Category: Environment

{The Rwanda National Police (RNP) countrywide environmental protection awareness campaign was extended to commercial cyclists in Gatsibo District on January 28 where they were challenged to reinforce the fight against environmental degradation.}

The RNP is currently actively involved in sensitizing the public on environmental protection as means to reinforce conservation.

During the awareness held in Kabarore Sector, Inspector of Police (IP) Roger Rwakayiro, the District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) of Gatsibo, reminded the cyclists of their role to conserve nature and other illegal activities perpetuated in their communities where they live and work.

“Conserving the environment means preserving health and it should be the focus of everyone wherever we go and in whatever we do,” IP Rwakayiro noted.

He pointed out that littering bottles, cutting of trees and substandard and unlawful mining activities are some of the environmental related crimes, which they should fight through effective collaboration with police, community policing committees and local leaders, through timely information exchange.

Pointing out wildfires as one of the common incidences in the district especially during dry season, he cited bee harvesting in prohibited environmental reserves like forests and national parks, littering lit cigarettes, and burning of waste in the garden, which is also unlawful, as major causes.

“Some of you collaborate with suspects to transport their unlawful goods like banned polythene bags. Instead, you should be an eye for other Rwandans and report such people that attempt to make you their accomplice in crime,” he said.

IP Rwakayiro also took time to sensitize them on fighting drug related crimes and urged them to report anyone that could be involved in trafficking, selling or abusing drugs like Kanyanga and chief waragi, both illicit gin common in the district, and cannabis.

Several members of the cyclists’ association in Gastibo, who attended the meeting, pledged to play their part in fighting both drug abuse and environmental degradation by providing police with credible information on those involved.

{Environment secretary credits innovative farming methods for apparent resurgence in harvest mice in Hampshire.}

Harvest mice have been rediscovered in the village where they were first identified as a species – more than 25 years after they were thought to be extinct in the area.
Elizabeth Truss, the environment secretary, credited “innovative” new farming methods for the apparent resurgence of the tiny creatures in Selborne village, Hampshire.
More than 150 harvest mice nests have now been discovered in and around the village where naturalist Gilbert White lived when he first identified the micromys minutus as a species in 1767.

The tiny creatures – Europe’s smallest rodents – are classed as a Priority Species for Conservation in the UK and are threatened by the loss of hedgerows and grassland habitats.

In Selborne, local farmers have worked together in a “Farmer Cluster” to coordinate land management across the wider area, including hedge planting and maintaining grass headlands around fields to create habitats for birds, small mammals and insects.

Ms Truss said: “As an avid reader of Beatrix Potter in my youth I’m delighted that the iconic Harvest Mouse has been rediscovered in the very area in which it was first identified.

“The farmers of Selborne should be congratulated for the innovative approach they have taken to managing their land for the good of the environment and local wildlife.

“The Selborne farmer cluster is a great example of responsible landowners thinking beyond their own fields, meadows and woodlands and looking at the wider landscape to deliver greater environmental benefits on a larger scale.”

“This approach to land management is at the heart of our 25-year Environment Plan, which will bring people together to work in a more co-ordinated way to conserve and enhance the environment. Without a healthy environment, we won’t have a healthy farming industry.”

Source:The Telegraph:[Harvest mice return to village where species was first discovered->http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/12113737/Harvest-mice-return-to-village-where-species-was-first-discovered.html]

{The District Police Commander of Kamonyi, Supt. Donath Kinani, on January 19 held a meeting with local leaders and urged them to involve residents in conserving the environment and fight related crimes.
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In a meeting with about 30 local leaders including cell and village leaders held in Kayenzi Sector, reminded them that by involving the residents it will be easier to identify those who destroy the environment and encroach on gazatted or prohibited places like wetlands, forests and illegal mining.

“It is a government policy to conserve the environment and in your daily duties, you should as well sensitize the people to desist from illegal activities related to environmental degradation, and bring them on board to fight them,” Supt. Kinani said.

