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A new sand frog discovered in Mozambique

A new sand frog discovered in Mozambique

 

New Species Discovery: Sand Frog Adds to Mozambique’s Biodiversity

Eleanor Momberg (Communications manager, Endangered Wildlife Trust)

An Endangered Wildlife Trust ecologist recently joined two other South African researchers to confirm the discovery of a new sand frog species in the genus Tomopterna in Mozambique’s Banhine National Park.

A small collection of frogs from inland of Beira, Mozambique, in December 1991 included two specimens of Tomopterna that differed morphologically and genetically from all previously known species. In subsequent years a series of Tomopterna specimens was collected from Banhine National Park. Genetic results indicated that the Banhine specimens were genetically closely related to those collected near Beira, and that these sequences differed substantially from all previously sequenced Tomopterna species.

In findings published in ZOOTAXA, EWT ecologist Darren Pietersen, North West University’s Alan Channing and the SA Medical Research Council’s Abeda Dawood describe this new frog species, which they name Tomopterna banhinensis after the type locality, as a species that can be distinguished from all other described species of sand frogs by several characters.

These include that the males grow to a maximum size of 43 mm, that all individuals have two pairs of divided tubercles under the first finger, more than three phalanges free of webbing on the fourth toe, a continuous glandular ridge below the tympanum, a distinct tympanic membrane, the nostrils being situated closer to the snout tip than to the eye, the absence of an outer metatarsal tubercle, the presence of small dorsal warts, the absence of (or only weak) vomerine teeth, and barring on the limbs.

This description adds a further amphibian to the list of Mozambican frogs, which has increased significantly in recent years.

According to the published research, there are presently 18 recognised species within the genus Tomopterna.

The research shows that the species of sand frogs are very similar in overall morphology, no doubt the reason why so many cryptic species were unrecognised, or synonymised with the Cryptic Sand Frog (T. cryptotis) – which was believed to be a single widespread taxon.

Sand frogs are widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding the rainforests of central Africa. They are usually found on sandy soils, although the Eastern Beaded Sand Frog (T. pulchra) and Natal Sand Frog (Tomopterna natalensis) are prone to inhabit more rocky habitats.

While this species is presently only known from Banhine National Park and the area around Beira in Mozambique, it is likely to be more widespread than present records suggest, occurring widely across the Mozambique plain, possibly including extreme south-eastern Zimbabwe (specifically Gonarezhou National Park), to which the sandveld and drainage systems of Banhine National Park are linked.

The research paper states that the discovery of many cryptic sand frog species using DNA sequencing suggests that there are more frog species waiting to be described. Sand frog species often occur sympatrically, but the high diversity of Tomopterna, up to five species, on the coastal plain of Mozambique is remarkable.

 

Research published by:

ALAN CHANNING1, DARREN W. PIETERSEN2,3 & ABEDA DAWOOD4
1Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
2Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, South Africa.
3Endangered Wildlife Trust, Plot 27 & 28 Austin Road, Glen Austin AH, Midrand 1685, South Africa
4Division of Research Capacity Development, South African Medical Research Council, Private Bag X385, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.

 

Read more about our Threatened Amphibians Programme
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Sparking to save small vertebrates

Sparking to save small vertebrates

 

Sparking to save small vertebrates

By Darren Pietersen, EWT Medike Reserve Manager & Ecologist.

Fences are ubiquitous structures, especially in South Africa, but increasingly across Africa. They are used to keep wildlife in (or out, depending on the farmer) of a property. They demarcate land parcels, help to keep livestock and wildlife off of roads, prevent the spread of diseases, and are used for security.

There are also many types of fences – non-electrified fences, game fences, cattle fences, Bonnox fences and, of course, electrified fences.

Electrified fences are mainly used around protected areas to keep wildlife in, thereby minimising human-wildlife conflict. They are also found around game farms to contain animals and keep intruders out. If constructed correctly, fences work really well for their intended purpose. But, there is also a dark side to electrified fences – they are silent killers.

While working for the Endangered Wildlife Trust during his studies Wits University in the mid-2000’s, Andrew Beck examined the impact of electrified fences on wildlife across South Africa. Andrew estimated that in the region of a whopping 30,000 reptiles, predominantly tortoises, are killed on electrified fences in South Africa annually. An earlier study, and several subsequent studies, have similarly highlighted the high toll taken on tortoises by electrified fences, although not quantifying the overall threat.

