A Botswana elephant stands in a body of water. Geschenkpanda / Pixabay
Toxins in water produced by cyanobacteria was likely responsible for more than 300 elephant deaths in Botswana this year, the country's wildlife department announced on Monday.
<p>Elephants mysteriously started dying in the country's vast inland Okavango Delta from March this year, alarming conservationists and sparking an investigation. Some 330 elephants have died in the region.</p><p>Officials ruled out killing by poachers who hunt elephants for their ivory, because they died with their tusks intact. They also ruled out anthrax poisoning.</p>
How Did Cyanobacteria Poison the Elephants?
<p>Cyanobacteria are microscopic organisms common in water and sometimes found in soil. Some cyanobacteria produce neurotoxins.</p><p>The cyanobacteria "was growing in pans" or watering holes, the principal veterinary officer of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Mmadi Reuben, told reporters.</p><p>Reuben said the deaths had "stopped towards the end of June 2020, coinciding with the drying of pans."</p><p>"However we have many questions still to be answered such as why the elephants only and why that area only? We have a number of hypotheses we are investigating," added Reuben.</p><p>Similar elephant deaths have also been recorded in neighboring Zimbabwe.</p>Climate Change to Blame?
<p>Not all cyanobacteria are toxic but scientists say varieties dangerous to humans and animals are occurring more frequently as climate change drives up global temperatures.</p><p>Southern Africa's temperatures are rising at twice the global average, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.</p>Elephant Paradise?
<p>Africa's overall elephant population is declining due to poaching. But Botswana, home to almost a third of the continent's elephants, has seen numbers grow to around 130,000.</p><p>Botswana's government said it was continuing studies into the occurrence of the deadly bacteria. In the winter, elephants hydrate themselves mainly by eating roots and bark, especially of the baobab tree.</p>From Your Site Articles
- Hundreds of Botswana's Elephants Are Dying From Mysterious Cause ›
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
A film by Felix Nuhr.
Thailand has a total population of 5,000 elephants. But of that number, 3,000 live in captivity, carrying tourists on their backs and offering photo opportunities made for social media.
<p>With the corona crisis, tourism revenues have plummeted, and those who make a living from elephants' tourism appeal are struggling even to cover their costs. A single elephant needs up to 250 kilograms (551 pounds) of food a day, costing around €25 ($29.50).</p><p>That's where Lek Chailert steps in. She's buying up elephants and rehousing them at the <a href="https://www.elephantnaturepark.org/" target="_blank">Elephant Nature Park</a> reserve in Chiang Mai. To provide and care for them properly, she founded the <a href="https://www.saveelephant.org/" target="_blank">Save Elephant</a> Foundation.</p>
<p>An elephant usually sells for around 2 million baht — about €54,000, or $64,000 — with young animals fetching the highest prices. But since their income from tourism has dried up, plenty of owners are ready to sell their animals for less. Chailert paid just 7 million baht for seven elephants from a riding center in Chang Puak.</p><p>The Elephant Nature Park now has 91 elephants, which live alongside horses, buffalo, dogs and cats, and are cared for by a human staff of 200. Sadly, it isn't possible to simply release these magnificent beasts into the wild because their natural habitat has long since been destroyed.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/elephants-biodiversity-coronavirus-tourism/a-54541254?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Coronavirus Shines Light on Zoos as Danger Zones for Deadly Disease Transmission Between Humans and Animals
03 August
Insights + Opinion
An elephant at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. In Defense of Animals
By Marilyn Kroplick
The term "zoonotic disease" wasn't a hot topic of conversation before the novel coronavirus started spreading across the globe and upending lives. Now, people are discovering how devastating viruses that transfer from animals to humans can be. But the threat can go both ways — animals can also get sick from humans. There is no better time to reconsider the repercussions of keeping animals captive at zoos, for the sake of everyone's health.
<p>COVID-19, the illness that's caused by the novel coronavirus, is the result of human contact with animals, though the exact source remains a subject of debate. The risk of such zoonotic disease transmission drastically increases in any setting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/08/human-impact-on-wildlife-to-blame-for-spread-of-viruses-says-study-aoe" target="_blank">where wild animals are confined</a><a href="http://theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/08/human-impact-on-wildlife-to-blame-for-spread-of-viruses-says-study-aoe" target="_blank"> in close proximity to humans</a>, including public display facilities like zoos. Unfortunately, the risks posed by zoonotic transmission go beyond COVID-19. A recent <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/uoc-asa041320.php" target="_blank">study</a> found that more than 40 percent of zoo animals in Spain were infected with a parasite that can be passed to humans and causes a disease known as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/faqs.html" target="_blank">toxoplasmosis</a>, which can lead to damage to the brain, eyes and other organs in human beings. Across the U.S., another dangerous zoonotic disease has long been lurking in our midst at zoos: <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/default.htm" target="_blank">tuberculosis</a> (TB).</p>
<p>TB is a deadly, highly infectious disease that has long existed in captive populations of African and Asian <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants">elephants</a> in zoos and circuses across the U.S. According to the World Health Organization, TB is one of the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis" target="_blank">top ten </a>causes of death worldwide, killing millions of people each year. Although TB rates have been on the decline for decades in the U.S., captive elephants represent a persistent <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2015/03/elephant-tuberculosis-epidemic-zoo-and-circus-animals-passing-tb-to-humans-and-one-another.html" target="_blank">reservoir</a> of the virus. Incredibly, "licensees and registrants who own elephants" are <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/stakeholder-info/sa_by_date/sa_2015/sa_10/ct_elephant_tb_policy" target="_blank">not required</a> to test elephants for the virus. Even if they were, these tests, known as "trunk washes," are difficult to conduct and can be unreliable. This means that zoos may be bringing the unsuspecting public into contact with infected elephants. Because TB is no longer common in the U.S., children are not vaccinated against it, making them particularly susceptible.</p>
<p>The risk of elephants transmitting TB to humans is generally greater among those who work closely with elephants, though it is thought that TB can spread from elephants to humans <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166032/" target="_blank">through air</a> also. The risk of wider contagion, especially to zoo guests, is therefore a possibility. Many zoo exhibits bring people through indoor barns where elephants spend much of their time, separated only by bars and a few feet of space. Even more intimate encounters, such as rides or feedings that enable people to come into direct physical contact with elephants, are particularly concerning given their amplified transmission opportunities.</p><p>TB has long been known as a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/02/19/dont-think-about-contagious-elephants-whose-job-is-it-to-combat-and-contain-tuberculosis/" target="_blank">potentially serious issue in U.S. zoos</a>. Many people have been infected over the years, including, as recently as 2019. In 2013, seven staff members were <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2016/01/officials_identify_tuberculosi.html" target="_blank">infected</a> at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, following an outbreak among three bull elephants. Elephant infections persisted there into <a href="https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/07/10/pregnant-asian-elephant-at-oregon-zoo-may-have-tuberculosis/#:~:text=The%20Oregon%20Zoo%20announced%20today,Chendra%20as%20potentially%20having%20TB." target="_blank">2019</a>. Also, last year, some staff members <a href="https://www.pdza.org/connect/newsroom/press-releases/staff-test-positive-for-latent-tuberculosis/" target="_blank">tested positive</a> for latent TB at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington. Both the Bronx Zoo in New York City and the Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri also have had elephants test positive in recent years.</p>
<p>The threat of deadly disease transmission, however, does not only affect humans. In a process called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3938448/" target="_blank">reverse zoonosis</a>, diseases such as influenza A virus, herpes simplex 1, measles and methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> (MRSA) have been documented as passing from humans to animals. Regarding TB, <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9ztj4ls" target="_blank">studies have shown</a> that the causative agent that leads to human infection of TB is also present in elephants, suggesting a reverse zoonosis of the disease from humans to elephants. This opens the possibility that humans could actually be the <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9ztj4ls" target="_blank">cause</a> of TB infections in captive elephants.</p><p>Another incident of reverse zoonosis occurred at the Bronx Zoo recently. In April 2020 the zoo announced that one of its tigers <a href="https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14010/A-Tiger-at-Bronx-Zoo-Tests-Positive-for-COVID-19-The-Tiger-and-the-Zoos-Other-Cats-Are-Doing-Well-at-This-Time.aspx" target="_blank">tested positive</a> for COVID-19. While no other cats were tested, the tiger's sister, along with two other tigers and three African lions, developed symptoms including a dry cough, suggesting they might have also been infected.</p>
