Country’s unsung conservation heroes to be celebrated with awards
THE protection of the environment is work that hardly goes noticed, but through the Kudu Awards, which opened their nomination process yesterday, our conservation heroes are set to be celebrated.
SA National Parks (SANParks) media, events and stakeholder relations general manager Reynold Thakhuli said the awards offered a chance to honour people or groups for their meaningful contributions to the protection of the environment through various means.
Thakhuli said the awards gave meaning to SANParks’ vision of a world-class system of sustainable national parks systems reconnecting and inspiring society.
He said the 858 species of birds, 299 of mammals and more than 135 frogs, with 110 of them endemic, placed South Africa third on the global list of mega-diverse countries.
The awards were set to celebrate the successes and contributions of individuals and groups in conservation management in the country.
The awards have 11 categories which include women in conservation, youth in conservation, individual contribution to conservation and community contribution to conservation.
SANParks internal staff would also be given awards for their hard work, with chief executive awards being given to top achievers.
The closing date for entries is August 16 and the award winners will be announced at a function later this year.
These awards which are celebrating the best in conservation initiatives look to sustain the South African environment, especially its wildlife which, according to International wildlife charity and Conservation organisation Born Free, is ranked first in the top 10 worst-offending countries in the world when it comes to exporting or re-exporting hunting trophies derived from internationally protected species.
According to figures submitted by governments between 2008 to 2017, almost 290 000 trophy items derived from 300 different species listed on the Cites Appendices were exported or re-exported from 119 countries to 165 importing countries.
These species included the Nile crocodile, elephants and hippo, with South Africa exporting 79 127 trophies including 15 238 derived from Nile crocodiles, 10 107 from African lions, 7 525 from hippo and 6 871 baboons.