After 15 years at the helm of the Sahara Conservation Fund, John Newby, the organization’s founding CEO, will be stepping down in 2019 to take on a new role as Senior Adviser. With the organization at a critical point in its growth and development, and a brand-new strategic plan under its belt, John and the SCF Board are working closely to find the next right person to take the organization forwards in the years to come.
Under John’s leadership, SCF has become a highly respected force in the conservation of the threatened wildlife of the Sahara and Sahel. Since its founding in 2004, SCF has been instrumental in the protection and restoration of unique desert antelopes, such as the addax and scimitar-horned oryx, establishment of one the largest protected areas in the world in Niger, and implementation of a recovery programme for the planet’s largest bird, the North African ostrich.
Through its fieldwork, communications, and outreach, SCF has helped put Saharan wildlife firmly on the global conservation agenda. Rare desert species and their habitats in countries like Chad and Niger now enjoy unprecedented levels of support, both
locally and internationally. In pursuing its mission, the organization has also brought together a very large network of partners, especially in the zoo community, opening up unparalleled levels of support for both in situ and ex situ conservation.
SCF’s new strategic plan affirms the organization’s focus on endangered species and the well-managed landscapes they require to flourish. With the plan in place, SCF recently-appointed Chair, Fred Nelson, is more than confident that we can build on our achievements to date: “John’s leadership has created a very stable foundation for change and future development, and we look forward to working with him and the team he has built in the coming years to reach new levels of effectiveness and sustainability for our actions.
November 22, 2018. Part of a group of a rare giraffes that has become a Niger tourist attraction is to be moved to a reserve 600km away owing to encroaching desert, farmland and increasing instances of them being struck by vehicles, officials said on Wednesday.
October 5, 2018. The Sahelian plains of Chad have welcomed 40 Scimitar-horned oryx calves in 2018, which were born as part of an Abu Dhabi-sponsored programme.
On June 30, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) welcomed a new scimitar-horned oryx, born to mother Rizzo after she was impregnated by an assisted reproduction procedure in October of 2017. The calf’s arrival marks the first birth of an oryx to be conceived through artificial insemination without the need for risky anesthesia.
In May 2018, the Sahara Conservation Fund was at the Giraffe Conservation Science Symposium, which took place at the SCBI campus in Front Royal, Virginia, USA. This first-ever giraffe conservation science-related event was a new initiative of our partner the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. Indeed, SCF has joined forces with GCF to save the last remaining population of West African Giraffe that lives in the wild in Niger. Today being the World Giraffe Day, an annual event also initiated by GCF, we thought it was the perfect time to say how pleased we were to be present at this decisive new symposium. Happy World Giraffe Day!
Populations of giraffe, a particularly charismatic species, are rapidly disappearing. The conservation status of the giraffe is now “vulnerable to extinction” as assessed by the IUCN, and the number of remaining individuals is estimated to be less than 100,000. They have plummeted by a staggering 40% over the last 30 years. The causes for their decline are habitat loss and fragmentation, disease, competition with livestock, and local bush meat trade. Conservationists are well aware that their engagement and the collaboration of a large number of stakeholders, of wildlife experts, and local communities, is now necessary to maximize our chances to prevent the species from declining further.
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation provided the opportunity for everybody, through this symposium, to come together and develop a unifying Africa-wide Giraffe Conservation Science Management Framework. More than 30 experts working directly on giraffe or in thematic areas relevant to conservation-based decision-making from NGOs, academia, and African governments participated in it. Several key questions and thematic areas were identified to improve knowledge on the species and secure its future.
April 23, 2018.A timely intervention made by the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s founding father, helped reintroduce a wild animal back to the wild, according to a documentary screened in the capital on Sunday evening about an ambitious international conservation project.
Many thanks to Yves Gauthier for sharing this news with us. A French Researcher and Rock art expert, he tells how he observed, together with his team and thanks to the guide Idris Barkai, unexpected ostrich tracks in Northern Chad. (A French version can be found at the end of this article with his email address in case you want to discuss with him about these observations).
