Wildlife Weekly

This first episode from Season 4 focuses on World Pangolin Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about one of the most trafficked mammals on the planet: the pangolin. We'll be exploring the challenges pangolins face, the tireless efforts being made to save them, and what we can all do to make a difference. It also feature an interview with Dr. Mark Ofua, the Nigeria representative for Wild Africa

This pod is brought to you through a partnership between Wild Africa and Yabatech Radio 89.3FM Lagos.

On World Ranger Day, we celebrate the individuals around the world who play an essential role in safeguarding our planet’s natural resources. Their skills are indispensable in combating poaching, illegal fishing, and other threats that jeopardize wildlife and exacerbate climate change.

One of Africa's first wildlife shows for kids, Dr Mark, a qualified wildlife vet, spends each episode educating kids about a different animal relevant to the African continent. The episodes unpack general information about each species as well as the threats they face and what we can do to help protect them.

Forests cover one third of the earth's land mass, performing vital functions and supporting the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people. Forests are vital for human survival but have been hit hard by human activity. Every year, approximately 12 million hectares of forest are destroyed.  Forests are home to more than half of the world’s land-based species of animals, plants and insects. They combat climate change because of their capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it, which is called forest mitigation. Forests also buffer the impacts of storms and floods. By feeding our rivers, forests supply drinking water for nearly half of the world’s largest cities. They also provide shelter, jobs and security for forest-dependent populations.

On Tuesday, 9th January 2024, the Nigerian government organized its first-ever Ivory crush, destroyed massive stockpiles of seized elephant tusks, and worked ivory weighing about 2.5 tonnes (2,436.15 kilograms).

The event was held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, and was spearheaded by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) in collaboration with the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation (EPIF).

Nigeria's first-ever ivory crush is a watershed moment for a country working to conserve its elephant population and combat the illegal ivory trade.   

In March 2021, the Nigerian Breweries Plc awarded the restoration of an area (about 600 ha) of Olokemeji Forest Reserve to the IITA Forest Center, with the Ogun State Government as an implementing partner. The Olokemeji Forest Reserve covering about 5,900 ha and located between two mega-cities in Nigeria, Abeokuta and Ibadan, is one of the largest forest reserves in southwest Africa. The Forest Reserve is managed by the Ogun State Government, but highly degraded due to unsustainable exploitation and farming practices. The Olokemeji Reforestation Project is a corporate social responsibility of the Nigerian Breweries Plc to give back to the surrounding communities where they get their most important resource for production – water.

On the show today, let’s talk deforestation and the latest happening in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital

As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change, preserve wildlife, and support more than eight billion people, trees inevitably hold a major part of the answer. Yet the mass destruction of trees—deforestation—continues, sacrificing the long-term benefits of standing trees for short-term gain of fuel, and materials for manufacturing and construction.

We need trees for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that they absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale and the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that human activities emit. As those gases enter the atmosphere, global warming increases, a trend scientists now prefer to call climate change.

There is also the imminent danger of disease caused by deforestation. An estimated 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases come from animals, and a major cause of viruses’ jump from wildlife to humans is habitat loss, often through deforestation.

African grey parrots are bright, intelligent, long living birds.  They are known to be smart, talented mimics. But their popularity has taken a heavy toll on their wild populations. The parrot, which once flourished in Nigeria and several West African countries, has nearly disappeared from the wild due to unsustainable trapping and habitat loss.  African grey parrots are one of the most commonly traded of all birds. More than one million wild grey parrots were likely traded between 1982 and 2001. Ifeanyi Ezenwa, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria's Department of Zoology and Environmental Biology, has been keeping track of these activities since 2017. He also works for the World Parrot Trust, an international NGO focused on the conservation and welfare of parrots.