BIG POPULATION OF WILDLIFE IN SOUTHERN SECTOR OF MURCHISON FALLS.

 A study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) using Game spy digital cameras around the Ayago water falls area on the Victoria Nile has shown big populations of wildlife in the southern sector of the Murchison Falls National Park than previously believed.

This was revealed by Wildlife researcher for JICA study team, Mr. Tomo Akiyama, on Friday November 22nd,2013 while handing over 65 game spy digital cameras to UWA to assist in research and monitoring of the wildlife in protected areas. Flanked by the team leader Mr. Masaaki Nagai and Mr. Daniel Rutabingwa of JICA, the researcher said there are good populations of lions, leopards, giraffes,and chimpanzees at the edge of the water falls.

Most of the game drives in the park are done on the northern bank .The one and a half study was aimed at assessing the possible impact the hydro power project at Ayago would have on wildlife. The team leader said the surveillance cameras also captured poachers and other illegal park entrants and thus can be good tools for monitoring other illegal activities against wildlife.

The JICA team thanked UWA for the cooperation during the study and promised to offer continued technical assistance whenever required. According to JICA, the cameras gave them an idea on what animals had an impact on the AYAGO project, though it’s very unfortunate that the project was terminated due to political reasons. However they were grateful to UWA for their collaboration and promise to render their collaboration anytime UWA needs it. He further added that the project started with 160 cameras which they used for their survey, research and monitoring of Murchison falls national park but unfortunately lost most of them to poachers, elephants and fires zeroing down to 65 cameras.

Though their study ended midway because of political programmes, they had taken 10,000 photos in a period of one year which they hope UWA will use for the major management of the national park.

Mr. John Makombo who represented the ED, thanked JICA and Uganda Ministry of Energy for the timely donation and promised to put the equipment to good use. He said the cameras will be deployed to monitor bio-diversity and wildlife management and that staff will be trained in the use of cameras and the data. He added that cameras will be handy in the investigation since they can be in position to trace the animals and poachers from the scene to the villages, as well as capture a lot of information and data that will help to enhance the management of the parks.

He also asked for their collaboration especially in the training of the staff on how to use the cameras and how to download the photos from them. The handover ceremony at UWA headquarters was witnessed by the Deputy Director for Legal and Corporate affairs Mr. Chemonges Sabilla, Deputy Director Human Resource Ms Jackie Bakobaki and the Senior Planning coordinator Mr. Edgar Buhanga flanked by Ms Justine Namara, a senior warden Environment Impact Assessment. End

Africa risks losing 20 percent of elephants in 10 years

GABORONE  - Africa could lose 20 percent of its elephant population within a decade, conservation groups warned Monday as governments met in Botswana to discuss measures to curb poaching.

                                                      Elephant rescued by a fisherman

An estimated 22,000 elephants were illegally killed across the continent last year, as poaching reached "unacceptably elevated levels," according to a report by CITES, TRAFFIC and IUCN.

"If poaching rates are sustained at current levels, Africa is likely to lose a fifth of its elephants in the next ten years," the group said.

The study was released as experts and ministers met in Gaborone to look at ways to stamp out the slaughter, fuelled by a growing demand for ivory in Asia.

The meeting is expected to adopt 13 "urgent" steps to stem the tide of illegal elephant killings.

These will include classification of trafficking in ivory as a serious crime and securing stiff sentences for offenders.

Prevention would be tackled through better arming of national protection agencies and discouraging demand in destination countries.

The meeting will also recommend the adequate securing of government- and privately-held ivory stockpiles so they do not make their way into wrong hands.

"We continue to face a critical situation," said John E. Scanlon, secretary general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Poaching in Africa remains far too high

"Current elephant poaching in Africa remains far too high, and could soon lead to local extinctions if the present killing rates continue," said Scanlon.

He described the situation in central Africa, where the estimated poaching rate is twice the continental average, as "particularly acute".

There are around half a million elephants left in Africa compared with 1.2 million in 1980 and 10 million in 1900.

Researchers believe that poverty and weak governance in African countries harboring elephants are driving forces behind a spike in poaching.

Ivory trade is banned under the CITES, yet the illegal trade is estimated to be worth up to $10 billion (7.4 billion euros) a year.
The price of ivory on the black market shot up tenfold in the past decade to more than $2,000 per kilogramme. On average, an adult elephant tusk can weigh 20 kg (44 pounds), according to experts.

In the past 13 years, the quantities of ivory traded have steadily shot up, according to Tom Milliken, an expert with the wildlife monitoring agency TRAFFIC.

"2013 already represents a 20 percent increase over the previous peak year in 2011. We're hugely concerned," said Milliken.

In terms of international crime, wildlife trafficking now ranks fifth after narcotics, counterfeiting, the traffic of human beings and of oil, according to estimates cited at the meeting.

Beyond worries about the species' survival, elephant poaching has given rise to security and terrorism concerns.

Proceeds from ivory are "known to fund terrorism acts, support conflicts" said the conference document. Experts suggest the funds could be financing groups such as Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab, Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army and Sudan's Janjaweed militia.

In recent years ivory trafficking routes appear to be shifting from the traditional west and central African seaports to east Africa with Kenya and Tanzania as the main exit points.

Most of the ivory ends up in Thailand and China

Elephants still exist in between 35 and 38 African countries with large tracts -- about 55 percent of the continent's population -- still found in southern Africa.

Botswana, which is co-organizing the conference with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), holds the largest population of elephants in Africa, according to statistics from conservationists.