<p>One of the main reasons that zoos can be hotbeds for deadly disease transmission — which threatens elephants, tigers and other captive animals as well as human beings — is that captive animals can suffer from compromised immune systems due to the confines of captivity, rendering them more susceptible to illness. In many facilities, tigers and elephants are often held in cramped enclosures that bear little resemblance to their natural wild habitats. They can be forced to perform or interact with the public on a daily basis or endure living in solitary confinement. The Bronx Zoo, for example, has forced an elephant named Happy to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/nyregion/bronx-zoo-elephant-lawsuit-happy.html" target="_blank">live alone</a> since 2006, a crushing sentence for a highly social species. These types of living conditions can cause a range of physical and psychological ailments, which have been <a href="https://www.idausa.org/campaign/elephants/10-worst-zoos/" target="_blank">well documented</a>. Captive elephants tend to live shortened lifespans in contrast to those in the wild and suffer from diseases and conditions virtually unseen in the wild. The cumulative effect of these factors renders elephants prone to the TB contagion.</p>
<p>The fact that TB has continued to infect captive elephant populations in the U.S. for decades reveals the extent to which zoos are incapable of providing adequate living conditions to prevent the spread of this disease, despite their best efforts. While zoos and their supporters continue to argue that keeping animals captive is necessary to raise awareness and get people to care about them, seeing animals trapped in unnatural environments that prevent them from thriving doesn't do anything to teach us about how they live or how they should be recognized, respected and protected in the wild.</p><p>We can hope that the world will soon return to some semblance of normalcy, but if this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we can't continue with business as usual when it comes to our relationship with wildlife and the environment — at least not if we want to survive. In the meantime, we can protect captive animals and ourselves by avoiding zoos.</p>
<p><em>Marilyn Kroplick is the president of <a href="https://www.idausa.org/" target="_blank">In Defense of Animals</a></em><em>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Hundreds of sudden elephant deaths in Botswana aren't just a loss for the ecosystem and global conservation efforts. Mario Micklisch / Flickr / CC by 2.0
By Charli Shield
When an elephant dies in the wild, it's not uncommon to later find its bones scattered throughout the surrounding landscape.
<p>That's one way you can tell other elephants have passed through the area, says George Wittemyer, a wildlife conservation biologist at Colorado State University who's been researching African elephants in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve for more than 20 years.</p><p>Another sign, long-term elephant conservationist Joyce Poole adds, is the presence of tracks worn through the grass leading to its body. "The vegetation will be gone and the carcass will be surrounded by elephant dung because so many elephants will have visited and stayed," Poole says.</p><p>While scientists are yet to pinpoint what exactly struck down a reported 356 elephants in Botswana's Okavango Delta area, what we do know is that these deaths are not only significant for ecologists and conservationists — but elephants themselves. </p>
Elephant Burial Grounds
<p>Highly social creatures that form deep familial bonds, elephants have long been observed gathering at the site where a peer or family member has died — often spending hours, even days, quietly investigating the bodies or the bones of other dead elephants.</p><p>Although the popular idea that dying elephants are instinctively drawn to special communal graves — so-called "elephant graveyards" — is a myth, their tendency to go out of their way to visit the bones and tusks of the deceased isn't unlike human rituals at graveyards, says animal psychologist Karen McComb.</p><p>"They spend a lot of time touching and smelling skulls and ivory, placing the soles of their feet gently on top of them, and also lifting them up with their trunks," McComb, who's been studying African elephants for 25 years in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, told DW.</p><p>The most striking part of watching an elephant experience loss, Poole recalls, is the quietude. She still remembers one of the first elephant deaths she witnessed; a mother who birthed a stillborn calf. That elephant stayed with its baby for two days, trying to lift it and defending it from vultures and hyenas.</p><p>"I was so struck by the expression on her face and her body. She looked so dejected. It was really like, 'Oh God, these animals grieve…'. It was just so different," Poole told DW. </p>Witnessing Emotions in Animals
<p>Not all scientists are comfortable concluding that elephants grieve. Among the more than 30 reports of elephant reactions to death that Wittemyer co-reviewed in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-019-00766-5" target="_blank">a study published in November 2019</a> were accounts of "enormous variation and nuance" he says. "It can be incredibly involved and intricate for extended periods or can be relatively cursory checks."</p><p>In Wittemyer's own experience, it can be difficult not to attribute some kind of emotional experience to the more involved interactions between elephants and their dead.</p><p>He shares the story of an "extraordinary event" involving the death of a 55 year-old matriarch in Kenya in a protected area that happened to be near his place of work. She was visited by multiple unrelated families while she was dying, including another matriarch that exerted such enormous effort attempting to lift her to her feet that she broke her tusk, which Wittemyer says, is "like breaking a tooth." </p><p><span></span>"It was a remarkable example of this heightened emotional state, it was very clearly a very stressful interaction," he says.</p>A Different Sensory World
<p>One factor that limits our ability to fully grasp the way elephants process and respond to loss is our markedly different sensory experiences of the world.</p><p>An elephant's world is fundamentally olfactory — based on smell. Ours is visual. Previous <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25053675/" target="_blank">research</a> has shown elephants possess the most scent receptors of any mammal, and can <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17949977/" target="_blank">use smell</a> to discern the difference between different human tribes from the same local area.</p><p>That could explain why elephants exhibit such interest in sniffing the bones and tusks of others, as a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617198/" target="_blank">2005 study</a> from McCombs highlighted. When presented with the skulls and ivory of long-dead elephants and those from other large herbivores, including rhino and buffalo, McCombs and her team found elephants approached and were specifically attracted to the remains of their own species. </p><p>Without access to the smells an elephant picks up on, Wittemyer says "an enormous amount of stuff" could be missed by humans when studying these behaviors.</p><p>While scientists cannot say what the elephants are thinking, it is clear that death — whether of a relative, a close companion, or just another member of their species — has some kind of meaning for elephants. </p><p>And why wouldn't it? Asks Poole, who points to the fact that elephants' survival depends on their social and familial relationships.</p><p>"Through the course of evolution they have evolved these complex rituals to hold families together. Those have to be driven by some sort of positive emotions, otherwise why would they bother?"</p><p>"They recognize that death, for somebody, is a big loss."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/elephant-deaths-botswana-what-it-could-mean/a-54079677?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646364470#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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In ‘Conservation Disaster,’ Hundreds of Botswana's Elephants Are Dying From Mysterious Cause
02 July
Animals
African bush elephants in the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve in Botswana on Nov. 22, 2016. Michael Jansen / Flickr
More than 350 elephants have died in Botswana since May, and no one knows why.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">Poaching</a> has been ruled out, because no tusks have been removed from the elephants' bodies, but it is possible the animals are dying of a disease that could spread to the human population.</p><p>"Yes, it is a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> disaster — but it also has the potential to be a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> crisis," <a href="https://t.co/FOYIlddwzZ?amp=1" target="_blank">National Park Rescue</a> Director of Conservation Dr. Niall McCann told <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-africa-53257512" target="_blank">BBC News</a>.</p>
<div id="9deed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="101a9cd3a64051511e2bb793a9782a58"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1278329244767137792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A catastrophic die-off of elephants is happing in northern Botswana, and no one knows why. It’s vital that a team o… https://t.co/G4VlI5hZJA</div> — Niall McCann (@Niall McCann)<a href="https://twitter.com/NiallPMcCann/statuses/1278329244767137792">1593612416.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Botswana's tourism ministry first said that it was investigating the deaths in mid-May, when 12 dead elephants were found over two weekends in the country's Okavango Delta, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-botswana-probes-mysterious-death-elephants.html" target="_blank">Phys.org reported</a> at the time.</p><p>By the end of May, 169 elephants had died, and that number had more than doubled by mid-June, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/01/more-than-350-elephants-dead-in-mysterious-mass-die-off-botswana-aoe" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"This is totally unprecedented in terms of numbers of elephants dying in a single event unrelated to drought," McCann told BBC News.</p><p>But despite the scale of the deaths, the government has not yet completed testing of the animals to determine the cause, earning the criticism of conservation groups.</p>
