Current awareness is the term used to describe staying informed by keeping up to date with the latest publications, research and news in your field.
The perspective of current awareness is the present and the forthcoming, as opposed to the retrospective.
Current awareness ranges from looking for information on specific topics on a regular basis (and this usually involves the assistance of your Personal Librarian to help you set up a search profile matched to your research interests) to embracing a wider, more general, and cross-disciplinary view that brings an element of serendipity into your search for the latest information.
Informally, researchers remain alert in all contexts for useful information and insights that will inform their daily practice, their research, and spark off innovative and creative ideas for new avenues of research.
Website of the month
February's websites of the month are:
To lead and partner in statistical systems for evidence-based decisions.
Don’t despair. There is hope. We promise. Finding that special someone to spend Valentine’s Day with has just become a little bit easier. From left field in the realm of dating advice enter the statisticians, who combine data and geography to show you where you can look for love
Mission
To improve health status through the prevention of illnesses and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and to consistently improve the healthcare delivery system by focusing on access, equity, efficiency, quality and sustainability.
The year is marked with many special days, weeks, and months dedicated and devoted to raising awareness about important issues.
This monthly post, compiled by the Information Search Librarians Team, will note special dates and themes, and draw your attention to possibly interesting cross-disciplinary topical references intended to inform and to inspire ideas for research.
Selected Noteworthy Days in February 2017:
2 Feb World Wetlands Day 2017 20 Feb World Day of Social Justice 2017 |
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21 Feb International Tourist Guide Day 2017 | |||||||
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An unwanted guest: El Niño and Africa in 2016 - IRIN
Government to provide a further R32 million for drought relief - Sabc News
Double standards and racism deepen in South Africa - Mail & Guardian
We will blacklist non-paying students - NSFAS - News24
NSFAS criteria remains the same in 2016 - News 24
Govt to fund R4.5bn NSFAS shortfall - News 24
Sierra Leone implements Ebola vaccination programme - Business Day Live
Denmark passes controversial bill to seize assets and valuables from refugees - The Washington Post
Bifocal economy at the root of SA’s structural inequality - Business Day Live
SA worst-hit in Africa with dramatic decline in foreign direct investment - Business Day Live
Cheap oil: boon for some, bust for others - Times Live
Kenya to lead African growth story in 2016 - Moneyweb
The Islamic State’s strategy to cause death and destruction in Europe - The Washington Post
January turning into 'Janu-worry'? - Fin24
10 things you should know about new tax laws in South Africa - BusinessTech
South Africa Raises Key Rate to 6.75% - tradingeconomics.com
Netflix arrives in South Africa!
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has cracked down on ill-discipline in the party and has initiated charges against Jacob Zuma loyalist Tony Yengeni for bringing it into disrepute.
Mbalula has also brought charges against national executive committee member and deputy police minister Obed Bapela over a visit to Morocco last year in violation of ANC policy.
He announced the disciplinary crackdown on Monday at a briefing in Cape Town ahead of the ANC’s 113th anniversary celebrations, which will culminate in an address to its January 8 commemoration by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday.
The ANC uses the annual event to focus on its policy priorities and programmes inside and outside government for the year ahead.
In response to questions, Mbalula said that he had informed Yengeni, a former member of the ANC national executive committee, that he would be charging him over his online comments, which brought the party into disrepute.
Mbalula described Yengeni, who was jailed in 2006 for lying to parliament over a luxury vehicle he received from a defence contractor, as a “political Casanova” who “thinks he is a law unto himself”.
He said Yengeni was “spewing vagrant political views that are embraced by a few malcontents who are opposed to the ANC”.
“He will be charged. I have called him. I have informed him via SMS that we are going to charge him,” Mbalula said. “We will bring him before the disciplinary committee of the ANC.”
Yengeni was a “very ill-disciplined member of the ANC” who “supports everything about the uMkhonto weSizwe party”.
Mbalula said he would be charged over a number of statements he had made which contradicted ANC policy and brought it into disrepute and that action would be taken against other errant party members.
