THE NEXT GENERATION CONSERVATION TRUST NAMIBIA – AGAINST RHINO POACHING
THE NEXT GENERATION CONSERVATION TRUST NAMIBIA:
Media is flooded constantly with news on poaching, mostly the bad and the ugly, now it’s time for the good…
Namibia is home to some of the largest and toughest animals in the world, these include African bush elephants and both black and white rhinos. Unfortunately, these animals have been victim to poaching for many years, with the slaughter skyrocketing in recent years. The black rhino is currently critically endangered, but it seems that there may be hope on the horizon as Namibia is taking initiative in every way possible to save these majestic creatures.
In Namibia, the region that suffers most from poaching is the Kunene region, specifically the Palmwag area and Etosha national park. Recently the Palmwag anti-poaching unit acquired a helicopter that will be used to patrol the area. The Namibian government is also planning to deploy anti-poaching units countrywide. In July 2014 the Ministry of Environment and Tourism announced that a 300-man anti-poaching unit would be deployed to patrol those regions most at risk. The current struggle aims at saving an estimated 25 000 elephants and 2 220 rhinos from a worsening poaching crisis.
The big guy on the anti-poaching scene right now is most surely the anti-poaching drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
In 2013, Google joined the fight against the poaching plaguing the African continent. They donated 5 million dollars to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to build automated, lightweight surveillance drones (UAV’s) with the aim of helping anti-poaching units get the upper hand over the poaching crisis across the African continent. The WWF, through its Wildlife Crime Technology Project, sponsors the UAV programme. During 2014 the Namibian government deployed three Falcon UAVs in conservancies to support the anti-poaching operations by the Namibian Defense Force (NDF) as part of a new aggressive strategy to combat an upsurge in the poaching of elephants and rhinos. In February 2015 the government plans to reassess whether these drones had the desired impact on the areas that they were deployed in and whether or not to purchase more of these drones.
Some businessmen have also been stepping up to the fight against poaching. Mr. Henri Slabbert and his business partner Mr. Chris Coetzee founded the non-profit organization The Next Generation Conservation Trust. Kowas Hunting Safaris is a proud supporter of this initiative. The aim of the trust is to raise funds for the UAV poaching countermeasure. According to Slabbert, this is the only workable and preventative measure that will truly make a difference in the anti-poaching campaign. Instead of waiting for an incidence to occur and then tracing the poachers, the UAV will alert ground forces on poacher activity in an area before any harm has come to an animal.
In the northern Kunene and Omusati regions drastic measures have been taken and the humane dehorning of rhinos has begun. The government plans to stockpile the horns and sell them legally into the market after they have gained consent from the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
The Next Generation Conservation Trust Namibia is one of the most ambitious efforts in the war on rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia. Visit them at http://www.nextgenconservation.com
Funded and driven by the Namibian business community, this not-for-profit trust has as its sole aim to put large swatches of Namibia under constant aerial surveillance.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are deployed in problem areas and either stay in the vicinity of protected animals to detect poachers in the area, or patrol conservancies and reserves to detect potential poachers – day and night.
Your support is needed in this ambitious effort to conserve our animals for the next generation.
We all know the poaching of rhino and elephants in Namibia and South Africa has reached epidemic proportions. Rhino is on the verge of extinction and unless we halt the scourge now, they will soon be little more than a vague memory. Every single day, the news is dire – another four rhino killed, horns hacked off, probably on their way to a syndicate in the east.
Traditionally, anti-poaching efforts have revolved around patrols in the bush, and boots on the ground. Although some successes have been made, the inherent problem with this approach is that a motorised patrol can be heard from some distance away, allowing poachers ample time to lay low and hide. Furthermore, without the aid of very skilled trackers, an experienced poacher can be invisible a mere 20m from you in the bush, and if it’s at night when visibility is very poor, the task of flushing them out is near impossible.
These are very real problems, and even Kruger National Park has recently admitted to the almost overwhelming nature of the task. Now that the rhino populations of Mozambique and South Africa are being decimated, the plague is starting to cast its shadow over Namibia. Kowas Hunting Safaris encourage you to support this initiative:
The Next Generation Conservation Trust
When Henri Slabbert realized a solution was within their grasp, Henri Slabbert, together with trustee, Chris Coetzee, registered the Next Generation Conservation Trust. The trust provides a gateway for those sectors of the Namibian business community who long wanted to get involved but didn’t know how – now they can provide tangible aid to curb and ultimately stop this poaching plague.
