of the few income earning opportunities available to refugees.

But the decimation of local wildlife in widening areas around camps is threatening the viability of established local non-refugee communities that traditionally supplemented their diet and income with wild foods.

“The scale of wild meat consumption in refugee camps has helped the international community to conceal its failure of meeting basic refugee needs,” said Dr George Jambiya, the main author of the "Night Time Spinach’ report.

“Relief agencies are turning a blind eye to the real cause of the poaching and illegal trade: a lack of meat protein in refugees’ rations.”

Sheer numbers of refugees often leads to extensive habitat degradation and dramatic loss of wildlife in affected areas, with rare species like chimpanzees threatened by the demand for meat. Populations of buffalo, sable antelope and other grazing animals have also shown steep declines.

Since Tanzanian independence in 1961, more than 20 major refugee camps have been located close to game reserves, national parks or other protected areas; 13 of them still remained in 2005. In the mid-1990s, an estimated 7.5 tons of illegal wild meat was consumed weekly in the two main refugee camps.

TRAFFIC says that refugees are doubly penalized: their rights to minimum humanitarian care are not always being met and their own attempts to meet them are criminalized. In contrast, humanitarian assistance to displaced populations in Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia during the early 1990s included the provision of corned beef.

“Something has to be wrong if refugees, who have run from guns in their home country, then find themselves fleeing wildlife rangers’ firearms in their search for food,” says Simon Milledge of TRAFFIC and an author of the report.

Conservation organizations believe the key is to supply meat from legal and sustainable wild meat supplies, as well as rigorous law enforcement on the ground.

“The sad reality is that those who most depend upon wild sources of food are usually the ones who pay the heaviest price for biodiversity loss,” says Dr Susan Lieberman, Director WWF’s International Species Programme. “WWF calls upon humanitarian agencies to provide for basic food security of refugees, including animal protein, to ensure a sustainable future for all.”

“The IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species shows that many of Sub-Saharan Africa’s wildlife species are threatened, with around 20 percent suffering recorded population declines from the wild meat trade,” said Dr Jane Smart, Head of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)’s Global Species Programme.

“Also the depletion of wildlife is likely to cause an overall loss of income as areas become devoid of species and of less interest to visitors, which may cause economic impacts as well as resentment by local people. ”

The report recommends closer partnerships between wildlife and humanitarian agencies, which have already showed progress to address other environmental impacts of refugee camps such as deforestation.

Sea turtles threatened by rising seas

2007-09-10

Climate change is warming the earth. Ice is melting and sea levels have started to rise. This causes damage, with serious consequences for nature and for coastal communities.

Scientists have now looked at the impacts of sea level rise on sea turtles. These ancient animals lay their eggs into the beach sand. Many turtle species return to the exact beaches that they were hatched to lay the eggs for the next generation of turtles.

However, sea level rise threatens beach habitat and turtle reproduction will be hard hit. To investigate the threat of climate change, a recent study examined the nesting sites of sea turtles in the Caribbean Islands under three likely sea-level rise scenarios.

The authors of this report found that with a moderate 0.5 m rise in sea level, a third of the total current beach area could be lost. Among the 13 beaches that were surveyed one particularly vulnerable beach could lose almost its entire suitable sea turtle habitat. This magnitude of beach habitat loss could literally be the point of no return for populations of already critically endangered sea turtles, such as the hawksbill turtle.

Climate change effects on marine turtles can include:

loss of nesting and feeding habitats due to sea-level rise;
increased sand temperatures, which can lead to changes in sex ratios or potentially result in mortality;
increased ocean temperatures, which can lead to coral bleaching and other damage to turtle feeding habitats;
changes in ocean currents, which can modify migrations paths and feeding patterns; and
extreme rainfall events, which can increase the potentially lethal transfer of sediment to coral reefs and raise water tables, thereby flooding nests.

WWF´s Latin America and Caribbean Programme and the Climate Change Programme are constructing a research project to quantify the impacts that climate change will have on hawksbill turtles, provide a model for assessing future climate change impacts to other marine turtle species, and begin to shape how we develop conservation strategies to protect marine turtles in the face of climate change. The first stage of this project targets the Caribbean region.

This study will identify the location and susceptibility of known hawksbill nesting areas to climate change and will provide management prescriptions to reduce the vulnerability of hawksbill turtles and increase their resilience to climate change. When completed WWF will provide tools, such as a map highlighting current nesting areas, key habitats and migration paths that are potentially threatened by sea level and temperature rise, so that managers and conservationists can prioritize their efforts. WWF is currently looking for partners to embark in this program of work.

WWF is also working across the globe to help protect hawksbill, leatherback, and other species of sea turtles and the habitats that they need to survive. They are threatened by hunting, pollution, beach development (such as coastal resorts), and by unsustainable fishing practices (for example, unintentionally catching turtles when harvesting fish). Now climate change adds an additional threat.

“As we continue to pollute our atmosphere with emissions from power plants, sea level rise increases and will drastically reduce sea turtle nesting sites,” says Michael Case, WWF Climate Change Research Scientist. “Climate change could well be the long-term threat that determines whether some species of sea turtles survive or go extinct.”