<p>"There is real concern regarding the delay in getting the samples to an accredited laboratory for testing in order to identify the problem — and then take measures to mitigate it," <a href="https://eia-international.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Investigation Agency</a> Executive Director Mary Rice told The Guardian. "The lack of urgency is of real concern and does not reflect the actions of a responsible custodian. There have been repeated offers of help from private stakeholders to facilitate urgent testing which appear to have fallen on deaf ears … and the increasing numbers are, frankly, shocking."</p>
<p>The government, meanwhile, attributed the delay to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"We have sent [samples] off for testing and we are expecting the results over the next couple of weeks or so," Dr. Cyril Taolo, acting director for Botswana's department of wildlife and national parks, told The Guardian. "The Covid-19 restrictions have not helped in the transportation of samples in the region and around the world. We're now beginning to emerge from that and that is why we are now in a position to send the samples to other laboratories."</p><p>Taolo said the government had confirmed 280 out of 350 reported deaths and is working to confirm the rest.</p>
<p>Local reports indicate that animals of all ages and sexes are dying, with some spotted wandering in circles, a sign of neurological damage. The cause is likely a poison or disease, but experts are not sure which.</p><p>More than 100 elephants died in October 2019 in a suspected anthrax outbreak, Phys.org reported, but McCann told BBC News he had tentatively ruled out anthrax as the cause of the most recent deaths. Cyanide poisoning used by poachers is another possibility, but scavengers are not dying after eating the carcasses, The Guardian pointed out.</p><p>"It is only elephants that are dying and nothing else," McCann told BBC News. "If it was cyanide used by poachers, you would expect to see other deaths."</p>
<p>Botswana hosts the world's largest elephant population at more than 135,000 animals, about a third of all the elephants in Africa, Phys.org pointed out. The Okavango Delta, meanwhile, is home to 10 percent of Botswana's total population, or around 15,000 animals. African elephants are considered vulnerable by the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12392/3339343" target="_blank">International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List</a>. Botswana was considered one of the safest countries for elephants until recently, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/hundreds-of-elephants-have-died-in-botswana-for-months-and-we-still-don-t-know-why" target="_blank">Science Alert pointed out</a>. But the government made a controversial decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/botswana-lifts-elephant-ban-2637907016.html" target="_self">lift</a> its elephant hunting ban in May of 2019, and poaching is on the rise. An <a href="http://elephantswithoutborders.org/" target="_blank">Elephants Without Borders</a> study <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221930675X" target="_blank">published in Current Biology last year</a> found that new elephant carcasses in northern Botswana had increased by 593 percent between 2014 and 2018 and that at least 385 elephants had been poached between 2017 and 2018.</p>
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Pixabay
With the coronavirus continuing to spread and self-isolation becoming the norm, it feels more important than ever to embrace the power and beauty of nature. Sure, we can't travel as much these days, but the modern world can still bring the natural world to us.
<p>We've picked some great webcams around the globe to help keep you sane in these trying times. Depending on the time of day or night you're reading this, they should offer you some solace and wonder for the long weeks ahead.</p>
Tembe Elephant Park
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="98e42411fff6f35ef0848be2fc7f896c"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z5F1a7_dsrs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>One of several great livecams from <a href="https://explore.org/livecams/" target="_blank">Explore.org</a>. This one brings you to a very popular watering hole on the Mozambique border.</p>Decorah Eagles
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f7b68d1d59de0180385b1b73b4c3ba09"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eTAsANPVqB8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>A rare opportunity to see bald eagles up close and relaxed in Decorah, Iowa.</p>Gorilla Forest Corridor
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5257bf5001555c6a8fbe90ca51839767"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rgXWDk7rh4w?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>You may or may not see any critically endangered Grauer's gorillas, but this is a heck of a peaceful site in the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p>Coral City
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ca851b20efb928199cfe942f412a1ee4"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fcDAqe0RhKo?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>An urban reef in Miami, Florida that's part habitat, part science experiment and part art project. You never know who might swim by.</p>Cornell Lab’s Panama Fruit Feeder-cam at Canopy Lodge
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bf75ba8fc1c62cc9cd21f11a80d1c3ab"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WtoxxHADnGk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Pay attention. All kinds of colorful birds fly by to sample the wares that scientists have left out for them at this conservation site in Panama.</p>Big Sur Condors
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eac275b9c5bb21353baabe6fa8b17145"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BYfpzcWwieM?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Two webcams from the Ventana Wildlife Society showcasing the amazing California condors in their care. The birds aren't always on camera, but it's worth sticking around to see them.</p>Big Sur Condor Nest powered by EXPLORE.org
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c48f531cba2bccbbcc2385087b2e1150"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/scvFA-ShZwc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>Otters and More at Monterey Bay
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5b380adf03fdca8d30209c8a097fb029"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5JjGc5fN1K0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>A neverending parade of sea otters, birds, harbor seals and other marine mammals will entertain you at this feed, courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.</p>Bison Watering Hole at Grasslands National Park
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7d8a9bec0805ac98b243fbd998755468"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0ZKl4T7o-m8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Again, you never know what wildlife you'll witness onscreen, but the beauty of this site in Saskatchewan can take your breath away.</p>New York University’s Hawk Cam
<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://ustream.tv/embed/22940835" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="border: 0 none transparent;"></iframe><p>Oh wow, an urban nest whose residents are mini-celebrities. This includes an active <a href="https://video.ibm.com/channel/e3uYJSDgmbz" target="_blank">chat feature</a>, so it's one more way to connect with fellow enthusiasts.</p>Jellyfish at Monterey Bay Aquarium
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="06b2e809befef9812f09abb6ff610162"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2gHKDHmgVlU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Who knew jellyfish were so Zen? This livecam is about as relaxing as it can possibly get. Get lost in the gentle motion.</p><p>There's more! We found one more essential livestream that we can't embed but it's worth opening a new browser tab to see:</p><p><a href="https://nywolf.org/meet-our-wolves/webcams/webcam-red-wolves-charlotte-jack-family/" target="_blank">Red Wolf enclosure cam</a> — Check out one of the rarest predators on the planet, courtesy of the conservation breeding program at the Wolf Conservation Center, which also maintains <a href="https://nywolf.org/meet-our-wolves/webcams/" target="_blank">several other great webcams</a>.</p><p>Don't find something you like above? You can also try going for a walk to see what wildlife or natural beauties you can find in your neighborhood. After all, self-isolation doesn't mean we have to keep ourselves indoors all day and all night.</p><p>While you're at it, bring your phone and share photos of what you see on <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/" target="_blank">iNaturalist</a> or other citizen-science platforms — that's one more way to stay connected with your community and avoid feelings of isolation. And you can help collect important scientific information along the way.</p><p>No matter what you do, please just stay safe. The world will still need you when all of this is over.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/covid-19-wildlife-livecams/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Paula Kahumbu attends the TDI Awards during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios on April 25, 2017 in New York City. Rob Kim / Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
Women have long been at the forefront of the effort to protect the earth and its creatures. Some of them, like Greta Thunberg and Jane Goodall, are household names.
