Richard Leakey

You may have heard about the raging controversy regarding a massive dam that is under construction on the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is called the Gilgel Gibe III dam and it has a wall that will soar 240 metres high – this is the tallest of its type anywhere in the world. It will hold back a reservoir 150 kilometres long.

The Ethiopians say that they need this dam as it will provide 1800 megawatts of electricity. That will more than double the country’s current generating capacity in one hit, and according to their Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, it will solve a national energy crisis.He says they can’t afford not to have Gilgel Gibe III. He also claims that it will enable the country to store water and regulate the flooding downstream in the Omo River.

This new dam will produce far more electricity than the country is capable of consuming, most will be exported to neighbours like Sudan and Kenya.

I think that this project is fatally flawed in terms of its logic, in terms of its thoroughness, in terms of its conclusions.

It looks to me like the Environmental Impact Assessment was an inside job that has come up with the results that they were looking for to get the initial funding for this dam.

I and the Environmental Resources Group believe that rather than being beneficial to the river valley as the Ethiopian government say, the dam will produce a broad range of negative effects, some of which would be catastrophic to both the environment and the indigenous communities living downstream.

Even if the science is in dispute – this is reason enough to invoke the precautionary principle and stop the project before it is too late because if the Ethiopian government is wrong, those communities living along the lower Omo River Valley all the way down into neighbouring Kenya will pay a heavy price. I believe that one immediate consequence will be the aggravation  of armed conflict in a war over the shrinking natural resources.

What do you think, should Ethiopia be allowed to go ahead despite the concerns of down stream environmental and social impacts affecting over 500,000 people and Lake Turkana in Kenya?

Climate Stabilization Seminar

(03/12/2009)    A conference organized by a group of women focusing on climate stability and global warming will take place at Stony Brook Southampton between March 27 and 29. Organized by Women’s Initiatives for a Sustainable Earth, a New York State nonprofit organization, the conference will focus on “Mobilizing for Climate Stability: One Conversation at a Time.”

The cost is $165 per person for those who buy tickets before Sunday, or $225 thereafter. Students can attend for $100, and pairs of students can purchase tickets at a discount, for $165.

The conference includes lectures by environmental experts, morning yoga sessions, live music, film, and food. A dinner supported by Stony Brook University’s Center for Food, Wine, and Culture will cost an additional $22 per person, or $12 for persons under the age of 21.

Among the keynote speakers will be Margaret Wheatley, founder of the Berkana Institute, Harriet Fulbright, president of the Fulbright Center, Richard Leakey, a wildlife conservationist, paleoanthropologist, and founder of Wildlife Direct, and Sarah Newkirk, the director of coastal conservation at the Nature Conservancy on Long Island. Entertainment will be provided by Katherine Buckell, a singer-songwriter from Australia, Jane Comfort and Company, a dance theater company based in Manhattan, and Rha Goddess, a hip-hop artist and poet.

Conference organizers noted that “women control 85 percent of consumer spending,” and suggested that helping them to collaborate across New York State would be key to mobilizing toward climate stability. According to a press release, the conference entailed six months of planning, and over 400 people are expected to attend. Organizations that plan to contribute to the conference include the Nature Conservancy, the Peconic Land Trust, Group for the East End, and many others.

Registration will begin at 6:30 p.m. on March 27, and the event wraps up at 1:15 p.m. on March 29 with music, dancing and song. To purchase tickets or view the itinerary, those interested can visit sowise.org.      K.M.

Dear Friends,

Earlier this year we partnered with National Geographic to tell our story. We  hope you enjoy this video and will feel inspired to support conservaiton through WildlifeDirect. Let us know what you think.

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I recently did an interview with Dipesh Pabari of Sukuma Kenya. I’m reproducing it here to get your comments.