Will the people also be affected?

Nearly half of the world’s human populations live within 200 km of coasts. Many countries rely on the environmental and economic values of coasts such as fishing, tourism, and transport. Many of the largest cities are coastal cities, for example London, New York, Shanghai and Singapore.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the current rate of sea level rise is 1-2 mm per year. By 2100 we could see the water rising between 90 and 880 mm. This rise in sea levels will have a number of impacts including coastal flooding, the destruction of coastal wetlands, increased erosion of beaches and other coastal land.

We can only guess how prohibitively expensive sea level rise will be.

Source:
Fish et al. 2005. Predicting the Impact of Sea-Level Rise on Caribbean Sea Turtle Nesting Habitat. Conservation Biology 19(2):482-491.

See Carlos Drews' interview with CNN en Español on September 13, 2007

Tanzania's disappearing timber revenue

2007-05-25

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Millions of dollars worth of timber revenue is being lost each year in Tanzania because of poor governance and rampant corruption in the forestry sector, according to a new report by TRAFFIC International, launched today.

The report — Forestry, governance and national development: Lessons learned from a logging boom in southern Tanzania — documents alarming levels of corruption, illegal logging and exports of forest products from Tanzania.

Annually, timber royalty losses amounted to US$58 million during 2004 and 2005. Trade losses are also significant: China imported ten times more timber from Tanzania than is documented by Tanzania’s export records, implying a 90% loss of revenue from this source. Up to 96% of potential timber royalties were lost by central and district governments due to under-collection — entire District Council budgets could have been increased several times over.

“It’s a national tragedy,” says TRAFFIC’s Executive Director, Steven Broad. “Income from a sustainably managed timber industry should be assisting national development and alleviating poverty, not ending up in criminals’ bank accounts.”

“We’re now in the situation where the Tanzanian forestry sector is highly dependent upon donor funding despite having the clear potential to be self-sufficient from timber revenues.”

Uncontrolled timber harvesting in southern Tanzania grew rapidly from 2003, largely because of increasing overseas demand, especially from China. Driven by greed and profit, some operators broke laws, paid minimal wages and minimal prices for harvested logs — just 1% of their export value. Meanwhile, Tanzanian hardwoods commanded high prices internationally, compared to timber from West and Central Africa. The unsustainable harvesting has led to environmental degradation and the loss of commercially viable hardwoods in many areas.

“Although community-based forest management is widespread in Tanzania, rural communities unfortunately just aren’t demanding enough accountability. Who’s cutting their forests down, and where are the profits going?” asks TRAFFIC’s Simon Milledge, an author of the report.

More than half of the 28 logging companies studied had close links to senior forest or government officials. In some rural areas, the involvement of village leaders in the timber trade has led to an unfair distribution of profits, and at higher levels, there are many examples of self-dealing, nepotism and cronyism.

“The Tanzanian government has tried to regulate the timber trade, through harvest and export bans, the establishment of forest surveillance units, and a review of licensing and harvesting procedures, but serious governance shortfalls have undermined these commendable measures,” says Milledge.

“While the situation has improved somewhat since 2006, the government still needs to do much more to tighten up its regulation of the industry and stamp out the corruption within it.”

“It’s not a question of stopping the logging and exportation of forest products, but of proper regulation of the timber industry and taking advantage of existing bilateral trade opportunities with countries such as China. Proper enforcement in the forestry sector will bring benefits for the whole nation.”

The report details how forestry-related corruption and other factors affecting good governance are preventing Tanzania reaching the goals set out in the country's National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (2005).

Forestry, governance and national development: Lessons learned from a logging boom in southern Tanzania was funded by the Norwegian embassy in Tanzania and written jointly by TRAFFIC, the government of Tanzania, and the Tanzanian Development Partners Group.

For further information:
Richard Thomas, Communications Officer
TRAFFIC International
Tel: +44 (0)1223 277427
E-mail: richard.thomas@trafficint.org

Simon Milledge, Deputy Director
TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa
Tel: +255 22 2701676
E-mail: traffictz@bol.co.tz

Factsheet: African Elephant

2007-04-13

African elephants are the largest living land animals. Once numbering millions across the African continent, their populations had been decimated by the mid-1980s by systematic poaching. The status of the species now varies greatly across Africa. Some populations remain endangered due to poaching for meat and ivory, habitat loss, and conflict with humans, while others are secure and expanding.

African elephants are 'flagship' species for their habitats - that is, charismatic representatives of the biodiversity within the complex ecosystems they inhabit. Because these large animals need a lot of space to survive, their conservation will help maintain biological diversity and ecological integrity over extensive areas and so help many other species.

WWF's work
In 2000, WWF launched a new African Elephant Programme. With 40 years of experience in elephant conservation, WWF’s current programme aims to:

increase protection and management of elephants in Africa
build capacity within elephant range countries to manage and protect mitigate conflict between humans and elephants
control the illegal trade in elephant products.