We have been travelling in Northern Chad since 2012 to list rock art sites as well as monuments and ancient human settlements. This led us to visit areas with little or no passage at all, except by nomads or traffickers, and to observe the flora and fauna. Until now, we had never heard of ostriches in Chad except those in Zakuma National Park, much further south.
Dragesco-Jaffé mentions ostriches in Ennedi but they disappeared a long time ago, the species being eradicated by intensive hunting in northwestern Lake Chad (1993: 149) and elsewhere. This author then places the Northern limit of the species distribution range at 20 ° for Niger and the extreme east of Chad and 23 ° for North-Eastern Sudan (ibidem: 146).
To our knowledge, there has been no mention of the presence of this animal, in Ennedi, for at least a decade.
It was therefore quite unexpected, on February 7, 2018, to discover fresh tracks of ostriches in the NE of this massif, north of the 23rd parallel and so close from the Sudanese border. Based on the strong winds, these tracks had been left the same day in the morning. The photos show the tracks of a large and a small ostrich (Fig 1-2).
Our local guide, Idris Barkai, has been seeing ostriches (adults and young) in this area since his early ages (for about 30 years). According to Idris, these animals commonly visit this area in the morning looking for food and then head further East. We did not try to spot them to find out more, but, of course, it would be interesting to know about the size and composition of this ostrich herd.
This is therefore a small relict population, certainly the last representative of the species still living in Northern Chad. Unfortunately, like their conspecifics in Niger and Kanem, these ostriches are about to extinct. The local people have indeed confirmed that the animal is still hunted for its meat.
At a time when the rate of extinction is accelerating, for Saharan species as for many others, and in a context of ongoing attempts to reintroduce ostriches or addax in Niger and Chad, it seems crucial to me to have studies being carried out, measures taken rapidly, and to preserve the genetic heritage of this small population.
Many thanks to Marie Petretto, Tania Gilbert, and Philip Riordan for this article giving a useful overview on the experience of Marwell Wildlife, SCF long-time partner, with antelope conservation in Tunisia and in the Sahara.
Once abundant and widespread Saharan antelopes, such as scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) and addax (Addax nasomaculatus) have dwindled towards extinction during the twentieth century. Tunisia recognised the dramatic loss of its natural heritage early, and was amongst the first range countries to implement a national strategy to return these emblematic ungulates to their natural habitats.
More recently, a joint project between the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the Chad government, with the Sahara Conservation Fund as the implementing agency, led to the release of captive-bred scimitar-horned oryx (SH oryx) from Abu-Dhabi, into the extensive unfenced Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim (OROA) Reserve in Chad, several decades after they were extirpated by over-hunting and habitat degradation.
Since the first release of SH oryx in Tunisia’s Bou Hedma National Park in 1985, and the subsequent Djerba Declaration in 1998, Marwell Wildlife has collaborated in a long-term partnership with the Tunisian Direction Générale des Forêts (DGF) to restore antelopes and their arid ecosystems in Tunisia. Our work has focused on monitoring these animals and their role in the aridland ecosystems. Our surveys address key questions on population viability, habitat use and animal health using a range of techniques including population genetics, biodiversity assessments, and population modelling.
In 2012, the EAD convened a team including the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, RZSS and Marwell, to model scenarios of reintroduction success. The baseline model was adapted from one that Marwell developed for the reintroduction of SH oryx to Tunisia’s Dghoumes National Park in 2007.
Genetic evaluation by EAD and RZSS of the captive population for reintroduction to Chad indicated they would benefit from additional lineages, and in 2015 Marwell transferred 14 SH oryx donated by several European zoos (EAZA) to Abu-Dhabi. Together with SH oryx transferred from North America, they increased the population’s genetic diversity at the EAD. A similar approach to creating genetically diverse founders for reintroduction was employed in Tunisia in 2007, when animals from EAZA and North American zoos (AZA) were released into Dghoumes National Park.
There are substantial differences between the reintroduction of SH oryx to the large unfenced OROA Reserve in Chad and the smaller fenced protected areas in Tunisia. Unlike the OROA population, those in Tunisia require ongoing management to ensure long-term sustainability. Marwell works closely with the DGF and reserve managers to implement strategies that address issues of limited carrying capacity and small population size. These management strategies are informed by modelling, logistics, and genetics, thanks to generous support from SCF, RZSS, Le Cornelle (Italy), Monde Sauvage (Belgium), and Dublin Zoo (Ireland).
