Following population decline over the last few decades, due to poaching and loss of habitat, the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) has now been listed as ‘Critically Endangered’, with the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), listed as ‘Endangered’, on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
This new decision to treat African forest and savanna elephants as two separate species is the result of research into the genetics of elephant populations. Previously, the IUCN had listed both as a single species, being ‘Vulnerable’. Following the emergence of genetic evidence, it has been found that forest and savanna elephants split from each other 5–6m years ago, at about the same time humans separated from chimpanzees, hence their reclassification.
IUCN surveys from 2016 showed there were about 415,000 elephants in Africa, with numbers of forest elephant having fallen by more than 86% over the last 31 years, whilst Savannah elephant’s population numbers by over 60% in the last 50 years.
Despite these downward trends, the IUCN’s assessment highlighted the positive impact that conservation efforts are now playing, especially with anti-poaching measures together with land-use management strategies, which seeks to foster human-wildlife coexistence. These has resulted in some forest elephants now having well-managed conservation areas in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Numbers of our savanna elephants are also stable, and in some countries are thriving, especially in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which holds the largest elephant subpopulation in Africa. This shows that conservation strategies are working and should be continued to help protect the future survival of our endangered species.
“While the results of the assessment place the continental population of savanna elephants in the Endangered category, it is important to keep in mind that at a site level, some subpopulations are thriving. For this reason, considerable caution and local knowledge are required when translating these results into policy,” said Dr Dave Balfour, assessor of the African elephants and member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) African Elephant Specialist Group.
How reclassification helps conservation
Reclassifying means that conservation efforts can be tailored according to each species needs. Today, climate change, along with agricultural expansion and human wildlife conflict are as much of a threat to our elephants survival as is the illegal demand for their ivory. These new classifications could have significant consequences in conservation, science and policies. Far less is known about forest elephants, with savanna elephants dominating previous studies about all African elephants. Although, some international conservation organisations, such as Cites which regulates the international trade in endangered species, do not yet recognise the two types of African elephants as separate species.
Forest elephants live in tropical forests of Central Africa and in a range of habitats in West Africa. They have a restricted natural distribution and are thought to occupy only a quarter of its historic range today, with the largest remaining populations found in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. Savanna elephants prefer more open country and are found in a variety of habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa, including grasslands and deserts and are found in our national parks in Zambia. The ranges of the two species rarely overlap.
Find out more
The IUCN Red List now includes 134,425 species of which 37,480 are threatened with extinction. Check out their informative website at www.iucnredlist.org for more information.
Women for Conservation (W4C) are hosting three of Zambia’s travel influencers online to share with you their ‘Ultimate Zambian Travel Bucket list’. Free to join, you can take part on Zoom or W4C’s Facebook page, on Tuesday 30 March 2021 between 14:00 – 15:00 hrs.
Jointing W4C will be travel bloggers – Dorothy Walker from the Zed Travel Foodie, Petra Chikasa, from a Girl Can Wander and Mazuba Kapambwe from I Am The Zuba. They will be chatting about Zambia’s domestic travel industry – our natural wonders and the best way to experience them, as well as sharing their experiences working in Zambia’s travel industry.
Despite making up over one third of the workplace, women continue to lag behind their male counterparts in almost every area, including within the tourism industry.
One of the few good things to come out of the current Covid-19 pandemic, and subsequent travel restrictions, has been an increase in domestic travel.
Our travel influencers have been ahead of this curve, providing up to date information and sharing their experiences about travelling throughout our beautiful country with the public for the past few years.
Girl Can Wander
To join them on Zoom. preregister by emailing W4C at maina@wcpzambia.org by 29th March 2021. Or you can watch them chatting live on the W4C’s Facebook Page.
W4C is an inclusive network for all women who work in or are interested in conservation and tourism within Zambia. Their aim is to meet, share ideas and opportunities and to support one other.
Today, 22 March, is the UN’s World Water Day and it is being celebrated this year with an online Webinar event. This year’s theme is Valuing Water.
“The value of water is about much more than its price – water has enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. If we overlook any of these values, we risk mismanaging this finite, irreplaceable resource.”
Without understanding water’s true, multidimensional value, we will cannot safeguard this critical resource for the benefit of everyone.
Today, the United Nations World Water Development Report is being released. It is focusing on the value of water and will be recommending policy direction to decision makers. You can join their Webinar which is taking place at 13-14.30 hrs (CET) this afternoon. Find the agenda and register at World Water Day Webinar Registration.
Water means different things to different people – you are also invited to join the conversation about what water means to you. Go to www.worldwaterday.org to check out the discussion.