New studies find high species concentration in east African mountains

2007-01-17

Washington, DC – New studies published this month in the scientific journal Biological Conservation document an amazing concentration of over 1000 species unique to the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya. This remaining mountain habitat has the highest concentration of endemic animals in Africa but is increasingly coming under threat.

“The wild areas of the Eastern Arc Mountains are pockets of Eden, the last remaining safe havens for over 1000 plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth and some with ancient lineages stretching back in time over millions of years,” said Dr Neil Burgess, lead author of the two studies and Eastern Arc expert for WWF-US and the University of Cambridge.

“Side by side, these species and their human neighbours struggle for survival as more and more people need more and more farmland for food.”

One study found that the Eastern Arc Mountains are exceptionally important for conservation because at least 96 animals, 832 plants and hundreds of invertebrates, including 43 butterflies, live only there and nowhere else on earth. Another 71 animals are found only within a limited range including these mountains and nearby areas. Of these species, 71 are classified as threatened by extinction by the IUCN Red List.

According to WWF, there are likely more species to be discovered in the mountains. One of the most exciting recent discoveries was that of a new genus of monkey, the highland mangabey (Rungwecebus kipunji). A further 15 new animals have recently been found that are still in the process of being described by scientists including several new chameleons. Over the next two years, surveys will continue and new discoveries are expected in remote and poorly known areas.

The studies also point out another unusual characteristic of the species in the Eastern Arc Mountains: a number of them are genetically ancient. DNA analysis of forest birds indicates that some species have lineages stretching back 25 million years and some are more strongly related to birds in Southeast Asia than birds in Africa. Some plants and animals, like elephant shrews and bushbabies, are thought to have evolved early in the species lineage, known as “primitive” or “ancient relic lineages".

The same conditions that give life to these plants and animals support a dense and growing human population in one of the poorest countries in the world, according to the second study. With most local populations dependent on agriculture, inefficient farming methods and a growing need for food lead to farmland expansion, sometimes into existing reserves.

"Effective conservation in the Eastern Arc Mountains requires finding solutions to the livelihood needs of these poor, rural populations and sufficient funds to establish and adequately manage a network of protected areas," Dr Burgess said.

Currently, seven proposed reserves protecting an additional 153, 205 acres of wilderness in the Eastern Arcs are awaiting declaration by the Tanzanian government.

“Their declaration would help establish the network urgently needed to protect the natural wealth of the Eastern Arc Mountains," he added.

The Tanzanian government is also pursuing the declaration of the area as a World Heritage Site, in recognition of its universal value for the conservation of biological diversity.

Not only do the Eastern Arc Mountains support life locally, but they provide drinking water for at least 60 per cent of the urban population of Tanzania and generate over 90 per cent of the nation’s hydroelectricity generation capacity.

WWF-US and its partners are exploring one possible solution for conserving the Eastern Arc Mountains that would attach a monetary value to these “ecosystem services” and divert funds paid by water users to the forest managers and surrounding communities.

END NOTES:

• The Eastern Arc Mountains — an area slightly larger than the US state of Rhode Island — curve through eastern Tanzania and just over the border into south-eastern Kenya. Its forests are often covered in a blanket of mist during the night and help collect water for much of Tanzania and its hydroelectricity. As a crucial source of water and home to unique and threatened wildlife, WWF considers the Eastern Arc Mountain range and coastal East Africa a conservation priority and works with local communities and partners to protect the natural richness of the region.

• The two studies published in the January issue of the journal Biological Conservation are: Neil D. Burgess et al., “The biological importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya,” Biological Conservation (2007); and Neil D. Burgess et al, “Correlations among species distributions, human density and human infrastructure across the high biodiversity tropical mountains of Africa,” Biological Conservation (2007).

WWF report on climate change impacts in East Africa

2006-11-06

WWF review of the scientific literature of climate change impacts on East Africa

Climate change restricts development in Africa

2006-11-06

Gland, Switzerland/Nairobi, Kenya – As governments gather in Nairobi for the second Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, WWF warns that climate change has the potential to undermine, and even undo, improvements in the living standards of ordinary Africans.

WWF’s report, Climate Change in East Africa – Status of Science, illustrates that Africa warmed by 0.7°C over the last century. With temperatures now expected to rise between 0.2°C and 0.5°C per decade over the next century, these hotter temperatures will have a particularly detrimental impact on rural communities throughout East Africa, warns the global conservation organization.

“Climate change is starting to hit home, and we can clearly see the first impacts here in eastern Africa,” says Taye Teferi, Conservation Director of WWF's Eastern Africa Regional Programme.

“Since the poorest countries are on the receiving end of the pollution of developed countries, it’s only fair that polluters support us to build up our defences against climate change.”

One of the most devastating impacts of climate change in East Africa will be changes in the frequency, intensity and predictability of rainfall. Changes in regional precipitation will ultimately affect water availability and could lead to decreased agricultural production, potential food shortages and even conflict.

