Archive for June, 2007
I just saw this article that was brought to my attention by Ape Alliance that makes for an interesting read. It talks about the ebola virus and the development of new vaccines that could help the chimps and apes. Click on the picture below to see full story. Samantha
The Association of Women against Hunger and Malnutrition run a micro project near where we live in Mutsora, just down the road in fact. They have an area of about 3 hectares in the foothills of the Ruwenzori mountains and they cultivate aubergines, cabbages, onions, a spinach lookalike, and other vegetables. They have been doing this for about 5 years, and receive technical assistance from the charity World Vision, who happened to be visiting the other day.
The women work the fields once a week, on Wednesdays. They come rain or shine, with kids and all the necessary tools. This is Kavuo Mbakwa. She is the President of the Association. She is 48, has 11 kids, and the youngest is Francois who is 6 months old.
Here I am with the women… Virginia and I passed by there on our way to Mutwanga market, bought some aubergines, and picked them up on the way back. I figure Virginia and I are probably the first muzungu women in a while to walk to market in this neck of the woods. This whole area was deserted for a large part of the civil war, but now the communities have come back.
Virginia got here just a couple of weeks ago and has come to help out on a volunteer basis for a year with the blogging and the website and the graphic design and and and… Caribou Virginia!
Samantha
We are always browsing the Internet looking for new blogs in Africa - wherever the bloggers may be. It is very interesting to see how the phenomenon is developing in this part of the world. The other day we came across this new blog, by a guy in Malawi called William Kamkwamba who built his own windmill at the age of 14 to provide power to his family. I thought that was pretty impressive. Click on the picture link below to check it out. Sam
I just received this press release from Ape Alliance in the UK. STOP THE CHOP PT NABATINDO KARYA UTAMA, despite worldwide protests, despite local opposition, despite Ministerial protest, despite the Indonesian Palm Oil Growers Association saying they will not cut down forests, despite the government of Indonesias agreement under the Kinshasa Declaration not to destroy orangutan habitat, this company is rapidly cutting down, every day, 30 hectares of rainforest close to Cempanga village, Central Kalimantan. At least 50 orangutans, 11 species of protected mammals and reptiles and 34 species of birds will killed only in this month if Government do not react rapidly to stop it. Hardi Baktiantoro, Director of the Centre for Orangutan Protection said; “I call on the Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry to please stop, immediately, palm oil companies from logging any more forest both at Cempanga and elsewhere in Borneo. We all know there is already plenty of cleared land suitable for new crops.” Eyewitness accounts talk of orangutans being scared away by the excavators. Yet another forest, once forest full of diversity, providing food and fuel for local people, is now being reduced to barren earth. *Additional notes. * The forest of Cempaga is located beside Tumbang Koling, a village, some 4 hours drive from Palangkaraya. Though legally bought by PT NABATINDO KARYA UTAMA, local people do not want the forest cut down. A research team from the Centre for Orangutan Protection report that an excavator is already destroying 30 hectares of forest every single day. The community forest, originally covering an area of 10,000 hectares, has now been reduced to only 4,000 hectares; this last 4000 acres will disappear very soon unless the Minister intervene NOW. Stone Christopel Sahabu has been managing the community forests since 30 August 1972. This forest has been endorsed by the Utan Teke as the head of the Pundu village. Zainuddin Safri, Head of the Cempaga sub district on 27 September 2001, strengthened this endorsement. The concession permit issued by the Head of Kotawaringin Timur apparently has overlapped with the principle of the community forest and on 28 February 2007, the Governor of Central Kalimantan had instructed the head of Kotawaringin Timur District to resolve the problem. The rapidly deteriorating forestry situation in Indonesia is being monitored closely by foreign NGOs and the media. Sean Whyte, Chief Executive of Nature Alert, leading the international campaign to raise public as well as commercial awareness of the TRUE COST to the environment of most palm oil grown in Indonesia says, “The eyes of the world are watching Indonesia to see how little rainforest and how few orangutans will be left, before the government of Indonesia stops the palm oil companies from logging any more forest. For further information and / or high-resolution photographs, please contact: Hardi Baktiantoro, Director of the Centre for Orangutan Protection www.orangutanprotection.com <http://www.orangutanprotection.com/> Sean Whyte, Chief Executive, Nature Alert. www.naturealert.org <http://www.naturealert.org/> www.born-to-be-wild.org <http://www.born-to-be-wild.org/> HARDI BAKTIANTORO
Click on the picture link below and you will read about Cornielle Ewango, a conservationist in the Ituri forest who is working to preserve the flora and fauna of the region. Global Voices Online wrote the story. If you are interested in the Ituri forest you should also check out Somba and Rosie’s blog from Epulu, in the heart of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.
