Africa Wild

Coca-Cola invests R25 million towards hyacinth removal
Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa’s (CCBSA) is investing R25m in a company that turns water hyacinth into commercial products such as fertiliser and animal feed and work at the Hartbeespoort Dam has already started.
April 8, 2019

“By harvesting the plant and turning it into organic fertiliser, we complete the cycle of turning the pollutants into nutrients which then feed plants or animals. Thus integrating the cycle back into economic ecosystems which benefit the economy at large,” said John Kondowe, executive director of Hya Matla Organics



The Mintirho Foundation is Coca-Cola’s vehicle for supporting the development of historically disadvantaged emerging farmers and small suppliers of inputs into the CCBSA value chain. The foundation’s executive manager Noxolo Kahlana said Hya Matla Organics caught the foundation’s eye because its business model is to remove waste from catchment areas and preserve water.

“Water is something on which our business is totally dependent, and in a water-scarce country like ours, we have a responsibility as industry to help where we can to conserve water. Therefore, supporting initiatives aimed at cleaning our water catchment areas is critical, and something that CCBSA is committed to advancing,” Kahlana said.

Rudy Joles, CEO of the Harties Foundation NPC, that has been continually fighting the hyacinth invasion and pollution on the Hartbeespoort Dam for the past two years, said the foundation welcomes Hya Matla’s assistance in removing the invasive water plant.

“We congratulate Hya Matla on their funding and future endeavours, and have already engaged with them to join our long term holistic approach, supported by the estates around the dam and donors at large,” Joles said.

“As a town we stopped an ecological disaster when action was taken in 2017 leading to the current result of less than 15% hyacinths coverage on the dam. Harties Foundation has a five-year-plan which does not only consist of hyacinth removal, it also involves overseeing quality of water, installing and maintaining litter-traps and floating wetlands as well as promoting ecological control. This will make a tangible and sustainable difference in the long term while also creating jobs and opportunities for the local community.”

https://kormorant.co.za/49820/coca-cola ... h-removal/

Coca Cola

Vital insect research unit to close due to government funding delay


Zeekoevlei in Cape Town has a problem with invasive hyacinth. Keeping invasive plants out of sensitive environments is extremely difficult. A research unit that uses insects to control unwanted plants has closed down because of delays in government funding. (Photo: Ashraf Hendricks)

By Liezl Human for GroundUp | 22 Oct 2021

Biocontrol is regarded as an environmentally friendly method of containing alien flora species and has been described as ‘having huge benefits for South Africa.
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Several research units that specialise in the control of invasive species using insects have stopped getting funding from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). One unit has already closed down and others are at risk.

Their contracts came to an end and the new tender has been delayed.

Weed biocontrol is considered an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to control invasive species. For instance, the Hartbeespoort Dam infestation of water hyacinth, a rapidly growing invasive plant, has been successfully curbed using insects over the past few years.

The weed biocontrol mass rearing unit at the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (Sasri), has closed down due to the delay in funding. The unit mass-produces insects that feed on specific invasive species, and do not feed on valuable or indigenous plants. Sasri worked free of charge with farmers. “We don’t charge at all for the insects we supply,” said Des Conlong, a senior entomologist at the unit.

Sasri applied in February for a new contract to be awarded in March. But the department extended the contracts until the end of September to allow the units to exhaust its funds, according to spokesperson Zolile Nqayi. It’s unclear if the unit received additional funds between March and its closure at the end of September.

“Our organisation was subsidising a lot of work in the hope that the tender would come through, and it just hasn’t,” said Conlong. He said Sasri did not have the capacity to subsidise the unit anymore.

The impact on the control of alien plants will be huge, said Conlong. “Insects are really doing great jobs in the areas where we are releasing them. People try herbicides first and find they don’t work. And as a last resort they try biocontrol and find it does work.”

The unit in the Centre for Biological Control at Rhodes University is also closing down, and a third unit, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), is having to fund its own research until the tender is awarded, according to Roger Price, the research team manager at ARC’s weeds biocontrol research division.

