Project Ariyike - Sea Turtle Conservation
A Sea Turtle Nesting Monitoring, Protection and Conservation work and Community Engagement in Lagos, Nigeria.
The monkey story
I should be where,
The roots are thick,
Where the leaves rustle,
And the trees form a canopy.
I should be where,
The birds’ tweet,
And the fruits hang low,
Where my family has always called home,
But, I am on a leash,
For leaping to play and for putting food away,
I get a spank,
For baring my teeth and unfurling my tail
I was a monkey before, before,
Until you made me into a pet,
Now, I am a monkey in a cage,
Now, I am a monkey in your face.
I long for your visit to the jungle,
Without your buckshot, your traps or your bulldozers,
I long for when you will mind your habitat,
And allow me mind mine.
So please leave me alone,
Let me chatter with glee,
Let me swing from tree to tree,
Let me live my life the monkey way.
This Prose was written by Sonia from Lagos to bring attention to Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), pictured in the featured Image. They range throughout much of Southern and East Africa and listed Appendix II of CITES (The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
To learn more about monkeys conservation, visit https://www.monkeyworlds.com/monkey-conservation/
Sonia Ugwunna writes from Lagos, Nigeria
Email: soniaryde2000@gmail.com
Twitter: @soniaryde
MY THOUGHTS ON SDGs 14 and 15
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – also known as the Global Goals for Sustainable Development – are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations. I herewith, share my concise thoughts on SDG 14: Life below water – To conserve and sustainably use the world’s oceans, seas and Marine Resources and SDG 15: Life on land – To sustainably manage Forests, combat desertification, halt and reserve land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
KEY PROBLEMS:
a) Illiteracy and poverty of locals living beside forests and on water bodies:
i) Indiscriminate deforestation, hunting and fishing activities.
ii) Harmful waste practices
b) Government inaction and lack of commitment
c) Ignorance of the existence of such communities
d) Industrial activities
SOLUTIONS:
a) Education and Empowerment of the locals
b) Improved and efficiently monitored government policies
c) Identification and raising awareness of endangered lands and waters
d) Implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE CAN DO TO HELP:
a) RESIDENTIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
i) Create a website or an application or install a phone number for the recording, locating and tracking of disadvantaged places
ii) Liasoning with their legislators and governments to offer free waste management schemes
iii) Organize volunteers from nearby urban and suburban areas to engage in cleanup days, sensitization and as environmental officers.
iv) Request nearby industries and factories to provide waste collection bins and vehicles for the locals; siting of local recycling companies; and engaging locals in such jobs.
v) Writing to universities to allow students in environmental courses to earn coursework credit for engaging in such areas.
b) INDUSTRIAL WASTE AND ACTIVITIES:
Creation of environmental impact organizations that will:
i) focus on extended producer responsibility
ii) request that Nigerian companies calculate and publish their carbon footprints
iii) work with global environmental certification organizations for eco-certification training and recommending the purchase of eco-friendly products
iv) liaison with the federal and state ministries of the environment
Sonia Ugwunna writes from Lagos, Nigeria
Email: soniaryde2000@gmail.com
Twitter: @soniaryde
Global March for Elephants Rhinos March Report 2017
From #Akure to #IjebuOde from October 4 – October 7 we held a 4-day long advocacy for Elephants, Rhinos, Lions, Sea Turtles and other Endangered Species during the World Animal Day with the Theme of Living in Harmony with our Wildlife to ensure their Continued Survival.
In Akure, Nigeria, Our #TeanWildlifeAfrica members: Joshua Aribasoye and Okerinu Paul, together with other Volunteers took the campaign to the streets, Motor parks and even to lecture halls of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State. Needful to say that We have unverified sightings of Forest Elephants in parts of Ondo State. We are working now to confirm this and we took this proactive step to sensitize the people on Living in Harmony with Elephants and also to work for their Protection from Poachers as a Community. We as a community must protect our heritage.
In Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria at the WildlifeAID Centre – Wildlife of Africa Conservation Initiative on the First day of our 4 Day Long event to mark this Year’s #WorldAnimalDay, (which was October 4 precisely), we had a group of students from the Adeola Odutalo College comes in for the Exhibitions (#Elephant, #Rhinoand #SeaTurtle Education Exhibition) in a bid to educated our people and for them to love Wildlife. We want to get this exhibition to at least 50 schools in the first instance and not wait for them to come to us. Please to support our founder’s (Felix Olusola Abayomi) funding campaign here and Donate – https://www.gofundme.com/awesome-elephants-education-exhibit
On Day 2 of the #WorldAnimalDay, the Students made Art Work presentations. Please view the pictures of the artworks and photographs that they presented. We need to encourage these young talents. They told me they feel a connection to Elephants, Rhinos, Lions and Sea Turtles even without having seen them with this year’s Global March. We have hope. These kids expressed themselves in artwork and we were blown away. They have graciously added these works to our Education Exhibition. We have to find a way to support these young talents. They produced these works unassisted to express themselves on Living in Harmony with Elephants, Rhinos Lions, Sea Turtles and other Endangered Species.
We showed these kids our videos of #Ariyike the Sea Turtle rescue and her journey home and several footages we came back with from Barbados that no one has seen an amazing WILD AID Education Footages on why we need to protect our Elephants, Rhinos and Pangolins. They were marvelled We also gave them the Storied Colouring book of the Sea turtle named ‘Lucky’ provided by Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz (AGA) e.V.. We have a Team Turtle game by MEDASSET-Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles we could have introduced to them but these kids don’t have access to a smartphone or Internet. So we are thinking, we might have to create an opportunity for them to come to the WildlifeAID Centre – Wildlife of Africa Conservation Initiative and play the Team Turtle game at their leisure time. They were however treated to our small and upcoming library.
On Day 3 of the #WorldAnimalDay, – we had a Lawn Tennis Coaching Clinic for some of the Kids. They Played for Elephants, Rhinos, Lions, Sea turtles and other Endangered Species to create Awareness on their survival and living in Harmony with them. We have decided to form these Children into #TeamWildlifeAfrica #lawntennis team to specifically use sports to create awareness for Wildlife of Africa Survival and Living in Harmony with them. We shall mentor them, train them and start entering them into competitions as opportunities present itself. Watch out for them in days to come in your local sports event.
On Day 4, the 7th of October, the D-day of the #WorldAnimalDay, we marched to also coincide with the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (#GMFER2017) advocacy event. As few as our Elephants, Rhinos, Lions and other Endangered Species are, we also marched to create awareness for our Species Survival and Living in Harmony with them. We Marched for #Justice4Wildlife, for #Justice4All and for #JusticeForHumansandNonhumans. The highpoint of the day for us was the surprise expressed by the generality of people we interacted with that there is a group speaking for Animal Rights in Nigeria. Yes, we are here. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. We have taken that step, together with these amazing and talented youngsters. They took out time to display their artwork too during the March. We believe in the power of “1”. One convert at a time.
We say a very big thank you to our volunteers, with a special tribute to our youngsters. They were phenomenal. #WorldAnimalDay, #Nigeria is a success.
Now, the real work begins. We must not be tired or relent in our efforts at a Sustained Wildlife Education to inspire a whole new Wildlife Friendly Generation. Please support our campaign and make your donation to help us achieve our set goal and objective. Thank you
Community Engagement for Sea Turtles and Clean Lagos Lagoon
Lagos lagoon is a major water body in the Lagos metropolis which impacts significantly on the lives of the Lagosians enormously. It is used primarily for fishing, aquaculture, sand mining and recreation activities.
In line with the mandate of the Waterkeeper Alliance of ensuring the society has right to swimmable, fishable and drinkable water, we have began a community engagement series with our Ariyike Sea Turtle Monitoring and Conservation project to educate the Coastal communities around the Lagoon whose livelihoods depend on Fishing that there continued livelihoods are directly linked to the continued existence of Sea Turtles in the waters.
The Fishermen have been recording high numbers of Jelly Fish in their catch and they go several days without a catch. This has further aggravated the Human-Wildlife Conflict between the fishing communities and the sea turtles. Every single sea turtles coming to nest has a potential of been poached for food and for income. Even those caught in fisheries bycatch are not spared as fishermen sell the turtles who breaks their nets to get money to repair them.