<p>Others, like <a href="http://www.drfisher.umd.edu/PCM_PreliminaryResults.pdf" target="_blank">around 55 percent of the people who hit the streets for 2014's People's Climate March</a>, are anonymous (s)heroes. In between these extremes are many women who have made a significant individual difference as scientists, inventors or activists and who deserve more recognition for their inspiring efforts.</p><p>Here are five women using their unique talents to protect the planet that we at EcoWatch think you should know about.</p>
<p><strong>1. Miranda Wang, Inventor and Entrepreneur, Canada and U.S.</strong></p>
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<p>Only nine percent of the world's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> is actually recycled. The rest is landfilled, burned or discarded into the environment, where it risks joining the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-dumped-into-worlds-oceans-each-year-1882012563.html" target="_self">eight million metric tons</a> that pollute the world's oceans every year. But Miranda Wang is working to change that.<br></p><p>Together with her high school friend Jeanny Yao, Wang developed a method of using chemicals to break down unrecyclable polyethylene film plastics — such as the infamous plastic bag — into reusable compounds, <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/05/28/recycling-pilot-program-with-local-start-up-in-final-phase/" target="_blank">The Mercury News explained</a>. In 2015, the pair co-founded the company <a href="https://www.biocellection.com/" target="_blank">BioCellection</a> when they were just 21 to put their invention into practice.</p><p>Wang and Yao first met in their Vancouver, B.C. high school's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/recycling" target="_self">recycling</a> club, where they visited waste plants.</p><p>"[W]hen I visited my first waste plant, the scale of the problem hit me," Wang told <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/youngchampions/news/story/young-champion-earth-winner-north-america" target="_blank">UN Environment</a>. "All that waste."</p><p>She is now tackling the problem full time as CEO of BioCellection, which is based in Menlo Park, California. She is working on a pilot program with the city of San Jose and its waste handler GreenWaste to integrate her and Yao's innovation into its preexisting system.</p><p>"The long-term goal is to be able to recycle all of the city of San Jose's — and other cities' — polyethylene plastic," Wang told The Mercury News.</p>
<p><strong>2. Dr. Paula Kahumbu, Conservationist, Kenya</strong></p>
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<p>Dr. Paula Kahumbu, who has been called the "life force" behind Kenya's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> movement, has been working to protect <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants" target="_self">elephants</a> since she was in her early 20s. She and a group of friends measured every piece in Kenya's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ivory" target="_self">ivory</a> stockpile to create an ivory "bonfire" in 1989, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/campaigns/elephant-campaign/dr-paula-kahumbu-interview-africans-must-be-equal-partners-in-a-war-on-elephant-poachers-9123089.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>.</p><p><a href="https://paulakahumbu.org/about/" target="_blank">Since then</a>, she has gone on to earn a Ph.D. at Princeton in ecology and evolutionary biology, to serve as the CEO of Kenyan conservation nonprofit <a href="https://wildlifedirect.org/" target="_blank">WildlifeDirect</a>, and to launch the successful <a href="https://wildlifedirect.org/hands-off-our-elephants/" target="_blank">Hands Off Our Elephants Campaign</a> with Kenyan first lady Margaret Kenyatta in 2014.</p><p>"From spending so much time with [elephants], I know they are not just another animal," she told The Independent. "They are beings with personalities; with families; with feelings. It is such a horrendous injustice to allow them to be slaughtered."</p><p>Hands Off Our Elephants works to tackle the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">poaching</a> crisis in Kenya by enacting new laws and making sure they are enforced, working directly with communities to develop conservation strategies that benefit humans and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> and building public support in Kenya for elephant conservation. Since it was launched, elephant poaching in the country has decreased by 80 percent and rhino poaching by 90 percent. One of Kahumbu's key insights has been the importance of engaging Africans, and particularly African women, in protecting their continent's unique animals.</p><p>"It can be hard for Africans, and especially African women, to be heard in this male-dominated world of Western scientists and academics," she told The Independent. "Maasai women, who have been studying elephants for 20 to 40 years each; should have Ph.D.s [by now], but they don't. There has been a real failure to develop the capacity of the people who are instrumental on the ground."</p>
<p><strong>3. Artemisa Xakriabá, Indigenous Activist, Brazil</strong></p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-bolsonaro-amazon-climate-2616170023.html" target="_self">election</a> of right-wing Brazilian President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a> was a blow to climate action and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-rights" target="_self">indigenous rights</a>. So far, he has overseen <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-rainforest-wildfires-2639934452.html" target="_self">historic wildfires</a> in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/amazon-rainforest" target="_self">Amazon rainforest</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-bolsonaro-bill-open-indigenous-land-2645088985.html" target="_self">pushed</a> to open indigenous forest reserves to the mining and fossil fuel industries. But indigenous women are fighting back.</p><p>Among them is 19-year-old Artemisa Xakriabá, a member of Brazil's Xakriabá tribe. In August, she participated in the first Indigenous Women's March in Brasilia to protest Bolsonaro's anti-environment and anti-indigenous policies, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/indigenous-activist-bolsonaro-amazon-brazil_n_5db31aece4b079eb95a2d409?ri18n=true" target="_blank">HuffPost reported</a>. She was then chosen by a coalition of South American and East Asian indigenous youth groups to represent their cause at youth climate strikes in New York and Washington, DC last September.</p><p>"We, the indigenous peoples, are the children of nature, so we fight for our Mother Earth, because the fight for Mother Earth is the mother of all other fights," she said in New York, as <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/23/brazil_indigenous_climate_activist_artemisa_xakriaba" target="_blank">Democracy Now reported</a>. "We are fighting for your lives. We are fighting for our lives."</p><p>Xakriabá's activism predates Bolsonaro, however. When she was only seven, she helped her classmates reforest 15 riverside areas near their traditional territory in Minas Gerais in southeast Brazil, according to HuffPost.</p><p>In New York, she spoke of the common struggle of all women to protect the earth.</p><p>"I am also here as a young woman," she said, as Democracy Now reported, "because there's no difference between an indigenous young female activist like myself and a young indigenous female activist like Greta. Our future is connected by the same threads of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>."</p>
<p><strong>4. Dr. Maria Caffrey, Scientist and Whistleblower, U.S.</strong></p>
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<p>Dr. Maria Caffrey is another woman who stood up to a climate denying administration.</p><p>In 2012, the National Park Service (NPS) funded a project she had designed to estimate future <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">sea levels</a> and storm surges at 118 coastal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-parks" target="_self">national parks</a> based on different levels of greenhouse gas emissions, as Caffrey wrote for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/25/trump-administration-climate-crisis-denying-scientist" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. She completed the first draft in the summer of 2016, but then President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> took office, and the report was delayed. Finally, a colleague told her that all mentions of climate change had been edited out of her report. Senior officials wanted her to approve the changes, and, if she refused, threatened to release the report without climate references, to delete her name or not to publish it at all.</p><p>"Each option would have been devastating to my career and for scientific integrity. I stood firm," she wrote. "And I prevailed."</p><p>The report was published, but Caffrey paid for her persistence. She received pay cuts and demotions and then, in February 2019, NPS refused to renew her funding, leading Caffrey to file a whistleblower complaint against the administration.</p><p>Caffrey also sued the administration and testified before Congress in an attempt to raise awareness about the silencing of scientists.</p><p>"Money was never really the point of the lawsuit," Caffrey told <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/29/boulder-climate-scientist-sues-trump-administration-over-matter-of-scientific-integrity/" target="_blank">Colorado Matters</a>. "The point of the lawsuit is to get on the record and show what the Trump administration is doing to scientists and that that's not OK. And so I think it's important that we stand up and we fight back."</p>
