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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Activist endures painful history to embark on inspiring work to save critical species: 'The mountain gorillas have really shaped my life'
Conservationist and veterinarian Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka has been on a decades-long mission to save critically endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda. As CNN reported, she fell in love with the great apes over 30 years ago after visiting Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park — one of just two patches of forest in the world where the animals live. "You don't hear them, but you see their trails as you're walking," Kalema-Zikusoka told the news outlet. "You can be looking for them, thinking will I ever see them? Then suddenly — they're there. It's such a magical feeling." Describing the first time she saw a mountain gorilla up close, she added, "I looked into his very intelligent brown eyes, and I felt a really deep connection. He was just willing to let us into his presence, and not at all threatening." She had originally visited the park as part of a summer placement after graduating from the Royal Veterinary College in London, but the month-long internship revealed a deeper calling, and she decided to pursue conservation work in the park full-time. For three decades now, she's been helping the mountain gorilla population rebound, with their numbers in Bwindi growing from less than 300 individuals to nearly 460. According to the IUCN Red List, the species was downgraded from critically endangered to endangered thanks to Kalema-Zikusoka's dedication. Over the last century, mountain gorillas have faced numerous pressures from poaching, deforestation, and violence in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Compounding these issues, the brutal eight-year dictatorship of Idi Amin in Uganda devastated remaining gorilla populations and many other wildlife. During the military coup, Kalema-Zikusoka's father — who was a minister in the government — was abducted and never seen again. As she got older and learned more about what happened that day, she felt it was her duty to keep his legacy alive by restoring Uganda through conservation work. Mountain gorillas have been pushed to near-extinction, confined to just two isolated areas: the Virunga Mountains, which straddle the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, and Bwindi in southwest Uganda. All these events sparked Kalema-Zikusoka's passion to become a veterinarian and help the wildlife return to Uganda's ecosystems. Part of the mission involved efforts to improve public health as well, which isn't usually in the job description for a vet. Should the U.S. invest in building more wildlife overpasses? Absolutely Depends on how we do it Depends on where we do it Nope Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. But after a scabies outbreak in low-income communities bordering Bwindi spread to some of the gorillas, Kalema-Zikusoka saw an opportunity to better the lives of both humans and animals. She launched the nonprofit Conservation Through Public Health to enhance the well-being of rural communities. Through the organization, community volunteers are trained to educate families about the importance of proper hygiene, family planning, infectious disease prevention, and other aspects of health. Meanwhile, local farmers escort wandering gorillas back to their forest homes if they venture close to humans. Kalema-Zikusoka's conservation efforts have also led poachers to give up their livelihoods in favor of gorilla tourism, a booming industry in Uganda. Some are also training to become farmers, guides, and rangers after learning about the importance of protecting gorillas. Ensuring the gorillas have a safe place to live has also positively impacted people, bringing them more jobs and opportunities. It's another example of the interconnected nature of life on our planet, proving that humans and animals can coexist with a little planning and goodwill. "The mountain gorillas have really shaped my life," Kalema-Zikusoka told CNN. And in turn, "the gorillas have really transformed Uganda, and brought Ugandan conservation and tourism back on the map." "Gladys, I think she's born with conservation in her blood. If you go through the life of her family, how she was brought up, she was brought up in that life of being a conservationist and I think she'll die a conservationist," Joshua Masereka, the community conservation warden at Uganda Wildlife Authority, added. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Antarctica ‘too wild for humans to rule', says Shackleton medal winner
Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will 'change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica'. The vast frozen continent – home to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity 'at least equivalent to a country', says the environmental lawyer. And this week that dream became one step closer to reality as judges awarded Cullinan the Shackleton medal for the protection of the polar regions. The prestigious prize, worth £10,000, shines a light on people who have shown 'courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership' in their work to protect the polar regions, indicating Cullinan's radical plan to adopt and implement an Antarctica Declaration is gaining momentum. Cullinan, who is based in South Africa and was once an anti-apartheid activist, achieved recognition for his work fighting, often successfully, for legal systems to recognise the rights of rivers, forests and things 'other than human beings' so they could be defended in court cases. The idea of giving species and places legal 'personhood', outlined in his 2002 book, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, became part of a wider global movement recognising rights of nature and animals. Cullinan is now arguing that Antarctica as a whole should have this legal personhood, preferably at state level. 