Posted on 25 April 2013
- WWF and WCS have received alarming reports
from their field operations that elephants
are being slaughtered in the violence-ridden
Central African Republic (CAR), where new
powers in place struggle to gain control
over the situation. The conservation organizations
are issuing today a joint call for immediate
action.
Due to the violence
and chaos in the area, the exact number
of elephants slaughtered is not known, however
initial reports indicate it may be extensive.
WWF has confirmed information that forest
elephants are being poached near the Dzanga-Sangha
protected areas, a World Heritage Site.
Elephant meat is reportedly being openly
sold in local markets and available in nearby
villages. The security situation is preventing
park staff from searching the dense forest
for elephant carcasses.
The two organizations,
WWF and WCS that have worked in CAR since
the 1980s, are calling on the Central African
Republic and its neighbors to immediately
increase security in the region to protect
the area's people and elephants. Governments
are meeting next week at an extraordinary
meeting to discuss ways to stop the poaching
that has plagued the region. Up to 30,000
elephants are killed in Africa each year
for their ivory tusks, which are in demand
in Asia.
The following statements
have been issued by WWF and WCS:
Jim Leape, WWF Director
General said:
“The elephant poaching
crisis – driven by insatiable ivory demand
– is so severe that no area is safe, not
even the World Heritage Site Dzanga-Sangha
where both WWF and WCS have now worked for
the conservation of elephants for decades.
Heroic rangers are standing firm in the
face of immense danger, but they alone cannot
safeguard the special species and places
the world treasures. When meeting next week,
Central African governments must urgently
join forces against this criminal activity
that is also threatening the stability and
economic development of their countries.
I encourage them in the strongest terms
to take a stand against wildlife crime and
together declare that poaching and illicit
trafficking will not be tolerated.”
Cristian Samper, WCS
President and CEO said:
“Together, WCS and WWF,
are calling on the Central African Republic
government to immediately increase security
in the region to protect these elephants
from poachers and is asking other regional
governments to provide assistance to stop
the killing. Our staffs have been forced
to evacuate in the chaos. I recently visited
CAR and saw first-hand that without a full-time
conservation presence in the region, these
elephants are in jeopardy from poachers.
WCS and our partners will continue to work
tirelessly to protect elephants across their
range.”
WWF has worked in Dzanga-Sangha
for 30 years and supports protected area
management, gorilla research, law enforcement
and tourism development. WCS has been in
the area for than 20 years, in charge of
monitoring and research of the elephants
of Dzanga Bai, a forest clearing containing
a mineral-rich watering hole. In addition,
WCS works immediately across the border
in the Republic of Congo to protect the
same population of elephants there where
the government is working to ensure their
additional security on that side of the
border.
+ More
Protection of bird colonies
takes flight with creation of three Ramsar
wetlands
Posted on 16 April 2013
- Ruse, Bulgaria – The environmental ministers
of Bulgaria and Romania officially signed
a proposal to create three new transboundary
wetland complexes along the Danube River
prepared by WWF late last year. The new
sites will later be considered and approved
by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention
on the Conservation of Wetlands.
“The new transboundary
wetland complexes – Srebarna-Lake Calarasi,
Belene Islands Complex-Suhaia and Ibisha
Island-Bistret – will allow for the full
protection of the bird colonies that nest
and feed in Bulgaria and Romania. The two
countries will be able to take coordinated,
cooperative measures to better protect wetlands
and migratory species, which feed, winter,
nest and breed on both sides of the river,”
said Laurice Ereifej, head of WWF Central
and Eastern Europe Freshwater Programme.
Monitoring done by WWF
in the last three years shows that heron
colonies that nest on the Bulgarian island
of Ibisha feed in the Romanian lake of Bistret.
The same goes for pygmy cormorants and pelicans
nesting in the Srebarna Lake in Bulgaria
that feed in the Romanian lake of Calarasi.
“The two countries can
work on a joint strategy for wetland management
that will allow for the full protection
of the bird species. Bulgaria and Romania
can take coordinated measures by executing
common bans on logging and hunting in the
region and by not allowing access to the
bird colonies during breeding,” said Ivan
Hristov, head of Freshwater for WWF-Bulgaria.
At the end of 2012,
WWF launched a study of Bistret, Suhaia,
Calarasi, Srebarna, Ibisha and Belene Islands
Complex as part of the Green Borders LIFE+
EU-funded project to propose transboundary
conservation measures for bird species and
to designate cross-border nature reserves
along the Lower Danube.
Wetlands include rivers,
lakes, ponds and floodplain forests, among
others. They are among the most valuable
ecosystems as they preserve a huge amount
of biodiversity and ensure ecosystem services
for humans. Wetlands play a key role in
the water cycle, restore water supplies,
can reduce floods, provide habitat for fish
and purify surface or groundwater. In the
last century, the majority of wetlands in
Bulgaria and Romania have been destroyed.
Their protection is a priority for WWF.
The Convention on the
Conservation of Wetlands was signed on 2
February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
It is the first international agreement
for the protection and sustainable use of
natural resources. The mission of the Ramsar
Convention is the conservation and wise
use of all wetlands through local, regional
and national actions and international cooperation,
as a contribution to sustainable development.