We have begun to make some progress but we need to do more and we need to train these disadvantage people with alternative income, educational and health opportunities through training, tourism and direct conditional cash transfers to improve their lives. We would be sharing information on steps we are taking but we need take urgent actions as the Sea Turtles will continue to come to our Shores, the people will continue to hunt them not because they want to (at least not all of them) but because they have to.
The Lagos Lagoon cuts across the southern part of the metropolis, linking the Atlantic Ocean (in the west and south) and Lekki Lagoon (in the east). It is about 6354.708 sq km in area and 285 km in perimeter. The Lagos Lagoon consists of three main segments such as Lagos harbour, the metropolitan end and Epe division segments. We have a lot of ground to cover. As we deal with the Sea Turtle hunting, we also have to educate the communities on waste management and pollution.
As of today, we have trained and empowered 10 local community members as Volunteer Sea Turtle Guardians, paying them a small stipend to make the protection and conservation of the Wildlife resources and the Lagoon environment a community lead action program. These are people who are hitherto hunters and gatherers of Sea Turtle eggs, nesting females and those caught in the fisheries bycatch. We would love to train and empower more local volunteers to not only become Sea Turtles Guardians but also advocates of a Clean Lagos Lagoon.
We plan to infuse our Ariyike Sea Turtle Monitoring Project, the Clean Lagos Lagoon Initiative of the Lagos Lagoon Waterkeeper and Ariyike Tours to deliver an amazing tripartite solution to turn Hunters and Polluters into Conservationists and Environmental Guardians respectively. This is our long-term strategic plan.
Sea Turtle Exhibition Education
Wildlife of Africa Conservation Initiative Sea Turtle Exhibition Education is designed for School Children of Primary and Secondary School age. Our team would like to come to your school to educate the pupils on Sea turtles and other Endangered Animals such as Elephant conservation and how to secure the future of our wildlife for the coming generation through our Education Exhibition, book reading and multimedia tools.
In view of this, we would like you to give us a date and time to visit your school. Please kindly fill the form below and Please feel free to contact us by phone (+2348179453143) or email info@wildlifeafrica.org if you have any questions or clarifications.
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This is supported by Artenschutz (AGA) eV, who produced the Exhibition and a Coloring book of a Sea Turtle named Lucky that we gift young children who participate in the exhibition.
Wildlife Conservation Film Festival
Wildlife of Africa Conservation Initiative (WACI) is in an exclusive, partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival Inc. (WCFF – only Film Festival dedicated to Wildlife in the World) with the purpose of conducting wildlife films, photography workshops, training and films screening in Nigeria.
WACI, in conjunction with the WCFF., brings a 10-day workshop to teach Wildlife Photography and Wildlife filmmaker techniques in Nigeria. The training will include practical sessions and free film screening to members of the Nigerian Public, government officials and Students within the period of the Workshop and after. Contact us via info@wildlifeafrica.org for partnership and sponsorship considerations.
To Register/Participate/Partner/Sponsor Please fill relevant sections of the Form below:
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Facility Tour of VisionScape Epe Eco Park (Landfill Site)
- Lagos Lagoon Waterkeeper posted photos from a facility tour of the landfill and Ecopark in Epe where there is a concern for a waterbody that communities depend on.
We went on a facility tour of the #EpeEcoPark of #CleanerLagosInitiative with other environmental advocates and stakeholders in Lagos. Of concern is the waterbody behind that site and the groundwater local communities depend on. We urged the Visionscape officials to continue frequent water tests to ensure they remain in safe levels. We would be monitoring this with you in line with our #CleanLagosLagoon Initiative and follow your progress with our Wildlife of Africa Conservation Initiative #SeaTurtle ‘Ariyike’ monitoring and conservation in the Marine Waste Collection aspects as plastics wastes in water kill endangered Sea Turtles and other Marine Animals.
Project Ariyike
On October 13, 2017, Wildlife of Africa Conservation Initiative started Project Ariyike: a Sea Turtle Nesting Monitoring, Protection and Conservation work and Community Engagement in Lagos, Nigeria, with the support of Aktionsgemeinschaft Artenschutz (AGA) e.V. and The State of the World Sea Turtle (SWOT)