In their last newsletter, COMACO announced that their first container of It’s Wild! Products had just been exported to the United States.
“We are excited to announce that we have received confirmation from our partners, Sharing Our Best, in the United States that our shipment has finally arrived! This has been a long process with many obstacles as we learned all the steps involved, but we are excited to see all of this hard work paying off.”
For everyone living in the United States, check out It’s Wild! Social media for information on how to purchase their products near you.
Cowpea snack tasting
Over the past year COMACO’s food team has been working hard to create a healthy snack from cow peas. Recently, their staff carried out taste tests at grocery stores and local schools to help ‘fine tune’ their healthy new product with participants giving feedback on texture and flavour.
They are now close to finalising their finished product and cannot wait to launch their new tasty snack.
A story from the field
Meet Methadio Banda, a resident from Kawaza Cheifdom in the Sinda District. Methadio shares how COMACO has helped him, and his family, since he joined the project in 2016.
“Before joining COMACO my life was hard. I could produce very little in my field because my soils were not fertile. I was not able to feed my family. Just look at my fields with Gliricidia. Now I am able to feed them. I have used the money that I have made from my crops to send all of my children to school. Three of them have completed grade 12 and the rest are in school. Not only that, but my family is able to eat 3 times a day.
Before COMACO I would produce 1 ox cart of maize, 10 bags of soy beans, and no groundnuts. However, today I have already harvested 85 bags of soy beans, maize is currently in the field and I am expected to harvest not less than 15 ox carts, For groundnuts I expect not less than 25 bags of unshelled ground nuts. COMACO has done great, I want to encourage fellow farmers to comply with what COMACO is teaching.”
Find out more
You can read more about how COMACO is redefining what a food store actually is, working with over 225,000 farmers across the Luangwa Valley and around Kafue National Park, along with this month’s Chairman’s letter in their full newsletter here and don’t forget to check out their Facebook page for all their latest updates.
Tomorrow, Saturday 5th June, is World Environment Day. This year’s theme is – Reimagine. Recreate. Restore – as this year marks the beginning of the United Nations decade on ecosystem restoration. The global host is Pakistan, who are highlighting the importance of ecosystem restoration throughout their event.
“This is our moment.
We cannot turn back time. But we can grow trees, green our cities, rewild our gardens, change our diets and clean up rivers and coasts. We are the generation that can make peace with nature.
Let’s get active, not anxious. Let’s be bold, not timid.”
Throughout the week the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Decade Partners are running scheduled events featuring high level speakers and expert panels from around the world which you can join in on YouTube. Check out the Official Events Schedule to find out what’s on and how to bookmark and join in events.
Launch of flagship report
“Facing the triple threat of climate change, loss of nature and pollution, the world must deliver on its commitment to restore at least one billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade – an area about the size of China.”
Yesterday saw the launch of the flagship report from UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). They are urging ‘intense restoration of nature to avoid climate and biodiversity crises’ and are calling on countries to meet their environmental commitments to restore one billion hectares of land’.
Ecosystem Restoration is a hugely important way of delivering nature-based solutions for food insecurity, along with climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity loss. It is not easy and it is not a quick fix – it is a long-term process of change, from the way we measure economic progress to looking at what we eat and then how we grow our food.
The report shows evidence about the state of degradation of the world’s ecosystems and details economic, environmental and social rewards which restoration can bring. It invites everyone to join the #GenerationRestoration movement to halt, prevent, and reverse the degradation of our worldwide ecosystems.
5 June was designated by the United Nations to be celebrated as World Environment Day to highlight the significance of its protection. A resolution was adopted in 1972 urging ‘Governments and the organisations in the United Nations system to undertake on that day every year world-wide activities reaffirming their concern for the preservation and enhancement of the environment, with a view to deepening environmental awareness’
Have you ever wondered what are elephants are actually trying to tell you? From grunts and roars to rumbles and trumpets, elephants use a wide range of vocalisations to communicate. Their calls are essential cues for the survival of their herd. Now you can find out what elephants are actually saying by visiting a brand new online database – Elephant Ethogram on Elephant Voices.
The Elephant Ethogram includes written and referenced descriptions, video examples, photographic illustrations and, where relevant, audio recordings, of 404 behaviours, 109 behavioural constellations and 23 behavioural contexts. The fully searchable database includes almost 3,000 media files and 2,400 video clips.
