AFRICAN
CONSERVATION AND WEB SITES FOR AFRICA FROM
AFRICANWEBSITES.NET
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The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) (Headquartered
at the Bronx Zoo, U.S.A.), works to save wildlife and wild lands throughout
the world. For more than a century, WCS has inspired care for nature,
pioneered environmental education programmes
and helped sustain biological diversity. WCS supports programmes in
Africa to gather information on wildlife needs, train local conservation
professionals, and work with in-country staff to protect and manage wildlife
and wild areas for the future. For information on any of their current project
in Botswana - detailed below - you can email them at
feedback@wcs.org :
Effects of elephants and fire on woodland
habitats.
In 1989 a group of Serowe
residents conceived the idea of a wildlife reserve near Serowe.
The land around Serwe Pan, then a cattle-post, was allocated
to the
Khama Rhino
Sanctuary Trust by the Ngwato Land Board in 1993. Khama Rhino Sanctuary
lies 25km north of Serowe on the road to Orapa. Covering approximately 4,300
hectares of Kalahari sandveld, including several natural water holes, the
Sanctuary provides prime habitat for white rhinoceros and many other species
of animals and birds.
The Botswana Defence Force (BDF) provides 24 hour protection
against poachers. The Sanctuary is a community trust which is governed by
a Board of Trustees who are elected from the local communities of Serowe,
Paje and Mabeleapodi. Serowe is one of the largest traditional villages in
Africa and is the birthplace of Botswana's first President, the late Sir
Seretse Khama. Paje and Mabeleapodi are two small picturesque villages close
to the Sanctuary. The Vice President of Botswana, Lt. Gen.S.K.I. Khama, Paramount
Chief of the Bamangwato, is Patron of the Trust. Khama Rhino Sanctuary.
The mission of the
International Fund for
Animal Welfare (IFAW) is to improve the welfare
of wild and domestic animals throughout the world
by reducing commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habitats,
and assisting animals in distress. They seek to motivate the public to prevent
cruelty to animals and to promote animal welfare and conservation policies
that advance the well-being of both animals and people.
IFAW was founded in 1969
to confront the cruel commercial slaughter of harp and hooded seals. Having
successfully rallied worldwide condemnation of the hunt, they have grown
to become one of the largest international animal welfare organizations in
the world. Today IFAW
has offices in 12 countries and a staff of more than 200 experienced campaigners,
legal and political experts, and internationally acclaimed scientists. They
are a pragmatic and dedicated family of professionals who believe that animals
suffer far too much from commercial exploitation, habitat destruction, and
needless cruelty. And they are joined in that belief by more than 1.8 million
supporters. You can email
IFAW -
info@ifaw.org.
The primary aims of the
NNF (Namibia Nature
Foundation) are to promote sustainable development, the conservation
of biological diversity and natural ecosystems, and the wise
and ethical use of natural resources for the benefit of
all Namibians, both present and future. At present the
NNF is managing
54 main projects throughout the country and the southern African subregion.
Some of the projects that are supported include : the national community-based
natural resource management programme, the monitoring and protection of rare
and endangered species e.g Mountain Zebra, Black Rhino, Elephants, Flamingos,
Vultures and various carnivores, e.g. cheetahs, lions and wild dogs, the
monitoring and protection of threatened habitats such as wetlands and inselbergs,
support for protected area management, the national Biodiversity programme,
environmental education, the national programme to combating desertification,
research into ozone depleting substances, the development of a zebra-snake
serum, review and revision of environmental policies and legislation, state
of environment reporting and regional environmental profiles, natural resource
economics and environmental accounting, the national pollution and waste
management control programme, and environmental assesment and more. To contact
them please email :
pco-ordinator@nnf.org.na.
Living With Elephants (LWE) is a federally registered
non-profit organization which explores
the
relationship between the African Elephant and people, with an emphasis on
research and educational programs aimed at reducing conflict between the
two species. Their programs, co-ordinated from their field office in Maun,
focus on the northern regions of Botswana. They are one of the only
organizations, worldwide, looking at human-elephant conflict in this way
with the people who actually encounter the problems day-to-day. Since Botswana
has
the
largest remaining free range African Elephant populations of any of the range
states, they have lots at stake! Their team has one thing in common - a great
desire to improve the relations between the African Elephant and people living
in elephant range! They also recognize that they are not the experts on
human-elephant relations, but rather facilitators for the cause. The real
experts are the people and elephants who face one another in the wild. If
you'd like to find out more you can email them at
info@livingwithelephants.org.
The
Mokolodi Wildlife
Foundation was formed in 1991 with the aim of promoting wildlife
conservation and environmental education for the
children of Botswana. The first project of the Foundation
was the creation of the Mokolodi Nature Reserve in 1994 on 30 square km of
donated land outside Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. In addition to
naturally-occurring animal species such as warthogs, steenbok, kudu and a
variety of snakes, several species have been re-introduced, eg. zebra, giraffe,
eland, ostrich, hippos and rhinos. The philosophy behind Mokolodi Nature
Reserve is that income from tourism and the sustainable use of wildlife and
natural resources is used to subsidise the environmental education programme.
After an initial struggle, this is being achieved, and
Mokolodi now covers its recurrent costs, employing over 70
people whereas previously, as a cattle ranch, the land employed only 9 people.
As
a result of this intimate relationship with the village, the local community
has a strong sense of ownership over the Reserve. The Reserve is now not
only home to a diversity houses one of two wild animal orphanages in Botswana.
If you'd like to find out more, you can email them at
mokolodi@info.bw.
For more information on Botswana,
click here.
If you would like to
contact us please email
terry@africanconservation.org