And it is not just tortoises that are bearing the brunt. It has been long known that pangolins are also affected by electrified fences, but it was not until 2016 that colleagues and I quantified this threat.

Based on available evidence, we estimated that in the region of 1,000 Temminck’s Pangolins are killed by electrified game fences in South Africa annually. And that’s just part of the story, given that there are an increasing number of livestock farmers fitting electrified strands to their fences in attempts to exclude Black-backed Jackal and Caracal from their farms. If we include the mortalities on these livestock fences as well, then around 2,000 Temminck’s Pangolins are killed by electrified fences in South Africa alone every year. That is 20–40 times more Temminck’s Pangolins killed on electrified fences than by trade in South Africa annually.

This is a serious conservation concern, because electrified fences have already resulted in the local population decreases and extinctions of tortoises (and perhaps pangolins) in some regions.

Yet the solution can be bizarrely simple – and cheap. Extensive fieldwork has indicated that by raising the lowest electrified strand to 300 mm above the ground (rather than the 250 mm or lower demanded by most provincial legislation), mortalities of all species can be reduced by up to 95%. Some large, well-established Big-5 reserves such as the Associated Private Nature Reserves raised their lowest electrified strands more than 10 years ago. And not a single pangolin or tortoise mortality has been recorded along these raised sections since. Just as importantly, they recorded no increase in predators or other animals leaving the reserve.

Most provinces have legislation governing the construction of electrified fences, and discussions need to be had with the relevant authorities to get this legislation amended where necessary. A further contributing factor is that the insurance industry apparently also has their own specifications for electrified fences, and if a fence does not meet their standards then a claim for any losses incurred will be denied.

Because one solution will rarely work in all situations, we have also undertaken extensive field trials with partners including Stafix, JVA, Pangolin.Africa, WESSA and The Kalahari Wildlife Project to design smart energisers that can prevent or reduce electrified fence mortalities. We produced two prototypes – a larger unit aimed at the wildlife industry and a smaller unit aimed at livestock farmers. In short, these energisers monitor the current on the electrified wires and have the ability to automatically switch off the current to specified wires for a pre-determined period of time, affording any trapped animal time to extricate itself from the fence. Although the initial results were positive and some farms reported no fence mortalities while running these units, other farmers commented that the system was too complicated, with the result that it was not maintained or used properly. However, the EWT believes that this system does have merit, and hopefully in time a workable, cost-effective version can be designed.

Changing the fence configuration could have inadvertent negative consequences, however. This could include large carnivores (Cheetah and African Wild Dog in particular) leaving reserves, resulting in human-wildlife conflict. There is no point in solving one problem just to create another one, and finding an effective solution that works for all species will require input from the wildlife and livestock industries, species specialists, conservationists, fence manufacturers and fence installers.

Overall, though, the evidence of the threat posed by fences remains and effective solutions are known. Because of this we are working to engage with all relevant role players to try and arrive at a workable solution to protect not only our megafauna and carnivores, but also our smaller species.

 

Find out other ways that we are protecting pangolins
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Taking Flight over the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone: 5 years later

Taking Flight over the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone: 5 years later

 

Taking Flight over the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone: 5 years later

By Danielle du Toit, field officer Birds of Prey, Endangered Wildlife Trust.

Returning Cape Vultures (Gyps coprotheres) to their historic breeding and roosting sites has been a dream of Karoo farmers for many years.

It was through interaction with the Endangered Wildlife Trust that the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone came into being in 2019. The project, which is a practical example of landscape conservation of a species, aims to cover 23,000 square kilometers. It includes three national parks and the largest protected environment in South Africa, the Mountain Zebra Camdeboo Protected Environment. It was implemented in partnership with SANParks, the Mountain Zebra Camdeboo Protected Environment and SANParks Honorary Rangers, and has received seed funding from the Rupert Nature Foundation and further funding from Cennergi and the Charl van der Merwe Trust.

To date, 95 farmers have dedicated their properties to becoming Vulture Safe Zones, creating an area of more than 700,000 ha for vulture conservation. Dedicating or signing up one’s property for a Vulture Safe Zone means that they are committed to reducing, as far as possible, threats to vultures within the confines of land under their ownership.

In creating the Vulture Safe Zone, two options were considered—reintroducing Cape Vultures to the Karoo or creating an area that is safe for the raptors. Unfortunately, reintroduction was not an option at the time due to the exceedingly high cost of physically bringing in the birds and habituating them, without any assurance that they would stay. More importantly, however, was the need to ensure safe breeding, roosting and foraging ranges for them outside of protected areas.

