In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
Sand mafia charging Rs 32,000/truck Despite the Supreme Court order restraining 82 large sand/bajri mining lease-holders in Rajasthan, ‘bajri’ mining continues to flourish with the sand mafia getting a four-fold rise in rates up to Rs 32,000 per truck. This has brought the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and various state …
Lusaka – Concerned with the continued rampant poaching of elephants and rhinos, among other endangered species, Germany has set aside 20 million euros to assist curb the practice in the 15 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries. Part of the funding will be used to train scouts who will …
Elephants are at imminent threat of extinction in western and central Africa, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species’ (CITES) secretary-general has said at the opening of its 69th week-long committee. While a steady decline in poaching has been seen across the African continent since 2011, illegal killings of …
Foreign armed groups, including the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the Janjaweed (a Sudanese militia), and other non-State militias, are the main perpetrators of wildlife poaching and trafficking across Central Africa’s Garamba-Bili-Chinko Landscape, a region that straddles the northwest border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the southwest border of …
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers on Tuesday arrested three suspected poachers and impounded 14 pieces of ivory weighing 58kgs. Addressing journalists at Chogoria Police Station, Maara OCPD Johnston Kabusia said the three suspects were arrested in a hotel in Chogoria Town, Tharaka-Nithi County, following a tip-off. UNDERCOVER He said the rangers …
In the past five years, a group of miners from the Amazonas Region and Madre de Dios have destroyed about 20 hectares of forest, not including the constant contamination from the Pastacillo stream, in the Río Santiago district. Although two bans have been put in place, the Wampis community claims …
The ministers responsible for wildlife conservation of the IGAD member states; namely Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, have agreed to enforce the Regional Biodiversity Policy and the IGAD Biodiversity Protocol for cooperation on the wildlife anti-trafficking. IGAD Executive Secretariat Engineer, Mahboub Maalim underlined the need for …
Abuja — Nigeria lost a whopping $9 billion to the export of proceeds of illegal mining activities between 2014 and 2015, the federal government disclosed yesterday. Making this disclosure at the end of weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which was held in the conference room of the Office of …
Kenya is among countries where trafficking in wildlife trophies is rampant, a new report indicates. The findings are contained in a task force report by the US Department of State released on Thursday last week. The report lists Kenya in the league of notorious countries that still have loopholes allowing …
Repeated searches of markets on the dark web have found negligible trace of illegal wildlife products. This news is troubling, conservationists say, because it suggests that traders are content to sell wildlife products on mainstream websites like eBay, where they rely on the sheer volume of transactions and lack of …
Repeated searches of markets on the dark web have found negligible trace of illegal wildlife products. This news is troubling, conservationists say, because it suggests that traders are content to sell wildlife products on mainstream websites like eBay, where they rely on the sheer volume of transactions and lack of …
Greenpeace alleges 12 companies continued to trade with Madeireira Cedro Arana after its founder was accused of ordering torture and murder Illegal logging seized in Brazil. More than a dozen US and European companies have been importing timber from a Brazilian logging firm whose owner is implicated in one of …
In a decision that will have wider repercussions on construction activity and employment, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered stay on the illegal sand mining activities on the riverbeds in Rajasthan. All mining activities will have to be stopped with immediate effect due to lack of environment clearance. The state …
Durban - Calls to legalise the trade in rhino horn are to come under the spotlight at this week’s 2017 Symposium of Contemporary Conservation Practice, which gets under way in Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands on Monday. More than 350 scientists, conservationists, legal experts, wildlife managers and environmentalists will gather …
Jaipur: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has come down heavily on the issue of rampant illegal and unauthorized mining at Parbabar in Nagaur district. Holding the officials accountable, the principal bench of the tribunal with Justice Swatanter Kumar as the chairperson, has directed state government, Rajasthan, that action should be …
The report on the status of elephants and ivory trade released yesterday by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species said there has been a steady decline in poaching levels since its peak in 2011. “There has however been a steady decline in poaching levels since its peak in …
The Liwonde Magistrates Court has slapped a 28-year-old Esau Chikondi Billy and hid accomplices with a lengthy jail term for poaching rhinos in Liwonde National Parks. The court convicted and sentenced Billy to 18 years imprisonment with hard labour (IHL) for killing a black rhinoceros with intentions of trafficking of …
FEWER cases of poaching have been recorded across the country so far this year, announced environment minister Pohamba Shifeta in Windhoek yesterday. Shifeta said this at a media conference at which he announced that 27 rhinos have been paoched so far this year, compared to 60 in all of 2016 …
Ivory seizures around the world hit record levels last year, with elephant poaching in Africa declining for a fifth year in a row, a report says. About 40 tonnes of trafficked ivory was recovered, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) report says. While poaching killed 111,000 African …
Timber industry players from Liberia and Cote D’Ivoire, have visited Ghana for a three-day familiarization tour and workshop on timber legality, forest conservation and networking. Hosted by the Nature and Development Foundation (NDF) of Ghana, the industry players were taken on a tour of some timber processing companies in the …
