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After 40 Years of Extinction, Rhinos Return to Mozambique

Two black rhinos graze before sunset in Lewa Conservancy, Kenya on May 9, 2022. (AFP)
Two black rhinos graze before sunset in Lewa Conservancy, Kenya on May 9, 2022. (AFP)
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After 40 Years of Extinction, Rhinos Return to Mozambique

Two black rhinos graze before sunset in Lewa Conservancy, Kenya on May 9, 2022. (AFP)
Two black rhinos graze before sunset in Lewa Conservancy, Kenya on May 9, 2022. (AFP)

Over four decades after they became extinct locally, rhinos are roaming again the wilds of Mozambique, which is bringing the endangered species from South Africa in efforts to breathe new life into its parks and boost local tourism.

A group of rangers captured, sedated and moved black and white rhinos over 1,000 miles (1,610 km) to Mozambique's Zinave National Park, which has over 400,000 hectares and more than 2,300 other reintroduced animals.

"Rhinos are important to the ecosystem, which is one of the reasons why we're moving them all this distance and doing all this effort to get them there," Kester Vickery, a conservationist who is supervising the rhino translocation told Reuters.

The Peace Parks Foundation (PPF) conservation group, which is conducting the operation, aims to relocate over 40 rhinos in the next two years to Mozambique.

Its project manager, Anthony Alexander, said that the group has already brought in certain predators and many elephants to the park and that it was now rhinos' turn.

"It's very exciting now to complete the presence of historical species in the park," Alexander said.

This initiative is a part of a campaign to save the endangered species by relocating them to safe havens where they have a chance to increase their population.

"We are effectively spreading our eggs and putting them in different baskets," Vickery said, adding that he hoped to see a thriving population of white rhinos in Zinave in 10 years.

Mozambican Environment Minister Ivete Maibaze said in a statement that this historic translocation will also be beneficial for the country's emerging eco-tourism industry.

Mozambique's wildlife numbers were badly hit by a 15-year civil war that ended in 1992, and by poaching.

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Air Pollution from Fires Linked to 1.5 Million Deaths a Year

The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File
The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File
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Air Pollution from Fires Linked to 1.5 Million Deaths a Year

The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File
The study was released a week after Ecuador declared a national emergency due to forest fires. Galo Paguay / AFP/File

Air pollution caused by fires is linked to more than 1.5 million deaths a year worldwide, the vast majority occurring in developing countries, a major new study said on Thursday.
This death toll is expected to rise in the coming years as climate change makes wildfires more frequent and intense, according to the study in The Lancet journal.
The international team of researchers looked at existing data on "landscape fires", which include both wildfires that rage through nature and planned fires such as controlled burns on farming land.
Around 450,000 deaths a year from heart disease were linked to fire-related air pollution between 2000 and 2019, the researchers said.
A further 220,000 deaths from respiratory disease were attributed to the smoke and particulates spewed into the air by fire, AFP said.
From all causes around the world, a total of 1.53 million annual deaths were associated with air pollution from landscape fires, according to the study.
More than 90 percent of these deaths were in low and middle-income countries, it added, with nearly 40 percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
The countries with the highest death tolls were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
A record amount of illegal burning of farm fields in northern India has been partly blamed for noxious smog that has recently been choking the capital New Delhi.
The authors of the Lancet study called for "urgent action" to address the huge death toll from landscape fires.
The disparity between rich and poor nations further highlights "climate injustice", in which those who have contributed the least to global warming suffer from it the most, they added.
Some of the ways people can avoid smoke from fires -- such as moving away from the area, using air purifiers and masks, or staying indoors -- are not available to people in poorer countries, the researchers pointed out.
So they called for more financial and technological support for people in the hardest-hit countries.
The study was released a week after UN climate talks where delegates agreed to a boost in climate funding that developing countries slammed as insufficient.
It also came after Ecuador declared a national emergency over forest fires that have razed more than 10,000 hectares in the country's south.
The world has also been battered by hurricanes, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events during what is expected to be the hottest year in recorded history.