UN reports that 22,000 elephants were poached last year in Africa

Elephants are one of Africa’s critical “keystone” species, and estimates place the total population of elephants around 450,000. The loss of 22,000 mostly adult elephants, or roughly 5%, is critical as elephant young require the care of the parent.

The demand for ivory that fuels the poaching conducted on the continent comes primarily from Asia, and more specifically from wealthy Chinese who pay over $1000 per pound for what is seen as a status symbol.

The poaching trade has advanced beyond automatic weapons and chainsaws in its process to harvest the animals' tusks. In September of this year, cyanide was used to poison the water supply of an area, killing over 300 elephants. This technique is extremely detrimental as it not only poisons the elephants, but any species, including humans, that drink the contaminated water. The poison creates a second and sometimes third layer of victims when scavengers eat the carcasses of animals that were poisoned.

Orphaned elephants don’t typically survive long after the loss of the parent. Organizations such as David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust act as orphanages for young orphaned elephants, who grieve the loss of the family, as shown in the video. The trust is currently assisting more than three dozen orphans in its nursery, at the cost of over $10,000 per year, per orphan.

Even with backing from A-list Hollywood celebrities, such a Kristin Davis, these organizations are still forced to raise funds through charity drives to cover the cost of trying to slow the effect the poachers are having on the environment.

Being a keystone species, the loss of the species would be devastating to Africa as a whole. Elephants have large ranges and spread seeds and germinate trees during their treks. Their size and weight tramples dead trees that are blocking the sunlight from the plant life below. Many of the densely wooded areas in central Africa evolved around the elephant, and without the species to perform its function, would die.

ORIGINAL: Digital Journal

By Justin King

Dec 3, 2013

Huge underground Water reserve in Kenya

ORIGINAL: My Science Academy

Image © UNESCO

Scientists using satellite, radar and geological technology, have found in Kenya a very large underground water reserve, that it could meet the country’s water needs for the next 70 years.

According to the scientists Kenya’s underground layer of water contains 200 billion cubic meters of fresh water.

The aquifer is about 100 km by 66 km and has a surface area of 4,164 km2.

Abou Amani from UNESCO, said:

We now have a tool that could not only help Kenya, but it could help other countries facing the issues of water scarcity.

I’m not saying this could solve all of the problems because from finding water to providing water to the population is another step because we need to have investment, we need to put in place infrastructure and so on.
But we have seen the system and the fact water is there, and that is extremely important and it could be a game changer within the country.

Image © UNESCO

The Lotikipi aquifer is much larger than the other four discovered in north west Kenya.

via theverge

Source: Worldlesstech

Nature Publishing Index 2012 Global

ORIGINAL: Nature

We are delighted to present the first global overview of high quality research output from the world’s many countries and institutions based on the Nature Publishing Index (NPI), which tracks the number and affiliations of primary research articles published in 18 Nature-branded journals. 

Download PDF [10.6mb]

Created in 2009 to focus on the Asia-Pacific region, the NPI now covers the entire world. Using the Index, we are able to track output by institution and country. The NPI is a unique resource that spans all types of research institutions — not only universities but government research institutes and private sector companies.

What are the most noteworthy messages from this supplement? Unsurprisingly, the United States dominates the rankings, being home to five of the top ten research institutions in the NPI. What is more striking is the rapid rise of China, which has nine institutions in The Top 200 — up from just three a year earlier. China is now clipping the heels of France in the country rankings. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has, as of January 2013, surpassed the University of Tokyo as the top institution in the Asia-Pacific. Despite its dire economic circumstances, Ireland is emerging as a rising star — jumping from 30th to 20th in the NPI between 2008 and 2012. Similarly, Brazil has moved up seven places to 27th. Saudi Arabia and Kenya also stand out as newly emerging players in the Index.

Our interpretations and presentations of the NPI data are not definitive. Users are free to access the NPI online, read the abstracts of the papers on which it is based, and derive their own interpretations of the data (provided they acknowledge the NPI as the source). To that end, we strive to make the Index and the methodology behind it as transparent as possible: the underlying data for the past year can be viewed on the NPI website at nature.asia/publishing-index-global. We hope the analysis presented here will stimulate further use of the NPI by institutions and individuals, and we welcome your feedback.