How is climate change beginning to affect Kenya and East Africa as a whole?
There is a huge gap in our knowledge on the impact of climate change in East Africa. At the moment, very little research is being done that gives us a clear picture on the modelling of impacts in this sub-region on climate change. The general feeling is that we will see more dramatic droughts and more dramatic precipitation. Whether this will fall into the cycles we have grown accustomed to, or whether the monsoonal changes that will result in increased warming of the Indian Ocean will give us a totally different weather pattern, we don’t know. The expectation, however, is that some areas in Kenya will get more rain and other areas will get less rain on average and the periods of no rain may be extended and longer while the degree of rainfall may increase to the point where flooding, mudslides and that sort of a thing become a serious issue.

One of the things that is recognised and now fully understood is that the melting snows or ice in the Antarctic is going to affect currents and the increased temperature on the ocean surface is going to bring changes in the direction of the monsoons which do not have to shift very far to take more or less rain in a certain direction.

Have you noticed any drastic changes to the environment in the Turkana Basin over the years that you have been working there?
We know from accurate geological and archaeological records that for the past 8000 years, Lake Turkana has received 95% of its water from the Ethiopian Highlands down the Omo River. 8000/7000 years ago, Lake Turkana was about 300 ft higher than it is today. The drop in the level of is a direct correlation of less rainfall in the Ethiopian Highlands.

When I first went to work in Lake Turkana in the late 60’s, the lake level was about 50 to 60 feet higher than it is today. There is no major hydroelectric dams or major irrigation schemes on the Omo River or in the Ethiopian Highlands so I believe this has to reflect changing weather patterns. Whether the weather patterns are changing because of human impact or whether it is changing because of climate change on a larger scale is not clear. But the lake level in Turkana is directly related to the quantity of rainfall falling in the Ethiopian Highlands.

What do you think is the most important factor to immediately address in terms of tackling climate change?
Population growth is as far as I am concerned is probably the single most worrying factor for the planet. We can look at a farm, we can look at a national park – we can say the carrying capacity of that area is “x”. If we look at the planet, the carrying capacity for our planet has been exceeded. This planet has too many people on it. How we address this I don’t know. But I am certain if we don’t address it, many of the good efforts being made to cut carbon dioxide emissions and to find alternative sources of energy won’t have the desired effect. It has got to be linked and conceptualised in a way that stabilises the human population and ultimately brings the numbers down.

It is only if you bring numbers down that we will be able to find a way for resource utilisation per capita to increase. It is the only way you are going to deal with poverty and unless you deal with poverty, the situation can only spiral downwards. This is a massive problem and the solutions are not simply condoms versus draconian measures such as one child per family. It has to be looked at in different countries in different ways. I think there has to be a commitment everywhere to slow and stop population growth. I do believe that we have been set back a long way by the opposition to family planning that is being shown by some of the religious groups and by some of the more conservative governments such as the current US administration.

What can we do as a country and regionally?
As to what Kenya can do, I would urge our researchers to look back at old records and try to draw up some picture of whether there are discernible trends. Are there are any indications that give us insight into sea level change? There is also bound to be a lot of anecdotal evidence from farmers and fishermen about seasons and when people plant crops. We need to be accumulating a great deal more local information. Looking at what happens in America, Europe or Australia isn’t going to give us the planning capacity that we need.

I believe we should also be addressing governance. We should be looking to the government to put in rules that focus on a number of things. First of all, planning for natural disasters that I think will begin to increase in frequency both from the sea with typhoons or cyclones; ocean surges; high tides and rising sea levels.
We also need to look into our planning rules such as where people are allowed to build or whether people should be clearing steep slopes in valleys that could lead to landslides. We should certainly be thinking about conservation of water; we should be thinking very carefully about how much water we can afford to waste. Can put water back into the aquifer as they do in Australia? I think we need to start thinking about government intervention in irrigation systems and the water off-take levels. We have some rules that can be improved upon as we are wasting so much water. Water harvesting is of particularly critical importance.

Water is currently such a scarce source for the majority of Kenyans. How are authorities to prepare for such drastic measures when we are already in such dire straits?
Authorities must prepare for climate change. Water is fundamental. This has to take into account not only the harvesting of water but also the recycling of water and adaptation of technologies that don’t lead to waste. Storm water, for example, could be harvested.

