Kalahari Conservation Society Tel: +267 3974557 Fax: +267 3914259 Email: publicrelations@kcs.org.bw e-newsletter MARCH 2018 The Kalahari Conservation Society @kcs_kalahari @kalahariconservationsociety In this issue: KCS Mall Activations and Campus Outreach The Giants Club Summit School Outreach programme - Kalamati Primary School Meet the KCS Social Media Officer
KCS Mall activation and school campus outreach Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS) has been actively involved in campus outreach and mall activations. On the 17 th KCS was invited by Botswana University of Agriculture Natural Resources (BUAN) to make a presentation on conservation. BUAN has a Wildlife Conservation Society club, which is a member of KCS On the 20 th March, the Society went to University of Botswana campus on a membership drive. This was supposed to be a two-day event but unfortunately the second day it was raining and since the exhibition was held out-door the event could not go ahead. The Society then held a mall activation on the 24 th March 2018 at Mowana Park in Phakalane. This was also to recruit new members, sell books and create awareness about KCS.
Giants Club Summit President Khama (left) receiving a token of appreciation from Space for Giants CEO, Dr Max Graham at the official opening of Giant Club Summit in Kasane. Photo: Gaseitsiwe Moruakgomo KCS attended the 2nd ever Giants Club Summit which was held in Kasane Botswana. The first was held in Uganda. The Giants Club was set up by the governments of Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Gabon who between them are home to well over half the world s remaining African Elephants. Botswana has the largest population of elephants in the world and is home to over 50% of known African elephants. These four countries have shown global leadership and commitments to the conservation of elephants. Their objective is to protect at least 50% of all African elephants by 2020, reduce poaching and bring together leaders across Africa, whose countries have elephants, to encourage urgent collaborative action to save remaining elephant populations The event gave a chance to celebrate what has been achieved so far in elephant conservation but also a moment to highlight how much further we have to come to save African Elephants from poaching and the illegal wildlife trade which results in an elephant being killed every 15 minutes for their ivory. H.E. Ian Khama hosted the event himself and made strong and impassioned appeals in the name of conservation. Whilst praising the likes of China for their national ban on ivory and encouraging the UK to expedite their ban on the sale of ivory fingers were pointed elsewhere. H.E President Khama, along with the other the leaders from the Giants club and representatives from 29 other African countries, started an official petition asking for the EU to close it ivory trade. A legal trade which drives demand, enables laundering of illegal ivory and encourages ownership of ivory. President Khama also made pointed remarks to the President of the USA who he claimed was encouraging poaching by allowing trophy imports from Botswana where hunting is officially banned. At the Summit the EU also promised $1.5 million in funding for a trans-frontier project which is looking to tackle the growing problem of poaching, fuelled by the illegal wildlife trade, in the ZAZA region. It is hoped that cross border collaboration and communication will be improved to enable more effective and improved standard of wildlife enforcement between the countries of Botswana, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. KCS was happy to attend the conference and looks forward to strong words turning into strong actions. We hope that the continued efforts and successes in elephant conservation, in Botswana and globally, continues to grow so that future generations can benefit and enjoy the majesty of these ecosystem engineering species.
The Kalakamati Primary School Experience On March 13th, 2018, the KCS Team accompanied by the North-East District Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) paid a visit to the Kalakamati Primary School. KCS regularly conducts outreach and awareness raising in schools with the desire that pupils become engaged in conservation issues and feel empowered to direct future national conservation initiatives. On this trip particular attention was paid to water conservation. Kalakamati a small village in the North- East District of Botswana 500 kilometers from Gaborone, has a population of a just over 900 people. Being so far from the capital city, one could be forgiven for assuming that pupils of Kalakamati Primary School may not have been exposed to some of the more current conservation topics. However, to the team s pleasant surprise, the students were highly engaged on many conservation issues which sparked great debate and conversation, especially on the topic of water conservation. Mbigani Mashumaba from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and Thelma Sechotlho from KCS presented to students in standard 5.6 and 7 all of whom took an active participation. Mashumba s presentation covered, among other things, the different types of natural resources and water sources, why water should be conserved and what benefits are provided through sustainable water conservation. Sechotlho s presentation covered World Water Day which is celebrated every year on March 22nd. This year s theme was Nature for Water, which looked at how to work with natural ecosystems to create sustainable nature based solutions to help solve the world s greatest water crises. The students cruised through the topics with great ease. One student in particular, called Martin, stood out for his passion and interest in the topic as he raised his hand at every opportunity providing mature answers for his age. KCS found great happiness and encouragement in the fact that Kalakamati school already showed so much commitment to water conservation. One of the teachers informed us that they had already taken a decision to use water buckets in certain circumstances to reduce water waste in activities that require a lot of water usage. She said that the school had identified areas where water was being wasted. For example, they had observed that a lot of water was being wasted at the school s main tap where students used their hands when drinking water, spilling water in the process, or would leave the tap running when washing their plates after meals. To combat this, buckets were placed in classrooms, so students could use a cup to get the water from the bucket. Since this practice was instigated, they have noted a huge plunge in their water bill. With all the hard work KCS puts into educating and enlightening others about biodiversity conservation along with the worrying future facing many ecosystems, we must admit, that there are occasions when everything seems bleak, when we ask ourselves it is all worth it? Days like this at the Kalakamati Primary School act as a tonic, reminding us why we do what we do. It reignites our fire and refuels our energies. It s that shimmer of hope that encourages us to get up every morning to do what we love most Conserving Botswana s biodiversity for us and our future generations. Students answering water conservation questions during the KCS team visit.
Meet the KCS Social Media Officer Matthew Lowton is a new volunteer for KCS. Born and raised in London with his undergraduate and Masters studies centred on environmental topics having studied Zoology and Conservation Science. Over the past ten years he has worked on a number of in situ and ex situ conservation projects both nationally and internationally for a range of charities. His experience includes having worked and or volunteered for the London Wildlife Trust, The Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Programme in Vietnam and the Community Centred Conservation charity in Madagascar. Over the past 4 years he has worked at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) a UK charity whose aim is to combat the illegal wildlife trade through intelligence, advocacy and lobbying. As such Matthew s expertise is in the illegal wildlife trade. Whilst working for EIA Matthew attended numerous international conferences to lobby and advocate for more effective collaborative responses from the global community in such forums as the UN Convention Against Corruption and the Commission For Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Matthew has a long fascination and love for the natural world having used to keep reptiles and amphibians as a child. As such there is no better place to be than Botswana to be immersed in the natural world and no better organisation in Botswana to be volunteering for than KCS the oldest environmental NGO in Botswana whose long history and numerous conservation projects has woven KCS into the fabric of Botswana and its conservation legacy.
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