David Swinbanks
Managing Director, Regional Markets and Science & Medical Communications,
Nature Publishing Group
Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand,
Macmillan Science and Education

Contents
1 Opening. By David Swinbanks
2 The world of science. An overview of a growing world of scientific achievement
4 United States. A player without peer, the undisputed leader continues to dominate
8 United Kingdom- As budget cuts hit blue-sky research, scientists must do more with less
10 Germany. Integration strategies aim to bring more institutions to an elite level
14 Japan. Newly elected president sets science as a top priority
20 France. Education and employment law reforms create divisions in science
24 Five countries to watch. A look at fast risers in the NPI: China, Ireland, Brazil, Kenya and Saudi Arabia
30 A guide to the NPI. How to navigate the index to get the best out of it
32 Global top 200. The great and the good of the world’s research institutions
38 Top 10 countries by journal. Countries show their strength in different disciplines
40 Top 5 institutions by journal. The breakdown reinforces the existence of an elite set of organizations
42 Top 100 countries. The world’s most scientifically productive nations

Interactive graphic
How countries compare

The Nature Publishing Index (NPI) Global ranks countries and institutions according to their output of primary research articles in the 18 Nature research journals. This graphic allows comparison of countries by corrected count or article count in each of the four main subject areas, and in each of the past 5 years. The graphic only includes the top 30 countries overall. The NPI Global supplement lists the Global Top 100.

Article count 2012 All fields

* Mouse over a bar to reveal exact count

© 2013 Nature Japan K.K., trading as Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Anti-poaching drones to take off in Africa

ORIGINAL: Al Jazzera

James Reinl

20 Jan 2013

Conservationists seek out new technologies as illegal animal killings threaten endangered populations.

Kenya reportedly lost 360 elephants last year to poaching [James Pope/Save the Elephants]

Nairobi, Kenya - The discovery was gruesome. A family of 12 dead elephants rotting in the midday heat of south-eastern Kenya, their faces hacked apart by poachers as they removed the animals' ivory tusks.

The massacre this month in Tsavo East National Park highlighted a surge in poaching in Africa that has pushed conservationists to embrace new technologies in an effort to save threatened elephants and rhinos.

Now, rangers plan to deploy remotely controlled drone aircrafts above three African parks this year.

Elsewhere, elephant collars fitted with iPhone-style technology are being developed to alert wardens when animals are hunted.

"Many nearby conservancies have lost animals. We recently took in a rhino calf which had been shot, but sadly did not survive," said Rob Breare, from central Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

"It's a pretty desperate situation right now, and anything that halts this poaching scourge is a necessity," he noted.

Ol Pejeta employs 160 armed guards across 90,000 acres (360 km2) to protect its prized assets: four of the world's last remaining seven northern white rhinos. In March, it plans to test-fly a $75,000 drone to place eyes in the sky.

Launched either by hand or catapult, the aircraft can cover 10,000 acres on each flight, relaying a live-stream camera feed to rangers on the ground. Thermal imaging means it can also patrol by night.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also plans to deploy drones above two African and two Asian reserves, while tagging and monitoring animals in a $5m scheme that is being funded by Google, the environmental group's anti-trafficking expert Crawford Allan said.

"This isn't just about using aerial surveillance systems. This is about understanding where the animals are on the ground, using low-cost technology to electronically tag animals," he said. "It's a new approach that could change the game and really deter poaching."

Hi-tech collars

WWF describes a soaring trade in ivory and rhino horn to provide trinkets, aphrodisiacs and medicine to the burgeoning nouveau riche of China and other parts of Asia.

"Agitated animals act differently, allowing the collar to send out an alert and our team can get there before the elephant is killed. "

- Frank Pope

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Kenya lost 360 elephants last year in a "global surge in poaching, fuelled by high demand for ivory in Asian countries". Ivory costs $1,000 per pound in the Far East, while rhino horn fetches up to $30,000 per pound.

After two decades of conservation gains and growing elephant and rhino numbers, much of Africa is witnessing a return to the bad old days and record highs of poaching. Wardens fear the thick-skinned beasts could be wiped out altogether.

The Kenya-based group, Save the Elephants, uses hi-tech collars fitted around animals' necks, which emit mobile phone and satellite signals, allowing rangers to monitor scores of animals via Google Earth, spokesman Frank Pope told Al Jazeera.

When an elephant ceases moving, the collar sends out an alert signal and rangers rush to investigate the scene.

"We find either that the elephant has been injured or, more often, sadly, it's been killed," Pope noted.