The sole purpose of this not-for-profit trust is to raise funds in order to procure and deploy the equipment so sorely needed in Namibia.
GOALS OF THE TRUST:
In brief, the primary goals of the trust are:
TO:
- drive contributions of an initial N$ 5,000,000 to fund the procurement of the required technology.
- integrate all the technology into a working solution – an effective UAV.
- train flight crews for the day and night operation of the UAV’s.
- deploy and/or donate the UAV’s in problem areas. (With 14 UAV’s deployed, a combined 280,000 square kilometres can be under constant surveillance.)
- use effectively these UAV’s to pinpoint the exact (GPS) location of poachers and co-ordinate the dispatch of ground patrol units, ensuring successful arrests.
- obtain video footage and supply this to authorities in order to ensure a higher rate of conviction.
- ultimately get the message heard loud, wide and clear: “Namibian rhino is a NO GO!”
HOW DOES IT WORK?
All contributions goes into a kitty. Once enough funds are available to purchase all the components needed to put together a UAV, then it would be purchased. Once all components are received, it would be put together into a working solution in Namibia and tested. Flight crews are sourced and trained and the UAV gets deployed.
Following this, each individual and corporate contributor will receive an ownership certificate indicating what percentage of the contribution and UAV is theirs and where the UAV is deployed.
Trustees: Henri Slabbert and Chris Coetzee
Trust Registration: T330/2014
Auditors: Hamilton & Partners
YOU CAN MAKE THAT DIFFERENCE WHICH IS NEEDED: SUPPORT THE TRUST – PUT YOUR MONEY (AND SUPPORT) WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS:
Kowas Hunting Safaris invites all sectors; here is your chance to make that difference, leave a legacy for our children, the next generation: “This Trust was established as a mechanism for every member of the Namibian society to get involved and contribute to the protection of our animals. The larger version of the UAVs – with the day and night ability – cost upwards of N$350,000 per unit. The Trust needs your assistance to buy these units and deploy them where the last of our rhinos roam.”
“Companies willing to sponsor their own UAVs or, alternatively, contribute towards the cost of them, will receive significant exposure in local media, online media and Flamingo – Air Namibia’s in-flight magazine. Individuals can make contributions as well, anonymous or credited in the lists which will be published frequently – from as little as N$100 to as much as you can spare.”
“The initial aim of the Trust is to drive contributions of an initial N$5,000,000. This will allow the Trust to deploy 14 UAV systems, which can patrol a combined area of 280,000 square kilometers – day and night. Not only does this cover a very significant area, but boots on the ground will experience a target directed, increased efficiency and permanent jobs will be created for 70 individuals, who will operate these units.”
Corporate and individual sponsors are invited to make contact with either Henri Slabbert or Chris Coetzee, or make use of our online contribution platform recently established. Let us all stand together. We can stop this. Kowas Hunting Safaris urge you to support The Next Generation Conservation Trust.
CONTRIBUTIONS:
Corporations or individuals willing to sponsor their own UAV or contribute towards the cost of these units, can follow one of two options:
An online contribution system hosted by Ammado is installed on the website http://www.nextgenconservation.com Ammado is internationally and trusted by foundations and non-profits as safe and secure. Alternatively, make contact with Henri and Chris and they will send you the Trust’s banking information.
Contact Henri Slabbert (trustee): +264 85 149 9608
Contact Chris Coetzee (trustee): +264 81 668 0697
All contributors will receive extensive exposure in Flamingo – Air Namibia’s in-flight magazine as well as other media – both on-line and in print.
FACTS – STATS:
Last year (2014), 24 rhino and 79 elephants were poached in Namibia, a bloody surge after two decades largely free from poaching.
The carcasses of 38 rhinos that might have been killed for their horns had been found in the Etosha National Park. Of this number, 31 carcasses were discovered between 8 April 2015 and 17 April 2015.
The 31 additional animals found dead could bring the rhino poaching death toll in Etosha National Park within a period of six months, to 42.
ACT NOW – SUPPORT THE NEXT GENERATION CONSERVATION TRUST NAMIBIA. http://www.nextgenconservation.com
Namibia has a successful communal tourism industry in rural areas, where local communities derive benefits from photo tourism and selected trophy hunting, which also created many jobs.
Namibia is the home of free-roaming black rhino and the world’s only free-roaming desert adapted elephants and world famous desert lions. ACT NOW – SUPPORT THE NEXT GENERATION CONSERVATION TRUST NAMIBIA. http://www.nextgenconservation.com
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