“Discipline in the ANC is important. We have seen other people on Twitter every day … leaders of the ANC tweeting things that bring the ANC into disrepute. They too will be attended to very soon.”
Mbalula said there was “nothing wrong about raising views but to attack the organisation and cast aspersions on the leadership of the ANC, that will not be tolerated”.
“They will be brought to book. They will be brought to discipline.”
The national ANC was aware that some provincial leaders had decided to ignore ill-discipline, despite their responsibility to instil order, and would intervene where they failed to do so.
“The time to talk and not discipline people who bring the organisation into disrepute is over,” he said.
Bapela would be charged for “distorting ANC policy” over his trip to Morocco and had been informed of this.
Mbalula said the only issue on the agenda for the national executive committee meeting on Monday evening would be the adoption of the January 8 statement, which had been processed by party officials on Sunday.
The January 8 rally will be held in marquees at Mandela Park in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, an ANC stronghold, to “communicate a message” that the party wanted to “reconnect with our people” in the Western Cape and elsewhere.
Mbalula said that committee would “reflect upon” the decision by the South African Communist Party to contest elections on its own and that it had an “appointment” with the party at which it would brief the ANC leadership on the decision.
He said the ANC was against the communist party going it alone as this would weaken the alliance further and was a “catastrophe” from his party’s point of view.
However, they would engage internally, and not in the media, Mbalula said.
Yengeni did not respond to calls from the Mail & Guardian.
It took mere minutes for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning feature photograph of a collapsed, frail, famine-starved child, hungrily eyed by a vulture, to elicit an outcry from the readers of The New York Times when it was first published on 26 March, 1993.
The horror was in response to a question of ethics on the part of the photographer, South African Kevin Carter. Questions raised included whether it was ethical for him to prioritise a picture over a child’s welfare. Whether he should have intervened, and helped the child, instead of taking the photograph.
This struck a chord with me while leading an intervention by Danish humanitarian NGO DanChurchAid with local and international journalists, capturing accounts of loss and damage caused by Cyclone Idai in eastern Zimbabwe, in 2009, and in southern Malawi devastated by Cyclone Freddy in February 2023.
The same went for the imagery from Cyclone Chido in December 2024, the floods in Tanzania that resulted in 150 deaths in April 2024, as well as the heavy rains which devastated parts of Kenya, Somalia and other countries.
It brought to mind images of Amélia, the woman who gave birth in a mango tree during the floods that killed 700 people in Mozambique in February and March 2000. Ironically, that image of her baby, wrapped in dirty cloth and being rescued by a helicopter, helped raise millions of dollars for affected people.
The implication is that journalists and journalism can be catalysts for good, elevating the plight of the otherwise voiceless, in the remotest parts of the continent and the world, onto the global stage, soliciting assistance and raising awareness.
But critics say that although Carter’s photo increased awareness by highlighting the consequences of famine on children, it rendered animal life superior to the weakest in society, our children.
It later became known that the child was trying to reach a United Nations feeding centre a kilometre away in Ayod, in what is now South Sudan, and survived. Carter took his own life, at the age of 33, prompted by mental anguish according to his suicide letter, four short months after receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography award in 1994.
Photojournalists have an obligation to tell the visual story; that is their job. But nobody hears their stories, the stories of the personal cost of their jobs to their consciences and their souls. While social media might have numbed us to human suffering, the journalists whose job it is to tell the story, must still tell the story.
Thoko Chikondi, an award-winning photojournalist from Malawi, reflected: “I have many questions about this job. Do we really help people? You see the suffering but you cannot help. Even if I have 10 000 Malawi kwacha in my pocket the rules of the job say I cannot give it to them.”
Over the years, Chikondi has covered health disasters, including cholera outbreaks and Covid-19, where the risks to her own health have been high. But that is the price the silent witness must pay to tell the world the story.
She has seen a hospital — the only hospital for miles around — filled with sand, deposited by Cyclone Freddy, and medical staff scrambling to assist as patients died.
She has heard the anguish of mothers searching for their children during mudslides. Felt the plight of those left homeless, having lost every single one of their worldly possessions in a flash. She has witnessed mass burials and the torment of grief on those left behind.