There are a number of things that can be done in the urban areas that would improve our life. Many of our urban water systems were put in place in the 50s and 60s. Most of the supplies are losing 50 to 70% to leakages. If you go to Lamu, the last official study suggested that 70% of the water from rain fed wells was simply leaking out of broken pipes.

If you drive along the highways in Nairobi where there are water pipes on the side, you will see many flower nurseries where people are planting flowers to sell. Their source of water is broken pipes – there are no springs on the road, those are just broken water systems. It is all over the country. We should fix these things. There is a lot we can do. But it will take time and it will take money and it needed to have started years ago.

We also need to participate in some of the global studies to give us a better indication on the likelihood of crop failure particularly how it would impact on small scale farmers. These are subsistence people who can move from a meagre existence to famine in a relatively small period of time. So I think there are a number of things that we could be doing to recognise that over the next fifty years, the Kenya we know will not be here. It would have changed very dramatically in terms of when the rain falls, how much falls, where people live, how people live, what they eat, how they grow their crops.

There are so many global movements that focus on reducing our carbon footprints. Do you think this is something that we should be concerned with in our region and in what particular area of life?
Although our output of carbon dioxide from transportation is relatively small, this is no reason not to be more serious about our carbon dioxide emissions. Much more should be done by urban authorities to insist on more efficient transportation such as vehicles that have better emission standards. If public transport is sufficiently reliable, many of us would not have to drive our cars to work. The condition of our roads and the fact that so many cars use the roads carrying only one or two people can all be avoided. This should be addressed. We could have commuter trains that carry large numbers in whom at the moment, travel in vehicles that only seat 14 people. This is highly inefficient.

We have to recognise that while we may not be a significant contributor to the global carbon dioxide totals; our small contribution of fumes that we are pumping into the air is taking its toll. In the mornings when there is no wind, you can see the brown, yellow smog over the city. This is going into our lungs and it is bound to have an effect over the long term. I don’t know what the statistics are but I know from conversations that I have had with medical authorities indicate that respiratory diseases are on the increase in this country.

The question of air transport and what it is going to do – well, we are already beginning to see questions as to whether countries that fly horticultural produce to markets across the world are in fact providing organic produce. The European markets may not accept six flights a night out of Nairobi airport with flowers and green beans. I think the destination markets are going to get tougher and tougher on nations such as ours.

What are your thoughts about the north-south carbon trading initiatives?
Carbon dioxide trading is an interesting idea and is certainly one that hasn’t been fully explored in Kenya. I think people should get a credit for retaining indigenous forest rather than simply being rewarded for replanting forests that they have cut down. I think that there are a lot of changes in the International Convention on what you can trade and how you can do it but I would think that biodiversity, indigenous forests as well as plantation forests could all lend themselves to development efforts in countries such as Kenya. We need to become much more familiar with what is possible and what can be done and I think you could see much of the reforestation necessary in this country for our timber needs, fuel and paper being financed through international funds. Sadly, many of us don’t have the capacity to access such schemes.
We in Kenya need to be conscious of the need for energy but rather than go the easy route and opt for dirty energy, we should start to demand that investors come here with the same criteria for development that exists in their own countries. There is no reason why foreign investors should make us continue to operate below standards in terms of emissions while they have been forced to clean up at home. But this takes a brave government; it takes a government that sees beyond its own lifetime. This is an institutional change that we have not seen here. It is where institutions and laws are supposed to operate irrespective of the party in power. This is something we certainly look forward to.

