There’s an awful lot of bad news about big cats around at the moment; they are being hunted for their skins, claws, bones and other parts; killed to prevent human-wildlife conflict, and their habitats are increasingly fragmented and lost.

So it’s great to hear from African Parks that there are some hopeful signs across the continent for these majestic animals.

Lions are being restored to Malawi

In 2012, African Parks reintroduced lions to the Majete Wildlife Reserve.  They secured the park and brought back key species, including prey populations.  The lions have formed a small but growing pride to such an extent that African Parks have moved the first two of 10 lions to Liwonde National Park – the first time lions have been there for at least 4 years!

New cheetah population doubles in less than a year

In 2017, African Parks reintroduced cheetahs to Liwonde National Park, also in Malawi.  They’d been absent for 100 years.  Several females have had cubs, so increasing their numbers in just a few months since their arrival.

Lion numbers grow in Rwanda

Lions were eradicated by refugees coming back to Rwanda after the genocide, so they had been absent for 20 years.   African Parks reintroduced 7 lions to the Akagera National Park.   With the space to thrive, lions have nearly tripled, and the park is now a real wildlife gem.  Tourism is flourishing with over 36,000 annual visitors to the park, bringing $1.3 million in tourism revenue.  This is reinvested in the surrounding areas.

Restoring and protecting the big cat in Africa’s wild places does a number of things:

• It maintains vital ecological processes
• It gives tourism a boost
• Tourism gives much needed benefits to the local communities and revenue to the region

Get involved

You can help African Parks continue to protect Africa’s big cats and ensure they have the space, prey and safety they need to breed and thrive.    Donate here

The Straitstimes.com reports that Singapore has a 3 pronged approach to dealing with wildlife trafficking at border checkpoints, and it’s resulted in a number of seizures already.

The 3 pronged approach is:

1. Subjecting passengers and shipments to a risk assessment
2. Conducting multiple layers of checks at checkpoints.  Passengers and cargo are screened by officers and tools such as x-ray machines.
3. Adopting a co-ordinated enforcement approach amongst agencies such as the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, Singapore Customs and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.   These agencies may respond to any intelligence which is credible and actionable, or tip offs from the public and international partners.

Traffickers are subject to heavy penalties if they are discovered to have wildlife parts, with either fines of up to  $500,000 or two years in jail or both.

Singapore has long been flagged by international environmental organisations as transit points for items such as rhino horn, ivory and pangolin scales.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority is constantly reviewing the effectiveness of different tools and techniques, and they haven’t yet ruled out using sniffer dogs if studies show they can be more effective than current methods.

For more information on wildlife trafficking, visit TRAFFIC

Ecuador declares new National Park

Good news from Ecuador!

It’s just declared the protection of the country’s first national park in 9 years – the Rio Negro – Sophadora National Park.

It’s an important protection.   The reserve fills a big gap in a Páramo and Cloud Forest down the eastern Andes.  It’s between two national parks – the Sangay and Podocarpus.   What’s more, a recent survey of its incredible wildlife has discovered 3 news species – a frog, a caecilian and a salamander, so it’s very exciting.

This has been achieved through a number of groups working together:

• Nature and Culture International
• Municipal governments
• The Ministry of the Environment
• Local communities

The new reserve covers 75,654 acres.   Nature and Culture International undertook a Rapid Biological Assessment which showed the region’s ecosystems to be unique for its biodiversity and endemism, and having dramatic altitude changes over short distances.

These altitude gradients encourage the evolution of diverse species and provide a critical “escape valve” for climate change.  They give an upward migration path to cooler temperatures which help species survive as the climate gets hotter. 

The Rapid Biological Assessment showed 43 species of mammans in the area, including threatened specials such as the Spectacled Bear, Mountain Tapir and Andean Condor.   And there are also 546 species of plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. 

And there’s more from the Nangaritza Reserve

Supporters of the UK based charity World Land Trust helped fund a 447 acre extension to protect other areas in the Sangay – Podocarpus Corridor, namely the Nangaritza Reserve.   It has foothill forests close to the Podocarpus National Park.  

It’s really critical to connect large protected areas such as national parks, to ensure the health of wildlife population.  It's home to birds such as the Orange-throated Tanager, Cinnamon-breasted Tody Tyrant and Ecuadorian Piedtail.

You can help by donating £25 to the World Land Trust’s Buy an Acre programme, and help it continue to fund land purchase and create nature reserves to protect threatened habitats and wildlife. 

Good news from Colombia.

The President, Juan Manuel Santos, has announced plans to extend the country’s largest national park by 1.5 million hectares. 

At the moment, the Chiribiquete National Park covers 2.8 million hectares in the Amazon region, so this planned extension is enormous.  

The National Park has got one of the highest rates of plant diversity in the northern Amazon, and it’s famous for its tepuis (table-top rock formations) which rise out of the forest.   In fact, the forest is located on one of the world’s oldest rock formations, the Guiana Shield. 

The park is rich in wildlife and it has traces of ancient human life.  Francisco Forero Bonell, a phpotographer, documented ancient paintings on the sheer rock faces depicting animals and humans.  They are thought to have been made by one of the indigenous groups which lived in the area way before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors.

The Colombian government is hoping that Chiribiquete will be added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites this year;  it’s on the tentative list at the moment, and the World Heritage Committee will study the application in June. 

The Côte d’Ivoire has only two million hectares of forest – nearly 90% less than in the early 1960s.   80% of its forests vanished in 50 years, but Ivorian forest cover has slowly risen to about 12 million ha in 1970 and 4 million in 2000, according to the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of the Environment.

To stop deforestation and forest degradation, a loan and grant agreement for FCFA 7.5 billion (that’s about 11.4 million euros) was signed in February 2018 between the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Trade and the Director of Operations of the World Bank for Côte d'Ivoire in favour of the Forest Investment Program (FIP). 

The 5-year project will support the sustainable management of classified forests and the monitoring capacity of Taï National Park.  Communities depending on it will be involved, and there will be incentive mechanisms to generate other forms of income to reduce human impact on the area.

Global Forest Watch for the Côte d'Ivoire  

Find out about the Rainforest Trust's work to protect the Tanoé Forest in the Cote d'Ivoire and how you can help