Chikondi recounted being drenched in torrential rain, carrying her camera on her head tightly wrapped in a plastic bag, while wading through chest-deep “angry” flood waters, unsure of her next step, on a cold, dark night. And young men lifting her on their shoulders to take the pictures that graced the covers of newspapers around the world, bringing news of the devastating effect of Cyclone Freddy.
“I don’t know if you can say they did it because they understood that my job, and those pictures, would help them, or if it was just human kindness. These crises seem to bring out the humanity in people,” she said.
It’s been 30 years since the iconic image that triggered The Vulture and the Little Girl controversy. Where does the world stand today on photographic and journalistic ethics? Where is the outcry over the visual stories of today’s injustices and of climate change horrors?
It is clear that there is no global assistance coming to help address not only the socio-economic devastation, but the accompanying mental anguish of those affected by them.
Africa’s overdependence on aid is a story for another day but the fact that November’s COP29 failed the continent in such dramatic fashion, when the world has seen the images of death and destruction amounting to billions, predominantly affecting the world’s poorest, makes it clear it is time for us to rally together and focus on implementing the African Union climate strategy towards achieving the long-awaited African solution.
For now, this unaddressed issue simply means that the silent witnesses must continue to cover the continent’s pain at whatever personal cost.
Patience Ukama is a governance and communications specialist who heads communications for DanChurchAid Zimbabwe, the lead partner of the Utariri integrated biodiversity, climate change and livelihoods programme across the Zambezi Valley.
A lot is happening in the world and I probably should not be focusing on vegetables. Still, I want to underscore that there must be greater collaboration in the Southern Africa region’s agricultural community to expand production and address the poverty issues.
We cannot afford trade friction such as Botswana and Namibia’s blocking vegetables and fruit imports from South Africa. Thankfully, Botswana has corrected this policy mistake and is gradually removing the restrictions.
And yes, no one disputes that both Namibia and Botswana should develop their domestic agricultural production.
My issue has been the unfair ban and restrictions on vegetables and citrus exports from South Africa to both countries. Consumers in both countries have had to pay more for food because of supply constraints.
Economist Ndaba Gaolathe, who is Botswana’s vice-president and finance minister, recently stated that: “Anything that requires tariffs to sustain it, even in the short term, is bad economics. What is happening now is that food and vegetables have become more expensive in Botswana. Low-income groups — people who are already struggling — are spending a larger percentage of their income on food.”
What Gaolathe raises here is very important and partly at the core of the points I raised elsewhere, highlighting that with the removal of the restrictions, the people of Botswana will now have better-priced and high-quality vegetables from South Africa.
In November 2024, South Africa’s vegetables were deflated (-2,6%). Meanwhile, in Botswana, vegetable price inflation was still in double digits. This speaks to the difficulty the households had to ensure and the potential benefits of affordable prices in the coming months.
The current restrictions, which are not in the spirit of regional agricultural development, present similar pressures in Namibia.
Lifting the ban does not mean these countries have given up on their domestic production efforts. They will keep focusing on such efforts while easing near-term pressures on consumers. Gaolathe noted that: “More effective measures could include directly subsidising vegetable farmers by establishing a dedicated fund for them.”
Gaolathe also saw the need for research and development as central to boosting Botswana’s vegetable production. I fully support this view and would add that its production efforts will require collaboration and clear communication about production intentions, especially with South Africa, a major regional agricultural producer. South Africa will share technology and know-how to boost production in Botswana. The coordination could be at the organised agriculture level and government.
Our energy must be channelled towards growing Southern Africa’s agriculture and food security in a free trade area, the Southern African Customs Union.
Another matter to highlight is how important the Southern African Development Community is for South Africa’s agricultural exports. We enjoy tariff-free access to various regional countries, which supports South Africa’s agricultural growth. This growth has dwarfed that of neighbouring countries, partly contributing to the current discontent over trade.