Vultures are referred to as nature’s ‘clean-up crew’, and because of the importance of their role in the ecosystem and the benefit to human health, they are often used as a flagship or umbrella species through which we can conserve biodiversity. By implementing conservation interventions to support the survival of vultures across large areas, we can benefit all species. This includes other birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and even plants.

The need for large areas to be conserved and mitigated of threats as far as possible is integral to the conservation of Cape Vultures due to their characteristically wide-ranging behaviour. Studies and GPS tracking data of fledglings have shown an average maximum distance travelled per day to be well over 250km from their nests. This age group is most likely to fall victim to threats as they are not yet experienced fliers and must compete with adults for food and roosting spaces. This is why having large safe spaces, even if it is a conglomerate of private properties, communal land and protected areas, is so important to the survival of the species.

 

Left: Cape Vulture Sightings. Right: Cape Vultures on nest.

The project focuses on “working with people, mitigating threats, saving vultures”. This can only be achieved through community engagement, landowner buy-in and active mitigation of threats. These initiatives include covering or safe-proofing reservoirs to prevent drowning; changing to less ecologically harmful ways of predator control; removing dangerous chemicals from the property; and reporting wildlife injuries or mortalities caused by electrical infrastructure so that they can be mitigated. Some landowners have moved away from using lead ammunition as the fragments in the entrails or carcasses of animals shot with lead bullets can be harmful to scavenging species. Others have changed the active ingredient in their non-steroidal anti-inflammatory veterinary drugs (NSAIDs) to ensure that carcasses of animals that have been treated prior to their death are not contaminated with drugs that can harm scavenging bird species, like these vultures.

Besides the ecological importance of the Cape Vulture, this area also holds a special place for farmers and residents in the heart of the Karoo. Historically, Cape Vultures roamed the Karoo in large numbers. Many farmers have childhood stories focused solely on them. Whether it be how they would seek out their nests on horseback, climbing up the mountains that hugged the borders of their properties, or how they would simply looked up into the sky in search of a rain cloud and instead found these magnificent birds littering the air in the hundreds, stories are littered with memories of vultures.

The Karoo covers around 400,000 square kilometers of brittle ecosystems. It is an area known for its rich biodiversity with large varieties of plants, birds, insects and mammals that occur naturally on private and public land.

Through the Vulture Safe Zone relationships created between the EWT, private landowners and national parks, the project has been able to bridge the gap between agriculture, tourism and conservation. This promotes a sustainable business model for all sectors and decreases the potential of human-wildlife conflict through targeted conservation measures and holistic approaches.

The project is still in its infancy, but has already seen successes including an increase in sightings, repopulation of historic summer roosts and the willingness and eagerness of people to take part in this project in whichever way they can. The hope remains that through landscape- and farm-level threat mitigation, collaboration with all stakeholders and role players, and a multi-pronged approach driven by robust science and understanding of the species, region and people, the Cape Vultures will once again call the Karoo home.

For more information, please contact the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone Field Officer: Danielle du Toit, email: danielled@ewt.org or Gareth Tate, Birds of Prey Manager at garetht@ewt.org

 

Left: reservoir mitigation – tanks in dams. Right: drowned vulture in Namibia

Raptor protector on powerline

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Roadkill remains a problem along South Africa’s major transport corridors

Roadkill remains a problem along South Africa’s major transport corridors

 

Roadkill remains a problem along South Africa’s major transport corridors

By Thabo Hlatshwayo, Wildlife and Transport Project: senior field officer, Endangered Wildlife Trust.

 

Although monitoring of the ecological impacts of transport infrastructure on biodiversity is still an emerging field of science in South Africa, it remains poorly supported in terms of funding. This is despite the fact that roads are responsible for the massive loss of biodiversity.

To determine the extent of roadkill in South Africa, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has been facilitating and supporting various road ecology research since 2011. From the data that we have gathered, it is clear that roadkill is prevalent.

South Africa’s road network covers around 750,000km. Our database on roadkill for the BAKWENA N1/N4, TRAC N4 and N3 toll routes indicates that a total of 8,569 records of wildlife roadkill incidences were reported from the three toll companies combined between 2012 and 2024. This is an increase of 1,565 from the roadkill magnitude reported in 2023, meaning that these animals were victims of roadkill on the toll route in 2024.

