Through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, it has instead criticised the WWF for failing to take into consideration efforts taken to curb poaching in the country.

Speaking to the ‘Daily News’ yesterday, the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry, Major General Gaudence Milanzi, said although there was rampant poaching in the country, it was not to the extent such as propagated by the WWF report.

Will Elephants in the Selous Game Reserves be Extinct by 2022

The WWF report released on Monday noted that Selous Game Reserve, one of Africa’s oldest reserves, could see its tusker population decimated by 2022 if urgent measures are not taken to stem industrial-scale poaching.

The PS said that the government, in all its phases, have taken deliberate efforts to curb poaching, including the recent establishment of a Wildlife Crime Unit and training of rangers as paramilitary unit as part of government’s strategy to curb poaching.

“We are not refuting that fact that there is poaching in Selous game reserves and elsewhere but not to the extent being alleged by WWF reports, because the government and international organisations are taking action to fight poaching.

I believe these efforts are bearing fruits,” he explained. Maj. Gen. Milanzi reported on the strategy in which the ministry and other stakeholders are targeting the financiers behind poaching activities in a move to tackle the vice from the roots.

The Judiciary is also working with the government to speed up hearing of poaching cases in courts, some of which have been completed and ruling given, the PS noted, adding that in March, two poachers, both Chinese citizens, were sentenced to 30 years in jail each or pay 108.7bn/- fine.

“We cannot say that poaching is not there. It is; but with these efforts from both the government and international community, there should be a rise in the number of elephants in some areas,” he remarked.

Elephant populations reduced by 90% over last 40 years in Selous Game Reserve

The WWF report noted that Selous Reserve, the country’s largest protected area, which was home to one of the greatest concentrations of African elephants on the continent, has seen the population reduced by 90 per cent in fewer than 40 years due to ivory poaching.

According to the report, nearly 110,000 elephants once roamed the savannahs, wetlands and forests of the Selous. But as of now, only about 15,000 remain in the ecosystem.

An analysis written for the WWF by Dalberg Global Development Advisors shows how the loss of Selous’ elephants would have a negative effect on Tanzania’s nature-based economy, putting the livelihoods of 1.2 million people at risk.

Travel and tourism in Selous generate 6 million US dollars annually and nationally, the industry represents a combined yearly contribution of 5 billion US dollars to the GDP of Tanzania, which is home to world-renowned assets such as Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti National Park.

WWF United Kingdom’s Lead Campaigner for Shared Heritage Chris Gee was quoted saying that the poaching crisis in the Selous acts as a stark reminder of the tragic impacts caused by the illegal wildlife trade.

“This industrial level poaching is not only devastating elephant populations but threatens livelihoods of local communities and risks destroying this World Heritage Site,” Mr Gee quipped.

He added that the government of Tanzania must ensure that they commit to achieving zero poaching of elephants in the Selous by 2018 and stop industrial scale activities that threaten the site’s World Heritage status. “We need to work together to help Tanzania realise the full social and economic value of this irreplaceable habitat,” he stressed.

In 2014, UNESCO placed Selous on its ‘List of World Heritage in Danger’ due to the severity of elephant poaching. At the recent peak of the crisis, an average of six Selous elephants was being gunned down by criminal syndicates each day.

UNESCO also has expressed concern about other potentially harmful industrial activities that threaten the reserve, such as mining, oil and gas exploration and dam construction. The Selous status will be on the global agenda again at the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee next month.

For the Selous to be removed from UNESCO’s in danger list, WWF is calling for greater effort in combating wildlife crime, an assessment of the impacts of proposed industrial activities, investment in sustainable tourism infrastructure and an equitable distribution of benefits to nearby communities.

Country Director of WWF-Tanzania Amani Ngusaru said Selous is the only natural World Heritage site in southern Tanzania and one of the largest wilderness areas left in Africa, noting that its value to Tanzania and the rest of the world is dependent on its big wildlife populations and pristine ecosystems.

The post Tanzania: WWF Faulted On Elephant Report first appeared on The Whisky Don.

He knows a well informed and fully integrated multi-agency approach is the only sensible way to wage a war against poaching and expect to be able to win it.

It is well publicized that that the scale of the elephant poaching problem is immense, with an estimated 35,000 African elephants being illegally killed annually for their ivory. Some conservationists believe it to be closer to 50, 000. How can a global crisis of this magnitude be immobilized?