South Africa exported $13,2 billion of agricultural products in 2023. About 40% of this is to the African continent, but these exports are concentrated in Southern Africa. Roughly 80 cents in every dollar of South Africa’s agricultural exports to Africa is from the Southern Africa region. With an economic value like this, we cannot discuss blocking trade from our neighbours. We must seek an understanding of their problems and work collaboratively to resolve them.
Beyond trade restrictions, the unrest in Mozambique is an example of such problems that the region should work to resolve speedily for the benefit of all. Wandile Sihlobo is an agricultural economist and author of A Country of Two Agricultures.
Alcohol abuse played a significant role in many of the crimes reported during KwaZulu-Natal’s Safer Festive Season operations, police said on Monday.
The month-long crackdown in December resulted in the arrest of 15,294 suspects for offences ranging from violent crimes to drug-related activities and illegal liquor trading.
Contact crimes topped the list, with 5,158 arrests, including 256 for murder and 274 for attempted murder.
KZN SAPS spokesperson, colonel Robert Netshiunda, said many of the crimes were committed with dangerous weapons such as firearms and knives. He said that 359 firearms, 3,195 rounds of ammunition, and 769 knives were confiscated during the operations.
Alcohol consumption was cited as a major contributing factor in assault cases. Police arrested 2,525 suspects for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, a crime often committed under the influence of alcohol.
Public drunkenness also triggered widespread arrests, with 554 individuals detained for being drunk in public spaces and 304 for drinking in public.
Road safety efforts similarly highlighted the role of alcohol, with 1,117 drivers arrested for driving under the influence. Police also targeted the illegal liquor trade, arresting 887 people for illegal dealing in alcohol, 15 for unlawful distribution, and 26 for illegal manufacturing.
Crimes targeting homes and businesses were also prevalent. Police arrested 264 suspects for residential burglaries, while 197 were apprehended for robbery with aggravating circumstances, house robberies, business robberies, and carjackings. Stock theft led to the arrest of 46 individuals.
Drug-related offenses remained a persistent issue, accounting for 1,367 arrests.
Crimes against women and children were prioritised, with 296 suspects arrested for rape.
The KwaZulu-Natal police emphasised that alcohol abuse is a major driver of violent and disorderly behaviour during the festive season. The operations sought not only to address these immediate crimes but also to tackle the systemic issues of alcohol misuse and illegal liquor trading that fuel criminal activities.
This is likely to be a year of recovery for South Africa’s agriculture.
Much of the county benefited from the La Niña rains, but they were late in regions such as Delmas in Mpumalanga, as well as various parts of Limpopo and the Free State.
This put a strain on grazing veld and delayed summer crop planting. Still, the overall agricultural production conditions promise to be better than in 2024, which was characterised by the mid-summer drought and animal disease.
South Africa has progressed notably in controlling the spread of foot-and-mouth and other animal diseases such as avian influenza and African swine fever. This puts the livestock and poultry subsector in an ideal position to rebuild, provided the grazing veld and yellow maize production, a primary feed, recovers.
Better dam levels and a stable electricity supply for irrigation will continue to benefit the horticulture subsector — fruit and vegetables — and floriculture.
Let us be honest, the year we have left behind was difficult. Five critical events and themes dominated the South African agricultural scene. Combined, they resulted in a mixed performance across the different agricultural subsectors in 2024.
First, we started the 2023-24 production season (this is the 2024 calendar year) aware that it would be a mild El Niño year, but the timing of it was uncertain at the start of the season. Consensus from various early forecasts showed that it would intensify from March onwards.
Theoretically, this would not be the worst timing for farmers because the crop would have passed the pollination stages requiring moisture. As a result, we had assumed that South Africa would still achieve a decent harvest.
Farmers planted slightly higher areas for the 2023-24 summer grains and oilseeds than the previous one. The good rains at the start of the season were a major incentive for farmers, along with relatively higher agricultural commodity prices. Indeed, for the first few months of the season, South Africa seemed to be in for a decent summer grains and oilseed harvest.
The conditions changed for the worst from February to the end of March 2024. The country did not receive any meaningful rains throughout this period, and there was also a severe heatwave. This resulted in significant crop failure and financial loss to farmers because they had planted a slightly bigger area.
