The Department of Environment Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) recently released the official report on the National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (NPOA-Sharks) in South Africa. In May 2020, following public concern about shark populations along the South African coast, the Minister of (DEFF), Ms Barbara Creecy, appointed an Expert Panel to … [Read more...]
Giant leap for SA amphibian conservation recognised
A conservation biologist from South Africa has won a prestigious Whitley Award worth £40,000 to support her quest to save threatened amphibians. Dr Jeanne Tarrant works for the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), where she manages the Threatened Amphibian Programme. The EWT is the only NGO in South Africa to include frogs as a conservation focus. The Whitley Awards, often … [Read more...]
KZN conservationist now a Royal Geographical Society Fellow
Well-known KwaZulu-Natal conservationist Sheelagh Antrobus has just been accepted as a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Geographical Society, the professional body that advances geography and supports related fields of interest across the globe. Antrobus, the founder of conservation organisation Project Rhino, is one of the integral members of the Kingsley Holgate Foundation … [Read more...]
Sugarbush Ridge Ecosystem threatened by rapid urbanisation
The Black Eagles of Roodekrans are a world famous breeding pair of urban Eagles that live on the red cliffs (Roodekrans) in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens next to the Witpoortjie waterfall. Several generations of these Eagles have lived here for about 80 years and are followed the world over. Should the urban pressure become too much to bear and the birds can no … [Read more...]
Urgent conservation action required to protect the Heuningnes Redfin
The Heuningnes River System is located on the southern tip of Africa, stretching from the Agulhas Plain onto the Overberg Wheatbelt. The river system comprises three main rivers: the Kars, Nuwejaars and Heuningnes. The river system includes numerous Critically Endangered terrestrial ecosystems such as Overberg Sandstone Fynbos, Elim Ferricrete Fynbos as well as Western and … [Read more...]
The rhino killing fields of KwaZulu-Natal
Conservationists warned that the lifting of the ban on the South African domestic trade in rhino horn would spell an all out war on South Africa's remaining rhino. This certainly seems evident after the discovery of two more rhino carcasses this week. This gruesome find brings the total number of rhino poached in a five month period to the highest ever recorded in the … [Read more...]
Plans afoot to save critically endangered KZN frogs
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is working hard to protect the last remaining locations in which the Endangered Pickersgill’s Reed Frog (Hyperolius pickersgilli) are found. The EWT is pleased to announce the recent publication of the Biodiversity Management Plan for this proudly South African but highly threatened species. An important consequence of the implementation … [Read more...]
SANBI publishes new Red List
In one of the continent's largest collaborative conservation projects to date, South Africa has become the first of the world's mega-diverse countries to fully assess the status of its entire flora - a staggering 20 456 species. The assessment has been published in a book entitled the Red List of South African Plants. It was appropriately launched by SANBI in Cape Town on Earth … [Read more...]
