27 Sep 2022

World Tourism Day is dedicated to promoting tourism in various regions of the world. The United Nations World Trade Organization (UNWTO) established the day, which has been observed every year on September 27, since 1980. It commemorates the approval of UNWTO Statues on September 27, 1970. Tourism not only provides us with time to rest and enjoy ourselves, but it also exposes us to new cultures.

22 Sep 2022

Written by AWEI Fellow Dr Jane Wiltshire and AWEI Director Dr Francis Vorhies.

In 1977, not long after the launch of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), rhinos were listed on its Appendix I. Listing on this Appendix sets up restrictive trade barriers aimed at preventing species loss. In 1994, trade in some white rhino products from South Africa were down-listed to the less restrictive Appendix II, and in 2004, this was also extended to Eswatini.

22 Sep 2022

This post was originally published by Africa Geographic here.

Most people understand that the poaching of rhinos is cruel and could, quite possibly, drive rhinos to extinction. But why the inordinate fuss about rhinos? Are they special enough from an ecological point of view, that ecosystems need them to be around?

Written by:  Dr Jane Wiltshire and Dr Ian A W Macdonald

16 Sept 2022

International conservation finance actors (ICFAs), as dominant stakeholders in South Africa’s conservation landscape, have an ambiguous relation to consumptive sustainable use. This research explores the challenge in-depth.

09 Sep 2022

Like Trumpism, the South African White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity harks backwards to an imagined age using fact-free arguments. Making a religion of conservation, it seeks an imaginary world of untouched nature that ignores the capacity of animals to propagate beyond the land’s capacity to sustain them, or that most animals coexist with humans on working lands. It fails to understand the obvious – that the alternative to wildlife utilisation is not pristine Africa, but agricultural commodity production

01 Sep 2022

Arbor Week is commemorated in South Africa over the first week of September. The programme is overseen by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE). Arbor Week which highlights the importance of some of the oldest, biggest, and most culturally significant trees in the country. The Sagole Baobab Tree in Limpopo is an example of an historic tree. It is 2,000 years old and the largest in the country. 

31 Aug 2022

Overview of the IPBES Sustainable Use Summary for Policymakers

The Summary for Policymakers is structured into layers of information. The first page gives the headings for the four sections of the SPM and the sub-headings for the three sub-sections in each.

30 Aug 2022

The 31st of August is known as African Traditional Medicine Day,  corresponding with the day in2000, when health ministers at a World Health Organisation Regional Committee meeting adopted a resolution recognising the role of traditional medicine in Africa in providing accessible and affordable healthcare in the continent, and its contribution to the development of healthcare globally in the pharmaceutical sector. 

9 Aug 2022

The 9th of August marks both National Women’s Day in South Africa and the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. This year the UN is focusing on the role of role of indigenous women in the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge.

4 Aug 2022

After a pandemic-induced hiatus of two years, the world’s largest fair for organic and natural products, Biofach/Vivaness 2022, was back to its old self at Nuremberg from last week – 25 – 28 July 2022, providing a great opportunity for the organic and natural food and wellness/cosmetics community to network and exchange knowledge both onsite personally, and virtually.

3 Aug 2022

A growing body of scientific research is revealing the critical role that private lands, including those managed for hunting, play in the conservation of wildlife worldwide. These findings have important implications for governments and conservation organizations as they seek to stop the loss of species by conserving 30 percent of the world’s lands and waters by the year 2030.

29 Jul 2022

No one can refute that a closed wildlife system, that means one fully surrounded by a fence or wall, requires management. Management means us as humans playing God. And we must play God because otherwise a closed system will collapse.

28 Jul 2022

The International Hunting Discussion Forum aims to gather diverse stakeholders to address gaps in hunting’s sociocultural, conservation, and economic drivers and challenges. While we largely focus on trophy hunting in Southern Africa, we apply comparative lenses from North America and Europe to learn from each other. 

27 Jul 2022

There are impactful reasons for why drinking more rooibos tea is a valuable act in our everyday life. Its story takes us at least 250 years back and rooibos is a current example of how wildlife economies can develop.

26 Jul 2022

Whether for medicine, construction, food or culture, a good proportion of our trade economy and way of life relies entirely on wildlife products. Africa is a continent with diverse wild flora and fauna.