Price said this is not the first time there has been a delay. He said the department had invested heavily in building biocapacity over the last 20 years “and it will be a tragedy if this biocontrol investment eventually collapses”.

Price said that the ARC has only been financially supporting the weed biocontrol unit at the ARC since 1 October, after the contract expired at the end of September.

Government response

Nqayi said that all these units “together with numerous other tenders” had submitted tender applications and that the evaluation process is in progress.

With regards to the delay in funding, Nqayi said that the contracts, which were entered into in 2018, were initially set to expire at the end of March 2021, but the department extended these contracts for six months “to allow the service providers time to meet their deliverables and exhaust all funds which were still available on the contract”.

The DFFE confirmed that during the six-month extension the funds were depleted, but it wasn’t clear when the funding stopped.

Invasion

Now there are fears that shutting down the programmes will lead to serious issues with biological invasions, according to Brian van Wilgen from the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University.

Van Wilgen, who has been involved in invasion research for decades and has worked with these units, told GroundUp that the research into controlling invasive species has brought “huge benefits to South Africa”.

“Once you lose this research capacity, it’s very difficult to get it back again,” he said. He made the example that when Cape Town nearly ran out of water a few years ago, invasive trees in catchments exacerbated this issue. DM

First published by GroundUp.

Those research units ought to be part of the conservation department and not dependent on contracts that might or might not be renewed

Encroaching Indian mynahs ruffle feathers in Kruger Park


Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) —Common mynah, South Africa. (Photo: Wikimedia / Gerrie van Vuuren)

By Shaun Smillie | 26 Jul 2022

For more than a century the Indian mynah has been on a steady march across South Africa and now the troublesome invader is settling in the Kruger National Park and this has conservationists worried.
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Indian mynahs are not new to the Kruger National Park. Sightings began two decades ago, but these were rare and the birds didn’t appear to stay for long.

However, over the past three years, those sightings have drastically increased with some birds spotted nesting, suggesting the mynahs are putting down roots.

There is now concern over what effect these newcomers will have on other bird species in the park.

In a paper that was published in the journal Biological Invasions, data suggests that the mynahs in Kruger National Park are in the initial phase of establishment.

“We are a bit worried because it seems like with the mynah populations that have built up around the park, they are going to keep moving in. And we have seen them displace other birds from nesting holes,” says Dr Llewellyn Foxcroft, a scientist with SanParks who works with the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University.

Indian mynahs have also been seen stealing material from buffalo weaver nests and have a reputation for being aggressive to other bird species.

There has even been a recording outside Kruger of mynahs preventing adult green wood hoopoes from entering their nests, resulting in their chicks dying.

Human settlements
As with their city cousins, most of the mynahs spotted in the Kruger National Park are sticking around human settlements where they forage for food and nest in various structures, although a few have been spotted feeding out in the bush.

“We have seen them in the central north of the park feeding alongside egrets, where wild animals have walked and disturbed insects,” explains Foxcroft.

It is believed that the first mynah arrived in Durban in 1902 with a cage bird dealer. Mynah escapees quickly established themselves and have slowly spread throughout the country, hopping from town to town.

South Africa is not the only country dealing with an alien mynah problem. The bird’s native distribution is from southeast Asia through the whole of the Indian subcontinent and up into Afghanistan. But since the 18th century, the bird has been introduced and has established itself in several countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Hawaii and Madagascar. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Invasive Species Specialist Group has declared the Indian mynah as one of 100 of the world’s worst alien invasive species.

Besides Kruger Park, Indian mynahs have so far been recorded in three other South African national parks, these being Golden Gate Highlands, Mapungubwe and Marakele.

So far the only other alien birds recorded in Kruger are a single domestic homing pigeon which left the park shortly after being spotted, and house sparrows which are sometimes seen around human settlements in the reserve.

