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 …
"Gold diggers" from the rural village of KwaMachi in Harding, in the far south of KwaZulu-Natal, are spending nights and days at a local site where "gold" has been discovered. Armed with axes, pickaxes and shovels, men and women with babies on their backs - from the village under the …
A Liberian government delegation has held an intervention meeting in Buluyeama, Lofa County where a company has been accused by locals for illegal logging and failing to impact the affected communities. The firm, Sing Africa Plantation Liberia Limited, is carrying out massive logging of a vast forest at the border …
A damning report has shed light on an elaborate collusion between Kenya Forests Service (KFS) staff and saw millers, as the country struggles to prevent fast-diminishing forest cover. The report by the team formed to examine the management of forests and logging activities in the country revealed how KFS irregularly …
The World Bank is to support the implementation of the Multi-Sectorial Integrated Mining Project (MSIMP) of the government with US$ 50 million, with US$ 30 million as a loan and US$ 20 million as a grant. Dr Isaac Bonsu Karikari, the Acting National Project Coordinator for the MSIMP disclosed this …
Asia’s illegal trade in the Black Spotted Turtle is spiralling out of control. A new TRAFFIC study shows over 10,000 individuals have been seized in two years, eclipsing numbers recorded in a previous six-year study. The attractive turtle, once wanted for its meat, is now an increasingly popular pet and …
The government is likely to order the closure of about 40 stone crushers in Kangra district and 60 in other parts of the state. The closure is being ordered as stone crusher owners are not paying penalty worth about Rs 150 crore to the government. Highly placed sources in the …
IFAW’s research report, Disrupt: Wildlife Cybercrime – Uncovering the scale of online wildlife trade, highlights the scale and nature of the online trade in protected live animals and animal products, as well as the threat this trade poses to their survival. The latest in a long line of research, this …
Myanmar has seen an increase in the number of elephants killed over the past several years, with some of the carcasses found skinned. A report by the U.K.-based conservation group Elephant Family has identified growing demand for elephant skin products from Myanmar’s giant neighbor, China, which it blames for driving …
A senior State Department official said on Tuesday the US has no evidence that violent extremist groups such as Al-Shabaab are financing their operations through elephant poaching. The comments by Mr Richard Glenn, the department's top monitor of wildlife trafficking and transnational crime in Africa, contradict an earlier assertion by …
There’s a new strategy to combat the illegal wildlife trade in Africa, and it relies on local communities and their role in curbing elephant, rhino and other wildlife trafficking. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, in partnership with the International Institute for International Development (IIED), rolled out a toolkit …
Maputo — The Mozambican government plans to invest, over the next five years, 100 million US dollars in building infrastructures and stimulating conservation agriculture in those districts where national parks and reserves are located. The Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, announced this intention on Wednesday at …
International conservationists in Madagascar have been treating more than 10 000 critically endangered radiated tortoises that were seized from traffickers who had crammed them into a home with no access to food or water. The Turtle Survival Alliance and other groups are caring for the tortoises at a wildlife facility …
A government taskforce in Kenya has called for the management of the Kenya Forest Service to be sacked and some of its staff investigated for alleged corruption which it said had allowed for illegal logging and significant destruction to forests. Kenya has a forest cover of 7.4 percent of its …
People who carry out activities that degrade the land such as gold panning, stream bank cultivation and deforestation should receive stiffer penalties that would act as a deterrent for future perpetrators, Chief Weight Gwesela of Zhombe has said. The traditional leader was speaking during a Ward Assembly held at his …
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has strongly condemned the spread of black soot caused by the activities of illegal refineries, and called on the federal and Rivers State Government to urgently put an end to illegal refineries in the state. According to the union, …
Illegal logging and corruption practices around forest conservation have put forests on the verge of extinction. In an interview with the Star, Planning PS Julius Muia says raising the forest cover to 10 per cent by 2030 was among the flagship projects in the Vision 2030 economic blueprint, and since …
Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and conservationist Jane Goodall have joined a list of famous names who have signed an open letter to South Africa's government calling for an end to rhino poaching. More than 1,000 rhinos were killed across the country in 2017 for the fifth year running. The international …
Windhoek — The Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta says illegal sand mining continues to be a major concern for the government, as many large-scale sand miners leave gapping pits they dug without any rehabilitation. This, the minister said, poses a danger to both residents in those areas and …
Anti-trafficking authorities have seized 513 kilograms (1,131 pounds) of pangolin scales at Cotonou airport in the West African country of Benin, the Beninese newspaper La Nouvelle Tribune reports. The paper reported that three people were arrested on March 19 on their way to Vietnam with 23 bags of scales, likely …
Jaipur: About 70 villagers of Shuklawas and Picchari in Kothputli tehsil of Jaipur district sat in dharna on Tuesday outside the collectorate to force authorities to take cognizance of the damage that illegal mining for what is locally called ‘cheza pathar’ – stone that is ground and used in construction …