'We have to shift how people relate to Antarctica,' he says. 'It's absolutely essential to protect it, not just for itself, which is obviously valid, but also for humanity.' Instead of being treated by the international community and law courts as a 'territory claimed by a number of countries that stuck flags in the ice a while ago … at best, a laboratory and at worst, a potential source of oil, gas, minerals and krill', he wants Antarctica to be legally protected as 'an astounding living community' and 'a being in its own right'. 'It should be obvious that Antarctica is far too wild and fierce for humans to rule,' he says. 'It should be seen as what it is: sovereign unto itself.' Antarctica is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), a framework created in 1959 and signed by 58 countries. This guarantees that the continent is used exclusively for peaceful purposes, such as science and conservation. It was a great achievement at the time, Cullinan says, when there were proposals to mine Antarctica and countries in conflict over their competing claims. It could have a seat at the table, it could initiate lawsuits or join lawsuits to prevent further greenhouse emissions Cormac Cullinan Now the key challenges Antarctica faces arise from the climate crisis, something caused by activities far outside its geographical boundaries. At the same time, countries such as China and Russia have consistently blocked conservation measures such as the creation of new marine protected areas. 'There's impasse within the system, Cullinan says, while from an ecological perspective, the situation is deteriorating very fast and scientists are saying we have to take urgent, decisive action.' The purpose of declaring Antarctica a legal entity and setting out its rights is to create corresponding obligations for other countries – and international organisations such as the UN – to respect those rights. 'An iceberg doesn't really care whether you think it has rights or not. The issue is: are there human duties to respect the integrity of the ice-sheet fields?' If the Antarctic ice sheet melted entirely, it would raise global sea levels by about 58 metres. In 2020, an article in the journal Nature estimated that even a 1-metre rise would put '48% of the world's land area, 52% of the global population and 46% of global assets' at risk of flooding. 'It can't be left to a small group of countries to make decisions about Antarctica,' says Cullinan, who helped to draft the 2010 Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth and co-founded the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. 'If human beings lived there, who were indigenous to Antarctica, they would have a government who could represent them in climate change negotiations or biodiversity conventions. And that government would be a powerful voice, because Antarctica and the Southern Ocean covers a 10th of the surface of the planet.' But Antarctica has no voice, he says. 'It's not represented in these decision-making bodies – and the countries that govern it under the ATS still argue from a national perspective, and take decision-making positions for their own national interests, while scientists and other people who really love Antarctica and are deeply committed to protecting it get blocked.' Related: 'He took five bullets and returned to work on plankton': the double lives of Ukraine's Antarctic scientists The Antarctica Declaration would, by contrast, recognise that all Antarctic beings have rights that humanity must respect and protect. People around the world are being invited to support it and declare a new legal status of 'personhood' for Antarctica. 'It could then be represented,' says Cullinan. 'It could have a seat at the table, it could initiate lawsuits or join lawsuits around the world to prevent further greenhouse emissions.' The award will help raise much-needed awareness about the Antarctica Declaration, he adds. 'It will bring this initiative to the attention of people in a way that would have otherwise taken us years to achieve, and connect us to a network of polar explorers and Antarctic experts we can perhaps persuade to join us. 'We've got a very strong core group, but we need to build a global movement around this – we need to show that Antarctica is everybody's concern.'
New York Times
6 hours ago
- New York Times
China's Quiet Win: Outmaneuvering U.S. for Africa's Future Leaders
When students in Africa pine for an education overseas, the United States is often not top of mind. For many, it is China. The Trump administration's recent tightening of visas for international students has raised fears that the United States could lose its status as a top destination for higher education. But for tens of thousands of students in Africa, that shift was already happening. Over the past decade, applicants across the continent have traded prestigious academic institutions in countries like Britain and the United States for Chinese alternatives, attracted by government scholarships, affordable tuition, lower living costs and easier access to visas. Africa is home to the world's youngest and fastest-growing population at a time when many of the world's wealthier regions — particularly in the West and Asia — are aging rapidly, making it difficult to find enough workers to keep their economies growing. Africa lacks enough universities to educate its own students, but China has mounted an effort to recruit them as the United States reduces its diplomatic, military and humanitarian engagement on the continent. The Chinese Communist Party sees educating the next generation of African leaders as part of a broader plan to boost China's soft power and promote its economic and political model in the developing world. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
