Lindy Rodwell recently won a Rolex award for her role in saving cranes. Her achievements all started with a childhood dream.
In her youth Lindy Rodwell loved watching birds with binoculars on family holidays. “My father was a keen birder and our family spent a lot of time in the bush following wildlife around,” she says. “That was my initiation for my future career.”
The grown-up Rodwell is now the African programme coordinator of the South African Crane Working Group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. As such she was a winner last year of a Rolex Award for Enterprise – one of five laureates selected from 113 countries to win these prestigious prizes. The Rolex awards recognise outstanding people undertaking ground-breaking projects that advance human knowledge and well-being.
Rodwell decided to study zoology at the University of Cape Town because of her childhood memories. “I wanted to do something relating to animals, because of the love for nature and animals that was imprinted on me at an early stage.
“I had a romantic view of zoology, about swimming with dolphins and all that delightful stuff that kids dream about. But since then I’ve realised that conservation is not about animals, but about the people threatening them. Without the actions of people there would be no need for conservation.”
Rodwell has spent the past 11 years spearheading crane conservation in South Africa. Early in her career she did field work in places like Dullstroom, Mpumalanga, but as her involvement deepened she became more of an administrator.
After university she worked for Wildlife SA, but decided she needed to broaden her horizons. She took time off from conservation to travel overseas. After an internship at the Crane Foundation in Wisconsin, United States, she returned to South Africa and got involved in crane conservation.
She has attended several workshops in the past 10 years where she helped to develop plans to bring together all groups interested in cranes. The South African Crane Working Group came into being as a result of these plans.
“The different provincial groups in South Africa were not collaborating,” she explains. “We developed a plan to bring them together under one umbrella and only then did crane conservation really take off.”
Today the workgroup has a full-time staff of 12, in addition to dozens of volunteers. Their main aim is to raise awareness about the importance of cranes to different communities.
In 2000 Rodwell was invited to join a group to devise a strategy to conserve cranes in other parts of Africa as well. This strategy across Africa’s borders won her the Rolex award.
“The award is not about individuals, but about a whole team that works hard in their field. The people from Rolex aren’t looking for lone rangers. They look for people who fit into a team set-up,” she says.
Rodwell and her team of field experts educate residents
of crane habitats to help the endangered birds survive in a
hostile environment. They also conduct captive-breeding
programmes.
Cranes are threatened in Southern Africa primarily due to loss of habitat. Increased agriculture and developments such as dams contribute to the birds’ demise. Poisoning, veld fires and birds crashing into power lines also raise the threats.
The wattled crane population in particular is in crisis. “The bird is the most endangered you can get – it is heading for extinction. We’ve only got 230 or 240 left in the wild in South Africa,” Rodwell warns.
She adds that all South Africans should be worried about the wattled crane. It is a species that indicates the health of wetlands, an ecosystem important to people as a source of our water.
“If you save the wattled crane and you save the wetland in which it lives, you’re obviously saving that habitat for everything else that lives in it and helping preserve South Africa’s rare water resources.”
The crane crisis extends far beyond South Africa’s borders. Most of the wattled cranes’ remaining habitat lies in south-central Africa, in a vast network of riverine systems that stretch over 10 African countries. The Kafue flats in Zambia are the heart of the wattle cranes’ remaining habitat – and these wetlands are some of the most abused in Africa.
Rodwell took on the African challenge with everything she could muster. Together with the International Crane Foundation’s Richard Beilfuss, her team created the ambitious Africa programme, which plans to build a network for crane conservationists across Africa.
“There is such important value in networking, in ensuring that research results coming out of Zambia or Botswana or Mozambique are shared,” she says. “We don’t want to take ownership of each country’s programme, just support and link the fundamental philosophy of crane conservation.”
Cranes do not abide by man-made boundaries, she adds. “The Zambezi River system and its associated floodplains, for example, extend across four countries. If one part of the river system or floodplain is damaged or degraded, it will naturally affect another part of the system downstream.”
The role of the wetlands in the Zambezi valley is particularly important. “The construction of Cabora Bassa and Kariba Dam had an influence on the ecosystem and wetlands in the Zambezi valley, and thus on the crane populations in Zambia and Zimbabwe.”
Despite her misgivings, Rodwell recognises the important role humans play in conserving wetlands and cranes in Africa. “The communities using the wetlands are not adversaries. They need to be included in the conservation process so they realise the value that the wetlands represent to them. The Africa programme aims to preserve the way of life of those who farm and fish the wetlands, balancing environmental and human needs.”
The programme aims to empower local conservationists in the communities to lead initiatives, where in the past traditional conservation efforts tended to rely on outsiders.
Rodwell says there is also no point in being confrontational with corporations that are developing Africa’s infrastructure. “We have to accept development. There is a need for the advancement of better infrastructure in Africa and that has to be facilitated. But the development must be appropriate. If a dam needs to be built, all the roleplayers should engage in dialogue to ensure that the dam is built in the appropriate place.”
She advises conservationists to get involved in development and not always oppose it. “If we work together with the developers and consult with them, it will be to the advantage of all. Man and the environment can co-exist if the process is facilitated with the necessary input. “Wherever they build a dam, there is going to be environmental damage. But the corporations can be urged to plough [resources] back into the environment and so create a win-win situation.” n