This emphasises the need for advancing biodiversity loss accounting in the transportation sector and crafting national transportation policies that are ecologically sustainable and support just transitioning to green transportation in South Africa. Supporting research on understanding how our road systems impact threatened habitats, habitat use and movement by animals is critical.

The construction and operation of transport corridors, such as roads and railways, have a range of both direct and indirect negative impacts on wildlife and natural ecosystems. Clearing natural landscapes for the construction of transport infrastructure causes vegetation cover loss, often leading to degraded landscapes. In the 28 years up to 2008, South Africa reportedly lost 0.12% of its natural vegetation cover per year as a result of massive linear infrastructure development, including transport corridors. Thus, all these contributed to landscape fragmentation, reduced land cover and connectivity loss for wildlife. It is interesting to note that the country’s roads  stretch through sensitive habitats and wildlife hotspots, some of which are home to Threatened Species.

Habitat loss because of fragmentation is a primary threat to terrestrial biodiversity and could drive species extinction as it affects numerous endemic species. The fragmentation of a landscape limits the migration rates of species and its available habitat. Besides affecting migration patterns, it also contributes to inbreeding because species’ behavioural patterns, such as hunting, foraging, breeding and other home range activities have been disrupted. Habitat loss and fragmentation, because of transport corridors, also increases human-wildlife interactions. This leads to human-wildlife conflicts as animals are forced to cross roads for dispersal and migration. This further accelerates biodiversity loss through increased wildlife roadkill incidents, and numerous threatened species suffer the greatest risk from roadkill.

Small-to-medium sized mammals such as Serval, African Striped Weasel, Cape Clawless Otter, Honey Badger, Cape Porcupine, Cape Fox, African Wild Dog, several antelope and mongoose species are the most impacted mammal species. The reptiles that are most affected include Southern African Python, Puff Adder, Leopard Tortoises, Natal-hinged Tortoises, and Monitor Lizards. Among bird species, owls are the most affected, this includes the African Grass Owl, Barn Owl, Spotted-Eagle Owl and Marsh Owl.

 

Genet
Warthog
Various reptiles
Serval
Porcupine

 

However, we do come across incidents that involve large mammals like Hippopotamus and savanna buffalo along the N4, and Greater Kudu along the Bakwena N4 and N4, as well as cows. We have also recorded incidents that involved an Elephant and a Leopard along the R40 and R71 regional roads in Hoedspruit area.

Monitoring wildlife roadkill is the first step in understanding the impacts of roadkill on threatened species. By collecting data on roadkill, we can track mortality rates and distribution patterns of the roadkill of different species (where and to what extent). Studying these elements will expand our understanding of the ecological impacts of road infrastructure and traffic on wildlife movement. These will enable us to scientifically map conservation hotspots and further develop effective mitigation strategies to reduce these threats.

As much as we talk about roadkill becoming a threat to biodiversity, it is important to understand that the landscapes fragmented by road networks that intersect animal habitats are the core drivers for wildlife roadkill incidents across the globe. Changing climatic conditions influence animal movement patterns, causing numerous species to move frequently within their landscapes in search of important ecological resources. In an environment increasingly fragmented by road infrastructure, such movements could potentially result in a deathtrap for animals due to wildlife-vehicle collisions and a lack of connectivity corridors.

The EWT and the N3 Toll Concessionaire (N3TC), Trans African Concessionaire (TRAC) and Bakwena N1/N4 have trialed several roadkill-reduction methods for reducing the negative impacts on roads and highways on biodiversity. The first was to deploy temporary roadside fencing, directing wildlife to cross safely through underpasses such as drainage culverts. Camera traps were installed in several underpass structures that are located within hotspots to monitor whether wildlife used them, and we were excited to see that several mammals did. This includes Serval (Leptailurus serval), the most common animal killed on the N3. These results indicate that underpasses are a promising and cost-friendly alternative for wildlife crossing in a global south country like South Africa.

Preliminary results indicated increasing animal activity and the use of the underpass structures, with more mammal species appearing to use the structures that are retrofitted with mesh fencing; these include Serval, Southern Reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), Cape Clawless Otter (Aonyx capensis), Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis), and Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus). When more animals use the underpass structures to cross the highway, animal activity adjacent to the road is reduced; hence, reducing collisions whilst improving road safety.