Warmer temperatures may also increase the occurrence and intensity of future disease outbreaks. High temperatures and intense rainfall are critical factors in initiating malaria epidemics especially in East Africa.

Hand-in-hand with these impacts, warming temperatures are projected to cause more frequent and more intense extreme weather events. Also, sea-level rise along coastal areas where people live is likely to disrupt economic activities there, such as agriculture, tourism, industry and fisheries.

“Beyond a 2°C hike in temperatures, climate change will spin out of control,” says Hans Verolme, Director of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme. “The world can still prevent dangerous climate change but the window of opportunity is rapidly closing.”

“It is not a lack of solutions that is holding us back," Verolme adds.

"Ministers meeting in Nairobi need to chart a course for deeper emission cuts. We must work together to develop a safer, cleaner and more energy-efficient world.”

For further information:
Kimunya Mugo, Communications Manager
WWF-EARPO
Tel: +254 20 3877355
Email: kmugo@wwfearpo.org

Martin Hiller, Communications Manager
WWF Global Climate Change Programme
Tel: +41 79 347 2256
Email: mhiller@wwfint.org

Brian Thomson, Press Officer
WWF International
Tel: +41 79 477 3559
Email: bthomson@wwfint.org

Banking on conservation in Tanzania

2006-09-07

By Anthony Field*

It is the dry season in Tanzania’s highlands when I enter a mud house in the dusty village of Ihahi in the country’s southwest. Here, in the dim of the light, I find a dozen or so people chanting and punching the air with their fists.

I wonder if I’ve stumbled on a political rally. But as I listen closely to what they are saying, I realize it is more a pep rally of sorts, praising the success of their community conservation banks (or COCOBA for short).

“Water is life!” goes the chant. “Let us use it wisely and conserve its sources. COCOBA is our saviour, alleviating poverty and improving our environment.” The chanters then settle down to their weekly meeting to discuss community banking and issues that effect life within the water catchment area of the Great Ruaha River.

Tanzania’s Great Ruaha River flows through the Usangu wetlands and the magnificent Ruaha National Park within a river basin that is home to more than three million people. Overuse of water resources, particularly for rice irrigation schemes, coupled with intensive livestock grazing and deforestation, have seen this river dry up each year for longer and longer periods – the record is 111 consecutive days.

After the meeting, in the cool of the hut, I chat with Exavery Mbaya, one of the COCOBA officials, about life in the village and the severe water restrictions.

Seven years ago, Exavery made the break from farming to become a tailor, so he understands all too well why these community banks, which were set up with help from WWF, are so important to the future of the community.

“They provide people with access to loans for the first time,” he explains. “It has allowed me to expand my business and send my two children to secondary school.”

Exavery beams, proud that he has broken free of the dependency on agriculture that ties more than 80 per cent of the population to the land. His children are now in the minority who go to secondary school and have a chance to make a better life for themselves.

“Before the community banks, if the crops failed here the need for money would drive people to damage their environment,” he says. “Today, the bank members act like environmental ambassadors, spreading the word to people beyond the COCOBAs about water management and other environmental matters.”

Running dry in the Highlands
Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, with average incomes nearly 100 times lower than those in the UK. However, this southern African nation is rich in natural resources, which its people depend upon — from water and soil for agriculture, to a healthy marine environment for fishing. The highland regions, such as the land that feeds the Great Ruaha River, are well-watered, but mismanagement has resulted in this mighty river running dry at certain times of the year.

Petro Masolwa, a man born with a smile on his face, is WWF’s man in Ruaha.

“Thirty years ago, the government identified this region as suitable for irrigation and invested in large state farms as well as created irrigation canals and ditches for small farmers,” he explains. “People flocked to the area, but their poor farming practices have led to water shortages and conflict.”

Since the 1990s, misuse of water upstream caused the river to stop flowing at the peak of the dry season, putting severe pressure on the wildlife — including including lions, hippos, kudus and crocodiles — within the Ruaha National Park further downstream. Visiting the nearby village of Maniega, I find that it severely affects man as well as beast.

In heat so intense I could taste the dryness, women were collecting water from the Kioga River — a tributary of the Great Ruaha — by scooping it into buckets. The water can only be found at the bottom of a 1.5m hole in the dry river bed. Perversely, in the wet season, the level of silt causes the river to burst its banks.

Finding shade under a bridge across the silted up river, I speak to Haule Leodgar, a government trainer who is working with WWF.

“Villagers remember the deep river,” he says. “Now they ask me what has gone wrong. The problem lies 150km upstream, where poor farming practices result in sediment being eroded from fields into the river.

To address the situation, WWF is working with the local communities, creating and training water users associations to manage the river better. These associations are spreading across the whole catchment area, bringing communities together to offer training on fair distribution and efficient water use. In addition to cutting the use of water for irrigation, they are also helping to improve crop yields and incomes of farmers. Crucially, they also help people to understand one another’s needs, which is vital in reducing localized conflicts.

Haule is right, there is room for optimism. The number of conflicts has already been reduced. What’s more, this year the Great Ruaha River is still flowing at the peak of the dry season, providing water for wildlife and people.