Tracking the killers after a carcass discovery can be effective. This month, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers in Isiolo County, in central Kenya, hunted down a poaching gang and killed two poachers in the ensuing shoot-out.

Engineers are currently upgrading the collars so they can raise the alarm even before an elephant has been gunned down, said Pope, effectively turning the heavyweight herbivores "into their own threat-detectors".

Using accelerometer technology found in iPhones, which gauge movement and gravitational pull, improved collars will also track an elephant's movement patterns and breathing, thus indicating if the animal is distressed.

"In the bush, elephants detect poachers before the poachers detect elephants. They have exquisitely good senses of hearing and smell," Pope said. "Agitated animals act differently, allowing the collar to send out an alert and our team can get there before the elephant is killed."

Conservation drones 

While tracking gadgets are widely welcomed by conservationists, the value of "eco-drones" remains hotly debated and has been dismissed as a gimmick, the brainchild of marketing executives in aerospace firms more usually associated with creating weapons of war.

"We need them to understand they are being conned by snake-oil salesmen. Often sick people who cannot afford to waste their money on fakes."

- Crawan Allan. analyst 

Unlike the high-altitude killers deployed above Afghanistan and Pakistan, however, conservation drones look more like model aircraft and have a smaller field of vision. Poachers already bury animal carcasses to avoid detection by ranger aeroplanes.

"We need to see results before we allocate resources," said KWS spokesman Paul Mbugua. "We need to know whether poachers are capable of bringing drones down, just like they can bring down other aircraft."

Ian Saunders, the former military co-founder of the Tsavo Trust, described a battle against Mafia-like gangs toting Kalashnikovs and rifle-fired grenades, comparable to "low-level counter-insurgency" operations.

"UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] have a role to play, but they are no silver bullet," he said. "Deterring poachers involves well-trained and well-equipped people on the ground. It's not about Special Forces and drones; it's about doing the basics well."

Ecologists now warn that many of Africa's "rebel militias" have joined the poaching spree for quick cash, with analysts pointing the finger at Somalia's hard-line al-Shabaab fighters and the quasi-religious Lord's Resistance Army of central Africa.

"As much as blood diamonds were fuelling conflict in Africa, we are now seeing blood ivory fuelling conflict and instability on the continent," said Pope, from Save the Elephants.

While conservationists disagree on the merits of eco-drones, there is consensus on the need to quash the demand for tusks and horns in Asia, as well as running intelligence-led anti-poaching efforts in sub-Saharan savannah.

An International Fund for Animal Welfare study revealed that 70 percent of Chinese consumers were not aware that elephants were killed for ivory, often believing that it compares to losing a tooth. Rhino horn is mistakenly believed to cure cancer and boost sexual potency.

"We need them to understand they are being conned by snake-oil salesmen. Often sick people who cannot afford to waste their money on fakes," said Allan from WWF.

"With time, people will come to understand that it isn't morally acceptable to wipe out a species at the whim of wealthy people."

Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl

New human species identified from Kenya fossils

ORIGINAL: BBC

By Pallab GhoshScience correspondent, BBC News

A new species of human: One of several co-existing in Africa two million years ago 

Researchers studying fossils from northern Kenya have identified a new species of human that lived two million years ago.

The discoveries suggests that at least three distinct species of humans co-existed in Africa.

The research adds to a growing body of evidence that runs counter to the popular perception that there was a linear evolution from early primates to modern humans.

The research has been published in the journal Nature.

Anthropologists have discovered three human fossils that are between 1.78 and 1.95 million years old. The specimens are of a face and two jawbones with teeth.

“Nature was developing different human prototypes only one of which, our species, was ultimately successful” Professor Chris StringerNatural History Museum, London

The finds back the view that a skull found in 1972 is of a separate species of human, known as Homo rudolfensis. The skull was markedly different to any others from that time. It had a relatively large brain and long flat face.

But for 40 years the skull was the only example of the creature and so it was impossible to say for sure whether the individual was an unusual specimen or a member of a new species.

With the discovery of the three new fossils researchers can say with more certainty that H.rudolfensis really was a separate type of human that existed around two million years ago alongside other species of humans.

For a long time the oldest known human ancestor was thought to be a primitive species, dating back 1.8 million years ago called Homo erectus. They had small heads, prominent brows and stood upright.

But 50 years ago, researchers discovered an even older and more primitive species of human called Homo habilis that may have coexisted with H. erectus. Now it seems H. rudolfensis was around too and raises the distinct possibility that many other species of human also existed at the time.