How do you realistically see us instilling such values as a nation when most people are so desperate to meet their daily needs?
The first issue is that there are far too many of us that are too poor. The vast majority of people aspire to a better standard of living and for them to have a better standard of living; they are going to have to have better access to resources. Whilst those resources are readily available, the wastage of those resources is not justified. What people need is justified but what people discard and waste and throw away is not. That is what people have to address.
We are certainly different from California, or France or Australia. Our electorate is generally not well informed. They are not likely to put environmental issues on the ballot. This comes later. By the same token, because our electorate are relatively straight forward, they will take all sorts of medicine given by leaders they trust. We have men and women who have had enough education to understand some of the dimensions of these problems and some of the relationships between problems and solutions and legislation. The Kenyan public would go along with a lot of measures without necessarily having to initiate it themselves. In a sense the government would say this is better for you. What worries me are long term events. For example, climate change and the impact it will have is simply not been given the attention it deserves by our leaders.
The question of whether or not the capacity of humans who are adaptive and clearly have shown remarkable abilities to live with a degrading environment, will get us through, is a question with little meaning. The fact is that the density of the human population on the planet and the needs of that population exceed the realistic resources that the planet can provide. If for example, we are living at the moment in Kenya with an average of 10-15 litres of water consumption per person per day (it is probably slightly less), but we are aspiring to a life that similar to the US where 200 litres a day is normal. Clearly the world has not got that kind of water to cope with such a demand on a global scale.

If in the context of where we are today, is there time?
Well, planet earth isn’t going to self destruct. What happens with planet earth is that species come, species go; extinctions happen, new species appear. It is too late now to prevent massive changes in the next 50 years. It is not too late to do things that will have positive effects a hundred years from now. If we are selfish, we will leave the planet in worse condition for those to come. If we are selfless then we will recognise that our older generation and the one before it left us in a mess which we now can’t get out of but we certainly can make sure that successive generations inhabit a world that is gradually recovering. That’s our choice.

I would also say that there this is a tendency in most parts of the world, and I don’t think it is any different in Kenya to say that it is up to God. If you leave it up to God, it is not going to do very well. It is not up to God: it is up to us. I don’t believe that if there is a God, God would say, destroy the planet the way you are doing. I think that is nonsense. If you are religious, then remember that God is generally thought to help those that help themselves.

Dear Friends,

This blog post is written by my good friend, Cynthia Moss, a scientist and Time Hero of the Planet who may be the worlds authority on African elephants, having spent over 40 years studying the elephant population in the Amboseli National Park. I requested Cynthia to post on my blog as a guest after I heard that at least 14 elephants and there lions had been speared during the last few weeks in the Amboseli Ecosytem.

Fourteen elephants who regularly use Amboseli National Park as the core of their range were speared in January and February. This picture of Odile though taken 2 years ago represents what has happened to the 14 other elephants in recent weeks, of which four have died.

Soila Sayialel, the Project Manager of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (AERP), said in a recent email to colleagues,

“Need your help, we cannot stand all this: it pains, it hurts, it is sad and hard to understand what is the future of Amboseli elephants.”

What indeed? Usually, the goodwill engendered amongst the Maasai community by Soila and her colleagues serves as a steadfast if tenuous barrier between the elephants and the relatively few pastoralists or newly-arrived agriculturalists who might do them harm. The range of causes of elephant spearing are complex enough — revenge, political protest, self- or crop-protection, delinquency, and, to a lesser extent in Amboseli at least, ivory poaching. But add to those the current atmosphere of uncertainty and unrest in the country, and the mix becomes volatile, the risk to elephants high.

Three elephant experts working with the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in the field during a rescue operation – from left to right: Norah, Katitu and Soila

Soila went on to comment on the specifics of the recent spearings in and around the 2,000-hectare (5,000-acre) Satao Elerai community conservation area some 20 km (12 mi) southeast of the Park: “There were several issues that I believe escalated spearing of elephants. The people who migrated from the north to the south and from other areas due to the heavy January rains were denied grazing access in the conservation area.

“The community also claimed that the management of Satao Elerai camp had created water points in the conservation area which have become a resting ground for elephants during daytime from which they go crop raiding at night. Also there was the case of a lady killed by an elephant in May 2007 for which KWS has not compensated up to now. What I believe is the community wanted some attention from KWS. Also the issue of [private] land ownership takes time for the Maasai to adopt… I did not think that crop raiding was an issue [this time] after visiting the farms.”