Because owls and other raptors tend to use signboards and safety barriers along roads to perch on while hunting prey, such as rodents and squirrels, a second roadkill-reduction method has been tested. This has seen the EWT placing raptor perches 100 m from the road to encourage owls and other birds of prey to use these as safer alternatives and to reduce hunts on the roads. Cameras on the owl perches have recorded several birds of prey species using the installed perches for feeding or perching. This includes African Grass, Barn and Spotted Eagle Owls. Our findings showed that the more owls use the installed structures for hunting and feeding, their activity on the road is reduced.

South Africa’s road and rail network is essential for our socio-economic development through travel and tourism, and the transport of food and goods. It is therefore critical that solutions are found to reduce the impact of transport infrastructure on people and wildlife without hindering our transport sector.

Left: Camera Trap at Raptor Perch recording a African grass owl. Right: Black winged Kite Vs Pied Crow recorded at Raptor Perch

 

Modified Culverts for wildlife crossing

Wildlife and Transport Project

  • The EWT is the only African organisation with a dedicated project focusing on transport and wildlife interactions.
  • The project works across South Africa and collaborates on similar projects with colleagues worldwide.
  • Our goal is to reduce the impacts of transport infrastructure on wildlife and vice versa. We focus on improving our understanding of the threats to wildlife from transport activities and infrastructure and identifying solutions suitable to the southern African context.
  • In 2013, the EWT launched a smartphone app called “RoadWatch” – one of the first roadkill reporting apps in the world. To date, almost 30,000 data points have been reported via the app.
  • The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s National Roadkill Database for South Africa shows that mammals are the most commonly-reported roadkill (50%), followed by birds (18%), reptiles (6%), and amphibians (1%), with 24% of species being unidentifiable.
  • Large mammals, such as carnivores and antelope, are likely to cause damage or delays to trains and vehicles. Collisions with animals can be expensive with insurance claims suggesting that approximately R82.5 million is paid yearly against vehicle collisions with wild animals.

Roadkill map of South Africa

The EWT has provided support for a study that has developed a Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework of ecological connectivity in transport sustainability in South Africa. Because of the Framework, steps are being taken to help shape a sustainable transport sector that promotes robust monitoring and mapping of hotspots and the support of a consultation process to formulate policies that promote sustainable land-use planning by considering wildlife needs in green transport infrastructure planning frameworks in South Africa.

Unfortunate incidences involving large mammals

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Communities and Cranes benefit from Spring Protection project in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands

Communities and Cranes benefit from Spring Protection project in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands

 

Communities and Cranes benefit from Spring Protection project in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands

By Eleanor Momberg (Communications manager, EWT)  and Samson Phakathi (Snr Community Project Officer, Drakensberg, SA, EWT)

Left: Clean, high pressure water coming from a newly installed tap providing access to spring water otherwise accessed in a dense forest up the mountain. Right: Two women inspecting a second tap installed within the community.

 

Supplying water to the community of KwaMkhize in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands not only benefits the people living in this mountainous area but also ensures that Crane species living in an adjacent wetland are protected.

KwaMkhize lies in the shadows of the Drakensberg mountains with Giants Castle looming large in the distance. It is an area of rolling hills and lush veld. It is also an area of extreme poverty, and an area which is difficult to access, given the state of access routes, which have been under construction for some time. The extreme rainfall in recent months has also not helped. But, that rain has fed the many springs in this area ensuring a continuous supply of water to the newly-installed water points in the village by the Endangered Wildlife Trust/International Crane Foundation Partnership(EWT/ICF), and filling the nearby rivers and streams that nourish the wetland home to the Grey Crowned, recently downlisted Wattled and Blue Cranes.

This catchment is home to an estimated 25% of South Africa’s Wattled Cranes and is a critical breeding ground for two of the three crane species – Wattled and Grey Crowned Cranes. But, Cranes are not the only reason the EWT/ICF Partnership is working in this area, also considered one of South Africa’s water factories—a source of water to cities like Johannesburg and eThekwini.
Samson Phakathi, senior community field officer for the EWT/ICF African Crane Conservation Programme, holds much praise for the KwaMkhize community, which has not only taken ownership of its water supply issues, but has, as a collective, worked with the EWT/ICF Partnership since 2016 to address numerous issues of concern. Of late, that has expanded to land use management, which includes planning to remove alien and invasive species such as the Natalie Bramble especially around rehabilitated springs and rangelands used for grazing of cattle, as well as the pollution of rivers and streams, the installation of pit latrines close to springs, and ensuring new housing developments don’t encroach on grazing lands.

Besides working as a collective to ensure all residents have access to clean potable water, the community is set to workshop a landuse plan for the area so that human development does not affect their primary activity—livestock farming.