He noted that some residents graze their livestock in these gazatted places, cut trees in forests and illegal charcoal burning.

He emphasised the need to engage residents in planting many trees, avoid bush burning and littering of flammable substances which can easily lead to wild fires, illegal sand and stone mining, which also result into disasters.

“Fighting environmental crimes is not only the work of police and Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) but also the role of local leaders, starting with those on the grass root level, and the residents themselves,” he noted.

Moise Niyonagize, one of the local leaders echoed the same message noting that the meeting enlightened them as grass-root leaders, their roles and thanked police for always reaching out to them.

Last year, Rwanda National Police and partners in environment, launched its Environmental Protection Unit (EPU), which is at the heart of sensitizing and fighting related crimes to conserve the ecosystem.

Late December, last year, a joint operation to implement the recent adopted resolutions to protect and turn River Nyabarongo muddy brown waters blue, as well as other critical water bodies, has come into force with officials from Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) combing the districts of Ngororero and Rutsiro to crackdown on illegal and substandard mining activities, which have been blamed for the current state of the ravaged river.

{African lions are set to gain greater international protection this year in the wake of the killing of Cecil by an American dentist in Zimbabwe in 2015.}

Tough new US regulations on the importation of lion trophies will come into force on 22 January.

Separately, the global body that governs trade in species also expects moves to enhance the status of lions in 2016.

The number of lions in Africa has declined by half since the 1990s.
Global attention was focused on the plight of the African lion after Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer killed Cecil, who had been lured from Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park, last July.

In December, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that lions from central and western Africa would be classified as endangered while those from southern and eastern Africa would be seen as threatened.

The move will make it significantly more difficult to import lion heads, paws or skins from all parts of the continent.

Campaigners welcomed the move and believe it could see the end of “canned” hunting, the practice of rearing lions in captivity who are then shot by hunters who pay huge sums for the privilege.

In South Africa the number of lions at breeding facilities almost doubled between 2005 and 2013, spurred by the increasing demand for trophy hunting.

The US imported trophy parts from 741 lions in 2014, of which 373 were killed in canned hunts.

Some 90% of the hunters using these facilities were from the US and the new restrictions could have a big impact on this industry.

“We certainly view this as a progressive step,” said Mark Jones from the Born Free Foundation which has campaigned for the change in the US.

“One of the factors we’re concerned about is poorly managed trophy hunting operations and the listing will impose requirements on US citizens who wish to import lion trophies from Africa.”

“We are encouraging EU countries to look closely at this issue and restrict or ban the imports of trophies accordingly.”

African lions are now listed under Appendix II of the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), meaning that trade in the creatures is regulated by permit.

Many voices are now pushing for an upgrade to Appendix I, which would see all trade banned.

In an interview with the BBC, the head of Cites, John Scanlon, said he expected such a move at the Convention’s key meeting in South Africa in September.

“It is up to one of our 181 parties but I would expect that something could well come forward on African lions, and certainly our animals committee have been working on the issue and it is in serious decline in some regions, decline in others and increasing in some others,” he told BBC News.

{Senators from the commission of economic and finance development have requested government to seek a sustainable solution for the pests affecting 55% of eucalyptus trees across the country which is said to jeopardize environment protection.}

Rwanda plans to cover 30% of its surface with forests by the year 2018.Up to date forests have been planted to roughly 700,000 hectares occupying 29.2% of the land.
The ministry of natural resources said that despite the achievements, forests are still susceptible to human destruction especially through collection of fuel-wood as 98% of Rwandans use it for cooking.

The forest cover has however been reported to be under threat as the attack from pests has continued to pose serious dangers to the eco-system. During the discussion of implementing policies on forests held between the senate commission of economic and finance development and the ministry of natural resources yesterday, senators expressed worries over large parts of forests ravaged by pests.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Dr. Vincent Biruta, said that pesticides for the pasts have not yet been found but revealed that bee farming may be negatively affected in case pesticides are applied and there are fears of rains carrying pesticide components into water bodies, affecting aquatic and human life.