Our team’s success with SH oryx has stimulated similar Marwell & DGF projects for reintroduced addax (in partnership with RZSS, Al Ain Zoo-UAE and San Diego Zoo Global-USA), and the North African ostrich in Tunisia (for more details visit www.marwell.org.uk/conservation ).
Sadly, many countries do not have protected areas of sufficient size and with enough suitable habitat to support self-sustainable populations of large-bodied animals. Our fragmented population model may be the only pragmatic option that many countries can adopt if they want to see the return of these species. Marwell and the DGF are working to recreate natural species assemblages through management interventions across the network of protected areas in Tunisia, and the results will inform similar projects in other areas. An already tangible output is the Tunisian strategy for “re-wilding” areas that have been intensively overgrazed by domestic livestock.
Tunisia has demonstrated a strong commitment to the conservation and restoration of Sahelo-Saharan wildlife, and Marwell is honoured to partner with the DGF and will continue to collaborate on Tunisian conservation initiatives for the foreseeable future.
M. Petretto, T. Gilbert, P. Riordan – Marwell Wildlife
It is an alarming scene the Sahara Conservation Fund observed, again, during its field work in Niger: plastic pollution is spoiling landscapes and seriously endangering wildlife. The ingestion of plastic by animals can indeed kill them.
Non-biodegradable plastic bags are used everywhere Niger markets. In the cities, the authorities use staff to reduce pollution a little, even if many of these bags do not end up where they should (transported by the wind). The government adopted an ambitious national management strategy more than ten years ago by stopping plastic bag production in Niger. But it is only recently that effective actions are applied by government agents to prevent transporters from bringing plastic bags in Niger.
These bags are also used outside cities, in rural markets where nothing is done to stop them from ending up in already fragile ecosystems. As a reminder, it takes 450 years for a plastic bag to degrade, enough time to damage soil and water. These bags enhance the risk of disease for humans and the asphyxiation of fauna and flora by reducing the air and obstructing sunlight.
The Sahara Conservation Fund has been working to safeguard biodiversity in the Sahara and Sahel since the early 2000s.
The flora and fauna found in this vast region are far more abundant and diverse than most people think, including biologists and other conservationists. This lack of awareness has contributed to the decline in its plants and animals.
SCF wants to promote the work of the people who are highlighting the tremendous biodiversity of this part of Africa, such as photographer and film maker Redouane Tahri. This interview also draws attention to the incredible Saharan ecosystems.
Redouane, you live in Algeria, a country largely covered by the Sahara. You spend a lot of time in the desert, filming or photographing the species that live there. Today, your work is rapidly gaining visibility in Algeria.
1) Can you present your film?
First of all, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have been making for many years in Africa to preserve Sahelo-Saharan wildlife diversity.
To briefly present this film, which lasts 52 minutes, I would say that it was shot with untamed actors, living freely in the wild… It’s about Algeria’s wildlife, and more precisely, the fauna of southern Algeria. It is a quiet and very hot place, characterized by a great biological and ecological variety. Ecosystems also vary a lot, from open desert to mountains, and host about 50 animal species besides insects and plants. The film aims to show this amazing and rich biodiversity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXIkoEqQ8CQ
2) Where and how is your work broadcast, can you tell us about how it was received by the public, and what media events you could do?
To tell the truth, I started working to document this wildlife without precise goals, to tell the truth, and so I travelled to isolated areas of Algeria without any help from the authorities. I wanted to reflect the true Algerian fauna. I just wanted to show that wild animals are just living things on this planet, like us, and that they deserve protection and respect, not extinction.
After three years of work, the film is finished. I broadcast a trailer on social networks without even having it seen beforehand by video editing experts. I posted it without expecting anything, thinking that the majority of people do not care about what I do. And yet, in just five hours, the number of views exceeded half a million, and I received hundreds of messages, including from journalists in Algeria but also from other countries.
