The World Bank has partnered with the government of South Africa and others to conserve and protect South Africa's biodiversity.
This year the theme of World Wetlands Day will be ‘Wetlands & Tourism,’ celebrated on Thursday 2 February 2012. This will celebrate the 41st anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Iran for the protection of wetlands worldwide. 160 countries have since signed the treaty.
At a one-of-a-kind event in Johannesburg last month, 18 of the 25 South Africans who have summitted Mount Everest, and two non-South African summiteers now residing in this country, collaborated in support of conservation.
'Many hands make light work'. This idiom was particularly true for the Climate Train on Monday, 7 November, when the entire team came together for a collaborative AMbush (guerrilla gardening) on the corner of Market and George Street, Krugersdorp.
The Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC) is proud to launch an exclusive 7-day conservation programme, affording South African citizens the opportunity to gain hands-on and practical experience in conservation and wildlife as well as the overall running of the Centre.
We can never do enough for our rhinos, who are in danger of extinction. In 2009 there was a dramatic increase in rhino poaching, with 135 animals killed. In 2010, a staggering 333 animals were brutally slaughtered for their horns.
'The quota this year has been set for 85 000 baby seals that are still nursing from their mothers€™ teats. These are beaten to death with pick handles so that their fur pelts may be sold for US $7.00 A further 6 000 adult bull seals will be shot at point blank range so that their penises can be used to make an ineffective aphrodisiac,€ said Pat Dickens, co-ordinator of Sea Shepherd South Africa, at a protest against seal clubbing in Namibia held at the V&A Waterfront recently.
Imagine you are a western leopard toad living in your snug little home under a pot plant for 11 months of the year, happily snacking on organic, €˜pesticide free€™ cockroaches and crickets in your vegetable patch at night while your human sleeps.
By not supporting a moratorium on the on-going trapping and shooting of baboons in FSC-certified timber plantations in South Africa, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) International seems to place economic interests above ecological values.
There is a war going on in Antarctica, and South Africa€™s Rosie Kunneke is one of the soldiers fighting the good fight. She recently returned to the country after 94 days at sea, participating in the world famous reality television series Whale Wars.
Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat has long been committed to saving the endangered Clanwilliam cedar tree (Widdringtonia cedarbergensis) from extinction.
The United Nations proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) in Forests to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf has become an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council (WFC).
During the recent JoBerg2C mountain bike race, BirdLife South Africa€™s €˜Fast and Featherless€™ team and their famous patron raised much needed funds and awareness for bird conservation in South Africa.
Numbers of the African penguin, which is endemic to South Africa and Namibia, are rapidly declining. Perhaps most of us aren€™t aware of this, but African penguins are up against climate change, overfishing, oil pollution and penguin egg and guano collection.
With rhinos on the brink of extinction, it is no surprise that amazing conservation efforts are attempted in Africa to save them. Enough so to be noticed by an international panel of judges. Raoul du Toit, International Rhino Foundation€™s African Rhino Programme Coordinator, has received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize (Africa).
Last week three more rhinos died in the Kruger National Park. The demand for illegal rhino horn this time also claimed the life of a calf. Gunshots were heard and rangers went to investigate. Tragically, it was too late: The poachers were already sawing the horns off one of the rhinos.
Chimpanzees, the animals most similar to humans are severely abused in some parts of Africa.
Maties PAW (Promoting Animal Welfare) hosted a nail painting event on Friday 8 April in Stellenbosch to raise awareness and get students to join hands in the fight against rhino poaching. More than 300 rhinos have been killed this year, which means one is poached every 21 hours!
Learn about endangered turtles, ornithology careers, Africans penguins and many other fascinating members of our earth at the FREE Biodiversity Expo from 5 to 8 May at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