PAMS Foundation Game Scouts Celebrate Success

Protected Area Management Solutions (PAMS Foundation) has revolutionized conventional strategies that were clearly failing. Based in Tanzania, and a registered charity in the US, PAMS Foundation have notched up remarkable successes that can be replicated in other African countries. Wayne is quick to point out however, that “All credit must go to the Tanzanian authorities who are responsible to implement the bold programmes that we and our donor partners support.”

One of PAMS many successes is the Ruvuma Elephant Project. Since its inception in 2011, over 200 game scouts have been trained in basic anti-poaching skills and case preparation and are paid for doing patrols, a vast improvement on income available from local employment opportunities.

PAMS works to build good relationships with communities, fostering relationships between them and protected area authorities. As trust grows, so do detection levels. This successful foundation demonstrates lessons in the need to root out the causes rather than focusing on the symptoms. Locals do not receive much benefit from having wildlife as neighbours. Enormous herbivores raid crops, leopards and lions kill goats and cattle, and villagers get killed by elephants and hippos.

Building trust by seeking solutions is the formula. Elephants don’t like hot chilli and fear bees, so the project helped locals grow chillies which are smeared on sisal ropes surrounding crops. PAMS has also installed beehives fences that form an anti-elephant barrier when hung every 15 meters between poles. A significant added advantage is that chilli is a cash crop and the honey can be a viable income for communities, further reducing the temptation to participate in poaching.

PAMS partners with the Tanzania’s Elite National Task Force, the National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU) which leads intelligence-led operations targeting buyers and high level traders in urban areas, followed by thorough and professional case preparation and prosecution.

35,000 Elephants are Killed Annually for Ivory

The strategy is paying off. In 2015 alone, almost 700 poachers were arrested, the top 3 ivory traders were put behind bars, 168 suspects were prosecuted (41 receiving prison sentences of 16 years or longer) and 143 firearms and 26 vehicles transporting ivory were seized.

Co-Founder and Director of PAMS, Krissie Clark, commented “It is not the numbers of arrests that matter per se, but more the fact that many of these are not just the lowest level poachers, but include numerous kingpins and illegal traders who are responsible for thousands of elephant deaths.”

Of utmost importance, the “Queen of Ivory” Yang Feng Glan and notorious elephant poacher Boniface Matthew Mariango, referred to by law enforcement officials as “Shetani” or “The Devil,” were arrested last year.

Considered to be the most prolific elephant poacher and ivory trafficker in East Africa, Mariango, has managed over 15 poaching syndicates that have been operating throughout Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia, Mozambique and southern Kenya with impunity for years.

At the recent Giants Club Summit and massive ivory stockpile burning event, the Kenyan government committed strongly to using the same intelligence-led approach with focus on judicial process.

Given the decimation of nature’s incredible giants and endangered wildlife species worldwide, the intelligence-led approach needs to be integrated into all anti-poaching strategies, before it’s too late.

The post The intelligent Approach to Saving Nature’s Giants first appeared on The Whisky Don.

The legal wildlife trade market is an estimated 14 times the size of the illegal market, providing loopholes in the system. TRAFFIC estimates the value of legal wildlife products imported globally in 2009 was over $323 billion.

According to researchers from Princeton University and the University of California-Berkeley, the effects of the legal ivory stockpile sales in 2008 actually expanded the black market for ivory by 66% and led to the slaughter of an estimated 100,000 elephants from 2011 to 2014. The presence of legal ivory in the market made it easier to “masquerade” concealed illegal ivory.

Firearms seized from illegal wildlife trafficking

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Helen Clark, has warned that vulnerable and endangered species are being pushed toward extinction as the illicit trade is also fuelling corruption and conflict, destroying lives, and deepening poverty and inequality.

PAMS Foundation

Based in Tanzania, Protected Area Management Solutions (PAMS Foundation) have revolutionized conventional anti-poaching tactics that were clearly failing and notched up remarkable achievements. PAMS director Wayne Lotter believes, “a well informed and fully integrated multi-agency approach is the only sensible way to wage a war and expect to be able to win it.”

They partner with the National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU), Tanzania’s Elite Task Force that leads intelligence-led operations targeting buyers and high level traders in urban areas, followed by thorough and professional case preparation and prosecution.

The strategy is paying off. In 2015 alone, almost 700 poachers were arrested, the top 3 ivory traders were put behind bars, including the “Queen of Ivory”, Yang Feng Glan, and notorious elephant poacher Boniface Matthew Mariango. 168 suspects were prosecuted (41 receiving prison sentences of 16 years or longer) and 143 firearms and 26 vehicles transporting ivory were seized.