Rose-ringed parakeet
The mynah joins another worrying exotic that is threatening, in particular, birds that prefer nesting in cavities. That is the rose-ringed parakeet which, although it hasn’t been spotted in Kruger, has become a common sight in towns across South Africa.

“I think the parakeets are far worse,” says Professor Colleen Downs, the South African research chair in ecosystem health and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. She wasn’t involved in the study.

“In more wilderness areas, mynahs would have to use cavities and these are usually in short supply. So there would be some competition. They are also quite opportunistic when it comes to food and I think they would mainly concentrate around places where people stop to have picnics and the likes of Skukuza, in Kruger Park.”

Foxcroft believes now is the time to be proactive and prevent the spread of mynahs through Kruger.

One of the best measures is closing off nest sites in the camps.

“So, I think there is still time where we can do something, but it is probably going to be an ongoing problem. Hopefully, we can keep the numbers down as much as possible,” he says. DM/OBP

I've seen starlings beating them up, hopefully that works!

Mynahs are starlings too "Own kin are the worst friends"

ACCIDENTAL DEVASTATION

Good news for seabirds – the days of the Marion Island mice are numbered if an eradication project gets off the ground


An adult grey-headed albatross on Marion Island. (Photo: Otto Whitehead)

By Julia Evans | 02 Aug 2022

Marion Island is a part of South Africa where few of us have ventured. Lying in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean, 2,300km southeast of Cape Town, this uninhabited island is a paradise for seabirds. That is, it was until humans arrived and inadvertently introduced a voracious predator – mice. Now there is an ambitious project to eradicate these rodents from the island to save the birds and other creatures.
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‘Where species are given the opportunity to recover from threats that they face, they are often resilient enough to be able to do so.”

These were the words of Dr Anton Wolfaardt while presenting the Mouse-Free Marion Project at the Plett Marine Science Symposium in July 2022.

Wolfaardt is the manager of this conservation project – one that he describes as the most important of his career. The project aims to remove alien mice from Marion Island to prevent the deaths of globally important populations of seabirds and preserve the ecological integrity of the sub-Antarctic island.

Marion Island is the southernmost territory of South Africa, located about 2,300km southeast of Cape Town in the southern Indian Ocean, and is a haven for seabirds and other sub-Antarctic life – or it was until humans got involved.

Wolfaardt, who has more than 25 years in the field of seabird and marine conservation, said that in conservation, often the most challenging issues are translating the outputs of science into action on the ground.


Dr Anton Wolfaardt on Marion Island. (Photo: Leandri de Kock)

“For many conservation issues, we know what the solutions are. We just need the societal and political will to implement them.”

And that’s what this project, in partnership with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and BirdLife South Africa, is about.

Introduction of a devastating threat

Marion Island is one of the two Prince Edward Islands and is a globally important breeding site for seabirds and other wildlife, including almost half the world’s Wandering Albatrosses.

People began arriving on the island in the 1700s, exploiting the large population of seals to feed a massive demand for pelts and high quality oil rendered from the blubber of elephant seals.

Wolfaardt explained that this exploitative industry didn’t last long due to its impact on seal populations, and once the exploitation stopped, the species made a remarkable recovery, reflecting how, when given the chance, species have an incredible ability to recover.

“Unfortunately, the direct impact that the sealers had on the seal populations of Marion Island was not the only impact they had – they had much longer lasting impacts,” said Wolfaardt.

Stowaways – mice – were inadvertently introduced to the island sometime before 1818, and soon presented a devastating threat to the seabird population.


A helicopter baiting operation on the Antipodes Islands of New Zealand. (Photo: Keith Springer)

Wolfaardt describes house mice as “highly adaptable omnivores that can eat almost anything in such large quantities that they can completely transform ecosystems”.

Research by Peter Ryan and other scientists found that 18 of the 28 bird species that breed on Marion Island face the real risk of local extinction in the next 30 to 100 years if the mice remain on the island.