<p><strong>5. Nirupabai, Activist, India</strong></p>
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<p>In India, the expansion of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> doesn't just hurt the global climate. Government-owned Coal India and its subsidiaries have bypassed local and international law in evicting people from their homes in order to expand mines in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, according to a 2016 Amnesty International report publicized by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jul/13/coal-india-accused-of-bulldozing-human-rights-mining-operations-amid-production-boom-amnesty-international" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. These evictions particularly target indigenous Adivasi communities, including a woman named Nirupabai whose home was bulldozed in 2014.</p><p>"I cried, I screamed, trying to save it," she told The Guardian of the eviction. "All my things, my son's school books, a year's worth of rice, everything was scattered, everything in ruins."</p><p>But Nirupabai has gone on to fight the coal company with every means at her disposal, <a href="https://elle.in/article/nirupabai/" target="_blank">Elle reported</a>. She has picketed company offices, spoken at environmental hearings and she spoke in <a href="https://amnesty.org.in/news-update/cost-coal-using-virtual-reality-tell-story-indias-coal-mining-affected-communitie/" target="_blank">The Cost of Coal</a>, India's first VR film to be acquired by the UN. What she wants is for Coal India to stop expanding until people like her are compensated for the land they have lost.</p><p>"You tell me what will grow on this poor land? Coal is the heart of the earth, but they remove it and say we are the sarkar. What is it that you have in your pocket that you didn't take from our land?" Nirupabai said, according to Elle.</p><p>Nirupabai has won one important victory. Coal India usually does not let women who have been displaced by its activities work in the mines because it deems the work unsafe. But a court order filed by another woman, Ratthobai Rathia, has given her the right to work for the land she has lost. Nirupabai isn't done fighting, however.</p><p>"I will fight for every last inch," she told Elle.</p>
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Botswana Auctions Off First Licenses to Kill Elephants Since Ending Five-Year Ban
12 February
Animals
An elephant in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, on June 15, 2018. Michael Levine-Clark / Flickr
Botswana held its first auction of licenses to hunt elephants Friday since President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted a five-year ban on the controversial practice in May of 2019.
<p>Masisi's government has argued that legal hunting is necessary to reduce conflict between elephants and humans, but some conservationists fear that reintroducing the practice could actually encourage more illegal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">poaching</a>, <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN20119C-OZATP" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"SHAME ON YOU President Masisi, we will not forget," human and animal rights group the <a href="https://emsfoundation.org.za/" target="_blank">EMS Foundation</a> tweeted in response to Friday's auction.</p>
<div id="c62cc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="SRJ7A91581516310"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1225806855944929285" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#BotswanaTrophyHuntingNation #StopTheKilling SHAME ON YOU President Masisi, we will not forget @GlobalElephants… https://t.co/9yNhOePSmA</div> — EMS Foundation (@EMS Foundation)<a href="https://twitter.com/emsfoundationsa/statuses/1225806855944929285">1581090103.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br>The government was prepared to auction off seven hunting packages permitting the killing of ten elephants each. However, only six bidders were able to put down the reserve fee of 2 million pula ($181,000), according to Reuters. The packets were purchased by expedition operators who will sell them to trophy hunters at a markup, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/botswana-elephant-hunting-permits_n_5e3f7b7fc5b6b70887015580?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL2ltcGFjdC9ncmVlbj9ndWNjb3VudGVyPTEmZ3VjZV9yZWZlcnJlcj1hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTNkM2N1WjI5dloyeGxMbU52YlM4Jmd1Y2VfcmVmZXJyZXJfc2lnPUFRQUFBTWkyZ0V3Yy1xSVJiYnF0RHBFWHlMYldxdXNhTW5PYThWU1VHd0w5ZkxzdUt6bk9KOHlzNkVlTTBkOFVXTTg1c1hFX1lzQWx2RjF5VWFnQXk2WUZNODY1aEpHYm5PeTN4bDhNbWFoOUpsQThrS2JUbEZVb0xSQ3hfZlBLdVg2ZGcwZng5R1ozOXRHaktGb25pZm0xRm5ETWdqUUpzc2FSYXJ1TDIwRklTSjBx&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAdxsvFT3Ak3muDFbPZAuzdV_QALTsMzFxDtjm7Nz9-mE-f63F8-juaTEfveSYG5wqE2Hexiikkkn7ueMpVbNZ5FhPzmGgG1wOSTJFUelZDkdpEXMr9XUQQXaIT5PmMTwHMgb6pln4rISEbZPqOCDUSGubNbG_TpCN5hpuQS1c_h" target="_blank">HuffPost explained</a>. Most trophy hunters who come to southern Africa are from the U.S., and Botswana will allow foreign hunters to shoot 202 of its 272-elephant quota for the year, as well as to export the trophies. The hunting season will officially begin in April, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/botswana-auctions-licenses-to-hunt-70-elephants-in-effort-to-reduce-conflict-with-humans/2020/02/07/d1e34366-4920-11ea-8a1f-de1597be6cbc_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>Elephant numbers in Africa as a whole have fallen by more than two thirds since 1979, from 1.3 million to only 415,000 in 2015, according to HuffPost. In Botswana, however, the animals' population has been on the rise, increasing from 80,000 in the late 1990s to 130,000 today, Reuters reported. The country now hosts nearly a third of Africa's elephants.</p><p>Botswana's previous president Ian Khama instituted a ban on hunting elephants in 2014, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/botswana-holds-controversial-auction-elephant-hunting-licences-doc-1os0km2" target="_blank">according to AFP</a>. But Masisi has turned lifting the ban into a political issue, The Washington Post explained. Rural residents are frustrated with elephants who enter villages and trample crops, and feel that conservationists are mostly foreigners who funnel the proceeds from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> tourism away from the local economy.</p><p>"Elephants have killed a lot of people and destroyed livelihoods. I think government is doing the right thing in reducing their numbers," Tiro Segosebe, who lives in the capital of Gaborone but whose home village is in one of the areas most impacted by human-elephant conflict, told Reuters.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups argue that hunting is not an effective means of curbing conflict between elephants and humans, and that the proceeds from hunting won't actually benefit rural villages. Rosemary Alles, co-founder and president of the <a href="https://march4elephantsandrhinos.org/stop-the-killing-of-272-botswana-elephants/" target="_blank">Global March for Elephants and Rhinos</a>, explained the problems with Masisi's approach to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/botswana-elephant-kill-auction-trophy-hunt-shoot-extinct-africa-a9325041.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>:</p><blockquote>"Studies have shown that local communities do not reap the benefits that they are promised from the hunting industry.<br><br>"Killing 272 elephants in Botswana will not control elephant numbers, it will not reduce human-elephant conflict and will not create jobs in areas where opportunities are scarce.<br><br>"Appropriate land-use planning including dedicated migratory corridors will aid elephant dispersal and increase the probability of amicable human elephant coexistence."</blockquote><p>Khama has also criticized his successor's decision.</p><p>"I have been against hunting because it represents a mentality (of) those who support it, to exploit nature for self interest that has brought about the extinction of many species worldwide," he told AFP.</p>
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Rhino, springboks, zebra, elephant and lion in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. ugurhan / E+ / Getty Images
<p>The Department of the Interior (DOI) has disbanded a controversial council that promoted big game hunting after a judge ruled that environmental groups could challenge the legitimacy of the council in court, as <a href="https://apnews.com/8570435359a2cef4c226de114f53377e" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p>
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'Green Mountain' Is Restoring Lives in India, Reducing Mercury Levels, Replenishing Drinking Water
29 January
Popular
Greening the barren mountain has helped recharge groundwater levels in the villages. Photo by Gurvinder Singh. Mongabay India
Jamini Mohan Mahanty is out for a morning walk every day. At 91, he is hale and hearty. A resident of Jharbagda village in Purulia district, West Bengal, Mahanty thanks the "green mountain" in his village for having added some extra years to his life.
