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ZimConservation Newsletter Jan-Feb 2006
ZimConservation
March 13, 2006

27 February - Nhema Calls for Deterrent Penalties On Wildlife... Government is worried about lack of deterrent penalties for wildlife and environment-related crimes and is now engaging the judiciary for a solution, Environment and Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema said yesterday. In an interview, Cde Nhema said despite major challenges facing the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, whose mandate is to protect natural resources, there is no end in sight for crimes perpetrated on wildlife and the environment.

22 February - Fishing Permits to Cost $1bn... Fishing industry operators will have to fork out $1 billion a year for a fishing permit at Lake Chivero, the Parks and Wildlife Authority has announced.

21 February - Zim/SA Ivory ring suspected... Musina - A Zimbabwean ivory-smuggling syndicate may be getting help from South Africans. Police are investigating a possible cross-border operation after two Zimbabweans and a South African were arrested and charged with the possession of ivory at the Beit Bridge border post on February 18.

19 February - Killing for Joy... Zimbabwe's wildlife industry is a huge money spinner. Hunting alone brings in at least US$25 million annually. But corrupt government officials are plundering the resource -- hunting any animal with no adherence to controls, even on endangered species.

7 February - Man freed in crocodile tug-of-war ... Villagers in Zimbabwe formed a human chain to rescue a man trapped in the jaws of a crocodile, reports say. Letikuku Sidumbu was crossing a river when the crocodile seized his arm, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports.

5 February - Fear of poaching as SA moves to introduce culling... An elephant that strayed into a village from the Aberdares in Kenya. Anti-elephant sentiments run deep in rural areas that are witnessing intensified human-wildlife conflict. The likelihood of South Africa reintroducing the culling of its elephant population has raised fears that the move could set a trend and lead to a rise in poaching in countries like Kenya, which have large but not unmanageable herds.

5 February - Crocodiles die of hunger at Zimbabwe Tourism authority chef's farm... Johnny Rodriguez a member of the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce has said the death of 12 crocodiles from hunger while another 258 are close to dying, is more evidence that most people who have been given commercial farms do not have any knowledge of farming but are just driven by greed.

5 February - Zim readies new mining law.... Harare - Zimbabwe is to unveil a new law this week that could help rejuvenate its once burgeoning mining sector by dispelling the uncertainty over ownership. The economically-ravaged country's mining sector is currently reeling under a plethora of woes which have led to the closure of at least 13 mines in the past six years, according to the Chamber of Mines.

3 February- Army takes over Kondozi... An army takeover of Kondozi farm in Odzi to resuscitate the former horticultural exporting concern has taken the spring out the surrounding community's stride. The military takeover followed failure by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) to breathe life back into the enterprise expropriated by the state under the controversial land reform programme two years ago.

20 January - Zim's Tourism Sector Eyes European Market ... Zimbabwe's tourism sector has joined the rest of the Southern African region in working towards diversifying into Europe's tourism market by exploiting a facility initiated by the European Union-Sadc Tourism Investment Partnership Promotion.

18 January - Government blocks distribution of US$500 000 donation to save wildlife... The Zimbabwean government has allegedly blocked the distribution of over US$500 000 worth of auto and engine spares sourced from well-wishers to avert the wholesale deaths of animals at Hwange National Park. The donation includes spares for the authority's broken down water pumps, motor cars, tyres meant for the grounded fleet of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and other small pieces of equipment.

14 January - Shoot to Kill... The hidden links between American hunters and Zimbabwe's dictatorship. (Newsweek investigates).

13 January- Saving the African lion...A new strategy to save the King of Beasts, the African Lion in eastern and southern Africa, was agreed at the conclusion of a workshop convened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Wildlife Conservation Society in Johannesburg, South Africa. Stakeholders from range state governments, local community representatives, lion biologists and safari hunters attended the meeting.

12 January- Heavy rains bring Armyworms... More armyworm outbreaks were reported in some parts of Manicaland, Bulawayo and Harare yesterday as the moths drift further south with the good rains. Farmers are spraying affected fields and control measures are being bolstered.

10 January - 700 families to make way for game park.... Zimbabwean authoriities will relocate 700 families from villages in the southern Chiredzi area to make way for a transfrontier game reserve, an official said yesterday. Parks spokesman Edward Mbewe said the villages fell under the proposed Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park on Zimbabwe's borders with Mozambique and South Africa.

9 January- 700 Families will move to make way for park.. Zimbabwean authoritites will relocate 700 families from villages in the southern districts of Chiredzi to make way for a transfrontier game reserve, an official said on Monday.

*This is ZimConservation's tenth newsletter summarizing the conservation headlines for January and February 2006. The website had 3000 unique visitors in the last month. Please visit www.zimconservation.com for the full articles and an archive of all Zimbabwean environmental news since 2000.

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