Mariango is referred to by law enforcement officials as “Shetani” or “The Devil” and is considered to be the most prolific elephant poacher and ivory trafficker in East Africa and has managed over 15 poaching syndicates that have been operating throughout Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia, Mozambique and southern Kenya with impunity for years.

Wildcat are the principal donor of PAMS Foundation and the NTSCIU and were the first benefactor to finance the intelligence-led elephant protection work in Tanzania. Other countries and NGO’s need to support the replication of this strategy, combined with increased focus on legal process.

South Africa’s Dr Kobus du Toit, a rhino expert, wildlife veterinarian and biologist, says incompetence and corruption are the pressing issues, “The Kruger system needs to be cleaned up by intelligence experts from outside. The rhino horn must be removed from the smuggling basket that involves drugs, human trafficking, cigarettes, weapons and alcohol.”

Ivory seized from illegal wildlife trafficking

UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Helen Clark, has warned that vulnerable and endangered species are being pushed toward extinction as the illicit trade is also fuelling corruption and conflict, destroying lives, and deepening poverty and inequality.

Based in Tanzania, Protected Area Management Solutions (PAMS Foundation) have revolutionized conventional anti-poaching tactics that were clearly failing and notched up remarkable achievements. PAMS director Wayne Lotter believes, “a well informed and fully integrated multi-agency approach is the only sensible way to wage a war and expect to be able to win it.”

They partner with the National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU), Tanzania’s Elite Task Force that leads intelligence-led operations targeting buyers and high level traders in urban areas, followed by thorough and professional case preparation and prosecution.

The strategy is paying off. In 2015 alone, almost 700 poachers were arrested, the top 3 ivory traders were put behind bars, including the “Queen of Ivory”, Yang Feng Glan, and notorious elephant poacher Boniface Matthew Mariango. 168 suspects were prosecuted (41 receiving prison sentences of 16 years or longer) and 143 firearms and 26 vehicles transporting ivory were seized.

The post Legal Wildlife Traffic 10 Time More Than Illegal Traffic first appeared on The Whisky Don.

She is accused of leading one of Africa’s biggest ivory smuggling rings, responsible for more than 700 elephant tusks worth $2.5m (£1.7m) illegally leaving Tanzania for the Far East.

Ivory Smuggling Kingpin Yang Fenglan

Ms Yang denies all charges. Her trial, set to begin in Dar es Salaam on 9 May, has been postponed for two weeks. So what do we know about the woman dubbed the “Ivory Queen” and what exactly is she accused of?

Successful businesswoman

Originally from Beijing, Ms Yang first went to Tanzania in the 1970s. She was one of the first Chinese students to graduate in Swahili and worked as a translator for Tazara, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway project that China was helping to fund and build.

According to China Daily, after the railway was completed in 1975 she returned to Beijing to work in the government’s foreign trade department.

It wasn’t until 1998 that she decided to set up business in Tanzania. In fact, she set up two.

She rented a two-storey building in downtown Dar-es-Salaam, opening a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor and establishing an investment company, Beijing Great Wall Investment, on the floor above.

The restaurant proved to be a success but in 2014 she told China Daily: “Now I do not count on the restaurant to make money. Instead, I see it as a place where people from China and Tanzania can communicate, get to know more friends and conduct information exchanges.”

She has spoken of her attachment to Tanzania, both physical and emotional. Her daughter is named Fei, the first character of the word for Africa in Mandarin.

By 2012 she was secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa Business Council.

“I know I should have retired, but whenever I think that my language advantage and network can help many Chinese and Tanzanians and increase mutual trust and confidence, I do not want to stop. I myself am the best illustration of China-Tanzania friendship,” she said in 2014.

Car chase arrest

But at the same time, investigators say, Ms Yang was a major player in a far darker relationship developing between Tanzania and China – the illegal ivory trade.

Tanzania is facing an elephant poaching crisis

H said say she was a key link between poachers in East Africa and buyers in China for more than a decade.

Tanzania’s National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit tracked her for more than a year. She was arrested after a high-speed car chase in October 2015 and charged with ivory smuggling between 2000 and 2014.

Poachers and ivory traffickers are threatening the very existence of elephants in Central and East Africa. Tanzania lost more than 60% of its elephants between 2009 and 2014.

The role of Chinese buyers in this hardly comes as a surprise – demand for ivory in China is high because of its use in ornaments and even in holistic medicine.

‘Untouchables’

Most of the time those arrested are small-time smugglers – which is why Yang Fenglan’s arrest was welcomed by wildlife groups.

