THE THUNDERBIRD

NEWSLETTER
MAY 2018

INCREDIBLE NEXT STEP: BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT PLAN WORKSHOP

One of the major outcomes of the Population and Habitat Viability Assessment that we hosted last year, now published by the IUCN and available here, was that a national Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) was required, to ensure that the conservation of the species was elevated to governmental level.

To-date the conservation of this species has been driven by NGOs and academics and it was vital to ensure that government conservation and agriculture departments rose to this challenge. We, together with SANBI-NZG, hosted 28 stakeholders to participate in the first round of BMP stakeholder discussion as to how we turn the tide for this species. 

The success of this first workshop can be attributed to both the hard work of all participants and the excellent facilitation by Coral Birss (CapeNature). The next step is now finalising the action plan, taking that to three provincial nature conservation departments for input and comment, and then hopefully we will have a product that the Minister of Environmental Affairs will support and gazette. 



An emerging threat:
wind farms

A new threat has been brought to our attention - the development of wind farms. To-date most of the existing wind farms have been built beyond the ground-hornbills' range. Now, however, several sites have been proposed within their range in the Eastern Cape and former Transkei. We will be working closely with BirdLife South Africa to ensure that we understand the extent of this threat and are able to find workable solutions. The national monitoring database that we manage could not be more important now and so we appeal, as ever for any and all ground-hornbill sighting records, particularly beyond the borders of protected areas.   

     THESE PIONEERING game RESERVES HAVE GONE LEAD-FREE. 

THEY ARE ENSURING THAT NO SPENT LEAD AMMUNITION CAN BE INGESTED BY ANY SCAVENGERS SUCH AS GROUND-HORNBILLS OR VULTURES.




Prince Buthelezi:                           A new hornbill hero

Celebrating young conservationists, from Mpumalanga to Limpopo to KwaZulu-Natal



EACH VOTE WE GET WILL BE A R5 DONATION TO the PROJECT AND WE WOULD LOVE TO WIN THE MILLION

To celebrate our shared success, you can vote for us, The Mabula Ground Hornbill Project,  in the MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet Vote4Charity campaign, giving a further boost to our critical work for nature and for you. For every vote that we get, R5 is paid towards our conservation work. All you need to do is cast your vote and the rest is taken care of! And you stand a chance to win R5000! 

Every vote = R5. MyPlanet will add another R5 for every referral. Registered cardholders get one vote each. No card? New supporters can sign up instantly online or in-app. 

No card setup fees will be charged for any new cards issued during this campaign.

WISH LIST

A massive thank you to Columbus Steel and Martin for donating all the stainless steel tables and sinks for the new rearing centre.

1. A drinks fridge for defrosting the captive hornbill food safely - anyone got an old but functional Coca Cola fridge lying around?

2. An Adobe Illustrator package for designing posters and awareness material.

3. A satellite phone so the team, who are mainly woman, can stay in touch with base camp or get help if needed when working in areas with no cell phone signal.

Photos by Heinrich Nel, Alf Rewin, Patience Shtio, Nthabiseng Monama and Lucy Kemp.