By Alan Lee The National Biodiversity Assessment 2025 (NBA) was launched on 9 December 2025 by an array of governmental luminaries, including Deputy Minister Bernice Swarts. The NBA marks a major milestone for biodiversity science and conservation in South Africa. Produced by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) together with more than a hundred...
By Anton Crone I visited Mauritius some years ago. By then I had already read The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions by David Quammen, an exceptional exploration of how isolation shapes evolution, and how it also makes islands hotspots for extinction. But I wasn’t in Mauritius for its ecology....
Editor of African Birdlife magazine Anton Crone conducted an interview with debut author and conservation biologist Lovelater Sebele discussing her new title, Through the Eyes of Vultures. Sebele takes readers through the strife and ever-changing landscapes that vultures face each day. Through the eyes of this misunderstood species, she brings science and conservation to the...
Cape Town (08 December 2025) – The Western Cape has added 47 000 hectares to its conservation estate through the declaration of two new nature reserves and the expansion of two others. This major boost to the province’s protected areas creates vital space for Cape mountain zebras to breed and improves protection for a wide range...
By Faye Knight – The coastline of southern Africa has been facing an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) since July 2025, specifically in the Western Cape and Gqeberha regions and marking this outbreak to be the first since April 2024. The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) has played...
Calling all bird-enthusiasts, nature-lovers and friendly competitive teams: this year (on 6 December 2025) the team at BirdLife South Africa are once again calling you to take part in their annual Birding Big Day. It’s simple: register your team, pick your patch (either a 50 km radius or a more relaxed 6 km radius), get...
With fewer than 340 individuals thought to be left in the wild, the Botha’s Lark could become the first bird in mainland Africa to go extinct in modern memory, but recent breakthrough discoveries are giving conservationists hope. 18 November 2025, Johannesburg, South Africa – A resident of South Africa’s high-altitude grasslands, the Botha’s Lark (Spizocorys fringillaris)...
18 November, 2026 – WWF South Africa has announced the recipients of its 2025 Living Planet Award, honouring individuals and organisations whose work strengthens the country’s environmental future. This year’s awardees are Dr John Kani in the individual category for his work as the longest-serving trustee of the WWF Nedbank Green Trust, and for his...
N’Djamena, Chad, 17 October– The Chadian government and the conservation organisation African Parks have restored their partnership agreements for the management of the country’s protected areas, ending a two-week diplomatic standoff triggered by Chad’s unilateral termination of the accords earlier this month. In a joint statement signed in N’Djamena by Environment Minister Hassan Bakhit Djamous and African Parks’ Chief Executive Officer Peter...
By Anton Crone – With a great variety of field guides (old and new) in circulation, and phone apps to back them up, birders are spoilt for choice when it comes to tools that help identify birds. But there has been a gap. Regional definitions vary but the general consensus among South African birders is...
