Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 24th October  1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# Four elephants have been spotted near Zutshwa in Botswana’s Kgalagadi region, just 70 kilometres from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on the border of the Northern Cape, marking the closest approach in nearly a decade. SANParks’ JP Smith says this sighting has been confirmed by Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Smith says this movement may indicate shifting migration patterns. SANParks urges visitors to stay in vehicles, follow park rules, and report elephant sightings, ensuring the safety of both people and wildlife.

# The University of the Witwatersrand has been selected as one of 15 global teams awarded funding through the Bezos Earth Fund’s Artificial Intelligence for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge. Launched last year, the challenge harnesses the power of AI to tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Wits has received 31.1-million-rand in funding for its Creating FineCast, an AI-powered weather forecasting toolkit for Africa, which aims to improve the accuracy and localisation of weather predictions. The 15 winning projects span five continents.

# And finally, the Africa CSO G20 Climate, Energy and Sustainable Finance Network demands urgent action following the release of the second Global Tipping Points Report. The report has declared that the world has already breached the first major climate tipping point with the widespread mortality of warm-water coral reefs. The ACG20 says three immediate, non-negotiable actions are required: stronger mitigation efforts, a massive scale-up of dedicated climate adaptation finance, and the establishment of a fully functional damage facility that compensates for the irreversible harm already suffered.

Stay tuned for more news………….