Many rural areas receive limited access to governmentally supplied services due to the distance the communities are to main roads. Springs are, therefore, vital in these communities. Interacting with communities to better support natural resource management helps protect the landscapes in which cranes in South Africa live, primarily wetlands, grasslands and farming landscapes. Through our Springs project, the EWT/ICF Partnership has protected seven springs across two communities in the Drakensberg, KwaMkhize and Mqatsheni.

Overall, the implementation of the seven spring protection projects has served 2,445 individuals across 292 households, two schools and a clinic that services 150 people a day 365 days a year; therefore, a total of 54,750 individuals benefit from potable water at the clinic.

The key benefits of spring protection include clean potable free water, easy access, enabling children to spend more time in school, improved health of the community, especially the children and a secure water source. Furthermore, the protection prevents cattle from getting stuck in mud and either succumbing or becoming ill from polluted water.

The primary uses of springs were for potable water, cooking, cleaning and washing. However, some households use spring water for watering vegetable gardens and traditional medicines.

All the residents of KwaMkhize rely on springs as a primary source of water. Getting up the mountains to reach the water sources created an opportunity for the EWT/ICF Partnership to bring water to the community through the installation of pipes and taps in key sections of the expansive village.

Because KwaMkhize is a water factory area, it is important that the catchments are protected so that enough water of good quality can be captured to supply the cities, said Phakathi. “We thus need a constant supply of water, and this increases the importance of the area.”

One spring supplies water to hundreds of households. In the past, residents, particularly women and children, trudged to the water sources several times a day to collect water.

 

Community members discuss the benefits of the newly installed taps and how these have greatly impacted their lives and those of their families.

 

“In the past we had to wait two hours for a bucket to fill and then we had to wait because the water was polluted because livestock also drank at source, so we had to wait for pollutants to settle before could use the water,” said 20-year-old Nosipho shortly after she and her sisters had collected buckets of water from a nearby tap. “The water quality we have now is the greatest benefit.”

“This has made our lives much easier,” said an elderly woman as she inspected the recently installed tap.

Close to another spring is a spring silt box, which catches sediment before storing water for community use. This is maintained once every three years to ensure the water being supplied is not dirty.

The pipes from the spring, said Phakathi, are installed in such a way that they do not interrupt the flow of water to streams feeding the wetland. The aim is not to destroy or harm the environment while improving the lives of the community.

“This project has been an eye-opener to learn how a project of this nature has impacted people positively,” said Phakathi.

An important aspect of the EWT/ICF Partnership’s work has been to focus on encouraging the community to take the lead so that once the organisation withdraws from the area, the community is able to live sustainably and be self-reliant, critically important aspects in a rural area such as this.

“The communities are actually participating quite fully from the leadership to the people on the ground,” added Phakathi.

Projects such as this are extremely important, he said, especially since water is a human right but also forms part of one of the Sustainable Development Goals. A project of this nature not only addresses access to water, but also encourages people to sit down and discuss issues of concern and formulate measures, and draw on local capacity to solve problems through participation.
He believes this project is a step in the right direction when it comes to saving Cranes, as the EWT/ICF Partnership has not imposed its will on the people, but rather allowed the community to take the lead while the team advises on how best to manage the area and interact with their immediate environment.

“We are not here to impose on the community, but to work with them,” he said. “As much as we are a conservation organisation, when we approach communities, we don’t look at that as something that we should be pushing, but we look at the challenges that they are facing in order to address their challenges while addressing environmental issues at the same time.”

At a meeting with local indunas, access to water was highlighted as a key issue for KwaMkhize. But, the indunas pointed out, this project has brought with it a number of benefits, especially easier access to clean water. Waterborne diseases, they believe, may be a thing of the past if all community members could eventually have access to spring-fed water points.

The hope was also that the EWT/ICF Partnership could have the ability to mobilise more resources so that the entire community could be accommodated in the long term.

“A project of this nature can do a lot to improve the lives of people, and we are very thankful for a project like this,” said one local induna.

The EWT/ICF Partnership would like to extend a huge debt of gratitude to the Paul King Foundation and the HCI Foundation for providing funding for this important piece of work.

A breeding pair of Wattled Cranes just outside of KwaMkhize. 100 out of the 400 Wattled Cranes that take up residence in South Africa can be found around the KwaMkhize community.

 

Read more about how we are working to save cranes, conserve their vital habitats, and benefit the people living with them 

SAVING CRANES
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