<p>"I could have died long ago but the green mountain has given me a fresh lease of life. It has made the environment clean and pollution free. It really energises my soul to see birds chirping and rabbits hiding in the bushes. I come inside the forest everyday to have a brief rendezvous with nature," he said, while resuming his walk with the help of a stick.<em></em></p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2020/01/the-story-of-a-restored-forest-that-restored-lives/">Mongabay India</a>.</em></p>
<p>A few meters away, the mountain stands tall covered with extensive greenery and rich in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodiversity</a>. The mountain exemplifies the collective efforts and hardships of the villagers. As they were grappling with depleting <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/groundwater" rel="noopener noreferrer">groundwater</a> levels, harsh summers and trouble accessing firewood for fuel, the villagers realized that their pressing problems could only be solved by nature. Over the years, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" rel="noopener noreferrer">deforestation</a> for firewood had depleted the green cover and the villagers decided to regreen the mountain.</p><p>Over nearly 20 years the community has transformed a barren mountain and its adjoining land, into an evergreen man-made <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" rel="noopener noreferrer">forest</a>.</p><p>Tapas Mahanty, a resident of Jharbagda in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/India" rel="noopener noreferrer">India</a>'s eastern state, recollects the time, two decades ago, when extreme summers and water shortage made life difficult for the then 30,000-odd people residing across 20-21 villages surrounding the mountain. </p><p>"We were facing severe water scarcity woes because of depleting ground water levels. Women had to walk for around a kilometre to arrange <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" rel="noopener noreferrer">drinking water</a> as men were out for work. There were often skirmishes and fights over sharing of water at the village taps. It disturbed the harmony of the village," she said.</p><p>Apart from water woes, life also became difficult because of strong winds in summers that spread the heat from the barren mountain. "There was no green cover that could have obstructed the flow of hot and humid winds. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil" rel="noopener noreferrer">Soil</a> erosion from the mountain during rains dirtied the ponds and also affected the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/farming" rel="noopener noreferrer">farming</a>. It became difficult to live in the villages located close to the mountain and people began to think of migration," she added.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTY4Mjg5N30.rNkM1f3LWIXTjQFcA4-ZT-_aMGpLFx0oMpSSo_QkNbo/img.jpg?width=980" id="57879" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="284cd1b1c6b264b9f40dbae18d528f7f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
(L) A view of the barren mountain in 1996 and (R) a restored landscape as seen in 2006. Mongabay India
Long Walk for Firewood
<p>Another major problem that villagers, especially the women faced was the near absence of firewood as there were hardly any trees, "We had to walk for three to four kilometres for firewood and the entire day was lost in the travel. It was also risky and cumbersome for the women to walk for such a long distance carrying the firewood on their heads. Besides, some couldn't afford the money required to buy firewood for fuel," said another villager.</p><p>Villagers realized that turning the mountain green could save them from the torment of inclement weather coupled with water shortage issues. But it was easier said than done as the mountain spread across 376 acres of land and required extensive labour and funds for plantations.</p><p>An NGO involved in nature <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" rel="noopener noreferrer">conservation</a> came to their rescue. The <u><a href="http://www.tsrd.org/" target="_blank">Tagore Society For Rural Development</a></u> (TSRD), a non-profit engaged in rural work, agreed to do the plantation work on the entire stretch while the community was given the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the green cover. </p><p>"A group of villagers contacted us and told about the problems they were facing. We were overwhelmed by their passion to grow a forest. We then decided to do the plantation," said Prahalad Chandra Mahato, 70, senior employee of the NGO.</p><p>Subsequently, in 1999, a village committee involving 60 members of Jharbagda village of Manbazar-1 block was formed for plantation at a community land of around 300 acres.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MzAyMjExM30.eh38KZE12HOoOpaIUc6oBdefb06WM3JE0giF--dLWq4/img.jpg?width=980" id="cb439" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dadebea5768c9346fa9800b45e177704" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Committee members representing the villages for plantation on the barren mountain. Gurvinder Singh / Mongabay India
<p>Another 67 acres of land was added in 2001 when four villages — Kumardih, Birsinghdih, Cheliama, Radhamadhobpur — also joined hands. Committee members went up to 90. Villagers named it Makino Raghunath Mountain in memory of two environment enthusiasts, Saiji Makino, a Japanese professor who taught at Visvabharati University at Bolpur Shantiniketan and was involved in creating awareness about plantation among the locals and Raghunath Mahanty, a well-known local resident.</p><p>Under a Japanese government-supported greening initiative, the plantations began in 1999 and continued till 2002. "During the course of three years, over 3.26 lakh (326,000) trees of 72 varieties including fruits, medical herbs and timber wood were planted in the mountain stretch and the adjoining land. Labourers were employed for plantation but villagers also worked voluntarily as they were passionate and wanted to mitigate the crisis," added Mahato.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA1OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTA1MjIyM30.zw1K3u3Qc44T4UD-C3dmwbFXt351xQjt89QHgBKb_VI/img.jpg?width=980" id="fa767" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b018ed6bc7a5f0b8060f330619b21d35" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Villagers can now collect dry leaves for fuel from the forest on the Makino Raghunath Mountain. Earlier, they would have to walk long distances to get firewood. Gurvinder Singh / Mongabay India
The Stretch Turned Green Within a Few Years
<p>Within a span of a few years, the landscape, starting with five villages started changing. "The first visible sign was the easy availability of firewood for fuel. The dried leaves that fell from the trees were collected by us and used as fuel. It not only saved us from the ordeal of walking for several kilometers but also reduced our expenditure on buying wood for fuel. It encouraged us to protect the forest and shoo out anyone trying to destroy it," said Kalyani Mahanty, 40, a homemaker in Jharbagda.</p><p>The forest also led to an increase in the groundwater level and brought down the constant quarrels among villagers, "The groundwater level that had depleted to 40-50 feet (and went down even more in summers) became normal and was available at 15-20 ft. The easy availability of water brought peace to the village," she added.</p><p>The dense green cover also ensured the presence of biodiversity and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants" target="_self">elephants</a> began to traverse the forest that was once barren, "We first noticed the movement of elephants in 2005. There was a sense of jubilation among villagers. There were also constant sighting of snakes and other animals. Birds are now regular here," said Bikash Mahanty, 40, who resides at the neighbouring Radhamodhobpur village.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNjUzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTI0OTUxOX0.S9eG2GAmbVZI6yhmzwCPauTUEIvlfSCae47Lrt0O2cQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="8554a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f3bc72b3aba749959342680b81c62168" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The Makino Raghunath Mountain, a once-barren mountain where plantation took place between 1999 and 2002, restoring its greenery. Mongabay India