By the end of the season, South Africa’s 2023-24 summer grains and oilseed harvest was down 23% from the previous season at 15.4 million tonnes. The consequence of crop failure is the tight grain supply and higher commodity prices.
Second, animal disease continued to be a major problem for farmers, with cases of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, African swine fever in pigs and avian influenza in poultry.
Although animal disease outbreaks are not unique to South Africa, they intensified. In 2022, six of South Africa’s nine provinces reported foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. This was the first time in the country’s history that the disease had spread this wide. Livestock and poultry farming account for roughly half of agriculture’s annual gross value added.
This situation prompted the government and industry stakeholders to increase their focus on strengthening farm biosecurity controls and surveillance. Other interventions that are still being implemented include efforts to improve South Africa’s veterinary and related support services (mainly the laboratories) that deal with vaccine production needs.
On 25 October 2024, the department of agriculture released positive news, which we believe will further support the recovery path of the industry. “The foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which occurred during 2021-2022, has been successfully resolved in the North West, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces. These provinces … have now completed comprehensive testing of animals on quarantined farms. The results indicate that the foot-and-mouth disease virus is no longer present.”
This is admirable progress and further supports South Africa’s ambition of being a global player in red meat exports. Addressing biosecurity issues is essential for a successful path to the export markets.
Third, there were other positive developments in 2024. One, which is not agriculture-specific, is the improvement in electricity supply. This partly contributed to robust horticulture production.
It is always worth highlighting that all of South Africa’s horticulture — fruits, vegetables and floriculture — depends on irrigation, which requires an adequate power supply.
Furthermore, crucial field crops such as roughly 20% of maize, 15% of soybean, 34% of sugarcane and nearly 50% of wheat are produced under irrigation.
Electricity is also used in various processing activities related to red meat, poultry, piggery, wool and dairy production. Similarly, agribusinesses and other food-producing businesses and various downstream processing activities, such as milling, bakeries, abattoirs, wine processing, packaging and animal vaccine production,rely on electricity. Thus, we believe a better electricity supply enabled better agricultural operations in 2024.
Fourth, logistics infrastructure efficiency remains a primary concern for the farming sector. But the ongoing collaboration between Transnet, private companies and various logistical organisations helps ensure the continuous flow of products, even if there are delays in specific periods.
The gains of this collaboration are visible in the export figures. South Africa’s cumulative agricultural export value for the first three quarters of 2024 is up 4% from 2023, at $10.55 billion. This reflects an uptick in the volume of various agricultural exports and the price surge in some products.
The top exported products by value include citrus, nuts, maize, apples and pears, wine, fruit juices, sugar, dates, figs, avocados and mangos, berries and grapes.
Last, the commitment to policy continuity after the formation of the government of national unity is also a noteworthy development for South Africa’s agriculture. Ordinarily, when a new government begins its term, there would be a temptation to introduce new policies and programmes. At times, such practices are justified.
But the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan has already been formulated and embraced by business, labour, government and other social partners. There was no need for introducing a new policy, and the seventh administration has committed to continuity and a sharper focus on the implementation of policy and programmes.
Among other things, this is also why the sentiment in the sector improved notably in recent months.
As we start 2025, there is renewed optimism in the sector on the back of relatively better rainfall and improvements in the animal disease control front. This may boost the output in the sector.
From a policy perspective, this year’s focus should remain on the opening of export markets, improvement of the network industries and improving municipality performance.
Moreover, there also needs to be a relentless focus on implementing the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan because it carries relevant and necessary interventions to support the inclusive growth of South Africa’s agricultural sector.
Wandile Sihlobo is an agricultural economist.
More than 1.6 million illegally harvested succulent plants — representing more than 650 different species — were seized by law-enforcement authorities in South Africa from 2019 to May 2024, as the plants transit Southern Africa to overseas markets.
The illegal trade, which occurs through online platforms such as social media, has severely affected biodiversity in the Succulent Karoo Biome, according to a new report by Traffic — an NGO working to ensure that trade in wild species is legal and sustainable.