Down by the coast
My next destination is Mafia Island. It’s also in Tanzania, but feels like it’s a world away from the sunburnt landscape of Ruaha. Mafia — a group of islands off the Tanzanian coast on the the Indian Ocean — offers white sandy beaches and translucent seas that fit the stereotype of how a tropical island should look.

Here, one finds Tanzania’s world-renowned Mafia Island Marine Park, a group of five small islands whose coral reefs, sea grass beds, and mangroves host some of the richest life on the east African coast. Marine turtles, humpback and sperm whales, 400 species of fish, and the the occasional dugong, all claim the waters as home. Some 15,000 people also call the islands home, with most earning their living from harvesting coconuts and fishing the turquoise seas.

But there is a flip side to paradise. While there, I witness the ups and downs of this abundant marine life — from the thrill of watching turtles hatch and spying a whale during an aerial survey, to the sad sight of a dugong drowned in fishing nets, and the sinister glimpse of a suspected illegal fishing vessel. These foreign ships take advantage of the region’s limited capacity to enforce fishing restrictions, and target the wealth of fish here.

Over the years, the park has won the battle against the most damaging form of fishing — using dynamite to stun or kill fish. Better still, conservationists and local officials are now on the threshold of another milestone —ridding the park of seine net fishing, which involves fine-meshed nets being dragged through shallow waters, causing damage to corals and seagrass beds. The nets also indiscriminately catch small juvenile fish that are useless to the fishermen but important for the productivity of fisheries.

To understand the scale of this latest achievement, I examine a 2003 fisheries census. At that time four villages located within the park’s boundaries that had not stopped seine net fishing were using 225 nets, with a staggering combined length of more than 10km. Since then, WWF has worked with the local communities to ensure that the majority of seine nets are handed in, or at least exchanged for less damaging types of net.

“WWF is helping fishermen and local communities to diversify away from their dependence on natural resources,” says Thomas Chale, an enterprise development coordinator for WWF.

To achieve this, WWF has created two schemes: a cooperative credit and savings scheme, similar to the COCOBA in Ruaha; and a loan scheme to encourage seine net fishermen to adopt alternative, sustainable livelihoods.

Creating alternatives
The beneficiaries of the loan scheme are typified by Mr Mbaraka, a local fisherman. With two fishing boats he was once one of the most powerful seine net fishermen operating in the marine park. But last year he swapped his nets for a two tonne truck, using a WWF-supported loan, to fulfil a transportation contract with the fish-processing factory in nearby Kilindoni. As he repays the loan, the money will be reinvested to develop more sustainable alternative livelihoods.

Not far from the marine park headquarters, I meet 20-year-old Juma Abdallah tending his garage. He and his two partners also used to be seine net fishermen but swapped fishing to open up a petrol station, the only one on the east side of Mafia that services the communities as well as the marine park headquarters and tourist hotels. Each of the partners now has a respectable salary of 45,000 Tanzanian shillings a month (about US$35), which is above the national average.

“We talked to WWF about new businesses and decided on the fuel station,” says Juma. “After we gave up fishing, WWF helped us with business training such as marketing and financial management. Our business is going well and we want to expand.”

Travelling in Tanzania, I’m struck by the ease with which Petro, Thomas and other WWF staff connected with the communities and their problems. But it is not surprising. They live in these projects, they meet these people every day, share their frustrations and happiness. They want them to have better lives in an improved environment and they believe passionately in the work that WWF does to conserve wildlife through supporting the development of sustainable livelihoods.

* Anthony Field is Deputy Head of Press at WWF-UK.

END NOTES:

• Tanzania is the largest East African country, and the catchment area of the River Rufiji, in the south and southwest of the country, accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the country's area. The Great Ruaha River supplies 22 per cent of the total flow of the Rufiji catchment system. From its headwaters, also in the Kipengere Mountains, the Great Ruaha River descends to the Usangu plains, a critically important region in Tanzania for irrigated agriculture (mostly rice) and livestock. The wetland system of the plains is also important for the households around the area and for the adjacent Usangu Game Reserve. The river eventually reaches the Mtera reservoir and then flows south to the Kidatu dam. These two dams together generate about 50 per cent of the Tanzania's electricity. The Ruaha continues southwards and cuts across the Selous Game Reserve before feeding into the Rufiji. The mangrove forest on the Rufiji delta is the largest in Africa.

• WWF was very involved in the creation of Mafia Island Marine Park, which was established in 1995. The global conservation organization currently assists in the management of the marine park so that the ecosystem and biodiversity are maintained for the benefit of the people of Tanzania, and particularly the Mafia Island community. In particular, WWF is facilitating the development of economic activities to reduce pressure on the park's natural resources and address the high levels of poverty on the islands of the marine park. WWF is also promoting environmental awareness and education, and working with local communities to explore sustainable livelihood activities, such as aquaculture and beekeeping, and to establish credit facilities for the communities.