<p><br></p><p>The dense trees have also brought down the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/mercury" rel="noopener noreferrer">mercury</a> level in villages and have made the air cooler during summers, "It is comparatively cooler due to the presence of trees. We often sit under the shade of trees during summers and even spend our evenings here. The trees have also prevented soil erosion and farming is not getting hampered due to the mud carried by the rainwater from the mountains," he added.</p><p>Villagers have repeatedly turned down the requests to turn the forest into a picnic spot. "The tourism would no doubt help in promoting the place and also open new avenues of employment but it would do more harm by destroying the environment. Tourists will ignore all norms and use of plastic and other items would destroy its natural beauty. We have ignored the repeated plea to turn this into a tourist spot," said Dwija Pada Mahanty, former village head of Manbazar gram panchayat.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c5aa6de16cbc8253b6ae4e1082e1ebe8"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kkVdJR2pLA8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
Trenches Being Dug to Store Rainwater
<p>The state government in collaboration with TSRD is now digging trenches down the mountain to stop the wastage of rainwater and to make the soil nutritious, "The water in the trenches would make the soil nutritious while the overflowing water would be stored in a nearby pond and used for farming. It would also recharge the groundwater," said Badal Maharana, 43, team leader, <u><a href="https://usharmukti.nregawb.in/" target="_blank">Ushar Mukti</a></u> project, TSRD Purulia Unit.</p><p>He further said that around 1.5 feet deep trenches have been dug up in 50 hectares of land after the start of the work last year.</p><p>"The trenches would certainly help in storing the rainwater and would be used for multiple purposes. We are also trying to make it an animal corridor to facilitate their movement but the presence of habitation near the forest is a hurdle to the plan. The efforts of the villagers stand as a classic example of how environment conservation is vital for the survival of every individual," said Niladri Sarkar, Block Development Officer (BDO), Manbazar-1 block in Purulia district.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYzNDA2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTYwNDg5NX0.H_elNTErtxSE5y_j_8ATWT6x72fppFDmnTzGgEQQp9A/img.jpg?width=980" id="2e943" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d8953097e3227af62caf8b1d5aa4fdc0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The overflowing water from trenches would flow into the nearby pond and would be used for farming. Gurvinder Singh / Mongabay India
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An elephant in Botswana. Mario Micklisch / CC BY 2.0
Two hunters who shot and killed a research elephant in Botswana and then destroyed its collar to hide the evidence have been banned from further hunting in the country.
<p>The death echoes the infamous killing of "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/5-new-developments-in-the-killing-of-cecil-the-lion-1882081000.html" target="_self">Cecil the Lion</a>" by an American hunter in Zimbabwe in 2015, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-botswana-elephants/botswana-bans-hunters-after-killing-of-research-elephant-idUKKBN1YJ0B3" target="_blank">Reuters pointed out</a>. Cecil was also a research animal who was supposed to be off limits to hunters. The incident also comes around six months after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/botswana-lifts-elephant-ban-2637907016.html" target="_self">Botswana lifted a five-year ban</a> on the hunting of elephants.</p><p>"We wish to re-assure the public that the Ministry will work with the hunting industry to ensure that the necessary ethical standards are upheld at all times," the Botswana government <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BotswanaGovernment/posts/2629782900437685" target="_blank">wrote in a statement Saturday</a>.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="28bb4a5788b300312d838bd4d42cdc65"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/BotswanaGovernment/posts/2629782900437685"></div></div>
<p>The statement identified the hunters as Michael Lee Potter and Kevin Sharp. Potter is a professional hunter while Sharp held a citizen's hunting license, the government said in an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BotswanaGovernment/posts/2626642440751731?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDKWaNxYHWQKLcELTzx2hEhLMsrlOeqn0QQ4j9Mxb2HxpFeqqtX2nGAgpPqKLnAeaLEZWK6wyguPJZo_ykKP7YBil3aH7qzfMVuKaZxEfCyGt9Qo0ZQUDoPOkZikY53-QWD25QalrIURa43_QWcfpOZs0LLrBAN2ZRXn7YRYTTmq1X1ei7lSWamlgeD0bvro13dLo8CPouwT8O5PTefZS0Rs6jR5_atWSK9RF_eS-_eMrwZdwnEGS3S30Fv7KOXN5UrsxdUm7FwPzZ-Ojyl1Ph_RsNKlWkJpJ4EJ9ln9QEL79IknOd_GwiiBYGmiqpYvnNPqIORPoIj2Q7BHk3JVg&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">earlier statement</a>. Saturday's statement said the two hunters had voluntarily surrendered their hunting licenses to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Sharp's suspension will last three years while Potter's is indefinite. The two hunters will also replace the collar.</p><p>Neither Reuters nor <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50800864" target="_blank">BBC News</a> could determine the hunters' nationalities, and neither was able to obtain a comment from the two men.</p><p>The government first <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BotswanaGovernment/posts/2626642440751731?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDKWaNxYHWQKLcELTzx2hEhLMsrlOeqn0QQ4j9Mxb2HxpFeqqtX2nGAgpPqKLnAeaLEZWK6wyguPJZo_ykKP7YBil3aH7qzfMVuKaZxEfCyGt9Qo0ZQUDoPOkZikY53-QWD25QalrIURa43_QWcfpOZs0LLrBAN2ZRXn7YRYTTmq1X1ei7lSWamlgeD0bvro13dLo8CPouwT8O5PTefZS0Rs6jR5_atWSK9RF_eS-_eMrwZdwnEGS3S30Fv7KOXN5UrsxdUm7FwPzZ-Ojyl1Ph_RsNKlWkJpJ4EJ9ln9QEL79IknOd_GwiiBYGmiqpYvnNPqIORPoIj2Q7BHk3JVg&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">announced</a> the news of the killing on Friday. It said that the incident occurred Nov. 24 in a controlled hunting area, and that the hunters claimed not to have seen the collar.</p><p>"They allege that one of the bulls approached them and they shot at it. The professional hunter claimed that the collar was not visible as the elephant was in a full-frontal position. Once the animal was down, they realized it had a collar on it placed for research purposes," the statement said.</p><p>Neil Fitt of the <a href="https://www.kcs.org.bw/" target="_blank">Kalahari Conservation Society</a> questioned the hunters' account, however. He told <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/botswana-animal-groups-outraged-elephant-killing-doc-1n20et3" target="_blank">AFP</a> Friday that research collars are very big.</p><p>"The government should investigate this incident and send a strong message to professional hunters. His license should also be revoked," Fitt said at the time.</p><p>When Botswana lifted its elephant hunting ban, it said it would put quotas in place for certain areas and issue around 400 licenses a year. It said the decision was made because of an increase in conflict between elephants and humans, BBC News explained. Elephants can damage crops and sometimes kill people if they enter farms or villages.</p><p>But conservationists spoke out against lifting the ban, and some argued that hunting would only stress elephants and make them more dangerous to humans.</p><p>Almost one third of Africa's elephants live in Botswana, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/elephant-killed-botswana-professional-hunters-licence-wildlife-crisis-a9247676.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>. In the country, the number of elephants has risen from 80,000 in the late 1990s to 130,000 today. But elephants on the rest of the continent have not been so lucky. Their numbers have fallen from more than one million in 1980 to slightly more than 300,000. This is mostly due to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">poaching</a> for ivory. Around 40 elephants are killed for it every day.</p>
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The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya rescues and rears orphaned elephants and rhinos. Wendy Stone / Corbis via Getty Images
If you care about the planet, you're probably thinking that the holidays are not a great time of year for the environment. There's more mail and package deliveries, homes and buildings are decorated with holiday lights, people travel more, and there's so much shopping as people buy presents for friends and family. So what's an environmentally conscious holiday-lover supposed to do?