This find is the latest in a growing body of evidence that challenges the view that our species evolved in a smooth linear progression from our primate ancestors.

The human lineage

Instead, according to Dr Meave Leakey of the Turkana Basin Institute in Nairobi, who led the research the find shows that there was a diversity early on in the evolution of our species.

"Our past was a diverse past," she told BBC News, "our species was evolving in the same way that other species of animals evolved. There was nothing unique about us until we began to make sophisticated stone tools."

In other groups of animals many different species evolve, each with new traits, such as plumage, or webbed feet. If the new trait is better suited to the environment then the new species thrives, if not it becomes extinct.

The March of Progress had many dead ends

According to Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, fossil evidence is increasingly suggesting that human evolution followed the same pattern.

"Humans seem to have been evolving in different ways in different regions. It was almost as if nature was developing different human prototypes with different attributes, only one of which, an ancestor of our species, was ultimately successful in evolutionary terms," he said.

According to Dr Leakey, the growing body of evidence to suggest that humans evolved in the same way as other animals shows that "evolution really does work".

"It leads to amazing adaptions and amazing species and we are one of them," she said.

Follow Pallab on Twitter

Danger Listing Denied Four Natural World Heritage Sites

ORIGINAL: Environment News Service

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 30, 2012 (ENS) - None of the four natural World Heritage sites recommended for inclusion on the World Heritage Danger List by the official advisory body on nature have been added by the World Heritage Committee.

As the committee's advisory body, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, had recommended that

• Lake Turkana National Parks in Kenya, 
• the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon, 
• the Virgin Komi Forests in Russia, and 
• the Pitons Management Area in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia 

be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Lake Turkana in Kenya (Photo by International Rivers) 

The committee, meeting in St. Petersburg until July 6, has rejected all four recommendations.

A UNESCO agency, the World Heritage Committee identifies cultural and natural properties of Outstanding Universal Value that are to be protected under the treaty protecting World Cultural and Natural Heritage and inscribes those properties on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger.

"We are disappointed that the committee has not inscribed any of these threatened sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger this year," said Tim Badman, director of IUCN's World Heritage Programme.

"These four sites face significant threats to their values, from threats including major infrastructure projects, the extractive industry and property speculation," said Badman.

The proposal to include Kenya's Lake Turkana on the Danger List was made due to construction of Gibe III dam in Ethiopia, a transboundary issue between Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Dja River in the Cameroon's Dja Faunal Reserve (Photo by Cameroon Travel ) 

An IUCN assessment shows that dam construction will result in a steep reduction in the water level of the world's largest desert lake, increased salinity and a decline in fish stocks and wildlife. It will also affect local communities who depend on the lake for their livelihoods. Local communities have been demonstrating against the dam for years.

Oil exploration and poaching pose additional threats to the area. Flagship species such as the reticulated giraffe and Grevy's zebra seem to have disappeared.

Cameroon's Dja Faunal Reserve is one of the largest and best preserved rainforests in Africa, surrounded by the Dja River and inhabited by a wide variety of primates, including the Critically Endangered western lowland gorilla and the Endangered chimpanzee.

Mining activities in the vicinity of the reserve as well as wildlife poaching and ongoing dam construction on the river Dja were the main reasons for the site's danger listing proposal, the IUCN said.

Russia's Virgin Komi Forests (Photo by MerJade )

For the second year in a row, IUCN's recommendation to include Russia's Virgin Komi Forests on the Danger List has not been followed. Preparation works for a gold mine inside the site and national level boundary changes, which led to the loss of legal protection for parts of the site, are both clear criteria for a site to be declared in danger, warned the IUCN.

In the Northern Ural mountains of Russia's Komi Republic, the Virgin Komi Forests cover 3.28 million hectares of tundra and mountain tundra, as well as one of the most extensive areas of virgin boreal forest remaining in Europe. Both European and Asiatic species inhabit the site with some 43 mammal, 204 bird and 16 fish species recorded. Threatened mammal species include wolf, otter, beaver, sable, wolverine and lynx.

The Pitons Management Area in Saint Lucia has been subjected to significant development since its inscription on the World Heritage List in 2004, and development threats risk irreversible loss of its outstanding universal value.

Recognizable for its two eroded remnants of lava domes rising from the sea to heights greater than 700 meters, Pitons Management Area includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. The forested spires contain eight rare tree species. The larger one is inhabited by some 27 bird species, five of them found nowhere else on Earth.