Elephant darting is handled by the Kenya Wildlife Service, but Siola and the team assist and help to keep the elephant cool during the treatment.

She added that in the bigger picture local politics and the desperate need for job creation for Maasai warriors are critical underlying issues.

Soila sent this grim list with her email:

1. Tulip, adult female from TA family, dead.
2. Tecla’s ’07 calf, dead.
3. Calf 4-month-old, dead with 14 spear wounds.
4. Isabella (?), 18-year-old female, dead.
5. Tulip’s ’06 calf with head injury
6. Twoo, 7-year-old female with body wound.
7. Isis, matriarch of IB family with trunk wound.
8. Trevor, 9-year-old bull with body wound.
9. Calvin, young bull with body wound.
10. Eldoret, young bull with leg wound.
11. Unknown male class 1B (15-19 yrs) with spear in head.
12. Ganesh, 45-year-old bull with elbow wound.
13. M262, 40-year-old bull with front right wrist wound,
14. Unknown adult bull at Kimana with front leg wound.

Not counting five independent breeding bulls (Ira, Scoop-Ear, Isaiah and Lumpy Tusk and one unknown) who were also speared or shot between May and December 2007.

These elephants are or were all known individuals who have been studied and followed since birth as part of the programme of research on the longest-studied population of elephants in the world.

Despite her injuries, Tulip survived an went on to have a calf!

Soila and the other directors of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants (ATE), notably Cynthia Moss, are working with the Kenya Wildlife Service, local government authorities, and other NGOs to address the complex social and economic issues that inevitably arise when people and wildlife compete for land. Co-existance is possible, and ATE experience has shown that a mutually beneficial accord can be negotiated between the wildlife and the surrounding community. But accords are always at risk from the greed or recalcitrance of a few individuals.

ATE urgently needs support funds to keep the field presence of Soila and her teammate sisters, Norah and Katito, strong, mobile and responsive. Running costs for 4×4 vehicles ($1,500 per month), mobile telephone communication ($500 p.m.), VHF radios (new $1,200 base station and antenna needed)are all critical, and our donor-driven budget is always stretched to the limit. It is necessary need to keep the 13 Maasai Elephant Scouts operational with mobile telephone air time ($100 per head per month). Without these links, ATE’s effectiveness in reaching out to the Maasai community would dwindle.

Soila ended her email saying, “Today we drove like crazy searching for the male with a spear in the forehead.  We couldn’t raise KWS on the radio and the scout must have run out of credit on his mobile.  Very frustrating.  Maybe we can find him tomorrow.”
One fire put out, but there are many more to prevent.

Cynthia Moss and the AA family in Amboseli

Please help us to support Cythia and her team of experts on the ground. All donations made on this blog post will be dedicated entirely to the Amboseli Trust for Elephants. Thank you for your concern. Richard Leakey

The recent report on elephant management in South Africa has sent alarm bells ringing throughout the conservation and animal welfare circles and headlines are screaming that culling is about to be re-introduced (you can read about it here and here). This is a highly emotive issue and I studied the norms and standards report for elephant management before making any judgment. Indeed, the report goes far beyond culling and the headlines I have seen have been rather misleading.

Let me explain my position. By 1990, long-term research in Kenya and elsewhere had revealed that elephants have highly organized societies and have a surprisingly well developed ability to communicate. We consider them sentient creatures like whales and apes that deserve special consideration when it comes to their management. I was part of the community of concerned professionals who objected to the culling of elephants in southern Africa in and before the 1990’s because at that time, the body of knowledge about elephants was ignored and culling appeared to be largely commercially motivated (for ivory and trade in baby elephants), was not managed in a scientific manner and was unacceptably inhumane. Unable to ignore the global concerns for the ethical and inhumane treatment of elephants, the South African government then banned the culling of elephants in the 1994.