“We are in a dilemma of applying pesticides at the cost of negatively affecting bee farming and upsetting aqua life systems,” he said.

The disease is attributed to mass non-distant forests and lack of water.
Biruta said that the tree diseases abound in hot seasons and advised residents to embrace forests maintenance through digging terraces to prevent massive run-off and associated erosion.

{The strongest El Nino on record is likely to increase the threat of hunger and disease for tens of millions of people in 2016 aid agencies say.
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The weather phenomenon is set to exacerbate droughts in some areas while increasing flooding in others.

Some of the worst impacts are likely in Africa with food shortages expected to peak in February.

Regions including the Caribbean, Central and South America will also be hit in the next six months.

This periodic weather event, which tends to drive up global temperatures and disturb weather patterns, has helped push 2015 into the record books as the world’s warmest year.

“By some measures this has already been the strongest El Nino on record, it depends on exactly how you measure it,” said Dr Nick Klingaman from the University of Reading.

“In a lot of tropical countries we are seeing big reductions in rainfall of the order of 20-30%. Indonesia has experienced a bad drought, the Indian monsoon was about 15% below normal and the forecasts for Brazil and Australia are for reduced monsoons.”

As both droughts and floods continue, the scale of the potential impacts is worrying aid agencies. Around 31m people are said be facing food insecurity across Africa, a significant increase over the last year.

Around a third of these people live in Ethiopia where 10.2m are projected to require humanitarian assistance in 2016.

The UK’s Department for International Development says it is providing emergency support for 2.6m people and 120,000 malnourished children. They say they will provide 8m people with food or cash support from January 2016.

“If we fail to act now against this especially powerful El Nino, we will fail vulnerable people across our world,” UK International Development Minister Nick Hurd said in a statement.

“Ensuring security for those affected by El Nino is important to their countries but also in Britain’s national interest. Only by protecting and stabilising vulnerable countries can we ensure people are not forced to leave their homes in search of food or a new livelihood.”

According to the UN around 60m people have been forced to leave their homes because of conflict.

Aid agencies like Oxfam are worried that the impacts of the continuing El Nino in 2016 will add to existing stresses such as the wars in Syria, South Sudan and Yemen.

They say that food shortages are likely to peak in Southern Africa in February with Malawi estimating that almost 3m people will require humanitarian assistance before March.

Drought and erratic rains have impacted 2m people across Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. More floods are expected in Central America in January.

“Millions of people in places like Ethiopia, Haiti and Papua New Guinea are already feeling the effects of drought and crop failure,” said Jane Cocking, from Oxfam.

“We urgently need to get help to these areas to make sure people have enough food and water.

“We cannot afford to allow other large-scale emergencies to develop elsewhere. If the world waits to respond to emerging crises in southern Africa and Latin America, we will not be able to cope,” she said.

While many parts of the developing world will more directly feel the ongoing impacts of El Nino, the developed world will see impacts on food prices.

“It takes some time for the impacts of El Nino to feed through to social and economic systems,” said Dr Klingaman.

“Historically food prices have gone up by 5%-10% for staples. Crops like coffee and rice and cocoa and sugar tend to be particularly affected.”
Image copyright Getty Images

The El Nino event is likely to tail off into the spring – but that may not be good news either.

El Ninos are often followed by La Nina events, which can have opposite but similarly harmful effects. Scientists say during an El Nino there is a huge transfer of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. Normally, as in 1997/98, that heat transfer tends to be followed by a cooling of the ocean, a La Nina event,

“It’s possible but far from certain that this time next year we could be talking about the reverse of many of these impacts,” said Dr Klingaman.

“In places where we are seeing droughts from El Nino we could be seeing flooding from La Nina next year.

“It’s just as disruptive, it’s just the other way round.”

Source:BBC:[Worries grow over humanitarian impacts of ‘strongest El Nino’->http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35159826]