These mice swarm the seabirds, “scalping” them, eating them alive or leaving them with wounds that almost certainly result in their death.

“You can imagine, it would be incredibly distressing for a bird,” said Wolfaardt. “They are irritated by it, but there’s nothing they can do… they can’t get off the nest, they can’t defend themselves.

“Eventually these birds would just die of fatigue… after night after night of being attacked by hordes of mice.”

Climate change has accelerated the threat

To make matters worse, the mouse population on Marion Island over the past 30 years has increased by more than 500% because the change in climate has given them more favourable conditions to reproduce. Wolfaardt explained that over the past 30 to 40 years, temperatures on Marion Island increased and levels of precipitation in winter declined.

The mice breed in the summer, and with shorter winters they have been able to breed for longer, thereby increasing their population.

Additionally, Wolfaardt said studies on the island over the last couple of decades show that the mice have had a devastating impact on terrestrial invertebrates – they are not only driving the decline of important seabirds, but also species like the flightless moth, which are vital for the ecosystems of the island.

The endemic flightless moth is now considered to be at 10% of its pre-impacted level, due entirely to the mice. Wolfaardt says this is bad because this keystone species plays an important role in cycling nutrients on the island. So, undermining the ecological process has many knock-on effects.

A single solution

There is really only one solution – a method proven successful in New Zealand, where conservationists achieved the mammoth task of eradicating mice and rats from large sub-Antarctic islands.

Wolfaardt describes the method as “using a fleet of helicopters to sow specially formulated rodenticide bait across the entire island, such that every single mouse has access to enough bait for it to get a lethal dose”.


A mouse attacks a Wandering Albatross chick on Marion Island. (Photo: Stefan and Janine Schoombie)

Most of the birds on the island are seabirds who forage at sea, so they won’t be interested in the bait they drop. While there will be some species that will consume dead mice – which have the toxins in them – Wolfaardt said the benefits outweigh the risks

Technology has allowed previous operations to be successful, with GPS and GIS systems to set flight lines to make sure coverage of the doses is as accurate as possible.

Wolfaardt explained to the audience at the symposium that while the mission sounds simple in theory, it is logistically and ecologically complicated, and this is why fundraising and planning takes up so much time.

For example, there are small windows of opportunity for the operation to take place as they will need to have perfect flying conditions. Much of the higher parts of the island are covered in clouds.

Successful operations include the eradication of Norway rats on Campbell Island in 2011, rats, mice and rabbits on Macquarie Island in 2011 and Norway rats in South Georgia in 2011-15. However, the Marion Island project is huge, as it will be the largest island (300 square kilometres) cleared of mice in a single operation.

Our Burning Planet previously reported on the mission to stop mice from eating Gough Island’s seabirds.

While the mission at Gough Island was unsuccessful, Wolfaardt told OBP that “work is underway to investigate the possible factors that contributed to this outcome.


Scalped grey-headed albatross chicks. (Photo: Peter Ryan)


A Wandering Albatross with a chick on Marion Island. (Photo: Anton Wolfaardt)

“However, even considering the Gough outcome, it is evident that the majority of operations that have attempted to eradicate mice and rats from oceanic islands, using best practice approaches, have succeeded.”

In closing his presentation, Wolfaardt said that “in many cases, we know what the threats are. And we know what the solutions are, and here are examples at a local level where conservation interventions are making a massive difference to populations. We just need the societal and political will”.

The likes of Environment Minister Barbara Creecy, former First Lady Graça Machel and John Croxall, chair of BirdLife International’s Global Marine Programme, have endorsed the Marion Island project.

“The island needs our help,” said Wolfaardt.

“A project like this gives us the opportunity in South Africa to show what’s possible with a public-private partnership working with government, NGOs, civil society… to come together to save a precious part of our planet. And I think that generates a lot of hope and shows that it is possible to make a difference.” DM/OBP

If you would like more information or would like to donate to the project, visit the Mouse-Free Marion Project website.