Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Biodiversity Conservation

latest news & developments
Landscape: Stretching across a vast arid landscape of red dunes, fossil riverbeds and open savannahs, the park protects one of southern Africa’s most intact desert ecosystems. Photos: African Parks
AFRICAN PARKS

Conservation drive crosses borders

An EU-funded initiative has been launched in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, shared by South Africa and Botswana and one of southern Africa’s most important ecosystems

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
South Africa’s national bird, the blue crane, is struggling to raise chicks in parts of the Western Cape
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

SA’s national bird faces “ecological trap” in Western Cape wheatlands

A new study has warned of a sharp drop in blue crane chicks in Overberg and Swartland

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
Home: Rivers such as the Nuwejaars in the Western Cape, part of the Heuningnes River system, where the newly named redfin species is found, need to be conserved to protect them. Photo: Supplied
AGULHAS REDFIN

From unknown to icon: The Agulhas redfin’s ancient journey in South Africa’s rivers

The fish has been formally named, underscoring the urgent need for the conservation of freshwater systems and the species that call them home

  • Sheree Bega
11 min read
New regulations are in place in a bid to protect the critically endangered African penguin from the harms caused by shipping. Photo: John Yeld
AFRICAN PENGUIN POPULATION

Fishing industry, NGOs unite to save critically endangered African penguins

African penguin conservation wins with new fishing exclusion zones around key breeding islands

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
The invasive Opuntia stricta flourishing under the canopy of a native tree in the Kruger National Park. (Photo: SANParks)
ALIEN PLANT SPECIES

Study shows growing number of alien plants infesting Kruger Park

Twenty-one species in the national park are invasive, five of which are among the 100 worst invaders globally

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
Dion George is tackling resistance to mitigation and climate finance with just days left at the conference
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Environment minister pushing for climate action breakthrough at COP29

Dion George is tackling resistance to mitigation and climate finance with just days left at the conference

  • Ozayr Patel
3 min read
The men were sentenced for poaching 303 rate specied found in the Northern and Western Cape. Photo: WWF
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Illegal succulent trade is the Western Cape’s most prevalent wildlife crime

CapeNature says 650 species and more than 1.2 million harvested wild plants have been seized in the past four years

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read