“It’s the news that we all have been waiting for, for years,” Andrea Crosta, co-founder of the US-based Elephant Action League, said in October.

“We must put an end to the time of the untouchables if we want to save the elephant.”

The Elephant Action League says Ms Yang is “connected to various companies abroad, all Chinese-owned, and circulates in the upper echelons of Chinese citizens living and working in Tanzania”.

“When we think of a kingpin, we think of someone like Al Capone,” Mr Crosta said. “But this was someone who mingled with the country’s elite, who blended in.”

Ms Yang denies the charges against her. If found guilty she faces up to 30 years in jail.

The post Who is the ‘Ivory Queen’? first appeared on The Whisky Don.

When elephant poachers enter a protected area they’re armed, alert and dangerous. Back home they’re relaxed and vulnerable. That’s where an organization in Ruvuma, Southern Tanzania, hits them hardest.

Until recently massive poaching was taking place in the wildlife corridor connecting the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania and Niassa National Park in Mozambique. It’s an area where wildlife roams between two unfenced game reserves and is highly vulnerable.

Faced with a crashing elephant population, the Ruvuma Elephant Project (REP) rethought conventional strategies which were clearly failing. It has since notched up remarkable successes, which are a uesful pointer for South Africa which has similar problems with rhinos.

Across Africa the scale of the ivory poaching is immense, with an estimated 30 000 to 35 000 African elephants being illegally killed annually. Tanzania has lost by far the most, its elephant population having declined by about 66 000 in six years up until November 2014.

At least 30 000 African elephants are killed illegally annually

In 2009 the national population was estimated at 109 000 – by 2014 it was down to 43 000. This equates to one elephant being killed every 45 minutes in Tanzania alone. Some of the biggest declines have been in areas with the largest donor-funded projects – a real problem for future funding.

Wayne Lotter of Protected Area Management Solutions (PAMS Foundation), of which REP is a project, says the problem needed a different way to think solutions. ‘We’re built on the premise that a well informed and fully integrated multi-agency approach is the only sensible way to wage a war and expect to be able to win it.’ he insists.

‘Poachers spend 80% of their time, not in the parks doing the poaching, but in their communities. They talk among their friends and that’s where we focus on catching them. ‘Rangers are the last stand against poaching. They represent the equivalent of the Home Guard in a war context. But if we’re to win this war, the front line need not be in the bush where they’re engaged. ‘You must have people infiltrating those areas, plain clothed, working undercover, just mingling, going to pubs, making friends and talking. You pick up leads there. We make 80% of our arrests outside of the bush.’

REP also partners with Tanzania’s National Task Force which leads intelligence-led operations targeting buyers and high level traders in urban areas. And this is followed by thorough with professional case preparation and prosecution. The strategy is paying off. In comparison to the preceding six years, by the end of 2015 elephant decline in Tanzania was reduced by two thirds. During that year over 1 000 poachers were arrested (many in Dar Es Salaam and other cities), the top three ivory traders were put behind bars, 288 suspects were prosecuted (45 receiving prison sentences of 16 years or longer) and 46 firearms and 40 vehicles transporting ivory were seized.

REP works to build good relationships with communities, fostering relationships between them and protected area authorities. As trust grows, so do detection levels. It’s not often that local people are happy with national parks as neighbours, says Lotter. ‘You have elephants and other herbivores that graze your crops. You’ve got leopards and lions that kill your goats and your cattle.

Villagers get killed by elephants. At night there are encounters with hippos. Locals are not getting any benefit from the wildlife.’ So REP built trust by seeking solutions. Elephants don’t like hot chilli and fear bees, so the project helped locals grow chillies which are smeared on sisal ropes surrounding crops. And it provided bee hives which, when placed every 15 metres, form an anti-elephant barrier. An added advantage is that chilli is now a cash crop and there’s honey available for use or sale.
Since 2011 when REP began, over 200 game scouts have been trained in basic anti-poaching skills and case preparation and are paid for doing patrols. ‘It’s an income that’s better than local employment opportunities,’ says Lotter. ‘It isn’t really big bucks but it’s sustainable money.’
The Ruvuma successes are an object lesson in the need to root out the causes rather than focussing on the symptoms. Given the decimation of rhinos in the Kruger Park and elsewhere, it’s a way of operating South Africa needs to integrate into its anti-poaching strategy, and fast.

The post Anti-poaching lessons from Tanzania first appeared on The Whisky Don.