The UN’s World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the global water crisis, and a core focus of the observance is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. Find out more at UN Water
Sunday 21 March is International Day of Forests. This year’s theme, chosen by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, is ‘Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being’.
In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 March as the International Day of Forests (IDF), to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all different types of forests. Each year, on 21 March, people are encouraged to undertake activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns.
Forest Walk – Lusaka
Why not join the Tree Club of Zambia this Sunday for their ‘Afternoon Tree Walk’. They are planning a gentle 1-2 hour walk through Forest 27 with local tree experts, so you can ask lots of questions and learn more about Lusaka’s forests. Find out more on their ‘Afternoon Tree Walk’ Facebook page.
Why protect our Forests?
Healthy forests mean healthy people – forests provide health benefits for everyone, including fresh air, nutritious foods, clean water and space for recreation. In developed countries, up to 25% of all medicinal drugs are plant-based, whilst in developing countries, their contribution is as high as 80%.
Forest food provides healthy diets – Indigenous communities typically consume more than 100 types of wild food, many harvested from their local forests. An African study found that the dietary diversity of children living close to forests is at least 25% higher than that of more urban based children. So the destruction of forests is unhealthy – nearly one in three outbreaks of emerging infectious disease are linked to changes in land-use, such as deforestation.
Restoring forests will improve our environment – our world is losing 10 million hectares of forest each year. Land degradation affects almost 2 billion hectares – that is an area larger than South America. Forest loss, and their degradation, emit large quantities of climate-warming gases, with at least 8% of forest plants and 5% of forest animals being at high risk of extinction. Restoring our forests, along with their sustainable management, will address the climate-change and biodiversity crises, whilst producing goods and services needed for sustainable development.
Sustainable forestry can create millions of green jobs – forests provide more than 86 million jobs and support the livelihoods of many more people. Wood, from managed forests, supports diverse industries, from paper to the construction of tall buildings. Investment in forest restoration will help our economies recover from the current pandemic by creating jobs.
Every tree counts
Small-scale planting and restoration projects have big impacts – City greening, for example, creates cleaner air along with more beautiful spaces, having huge benefits for the mental and physical health of urban dwellers. It is estimated that trees provide cities with benefits worth over half a billion US dollars every year, such as by reducing air pollution and cooling buildings.
Engaging and empowering people to sustainably use forests is a key step towards positive change – a healthy environment requires stakeholder engagement, especially at the local level so that communities can better govern and manage the land on which they depend. Community empowerment helps advance local solutions and promotes participation in ecosystem restoration. There is an opportunity to ‘rebuild’ forest landscapes that are equitable and productive, and that avert the risks to ecosystems and people posed by forest destruction.
We can recover from our planetary, health and economic crisis. – investing in ecosystem restoration will help to heal individuals, communities and their environment. The aim of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which starts this year, is to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It offers the prospect of putting trees and forests back into degraded forest landscapes at a massive scale, increasing ecological resilience and productivity. Forest restoration is a key nature-based solution for achieving a better and healthier future for us and our children. So let’s restore our planet this decade.
Find out more
You can find out more about the importance of our forests and Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being on by visiting the UN’s website and don’t forget to check out the Tree Club of Zambia’s Facebook Page.
Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ), along with the Luangwa community, broke ground when it formed a new women’s group.
This new ‘Mazai Women’s Group’ will set up a chicken coop to raise chickens which supports female empowerment through a resilient small business. Their name ‘Mazai’ comes from the local word for ‘egg’.
CLZ thanked The Frog Crossing Foundation and Stop Poaching Now for assisting with setting up this new local community group.
Judicial Empowerment
CLZ, with support from the NGO, Wildlife Crime Prevention (WCP), hosted a meeting with prosecutors and wildlife authorities from three countries – Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The meeting centred around strengthening collaboration and cross-border prosecutions in an effort to curb the illegal wildlife trade.
A visit with the Magistrates from the Zambian judicial sector was organised to understand and discuss issues focused on small-scale illegal mining in order to better protect the Lower Zambezi environment. CLZ thanked the FZS for supporting these meetings through INL funding.
Local COVID-19 Support
Throughout February, CLZ facilitated further COVID-19 community support in the form of cleaning supplies and face shields which were distributed to rural community schools in the Rufunsa District and Chinyunyu Zone.
Chitenge materials were also distributed to women in Luangwa, to be used to sew protective face masks.
Throughout this pandemic, CLZ is committed to support communities and limit the spread of COVID-19. Their support was was made possible by the IWT Challenge Fund.
CLZ was disappointed to announce that there are reports of a fraudulent job posting which was circulated online. Please be advised this is not a legitimate advert. If you are interested in a position with CLZ, then also check their Facebook page where they share upcoming job opportunities.