<p>The holidays are a great time of year to consider giving a different kind of gift: a donation to a nonprofit organization. Whether you make a personal donation on Giving Tuesday or you donate in a loved one's name instead of buying a present, you can still share the spirit of the holiday. To get your nonprofit gift-giving off to a great start, here the EcoWatch team recommends a few organizations we like and why these causes matter.</p><p><br></p>
<p><em>Jordan Davidson, Freelance Reporter<br></em><a href="https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/" target="_blank">Sheldrick Wildlife Trust<br></a>The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust supports the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife habitats in East Africa. The Kenya-based organization safeguards the natural habitat of elephants and rhinos while protecting them from poaching. It rescues and rears orphaned elephants and rhinos. In fact, it operates the most successful elephant orphan rescue and rehabilitation center in the world.</p><p>Every year, my kids scroll through the orphans, watch a video about their rescue and pick one to foster. In return, we receive monthly updates on the animal's rehabilitation, including their diet, medical needs, how they socialize and the other elephants they have made friends with.</p><p><br></p>
<p><em>Olivia Rosane, Freelance Reporter<br></em><a href="https://www.ienearth.org/" target="_blank">Indigenous Environmental Network<br></a>I first became aware of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) during the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but the nonprofit dates back to 1990 and has been working for almost 30 years to resist environmental injustice and build sustainable indigenous communities. Sometimes, everything that's wrong with the dominant culture's relationship to the Earth feels overwhelming. IEN tackles all of it, from deforestation to toxic waste dumping to fossil fuel extraction, and it does so while centering an indigenous worldview that offers a real alternative.</p><p>This holiday season, I am giving a gift to the future and donating to support their work. "By attempting to fulfill our responsibility to defend our mother earth we are assuring the survival of our unborn generations," their Unifying Principles read.</p><p><br></p>
<p><em>Jordan Simmons, Associate Editor<br></em><a href="https://amazonaid.org/" target="_blank">Amazon Aid Foundation<br></a>The Amazon Aid Foundation is empowering individuals, NGOS and governments to protect and revitalize the Amazon rainforest. In projects such as the <em>RIVER OF GOLD</em> documentary, they risk their lives to enter the grounds of illegal gold mining in Peru's Amazon rainforest to provide a disturbing account of how illegal mining causes an increase in deforestation and wildfires. The foundation provides information and resources such as the <a href="https://amazonaid.org/gold-buyers-guide/" target="_blank">Buyer's Guide</a> that can be used to not only become more conscious consumers, but to spread this message far and wide.</p><p>To express my gratitude for having more of an open mind and an understanding of my role as a consumer of gold, I have begun a monthly donation to the Amazon Aid Foundation. I look forward to the day I take this gift to Earth a step further by traveling to Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru to join their reforestation project.</p><p><br></p>
<p><em>Chris McDermott, News Editor<br></em><a href="http://www.btnwildlife.org/" target="_blank">Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge<br></a>The Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge in Orlando, Florida helps injured, orphaned and abandoned wildlife to recover. They describe their goal as "rescue, raise, rehabilitate and release" and they save thousands of animals a year. They have been especially busy after Florida storms that disrupt so many habitats.</p><p>I've supported this organization and have brought injured birds and squirrels to the refuge. The people who work there always inspire confidence that they'll give them the best care.</p>
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World's Toughest Ban on Ivory Will Move Forward in UK as Court Rejects Challenge From Dealers
07 November 2019
Animals
The UK instituted the world's toughest ban on ivory last year which eliminated all sales of ivory and rankled collectors and dealers. Antique dealers sued in court to be able to continue to sell existing ivory and argued that the ban violated European law. The high court in the UK, however, struck down that argument earlier this week and said the UK's ban is fully legal, as The Guardian reported.
<p>The ivory trade leads to illegal poaching and the slaughter of nearly 20,000 African elephants every year, <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5965191/illegal-ivory-ban-tusks-elephants-botswana/" target="_blank">according to The Sun</a>. However, the Friends of Antique and Cultural Treasures Limited (FACT) — a group of dealers and collectors — argued that the law was unnecessarily overbearing and impinged on their rights to collect and sell cultural heritage objects, as <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/judicial-review-of-uk-ivory-act-rejected" target="_blank">The Art Newspaper reported</a>.</p><p>The collectors also argued that trading cultural heritage objects does not support or influence the market for illegally poached ivory. Conservation groups countered that if the ban were watered down at all, it would breathe new life into the illegal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">poaching</a> trade, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/fantastic-day-for-elephants-court-rejects-ivory-ban-challenge" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>"I welcome today's ruling by the high court which upholds the UK's commitment to ban the ivory trade," said Theresa Villiers, the UK's environment secretary, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/high-court-ruling-upholds-ivory-act" target="_blank">said in a government statement</a>. "We will move forward and make sure the ban comes into operation as soon as possible to protect wildlife and the environment."</p><p>FACT argued that the European Union's decision to allow the buying and selling of ivory that was harvested prior to 1947 prohibited the UK from taking on a more stringent rule. The court, however, did not agree with that argument, as <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/judicial-review-of-uk-ivory-act-rejected" target="_blank">The Art Newspaper reported</a>.</p><p>"We are, of course, disappointed with the outcome but are pleased that the judge has agreed with a number of our submissions," said Richard Pike, a lawyer representing FACT, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/judicial-review-of-uk-ivory-act-rejected" target="_blank">according to The Art Newspaper</a>.</p><p>Investigators have found that poachers disguise tusks from newly killed elephants as antiques to get around trading bans. The difficulty in discriminating antique ivory from new ivory means that the exemption for older pieces still supports illegal poaching, as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ivory-trade-law-antiques-dealers-elephants-court-case-a9152836.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>.</p>
<p>The ban became a priority for the UK government last year after a 2017 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency found that the UK is the world's largest exporter of legal ivory and sells to hotspots in Asia like Hong Kong and China, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ivory-trade-law-antiques-dealers-elephants-court-case-a9152836.html" target="_blank">according to The Independent</a>.</p><p>Mary Rice, the chief executive of the Environmental Investigation Agency, praised the court's decision: "This is a victory for common sense and one which maintains the UK's position as a global leader when it comes to fighting the illegal ivory trade," as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/fantastic-day-for-elephants-court-rejects-ivory-ban-challenge" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>Conservationists estimate that 55 African elephants are killed every day for their Ivory. Those numbers that are decimating elephant populations have caused a number of governments to follow the UK's Ivory Act. The European commission is weighing stricter regulations, while Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, have similar legislation pending, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/fantastic-day-for-elephants-court-rejects-ivory-ban-challenge" target="_blank">according to The Guardian</a>.</p><br><p>"We are delighted to hear that the high court has rejected the antiques lobby's bid to overturn the Ivory Act," said David Cowdrey, the head of policy and campaigns at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/fantastic-day-for-elephants-court-rejects-ivory-ban-challenge" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "It is a fantastic day for elephants, and for everyone that has fought so hard to make the UK's ivory ban one of the toughest in the world."</p>
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