Illegal ivory seized in Taiwan

2006-07-07

Kaohsiung Harbour, Taiwan – Taiwanese authorities have confiscated more than five tonnes of ivory within three days in this southern port city, marking the largest seizure record of ivory in the island’s wildlife crime enforcement history.

Hidden in wooden crates, customs officials discovered 744 pieces of ivory, including whole elephant tusks, weighing a total of 3,026kg. Shipping documentation revealed that the illegal consignment originated from Tanzania in eastern Africa and was held in transit in the port of Penang in Malaysia before reaching Kaohsiung. The ivory was destined for Manila, the Philippines.

“Ivory smuggling is a lucrative trade handled by highly-organized smuggling rings, and this can only be combated through increased intelligence exchange to catalyse quick, efficient and coordinated responses,” said Joyce Wu, TRAFFIC East Asia’s Programme Officer in Taipei.

The confiscation took place just two days after Kaohsiung customs officials seized two and a half tonnes of ivory, also from Tanzania and bound for Manila.

The ivory’s routing through the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore comes at a time when Southeast Asian nations have formed the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) to work more closely together to confront increasingly sophisticated wildlife crime syndicates.

TRAFFIC hopes that Kaohsiung’s Customs Department will link up with the ASEAN-WEN, as well as at the source in Tanzania, to ensure follow-up investigations.

The route that these shipments took provides some clues into the intricate workings of illegal wildlife trade operations. After leaving Tanzania, the first shipment was routed through Singapore, where it remained in port transit for a period of time. It then departed for Manila and was then re-routed to Taiwan. It went on to Manila again, but returned to Taiwan without the contraband cargo being offloaded. It was at this point that the confiscation was made in Kaohsiung. Both the shipments were sent by the same exporter, but were for two different importers in the Philippines.

Since 1990, Taiwan has banned the trade in ivory. Asian and African elephants are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which prohibits all commercial trade in these species.

END NOTES:
• CITES - The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora regulates international trade in more than 30,000 species of wild animals and plants through a system of certificates and permits. The Convention is currently applied in 169 nations, including all 10 ASEAN Member Countries.

• Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam form the 10 Member Countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

• The ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) was officially launched in December 2005 at a ministerial-level meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand. In May 2006, CITES Authorities from ASEAN member countries were joined by representatives from customs and police agencies for the first ASEAN-WEN meeting, and to broaden inter-agency cooperation in the development of national taskforces under the regional wildlife enforcement network.

• TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN-the World Conservation Union.

For more information:
Maija Sirola, Communications Coordinator,
TRAFFIC International
Tel. +44 1223 277427
E-mail: maija.sirola@trafficint.org

Factsheet: African Rhinoceros

2006-03-08

Just 150 years ago, Africa's savannas teemed with rhinos and other wildlife. However, relentless hunting by European settlers saw rhino numbers and distribution quickly decline. The southern white rhino particularly suffered from this colonization, and in the late 19th century was actually thought to be extinct.

Poaching escalated during the 1970s and 1980s as demand grew for rhino horn - a prized ingredient in traditional Asian medicines and a valued accessory in the Middle East. As a result, black rhino numbers declined by a staggering 96% between 1970 and 1992, and the northern white rhino population decreased from around 2,000 in 1960 to just 15 or so in 1984.

Thanks to vigorous conservation and anti-poaching efforts, some African rhino populations are now stable or increasing. However, poaching still occurs, and some populations remain very small and threatened. Very few African rhinos now survive outside of protected areas and sanctuaries.

Rhinos are 'flagship' species for their habitats - that is, charismatic representatives of the biodiversity within the complex ecosystems they inhabit. Because these large animals need a lot of space to survive, their conservation will help maintain biological diversity and ecological integrity over extensive areas and so help many other species.

WWF has been working to conserve rhinos for over 40 years. The current African Rhino Programme, launched in 1997, provides technical and financial support to 12 rhino conservation projects across Africa and operates in partnerships with key African rhino range states.

Time to clean up the chemicals in Africa

2006-02-03

By Clifton Curtis

If you are already worried about global warming, melting glaciers and rising sea temperatures as some of our planet’s most serious threats, there’s more. While largely out of sight and mind of most peoples’ daily lives, there is another threat that is silently fouling our air, food, water, soil, and overall health: toxic chemicals.

Just as it is the richest countries in the world which have caused a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the same can be said about the manufacturing and dumping of chemicals. Sadly, it is the poorer countries, especially in Africa, that are paying the price.

Modern society has developed an extensive array of synthetic chemicals over the last several decades — chemicals to control disease, improve public health, increase food production, and provide more convenience to our already busy lives. Ironically, many of these well-intentioned chemicals are now wreaking havoc around the world.

Humans, wildlife and entire ecosystems are threatened by chemicals that can alter sexual and neurological development, impair reproduction and undermine immune systems. Today, there is unequivocal evidence that a number of widely distributed synthetic chemicals — including PCBs as well as other industrial chemicals and pesticides — have already caused serious damage to our health and pose an ongoing danger, especially when they are discarded and mismanaged.