Elephants live in close knit families and maintain close ties with others in their bond groups

Matriarchs are the leader and reservoirs of elephant community knowledge and are key to keeping the herd safe

The statement made by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African minister of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, on the publication of the final norms & standards for elephant management on 25^th February 2008, reveals that South Africa has come a long way since their positions in the 1980’s. The country has clearly looked seriously at the issues raised by experts from around the world by consulting widely within and beyond South Africa, and has prepared a carefully considered position on the management of elephants that aims to serve the interests of elephants as a species, their welfare, their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and their effects on the people both locally and nationally.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the guiding principles behind this piece of legislation begins with acknowledgement that “elephants are intelligent, have strong family bonds and operate within highly socialised groups and unnecessary disruption of these groups by human intervention should be minimized”.

The welfare of elephants is further emphasized in the statement that “management interventions must, wherever practicable, be based on scientific knowledge or management experience regarding elephant populations and must take into account the social structure of elephants; be based on measures to avoid stress and disturbance to elephants, and; where lethal measures are necessary to manage an elephant or group of elephants or to manage the size of elephant populations, these should be undertaken with caution and after all other alternatives have been considered”

While I will never ‘like’ the idea of elephant culling, I do accept that given the impacts of human induced climate change, and habitat destruction, elephants in and outside of protected areas will become an increasingly serious problem unless some key populations are reduced and maintained at appropriate levels. A part of the problem is caused by increasing demand for resources by humans and I believe that we have are responsibility to check our own impacts in order to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans by controlling human activities as well.

Reducing elephant populations may therefore, be a necessary part of population management, and this will be done in a humane and considered manner. South Africa intends to reserve culling as a last resort after all other options such as translocations, fertility control have been exhausted. Though I find elephant culling repugnant, I can see the sense in it in some scenarios, as I imagine many others do also.

If culling is deemed necessary, then I would personally like to see the management authority ensure that entire families or bond groups are removed intact to eliminate or minimize the emotional trauma to remaining individuals, and secondly, to maintain smaller populations using the tested and approved fertility control. It means that the authorities have much work to do in terms of studying the family and bond groups and maintaining good records. If done well, removing or culling entire bond groups would reduce cases of rogue elephants and could eliminate or reduce the frequency of further culling in the future.

Like human babies, elephant calves are protected fiercely and influence social behavior

Finally, it is with great relief that I note that the Minister has prohibited any further capture of wild elephants for captivity. He acknowledges the unacceptably cruel practices that are common in captive elephant care and training in South Africa where baby elephants are beaten and tortured to ‘break their will’ in order to train them for tourism, circuses and even zoos. I look forward to seeing new legislation that completely eliminates cruelty in the captive care and training of these highly intelligent and feeling animals.

Read more about this read elephantvoices

Sadly my beloved country Kenya has been in the news a great deal in the past few weeks, and the news has not been good. We have problems and these were triggered by the outcome of the Presidential election where the result was close, and where there is plenty of evidence for rigging. The dispute led to violence which has deteriorated into inter-ethnic fighting in certain parts of the country. Tragic scenes and news fill the media and a sense of doom, gloom and fear is palpable. The violence is not directed against foreigners or tourists in any way and much of Kenya is untouched by it. The main airports are functioning normally and the National Parks, the Game Reserves and the wildlife sanctuaries are perfectly safe from this fighting.

The sense of normality in the wildlife areas is unfortunately deluding. Foreign tourists and the tourism industry has all but collapsed. Many, many people are losing their jobs and critical funding for the protection of the wildlife areas has essentially dried up. Revenue from tourism has been providing the bulk of the funding for conservation, and without these funds, patrols and essential activities will cease. In these circumstances we can expect a real upsurge in poaching; for bush meat and commercially valuable species such as rhino and elephant.

I am obviously deeply concerned and feel that we must find a short-term solution to maintain these wildlife areas until normality returns to Kenya and tourism picks up again.

