3. SIMILARITIES
ElephantsHardwoods
• Large in size
• Long lived
• Slow recruitment into older age classes
• Economic value to man:
Fuel & Furniture Tusks, Tourism & Trophies
• Susceptible to over exploitation
6. • Wood fuel (charcoal and firewood)
demands 68% of deforestation in
Africa
• Wood fuel constitutes up to 85% of
household energy consumption in
Sub-Saharan Africa
• Wood fuel demands are growing by
3-4% per year because of:
- Increasing human populations
- Increasing poverty
- Changing climatic cycles
CONTINENT WISE
Diminishing Hardwoods
7. CHARCOAL
• cheapest fuel available per unit energy
• Africa consumes ½ the world’s production
• Charcoal use popular in urban vs firewood
use in rural areas
• 1% in urbanisation 14% in charcoal
demands
• By 2025 > 50% Africans will be urbanised
• Charcoal consumers use 4-6 X more wood
than firewood users
• Charcoal demands causes the greatest
loss of natural forests & woodlands
selection for living old growth species
CONTINENT WISE
Diminishing Hardwoods
8. Charcoal = carbon + ash – H2O from wood by slow heating in the absence of oxygen
BIOMASS PYROLYSIS
Wood selection Wood harvest & cross cutting Wood hauling to kiln site
Preparation of kiln site Earthing & ignition of kiln Charcoal harvesting & bagging
2013 Charcoal pit 2002 Charcoal pit Remaining landscape
Diminishing Hardwoods
9. Sabi Game
Park
Incomati Conservancy
Diminishing HardwoodsMOZAMBIQUE
• 796 kilns in 1200 ha sanctuary
• Interviews with charcoal producers
• Potentially 15 920 kilns throughout
Incomati Conservancy (24 000ha)
• Wood weight determined at kiln stacked
with Lonchocarpus capassa & Acacia
xantophloea:
• 1.41 tons of wood per kiln
• Potentially 22 449 tons of wood removed
from Incomati Conservancy since 2000 or
1497 tons/year
10. • Prices per bag of charcoal found to be 6x higher than
they were four years ago increasing demand
• However, steady decline in the number of kilns per
year within the study area as wood sources become
depleted
• On arrival in 2000, Combretum imberbe already gone.
Looked for Acacia nigrescens and Acacia xantophloea.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
1 2 3 4 5
Numberofkilns
Year
2000-2002 2003-2005 2006-2008 2009-2011 2012-2014
MOZAMBIQUE
Diminishing Hardwoods
11. Diminishing elephants
•60% decline in elephant numbers
over the past 10 years.
•80% of their remaining range falls
outside of protected areas.
•SINCE 2010: The current estimated
annual off-take of 7.3% is higher
than elephants’ average annual
reproductive rate of 4-6%.
•Between 2010-2012 over 100 000
elephants have been poached
CONTINENT WISE
12. Diminishing elephants
•Up to 35 000 poached per year
•Present continental decline >
estimates leading up to the 1989
ivory ban ( 1.3 million 600 000)
•38-39 range states, now only in 37
(Sierra Leone lost all elephants in
2009), presence uncertain in
Senegal, Somalia & Sudan
•Continue at present rate, no
elephants in certain areas in 10
years time
CONTINENT WISE
13. 30 years ago Today
2%
77%
22%
<2%
16%
28%
55%
Diminishing elephants
Southern states last stronghold
CONTINENT WISE
14. Diminishing elephants
•50 000 in 1970 now only 19 600
•Poaching on an industrialised scale
•1500-1800 poached per year
•Between 2009-2013 Niassa’s
population 20 374 12 029
•Between 2008-2011 Quirimbas NP
population 2000 517
•48,7 % of the elephants spotted
from the air have been carcasses
MOZAMBIQUE
15. Significance
of diminishing giants
-Biodiversity & ecosystem functions
-Nutrient output
-Biomass
-Resets succession
-Disrupts ecosystem structure
-Emission of greenhouse gasses
-Changes in water bodies & watershed
properties
-Destruction of soil structure, seedlings
and root stocks
-Economic loss
-Social implications
-Implications for the Kruger National Park
16. SOUTH AFRICA
77%
22%
16%
55%
Approximately 26 700 elephants in SA in 92 reserves
SA holds 3.8% of continental population
Last count in KNP 16 571,
3rd largest in southern Africa
Quantify effects on
large trees: areas of
usage elephants
usage people
and vice versa
17. Solutions
to diminishing giants
-National energy plans biodiversity and
livelihood concerns
-Policies across nations wide scale
illicit harvesting
-Charcoal licensing system value on raw
material & sees charcoal as a commodity
produced by human labour & skill
-Management and training regarding
supply sources & market infrastructure
-Diversification of species used
-Production of energy efficient kilns
-Regeneration
18. CHINA BANS IVORY IMPORTS FOR 1
YEAR TO PROTECT ELEPHANTS
BEIJING (AP) — China imposed a one-year ban on
ivory imports that took immediate effect
Thursday amid criticism that its citizens' huge
appetite for ivory has fueled poaching that
threatens the existence of African elephants.
Professor Wangari
Maathai, founder of the
Green Belt Movement
planted over 51 million
trees in Kenya!
THANK YOU