In Africa, more than 50,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides and seriously contaminated soils have accumulated throughout the continent over the last four decades, with less than 5% of the stockpiles being disposed of. These dangerous chemicals are a serious threat to the health of both rural and urban populations — often the poorest and most vulnerable — and significantly contribute to land and water degradation.

Because many African and other developing countries suffer from weak import controls, lack of training on appropriate pesticide use, a lack of safe destruction technologies, and poor storage and stock management, the situation is only getting worse.

Removal of old chemicals is rarely perceived as a priority development issue. In fact, both international donor agencies and recipient countries alike are often reluctant to divert funds already allocated to poverty reduction, food security or other aspects of sustainable development to the issue of waste disposal. That’s a shame as the linkage between waste, health impacts and poverty issues couldn’t be more obvious.

Some are already responding to the need to protect African communities and the environment from the never-ending build-up of hazardous pesticide stockpiles. A unique partnership between governments, the private sector, institutions such as the World Bank, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, African Union, CropLife, and environmental organizations like WWF, are working with national governments and their local communities to clean up obsolete pesticide stocks and help prevent future accumulations.

By reducing and removing long-standing toxic threats, this African stockpiles programme is promoting public health and environmental management and safety, and in effect, contributing to poverty reduction — a goal that is at the top of the international community’s development agenda.

However, even with all the numerous international agreements that are addressing hazardous chemicals — agreements that cover how chemicals are traded and transported, and how they can be reduced and substituted with safe alternatives — what continues to be missing is an overarching strategic approach to international chemicals management.

As delegates gather at an international conference on chemicals management in Dubai this week (4-6 February 2006) to finalize a new strategic approach agreement, they need to commit to strengthening national, regional and international laws and programmes to reduce or eliminate stockpiled chemicals that continue to pose the most serious health threats to humans and wildlife.

Although this agreement is to be voluntary — rather than a legally binding instrument — it is widely seen as a moral and political necessity, in line with the UN’s goal of minimizing chemical-related harm to the environment and human health by 2020. While most governments have endorsed the strategic approach, a few have expressed reservations about committing to chemical management reform, opposing new or innovative initiatives, as well as references to the need for new and additional financial and technical assistance. Regrettably, these countries, for the most part, are the same ones that are equally reluctant to agree on targets and timetables for reducing gas emissions in another international agreement on climate change.

International chemical safety requires cooperation among all stakeholders. By adopting and implementing a strategic approach to international management of chemicals, the international community will be doing an enormous service to developing countries in strengthening their capacity for the sound management of chemicals and hazardous wastes and improving the quality of life of its citizens.

* Clifton Curtis is director of WWF's Global Toxics Programme

Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa Seascape Programme, Tanzania

2005-07-19

These habitats harbour the equal highest levels of coral & fish biodiversity in the region; highly important prawn, finfish & invertebrate fisheries; important turtle nesting sites and the only remaining dugong refuge in Tanzania. The area was selected as one of 8 high priority 'seascapes' under the Eastern African Marine Eco-region (EAME) planning process in 2001-2002.

The Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa Seascape has a human population of approx. 140,000 and this social context governs the programme's strategy. The 'seascape' concept mirrors the terrestrial 'landscape' approach and recognises the need to look beyond protected areas to the wider geographic, social and economic context. It takes as its starting point the fundamental links between environment and poverty and between biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihood development.

For more information on the programme's objectives and activities, please download the factsheet from this site.

WWF campaign bears fruit in Mafia

2005-07-18

An environmental education and community conservation drive spearheaded by WWF is bearing fruit in Mafia Island.

The campaign is beginning to have the desired effects in areas such as marine conservation following the decision by a group of six youths to abandon illegal fishing methods in favour of modern fishing and other legal undertakings. The move came after five years of WWF’s campaign on the island.

Following their decision, the youths were issued with zero-interest loans ranging from 2m/- to 5m/- after getting basic training in running small-scale businesses.

The training is aimed at enabling them to run their businesses efficiently and repay the loans according to schedule.

The youths plan to start retail and petroleum products businesses in addition to buying modern fishing gear and selling fresh fish in Mafia and Dar es Salaam.

Speaking at a function in which the loans were handed over to the youths, the Sustainable Fisheries Officer for Mafia Island Marine Park, Masoud Kipanga, said that Mafia Island Marine Park (MIMP) and WWF had been working closely to educate communities on the island to abandon illegal fishing methods and engage in sustainable fishing.

’’But we did not expect them to abandon the destructive methods without providing them with alternative means of income.

Hence the training in running small-scale business and the subsequent issue of interest-free loans,’’he said.

All the recipients of the loans come from within eleven villages that are within the MIMP project area.

Kipanga said efforts to educate communities to abandon destructive fishing methods had also been directed to areas outside the project area including islets surrounding Mafia Island.

’’We have recorded success in Bwejuu Island. The fishermen there no longer use small size nets. Residents of Chole Island are on the move and they should completely stop using illegal fishing gear in the near future.