One of the most critical wildlife areas is the Trans Mara, a part of the Greater Maasai Mara and northern Serengeti ecosystem. This area has been run by private management (the Mara Conservancy) for the local authority, the Trans Mara County Council. The management arrangement has been a remarkable success but it is entirely dependent upon tourism which has now stopped. The small buffer of US $50,000 that the Mara Conservancy saved from last year’s visitors has been used up through January. We now need to act quickly to ensue that we can raise another US $50,000 for February and so on until this crisis is over. The wildlife in the Trans Mara is spectacular; the area is one of the jewels in the list of Kenya’s great natural attractions: it has to be saved.

Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of visitors have enjoyed their visits to the Mara and everyone wants it to remain for the benefit of future generations. Apparently, for as little as US $150,000, the management of the Trans Mara can be sustained; poaching checked and essential services (fire breaks etc.) can be operated. As this area is the gateway to the Greater Maasai Mara/Serengeti ecosystem, this will have real and significant impact for conservation. WildlifeDirect believes this help must be found. This can be achieved by 1,500 people donating one hundred dollars, or 15,000 giving ten dollars. For those hundreds of thousands who have been privileged to see the Mara, surely a modest gift now can secure the spectacle for your next visit or for your children, grandchildren or friends. If you have been to the Mara or know people who have, pass this on and through your network of friends and colleagues, we can quickly reach this target. Each of us can make the difference in a very real and timely way.

I can’t contain my anger and disgust at Japans intention, once again, to contravene the International Whaling Commissions (IWC) conventions in order to embark on a massive whale hunt. This issue has attracted an enormous amount of attention because this year they are going further than ever before. You can read other views from Chile here and Australia here. In addition to hundreds of Minke and fin whales, they intend to kill 50 hump backed whales. They call it “research” and this year 1,000 whales will be slaughtered to gather “data”. We know this is unnecessary. Whales can and are being studied elsewhere using non-lethal methods.

I cannot accept Japans reasoning to hunt whales.

“Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering,” said the Fisheries Agency’s whaling chief, Hideki Moronuki. “Taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever.” Like humans, apes, elephants and other sentient animals, whales live in complex societies. Killing individuals will affect them just as it would if your brother, mother or child was being hunted.

Some Japanese authorities maintain that eating whale meat is a gourmet delicacy and defend the hunt as an important part of Japanese cultural heritage. They claim that the hunt is necessary to keep this culture alive.

I have nothing against sustaining cultures, but this claim is a blatantly misleading. Whale meat only became popular in Japan during the WW II because it helped ward off starvation and malnutrition. It was the cheapest source of protein in Japan at that time, but it has never been very popular. In 2006 commercial freezers that store whale meat in Japan had 2,700 tons of uneaten stock, and whale burgers and whale spaghetti bolognaise were being introduced and served in school lunch cafeterias and distributed to old people’s homes! If it is such an integral part of national culture, why are they forcing people to eat it?

Japan can hardly claim that they need these whales for research or food. I see this annual kill as simply a pretext for keeping the Japanese whaling industry alive. It is a disgrace that such a rich and civilized country would engage in such a barbaric and cruel activity. Cultures change as civilizations move on and that is how new social norms develop. It’s time Japan moved on.

As I write another tragedy is erupting as emotional pressure has pitted conservationists against each other. The Sea Shepherd is apparently trying to ram the Japanese ships but are locked in an argument with Green peace about militant versus peaceful means to stop the whale hunt. You can read about it here.

Do you have a view about this hunt and about who is right: Greenpeace or Sea Shepherd?

This video clip and the photos above were generously provided by IFAW I hope they help you to understand the issues and feel compelled to take action.

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Today I am posting a video cast with my thoughts on conservation in parks in relation to changing climate. This is a subject that I feel strongly about and hope that we can start a discussion about how we can protect the needs of wild animals and plants in the future.