Set up by elephant biologist and National Geographic Explorer, Joyce Poole, along with her co-director Petter Granli, they recorded thousands of elephant calls, drawing on data and videos accumulated during decades of study in Amboseli, the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. They then divided these calls into different categories, or ‘call types’, placing them on an elephant acoustic database and, based on behavioural context, call tone and measurement, interpreted their meanings. This ‘African Elephant Ethogram’ is the most comprehensive audio-visual library ever made on savanna elephant behaviours.
A MOTHER PROTECTING AND REASSURING HER CALF Qoral has a newborn male who is lagging behind, discovering the nature of soil. An allomother named Qaskasi tries to shepherd him along, but Qoral doesn’t like her intervention and comes back to see her off and retrieve him. She pulls him gently along with her trunk and gives a coo-rumble to him. Once he is moving in the correct direction she turns and walks on. The infant pauses again and his older brother, Qenkey, pushes him gently forward. This short video from Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is part of The Elephant Ethogram: A Library of African Elephant Behaviour. Video by Elephant Voices
Elephant Voices
“What’s really impressive about elephants is that they are such extraordinary team players,” Joyce Poole said. “For an elephant family to survive, especially against intelligent predators like humans, it’s important that they stick together and help each other. They have evolved complex communication as part of this teamwork.”
Launched last week, the Elephant Voices’s Ethogram is an amazing new resource and is free for everyone to use – whether you are a scientist, student or are just fascinated by these complex and extraordinary mammals. Visit their website at – www.elephantvoices.org – where you can also find out more about savannah elephant behaviours, social structures, the different ways in which they communicate and the threats to their long-term survival in the wild.
Read about how Joyce Pool was inspired to set up ElephantVoices and the Ethogram in an interview with National Geographic, where you can also find videos and explanations about different elephant behaviours.
Elephant Voices’ goals are to advance the study of elephant cognition, communication and social behaviour along with promoting scientifically sound and ethical management and care of elephants.
CLZ is excited to introduce you to the ladies of Kufadza – Zambia’s first all-female Community Scout Unit. The Unit started working in the field last month, protecting wildlife as well as acting as role models for both women and girls in the local community. This is reflected in the Unit’s name – Kufadza – which means ‘inspire’ in the Goba language.
To join the Unit, they had to go through a strenuous selection and training process with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. The Unit was established due to funding from CITES MIKE through the European Union and ILRG through USAID
RRU refresher course
CLZ’s Rapid Response Unit went through advanced training in April. The training covered topics such as values and standards, leadership, operational planning, basic fitness, and close target reconnaissance.
Their continuous training is important to ensure that the team operates at the highest standards possible. USFWS was thanked for funding this valuable refresher course.
Strategic plan review
CLZ’s management team met with their Executive Committee to review their five-year strategic plan. The meeting gave everyone the chance to discuss the challenges they have been facing and their vision for the future, as well as to assess their progress and to align CLZ’s goals with future activities, programmes and expansion. The team thanked Mwambashi River Lodge for hosting their Strategic plan review.
For more news from CLZ then you can read their latest newsletter here and you can keep up to date with all their news by visiting their Facebook page
Join Bats Without Borders on Wednesday 26 May at 15hrs (CAT) for their latest #WingedWednesday webinar with Marie Claire Dusabe who will be talking about – Bat research and conservation in Rwanda. Join her to find out about the fantastic bat conservation work being done by the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association – RWCA.
If you haven’t already signed up for BWB’s webinar series, then to join in, all you need to do is sign up on their website – www.batswithoutborders.org – today (Tuesday 25 of May) and you will be emailed your joining instructions.
Batty art competition 2021
To celebrate the amazing bat diversity we have in southern Africa, Bats Without Borders launched their second Batty Art competition last Saturday, on International Day for Biological Diversity.
They are inviting everyone to get creative and submit their cartoons, games, photos, illustrations, etc., which are inspired by African bats and the landscapes that they live in.
You can submit up to three entries online. The deadline for entering is 6 August 2021. Go to Bat Art Competition Form to upload your creations!
You can find out more about Bats Without Borders on their website at www.batswithoutborders.org and keep up to date with all their news on their Facebook Page