Click here to read the full story by the Guardian Correspondent in Mafia.

WWF campaign bears fruit in Mafia

2005-07-18

Marine Protected Areas - providing a future for fish and people

2005-06-27

They also provide services to local communities who depend on the sea and its resources, increasing food security and reducing poverty. MPAs can also benefit local people by opening new opportunities to gain income. Countries with coral reefs attract millions of SCUBA divers every year, yielding significant economic benefits to the host country. Globally, almost USD 10 billion are spent on coral reef tourism annually.

By establishing MPAs, we can restore the balance in the use of our oceans, safeguarding valuable fish stocks and important habitats while providing long-term solutions for local communities.

The challenge

The world’s oceans are under more pressure than ever before. From France to Japan, from Senegal to Australia and Chile, fish stocks are overfished and important habitats are being lost or degraded at an unprecedented rate. Sixty per cent of coral reefs are expected to be lost by 2030 if present rates of decline continue. The increasing number of people living on the coasts and the rapid rise in consumer demand for fish threaten marine biodiversity across the oceans.

Inadequate fisheries management and widespread overuse of marine and coastal resources are also eroding the traditional basis of life for millions of people and even entire countries, depriving communities of their main source of vital protein and increasing poverty.

Yet, only a mere 0.5 per cent of the oceans are protected – compare this to 13 per cent of land area under protection. And the large majority of that is inadequately managed, with almost all marine protected areas open to tourism and recreation and 90 per cent open to fishing.

To turn the tide towards healthy oceans, the world’s leaders agreed, at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002, to create representative networks of MPAs by 2012.

It’s time to put these global agreements into action!

Download the brochure (PDF format) to find out more about the benefits of Marine Protected Areas

Caught in nets: WWF report identifies dolphins, porpoises most in need of urgent action

2005-06-09

Gland, Switzerland – Nine dolphin and porpoise populations around the world need immediate action if they are to survive the threat of entanglement in fishing gear.

These are the findings of a new WWF report based on a first-ever assessment by leading marine scientists.

According to WWF, bycatch – the capture in fishing gear of unwanted fish and other species – is one of the greatest global threats facing dolphins, porpoises, as well as whales.

When caught in fishing nets, many of these cetaceans, which need to come to the surface for air, get trapped underwater and die.

Previous estimates show that more than 300,000 cetaceans are killed in fishing gear each year in the world’s oceans.

The report indicates these dolphins and porpoises as languishing without attention, but stresses they could recover if changes to fishing methods and other conservation efforts were made.

They include harbour porpoises in the Black Sea, where thousands of porpoises are killed each year; Atlantic humpback dolphins off the coast of West Africa; Irrawaddy dolphins in South East Asia; and Franciscana dolphins in South America.

Most of the species on the list are threatened by the widespread use of one type of fishing gear – gillnets. These nets are difficult for dolphins and porpoises to spot visually or detect with their sonar, so they may become tangled in the netting or in the ropes attached to the nets.

“Almost 1,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die every day in nets and fishing gear. That’s one every two minutes," said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF's Global Species Programme. "Some species are being pushed to the brink of extinction. Urgent action is needed - and we developed this ranking to help governments and aid agencies know where their money and efforts can really make a difference."

For example, between 1993 and 2003, fisheries in the United States introduced changes, such as modifications of fishing gear, that reduced cetacean bycatch to one-third of its previous levels.

But so far, few of these successful measures have been transferred to other countries, and in much of the rest of the world, progress to reduce bycatch has been slow or nonexistent.

"Rather than simply identifying the species or populations at greatest risk, or the geographical locations where the bycatch problem is most severe, the group of scientists was asked to emphasize where the prospects for successful intervention were especially good," said Dr Randall Reeves, lead author of the report and the chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Cetacean Specialist Group.

The report will be submitted to the International Whaling Commission’s scientific committee at its annual meeting next week in the Republic of Korea.

The scientific committee last year endorsed the methodology of the WWF report.

NOTE:

Species and populations designated in the report as among the top priorities for investment of resources are:

Irrawaddy dolphins in the crab net/trap fishery in Malampaya Sound, Philippines

Irrawaddy dolphins in gillnets in the Mekong, Mahakam and Ayeyarwady rivers and in Chilka and Songkhla lakes, Southeast Asia

Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in drift and bottom-set gillnets on the south coast of Zanzibar (Tanzania)

Harbour porpoises in coastal gillnets in the Black Sea

Spinner dolphins and Fraser’s dolphins in large-mesh driftnets and purse seines in the Philippines

Atlantic humpback dolphins in coastal gillnets in the northern Gulf of Guinea (Ghana, Togo)

Burmeister’s porpoises in artisanal gillnets in Peru

Franciscana dolphins in coastal gillnets in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil

Commerson’s dolphins in coastal gillnets and midwater trawls in Argentina

For further information:

Joanna Benn, Communications Manager
WWF Global Species Programme
Tel: +41 22 364 9093

Olivier van Bogaert, Senior Press Officer
WWF International Press Office
Tel: +41 22 364 9554