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One of the most famous wildlife spectacles, the flamingoes of Lake Nakuru National Park are at risk of pandemics like bird flu

When we started WildlifeDirect, the idea was to address the chronic shortfall of funds for sustaining Africa’s protected areas, we believe that these parks and protected areas are key to the conservation and protection of the continents biological diversity. Recent trends have seen a significant shift in funding for these protected areas, from government funds to a dependency on tourism incomes. This tourism revenue is both a short term boon and a long term risk. Tourism is notoriously fickle and prone to external threats. For example, terrorism or disease pandemics.

Lions and other big cats are amongst the most vulnerable species

I believe that we have become complacent during these times of booming tourism, revenues appear safe, and are a growing means of financing essential conservation work in our protected areas. The sustainability of this income however, is a matter that has not been addressed. It could be interrupted at any moment, for example due to natural disasters, conflict, or acts of terrorism.

Imagine if you had planned a safari to Rwanda to see the rare mountain gorillas. After planning your holiday, a terrorist strike at the countries capital Kigali would result in an international travel warning that would discourage if not prevent you from traveling. Tourism revenues to the Rwandan authorities (ORTPN) would crash and they would have to cut back on protection of the area to avoid going broke. By the time the travel warning is lifted, the gorillas could all be gone, …dead – due to failure of enforcement to prevent illegal hunting, habitat destruction or the progress of the disease. They will never be back, lost forever.

It could happen to any country at any time.

With tourism revenues, we could afford to ensure that our Park Wardens were disciplined and competent.

In 1998 Kenya was attacked by Al Qaeda. We knew that the attack was not targeting our parks, however it affected us drastically. The result of travel restrictions and bad publicity led to a near collapse in our tourism industry due to negative travel advisories and even flight cancellations. Park revenues declined significantly, it was a disaster since protected area management costs were financed almost entirely from gate collections.

I remember that difficult time well because I was the Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service at that time. We were eventually able to convince the Kenya Government to come our rescue with a financial package that allowed us to limp along until the tourism industry recovered. Were it not for this support, we could have been overrun by armed poachers, and we would have lost our rhinos, our elephants and other species, because we couldn’t sustain basic operations and enforcement.

We were lucky that the Kenya government rescued us – the truth is it was for purely economic reasons, tourism contributes 12% of the country’s GDP. Most African governments however, will not have a rescue package for biodiversity disasters as there are so many other priorities like poverty, health and education. I am therefore convinced that we need to find another way to buy time for these countries, parks and protected areas during these critical times of need.

I can’t emphasize enough how precarious the funding situation can be for conservation. This is why WildlifeDirect really must establish a strong potential to raise significant funds for times of crises to enable countries to buy time for Conservation. We need to buy time for species and ecosystems for times when tourism or other incomes are not able to support the costs of management. If this can be achieved, one could visit a park at any time online, take a virtual tour even if a real visit was prevented due to disease or acts of terrorism. At least the wild animals and places would still be there for a real visit at a later date. All it would take is a few dollars from any many people to make it possible for us to buy time during these crises.

Conservation in the Aberdares National Park would not be possible without the support of local communities – this fence barrier keeps the peace. If tourism revenues declined this fence would not be maintained and the buffaloes and other large mammals would be at risk and a cause for conflict with the people.

White Rhinos went extinct in Kenya due to poaching – today you can see the southern race close up in Kenya following their reintroduction. Their calmness of these animlas reflects their sense of security.

I believe that there are tens of millions of people out there who care about wildlife and would be willing to make a 2 dollar donation to secure the future of wildlife. We are not asking for the crisis money now, we are proposing a ‘virtual endowment’, a promise if you like, that we can reach out to you at a later date when there is a critical need.

For this ‘virtual endowment’ to be effective in raising the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for rescuing biodiversity, then we need to grow WildlifeDirect’s ability to reach out to these millions, to keep them in touch with what is happening on the ground, and to respond with a small donation at a time of need. This network of people will be our virtual human endowment.

I would be very interested in hearing ideas on how we can develop this concept and to improve WildlifeDirect’s potential to provide biodiversity disaster relief. Do not hesitate to contact us with your thoughts and ideas on how we can tap into this massive global caring community that can help.

Technorati : Richard Leakey