“It is thought that single episodes of illegal harvesting have resulted in whole species extinctions,” said the report, which delves into the complexities of the illicit succulent trade.
“Their loss degrades ecosystems, deprives South Africa of unique natural resources and criminalises those drawn into illegal harvesting for financial gain.”
The rampant illegal trade of the region’s endangered succulent plants is pushing some of the world’s rarest botanical treasures toward extinction. These iconic plants, some of which have survived for thousands of years in harsh desert climates, are now under threat from the surging global demand for exotic houseplants.
The shadowy trade has boomed since the Covid-19 pandemic, with the rise of social media and online marketplaces further worsening the crisis by enabling traffickers to target plant enthusiasts in the UK, Europe, Asia, and the US.
In one high-profile case, a South Korean, Byungsu Kim, dubbed the “world’s most notorious succulent thief”, was arrested in Cape Town with 60 000 rare Conophytum succulents, some of which were centuries old.
“These plants are part of the soul and heritage of South Africa,” said Dominique Prinsloo, Traffic’s project manager in South Africa.
“We urgently need a better understanding of succulent plant crime, enhanced tools for detection and enforcement and new online trading policies to combat this crime and protect these plants for the people and ecosystems that rely on them.”
In 1998, Traffic published a study reporting that South Africa had a thriving international trade in succulent plants, based largely on artificially propagated plants produced by the country’s well-established nursery community, with exports forming the bulk of this trade.
That study noted that South Africa became known as an exporter of illegal wild-collected succulents during the Seventies when commercial collectors documented the destruction of specific Lithops populations.
“It was a concern at the time of the study’s publication that some plants offered for export as ‘artificially propagated’ were wild-collected, and this concern is still relevant today,” the report said.
About 3 500 species and infraspecific taxa (for example, subspecies, variety, cultivar or form) of succulent plants occur throughout South Africa and Namibia.
These plants reach their greatest abundance and diversity in the semiarid, winter-rainfall climate of the southern and western parts of South Africa, where they are often the dominant life form.
“Given that many of these succulent species are endemic to South Africa and Namibia and occur in small populations, illegal harvesting (picking indigenous/protected/specially protected flora that is listed in the provincial and national legislation without a permit) is a severe threat to the survival of these plants in the wild,” the report said.
In South Africa, the illegal harvesting of succulent flora is “now rife” in both private reserves and in state-protected areas in the Succulent Karoo Biome, which spans Namaqualand, the Hantam, Tanqua and Roggeveld regions as well as the Little Karoo in the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape.
About 16% (1 589 species) of the world’s estimated 10 000 succulent species occur in the Succulent Karoo Biome.
Interviewees described the demographics of roleplayers in the illegal succulent supply chain as illicit harvesters, intermediaries, exporters, organisers, syndicate leaders and financiers.
“The interviewees believed that consumers range from naive online purchasers who lack awareness of the consequences of their purchasing behaviours to specialist collectors who knowingly seek rare, novel or ‘authentic’ wild specimens.”
Most of the demand is believed to be coming from the US, Europe and Asia. However, some interviewees believe that there are consumers within South Africa, “but to a far lesser extent”.
Dwarf succulents were mentioned most often as being traded illegally.
“It was suggested that caudex plants, variegated/crested species, specific bulb species and other ornamental plants have become more popular in recent years.”
On how the prices of the plants are determined, nursery owners said that it was based on numerous factors, including size, age, cultivar, variety, special mutations, colour morphs, scarcity and market prices.
For the illegal trade, most illegally harvested succulents are sourced from outside protected areas in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape and Namibia and Madagascar.
Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi have been implicated as transit countries in the illegal trade from South Africa and Namibia.
Illegally harvested succulents are believed to be destined for Asia, specifically China, South Korea and Japan, as well as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Czechia, Hungary, the UK, the US and Saudi Arabia.
For legal trade, based on trade data between 1995 and 2021 from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), most commodities reported by number were wild-sourced (55%) or artificially propagated (44%).
Three importers — Belgium, Germany, and the US — accounted for more than 85% of all legal direct imports of live specimens from listed succulents from South Africa between 1995 and 2021.