Pitons Management Area in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia (Photo by Michael Blanding ) 

Coral reefs cover almost 60 percent of the site's marine area, which is inhabited by 168 species of finfish.

Badman said, "Inscription on the Danger List is not a black mark for countries, but a way of drawing attention and providing support to the sites that need it the most."

The World Heritage Fund provides about US$4 million annually to support activities requested by governments in need of international assistance. The World Heritage Committee allocates funds according to the urgency of requests, priority being given to the most threatened sites.

The committee is composed of representatives from 21 governments that are Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

At the 2012 meeting they are: Algeria, Cambodia, Colombia, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

On Tuesday, the IUCN released a new independent review of World Heritage and extractive industries, published in response to growing concerns over the rapidly increasing number of World Heritage Sites threatened by planned mining or oil and gas projects.

Threats to natural World Heritage sites from mining activities are growing, especially in Africa, where one out of four iconic natural areas is negatively affected.

The outcome of a joint project by IUCN, the International Council on Mining and Metals, JP Morgan Bank, Shell International and UNESCO, the report proposes practical ways of strengthening the role of the World Heritage Convention in safeguarding these areas of outstanding value.

"These exceptional places, which cover less than one percent of the Earth's surface, have been included on the World Heritage List because they are of outstanding value to all of humanity. It's the duty of every one of us to cooperate in their protection and conservation," said Badman.

Companies such as Shell and the financial services firm JP Morgan, as well as ICMM, which brings together many of the world's major mining companies, have recognized the importance of conserving World Heritage Sites and have committed not to undertake activities that would damage them.

Yet other companies and some countries still profit from resource exploration in these sensitive areas.

"It is clear that the desired conservation outcomes will not be achieved through individual corporate commitments alone," Badman said. The task of ensuring World Heritage Sites are not impacted by extractive industries cannot be effective if it is a commitment of only a few responsible companies."

"Mining and energy companies' ability to fund substantial environmental programmes in the vicinity of their operations should not be viewed as adequate recompense for negative impacts on natural World Heritage properties. Nor are offsets an admissible strategy to compensate for such impacts," the report states.

"Nevertheless, the extractive industries should not automatically be seen as a threat to these properties. Instead, there may be opportunities, within broader planning and management frameworks, to identify mutually beneficial strategies for company support to environmental initiatives and capacity development that directly or indirectly benefit them," according to the report, which points out, "In the 21st century, a positive environmental profile is an increasingly valuable asset for the private sector."

After more than 10 years of dicussion on this issue, the World Heritage Committee has decided to develop formal policy guidelines governing extractive industries affecting natural World Heritage sites.

The joint industry-UNESCO-IUCN review proposes wording for the policy guidelines that would prohibit extractive industry operations in natural World Heritage sites. The proposed wording would provide for the committee to encourage and assist governments in ending any existing concessions or operations. And it proposes that governments take legislative and planning measures to prevent negative impacts on natural World Heritage sites by extractive industry operations beyond their boundaries.

The World Heritage List includes 951 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers to have outstanding universal value.

These include 739 cultural sites, 183 natural sites and 29 mixed cultural-natural properties in 155 countries. As of March 2012, 189 of the world's 193 governments had ratified the World Heritage Convention.

Elephant Underpass Reuniting Kenya Herds

ORIGINAL: NatGeo

Photograph courtesy Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

Road to Recovery?

An African elephant approaches an underpass beneath the busy Nanyuki-Meru road in northern Kenya in a recent picture.

The first of its kind for elephants, the underpass will ideally provide a safe corridor for the large mammals to move throughout the Mount Kenya region (map), where highways, fences, and farmlands have split elephant populations, according to Geoffrey Chege, chief conservation officer of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a Kenya-based nonprofit.

Without the underpass, animals that try to move between isolated areas often destroy fences and crops—leading to conflicts with people. (Related pictures: "'Ghost Chili' Scares Off Elephants.")

Since its completion in late 2010, the underpass has been a "tremendous success"—hundreds of elephants have been spotted walking through the corridor, according to the conservancy.

First seeing pictures of the elephants using the underpass "was an awesome moment," Chege said by email.

—Christine Dell'Amore

The Mount Kenya-Lewa Wildlife Conservancy Corridor Project is a joint effort of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, the Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisima Farm, Marania Farm, the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust, and Ngare Ndare Forest Trust.