More efforts are needed to conserve and protect the remaining Grey Crowned Cranes to attract more tourists. Environment officials and experts from the species’ key range states made the call yesterday at a meeting in Musanze District to chat ways to protect and conserve the birds. Participants noted that Grey Crowned Cranes, which are found in Eastern and Southern Africa, have faced a dramatic decline over the past decades, due to loss or deterioration of their habitats, illegal removal of birds and eggs from the wild for food, traditional use, domestication and illegal trade. Estimates show that currently Rwanda has about 500 cranes down from 1,000 a few years ago. “The population of Grey Crowned Cranes is drastically declining, the workshop is about drafting an action plan which can be adopted by range states to reverse the downward trend,” Marie Laetitia Busokeye, Director of Research and Environmental Planning at Rwanda Environment Management (Rema) said. The message, she added, is that wildlife is important for ecological balance, and economic development so it is always important to protect the biodiversity and especially the Grey Crown Cranes. Statistics The three-day workshop was organised by Rema in partnership with the Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (UNEP/AEWA Secretariat), the International Crane Foundation and the Endangered Wildlife Trust Partnership. The participating countries are DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and Burundi. In Rwanda, Rugezi wetland in Gicumbi District is the home for the cranes, with over 108, according to a survey conducted in 2009 though there are several other sites scattered throughout the country. Prof. Laurent Ntahuga from Burundi said the cranes are so loved and attractive that some people were named after them. He, however, noted that nowadays farmers have destroyed their habitats. “We had over 600 (in Burundi) in 2006 but now we have less than 100. There is a need to enforce the law, we already have laws but are not implemented,” said Ntahuga who is the chief of an association protecting birds in Burundi. Overall estimates suggest that the species’ global population has declined from over 100,000 in 1985 to between 50,000 and 64,000 in 2004. Since the population is declining rapidly, the current population size is likely to be lower than this, officials said. ****** PROTECTION DRIVE In an effort to protect the Grey Crowned Crane, Rwanda classified it in the protected birds as it is stated in the Ministerial Order No.007/2008 of 15/08/2008 establishing the list of protected animal and plant species. This discouraged cranes poachers as it is prohibited to kill, injure and capture animals of the endangered species, destroy or damage habitats, larvae, pupae and the young animals of the endangered species. Any person who poaches, sells, injures or kills a gorilla or other endangered animal species shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of more than five to 10 years and a fine of Rwf 500,000 to Rwf 5,000,000 under article 94 of the Organic Law N° 04/2005 of 08/04/2005.