“Rare succulents are seen as a status symbol. Additionally, consumers living in small apartment buildings with limited space demand portable, durable, long-lived, low-maintenance ‘natural elements’ to add beauty to their apartments.”
Financial reasons were cited as the biggest motivator for taking part in the illegal succulent trade. Many succulents are “easily accessible”, while collection trips can occur quickly and are very profitable.
Some interviewees viewed illegal succulent harvesting among locals in South Africa as largely opportunistic because of economic circumstances, the report said.
“Based on the information gathered from interviewees, it is evident that the modus operandi of illegal harvesting is very systematic. Illegal harvesters had prior knowledge of the area and targeted specific sites. Coastal roads are being used more often, as opposed to major routes.”
Plants were transported to designated depots or warehouses for sorting, organising, packing and exporting.
“The poached succulents are neatly wrapped in cotton or toilet/tissue paper for protection and packed into boxes. In the past, plants were concealed as or within toys, dried fruit, ornaments or household goods.”
The packaged plants are exported via a postal service or private courier companies. Payments across the value chain are made using cash, electronic bank transfers, gift vouchers or drugs.
“Interviewees mentioned the convergence between the illegal trade in succulents and other commodities, including abalone, rhino horn, ivory and reptiles.”
While the demand for South African succulent plants has existed since the Nineties, the interviewees mentioned two key events or periods that might have increased demand.
“The 2015-2016 El Niño-induced drought increased domestic demand for succulents as these plants require minimal water for domestic gardens.
“The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 saw a major shift in the role of players involved in the succulent trade,” the report said.
Before the pandemic, people from China, South Korea, Japan and the Czech Republic would visit South Africa to remove plants and smuggle them back to their countries.
“During the pandemic, it has been suggested that foreign nationals opted to recruit locals to poach succulents on their behalf due to lockdown restrictions and have continued to do it this way ever since,” the report said, noting that the number of succulent seizures in South Africa drastically increased in the years following the pandemic.
The past five years have seen significant developments in protection mechanisms for the country’s succulent flora through the implementation of provincial and national legislation; precedents set by court cases; the development and implementation of the National Response Strategy and Action Plan to Address the Illegal Trade in South African Succulent Flora and international treaties.
This includes the listing of 17 species and the entire Conophytum genus on Cites Appendix III. This is a list of species included at the request of a party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.
However, several challenges hamper enforcement efforts to combat succulent plant trafficking and prevent a legal, sustainable trade in these plants from which South Africans could benefit, Traffic’s research found.
Some enforcement agencies lack awareness of the dynamics and severity of the illegal succulent trade stemming from South Africa and other African countries such as Namibia and Madagascar.
Research into illegal succulent trade dynamics, especially the consequences, such as heritage loss, habitat destruction and the irreplaceable nature of succulents, should be disseminated through information-sharing sessions or awareness interventions with these officials.
The influx of confiscated plants is unmanageable, the report said.
“The sheer volume of plants that require potting and care is resource-intensive, and most agencies do not have the capacity and funds to care for these plants in the short and long term,” it said.
The government needs to allocate a budget to support the implementation of the national strategy, including the care of confiscated plants.
The public is generally unaware of the illegal trade in succulent plants and campaigns should be run to raise awareness of the ecological consequences of these biodiversity crimes, especially for local communities and young people.
Many local nurseries cannot legally trade in indigenous flora. Interviewees explained the difficulties in obtaining permits.
“To create livelihood opportunities and support local businesses, many challenges must be addressed regarding acquiring permits to sell and export protected and specially protected flora,” the authors said.
Should you wish to read Current Awareness guides of previous years, visit the Archive.
If you are looking for 2017's forthcoming conferences, the following websites are helpful:
This month's peer-reviewed articles of choice are:
Love hurts : computer, network and e-mail security
He loves me not - and what was it worth
(2005)
De Rebus 2005, pp 17 - 19Alick Costa argues that sexist and demeaning attitudes still prevail against women when redistributing assets of a failed marriage.
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