3) How did you come to document the life of the desert?
It was not easy. Documenting wild animals requires professional photography equipment, and the desert of Algeria is immense.
But I have always seen the desert as my home and taking care of it is for me a duty. I care a lot about each spot of this vast space, which are to me like rooms and walls that must be kept clean. If an animal species comes to decline, for me it is as if I have lost something related to my own personal life. Wildlife is a precious treasure.
Nevertheless, the dangers I encountered during my journey could have killed me; it is thanks to God and to my experience gained through so much time spent in the desert that I am still alive today!
4) What fascinates you in the desert life?
The nature in the Algerian Sahara is characterized by a great biological diversity; it is a fact. But beyond that, every living being, every stone, tells a story. When I see a gazelle, I can feel its heartbeat, its fear, and see its fascinating gaze. I feel that I must take care of them. One day I took care of an animal that I had to release once cured. I pulled it out of the cage but it simply would not leave. It stood close to me. All these animals cannot talk to us, but they have their own language. For me the way they look at me is communication and it helps me understand them.
5) How do you work in the desert, what are the risks?
It is hard work, and risky, but also fun because I am passionate about it. Let me tell you one of my adventures. One night, when I was sleeping in the desert, I found a snake that was asleep very close to me, I had to move very carefully so it would not attack me. That very morning, I was almost drowned in a torrent after my car got stuck for some time in a wadi. It took me hours to pull it out, and I had only four hours before I knew the water would pour into the valley. Then, not surprisingly, a sandstorm cleared my tracks in the dunes and I got lost.
6) What are your goals with your work?
With an area of 2,381,741 km2, Algeria nevertheless remains one of the least known territories in terms of biodiversity, both globally and nationally. Its fauna and flora are under different threats, such as pollution, fire, indifference of citizens, and poorly informed hunters. I wanted to broadcast my film to the public to make them understand that nature speaks to the world and that it probably says “save me”.
7) Do you work on your own?
I finance all my projects by myself, for which I had to get sophisticated audio-visual equipment, a car (4X4), and the necessary equipment for fieldwork.
I am at the same time the cameraman, the author, the director of photography, the sound engineer, the producer, the editor… My motivation is so intense that I can do an entire team’s jobs, all on my own! I created a foundation called “Redouane TAHRI” dedicated to the production of documentaries and the environment in Algeria.
9) Where else do you want to show your film?
I received calls from international channels and one of them broadcast an extract of the documentary, which pushed some other channels to rush to me to get a deal, but I wanted to sell this product in Algeria. I am willing to work with foreign channels at the same time, but my priority is to make people in Algeria aware of what belongs to their own culture and environment.
10) Do you have priority species, or species that you like to document the most?
I am particularly interested in mammals such as gazelles, Barbary sheep, wild cats, because they are the preferred targets of poachers. I also want to add that the selfies-trend has harmful impact on nature, because hunters believe now that taking a selfie with animals they have just killed makes them heroes! Hence our role, we must tell the truth, and stress what a true hunter is, that is to say a person who does not go after endangered species or during breeding seasons; a person who want to keep balance in the food chain, and develops a culture of respect for wildlife in society. What made me extremely sad recently was a scene shared on social networks, of a man who tortured foxes because they had eaten his chickens; many people have appreciated that, and this man has become a hero! Unfortunately, this is not sanctioned by the Algerian authorities, even though Algeria is one of the first countries in the world to have legislated against those who kill or torture animals.
11) Can you tell us a word about conservation in Algeria?
Conservation in Algeria exists but mainly on paper. The administration has yet to work more with environmental experts to create more protected areas. This requires a lot of awareness work, through seminars and colloquia, but also in training hunters and informing the population. Nature must be preserved by, on the one hand, the laws and standards applied on the ground concerning hunting, and on the other hand, the development of tourism.
12) Do you have other activities to promote nature’s beauty?
I cooperate with the Ministry of the Environment and the State to classify some areas as protected areas, so that this story would not end the same way as for the addax, which has totally disappeared from Algeria.
Many thanks to Redouane Tahri for his work and for his time.
