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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The world's black rhino numbers have increased but there's bad news for others
Rhino Count CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The number of critically endangered black rhinos has increased slightly, but there is bad news for other rhino species, according to a global count released Thursday by the International Rhino Foundation. It said that black rhino numbers went up from 6,195 to 6,788 in the latest estimates. White rhinos had declined, however, from 15,942 to 15,752 since the last count in 2021. Black and white rhinos are only found in the wild in Africa. The number of greater one-horned rhinos, found in northern India and Nepal, rose slightly from 4,014 to 4,075. But Javan rhinos have declined from an estimated 76 to just 50, the foundation said, and that was entirely due to poaching. There is only one known population of Javan rhinos left — at a national park on the Indonesian island of Java. The Sumatran rhino population stands at just 34-47 animals, around the same as previous estimates. The global population for all rhinos is approximately 26,700. The International Rhino Foundation says it gets its figures from counts by specialist rhino groups at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the global authority on endangered species. It does not count rhinos in zoos, only those in the wild or in national parks. The rhino foundation said there were worrying new trends from South Africa, which has more rhinos than anywhere else. There, the average number of rhinos in individual populations was below what conservationists recommend to maintain a viable population. It also said a new rhino horn trafficking route was emerging between South Africa and Mongolia, and Qatar was becoming a growing hub for horn trafficking. Rhino poaching is still a major problem in South Africa and elsewhere to feed the illegal market for rhino horn products in parts of Asia. South Africa loses between 400 and 500 rhinos a year to poaching. It is often looking for new ways to deter poachers and one group of scientists launched a project last week to inject radioactive material into the horns of rhinos. The scientists say it's harmless for the animals but allows horns to be detected by border authorities when they are being smuggled. ___ AP Africa news:
Associated Press
25 minutes ago
- Associated Press
The world's black rhino numbers have increased but there's bad news for others
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The number of critically endangered black rhinos has increased slightly, but there is bad news for other rhino species, according to a global count released Thursday by the International Rhino Foundation. It said that black rhino numbers went up from 6,195 to 6,788 in the latest estimates. White rhinos had declined, however, from 15,942 to 15,752 since the last count in 2021. Black and white rhinos are only found in the wild in Africa. The number of greater one-horned rhinos, found in northern India and Nepal, rose slightly from 4,014 to 4,075. But Javan rhinos have declined from an estimated 76 to just 50, the foundation said, and that was entirely due to poaching. There is only one known population of Javan rhinos left — at a national park on the Indonesian island of Java. The Sumatran rhino population stands at just 34-47 animals, around the same as previous estimates. The global population for all rhinos is approximately 26,700. The International Rhino Foundation says it gets its figures from counts by specialist rhino groups at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the global authority on endangered species. It does not count rhinos in zoos, only those in the wild or in national parks. The rhino foundation said there were worrying new trends from South Africa, which has more rhinos than anywhere else. There, the average number of rhinos in individual populations was below what conservationists recommend to maintain a viable population. It also said a new rhino horn trafficking route was emerging between South Africa and Mongolia, and Qatar was becoming a growing hub for horn trafficking. Rhino poaching is still a major problem in South Africa and elsewhere to feed the illegal market for rhino horn products in parts of Asia. South Africa loses between 400 and 500 rhinos a year to poaching. It is often looking for new ways to deter poachers and one group of scientists launched a project last week to inject radioactive material into the horns of rhinos. The scientists say it's harmless for the animals but allows horns to be detected by border authorities when they are being smuggled. ___ AP Africa news:
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
A French sailor's personal 'Plastic Odyssey'
Simon Bernard's private war on plastic pollution began in 2016. From the deck of the cargo ship he was working on, Bernard was stunned to discover mountains of rubbish piled up in Hann Bay, once a white sandy beach that had become an open sewer in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Thickets of rubbish were almost everywhere along the coast, "washing into the sea with the tides and waves," the 34-year-old sailor told AFP in an interview. It was, he said, a terrible shock. "At sea, you don't see the plastic." Deeply moved by seeing fishermen pulling tangled webs of plastic from their nets, Bernard -– newly graduated from France's Merchant Navy -– enlisted another engineer, Alexandre Dechelotte, to embark on what he dubbed "Plastic Odyssey". The plan was to complete a round-the-world expedition aboard a 40-metre (130-foot) laboratory ship to raise awareness at their many ports of call -- especially among children -– about the devastating impact of the 20 tonnes of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every minute of every day. The three-year expedition, which partnered with local associations along their route, is almost complete. - 'Avoid using it' - Bernard secured financial sponsors, starting with a major French cosmetics brand that promoted the partnership as part of its commitment to increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its products. But he said he was under no illusions: he knows that his initiative has had a modest impact on the global fight against plastic pollution. He is also aware of earlier projects with similar goals that fell short of their ambitions. The Ocean Cleanup launch by 18-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat in 2013 – targeting the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California -- attracted money and attention but was hampered by design flaws and logistical limitations. A recent reboot of the system has shown greater potential for plastic removal at scale. Another initiative launched from France in 2018, the SeaCleaners, also reported disappointing yields of plastic pollution, and folded operations last year under the shadow of financial mismanagement. But Bernard said the cause was too important to ignore, and aimed to prove that even small-scale efforts were critical in striving for a future with less plastic. Plastic Odyssey today has a staff of 35. "The real solution to plastic pollution is to avoid using it," he said. Nearly 200 nations are huddled in Geneva this week and next to forge a treaty to tackle the plastics crisis, and one of the most divisive issues on the table is whether to aim for reducing plastics production at the source, rather than simply cleaning up pollution after the fact. - 30 stopovers - Giving up his dream of piloting ferries off the Normandy coast, Bernard left France on October 1, 2022. He is currently in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, and is nearing the end of his 30 three-week stops in three continents. His odyssey has taken him across the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. During stops in Marseille, Beirut, Dakar, Recife, Madras (Chennai) and two dozen other ports, he met with local associations, start-ups and companies working to collect, sort or recycle plastic. He marvels, he said, at the "inventiveness" of the people he met, especially those who have lost everything. He recalled an entrepreneur in Lebanon who collected recyclable household waste door-to-door from 60,000 people in a country that no longer has a public service for disposing of plastic. Two and a half years into his adventure Bernard gave up his apartment, and he now lives on the boat. The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than hundred local solutions for doing without plastic, which is derived from petroleum. Bernard has adopted several of them, including one "that works very well on board the boat" to make water drinkable, eliminating the need for plastic bottles. "This has saved us 25,000 bottles of water in two years -- almost a tonne of plastic," he calculated. im/mh/js