We are now up to 800 unique visits a day to the WildlifeDirect website. Considering we only got going properly at the beginning of the year, we are all proud of this achievement and proud of our dedicated bloggers. Most of our visitors come from the USA and Europe, over 90% in fact. Thank you for all your support and donations. The WildlifeDirect Team
I received this email this morning from the people in Mozambique who sent me the pictures I posted yesterday about the Serval that was shot. Dear Samantha, Thanks for your E-mail re the Serval trapped then shot last Friday. The killing took place outside the Maputo Elephant Reserve, not too far, about 15 or 20 kms from the Reserve in an area that is supposed to be “a protected biodiversity area” as it is a natural continuation of the St. Lucia/Kosi Bay reserves just accross the border and a corridor area for the Tembe and Maputo transfrontier parks agreement signed between SA and Mozambique. Every day poachers in the area use wire lace traps to catch all kinds of animals. Yet, lace traps of any kind are totally forbidden by law under any circumstances. A civil servant with a rifle and a taste for blood (he confesses that even if it werent for the money he would still kill as he “needs to kill and see blood”… he alone is responsible for the death of most species of gazelle in the district. As for the Serval it is a wild cat protected by Mozambican law: the fine for hunting a Serval is 5.000 Meticais (circa US$200). The Serval, by law, cant even be hunted legally in hunting grounds by people with hunting licences. Who we are? the person who sent you the original photos is a close friend. I am a Mozambican woman who, with other people, is trying to establish a new nature conservation NGO. Until the new Association is has a legal existence we cannot do much nor say much as you may well understand. Once the new Association comes into being we will let you know and then you may tell the world about us and our aims and objectives. If you ever come to Mozambique please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks again for your interest and for placing the photos in the Web. Regards,
As WildlifeDirect continues to grow - in blogs, donations and visibility on the web - we get emails from conservationists from all over in Africa. Generally it is about communicating - so many issues and problems transcend all boundaries, and we are all working towards a common goal. Today I received an email from Paula in Mozambique. I am not sure who she works for - I actually did a Google search but came up with nothing. But she told me that this young Serval was killed last Friday in the Matutuine district of Maputo province in Mozambique. Apparently the serval was caught in an iron lace trap and then shot in the head by a poacher. A serval is medium-sized African wild cat. Photos are a bit gruesome - but I thought it was important to transmit this. Samantha
After a month of hardworking, the paillotte is finally ready to be inaugurated today, with our guests from the European Union Commission, Ms. Roberta del Guidice and Mr. Filippo Saracco. It took the effort of 15 local people and 30 days of hard work (with some interruptions due to weather and other inconveniences) to get it up and running.
We have had Linda Nunn visiting us this week at Mutsora in Virunga National Park. She is the Chair for G4G, an NGO who’s primary aim is to secure the long term survival of the mountain gorilla, through providing practical assistance to rangers on the ground. This is her third time in DR Congo, and the first one in Mutsora, and she has been discussing with the Advance Force of Rangers the current situation in Virunga National Park. Linda has been working closely with us at WildlifeDirect by supporting and helping raise funds. She is a member of the International Rangers Federation. She is the kind of person that provides the invaluable moral support needed from afar when you are working in an isolated country. Her dedication and commitment is fabulous. These are some pictures of her trip to the neighbouring village today - Mutwanga, in search of some fruit for our dessert and enjoying the amusement of the local kids when being shown her filming.
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