THE VIEWFINDERNEWSLETTER: ISSUE NO 38, DECEMBER 2004 [Where has the year gone?] [Nobel Peace Surprize] [Kenya Wildlife Service] [Flamingo Movements] [Travel] December seems to have come round much more quickly than usual, and the Wildscreen festival has almost faded from our memories. Jean was pleased to see so many old friends, and to make new ones, and we were all delighted that the Filmmakers for Conservation Panda was awarded to Alan Root. In 2005, we are going to break from tradition and give the Jackson Hole festival a miss. Instead, Delulu will be attending the festival in Missoula. As the year draws to a close, we look back on the 74 film crews that have passed through our hands. In addition to the variety mentioned in the last newsletter, we appear to have gained recognition from two Catholic missionaries from Spain, so our horizons continue to expand in surprising directions. It came very unexpectedly to many people, but to this year's winner - Kenya's Assistant Minister for the Environment, Professor Wangari Maathai - it was beyond her wildest dreams. Long-time campaigner for the environment, she has shown enormous determination to protect Kenya's forests through her Green Belt Movement, a determination that even landed her in jail during the previous Government's tenure. So what has she done for world peace, many people ask? Has she single handedly prevented a war? Has she been particularly vocal about the situation in Iraq? Has she changed the thinking of any of the world's leaders? No. But think about it - why are so many nations at war? Why has terrorism become the fear-inspiring spectre that it has? What has happened to the old fashioned tenets of "love thy neighbour", or "live and let live"? This is how Wangari explained the connection: "Conflicts are waged over resources such as land, forests, minerals, oil and water. As the earth's resources continue to be depleted through poor management and rapacious exploitation, conflicts will flare more often, and be more difficult to contain". Is the environment the key to world peace? We've tried just about everything else. Whatever the solution is, Kenya is proud of Wangari Maathai. As Richard Leakey said at the Wildscreen festival, KWS is in a sorry state. Then followed the removal of the Chairman, Colin Church, on grounds that he was trying to privatise the organisation's financial arm. He was replaced by Rene Haller, founder of Haller Park (formerly the Bamburi Nature Trail). Then came a scandal involving the recruitment of new rangers, when 980 rangers were recruited to fill the advertised 460 vacancies. The press revealed that a number of politicians had manipulated the exercise for the benefit of their constituents. Eventually all the recruits were sent home, and the then Director was removed from office by the acting Minister for Tourism. Three of the Board members objected to the fact that this was done without consulting the Board, and in early December the entire Board was sent packing. So far, a new Board has not been appointed, and there is one lone 'acting Director' in charge. What will happen next? NEW INFORMATION ON FLAMINGO MOVEMENT New and interesting information is adding to our knowledge of the movement of Lesser Flamingos. A group of organisations including the Kenya National Museum's Department of Ornithology, the Earthwatch Institute, University of Leicester, The Wildlife & Wetlands Trust, Max Planck Research Centre for Ornithology, Darwin Institute, Vodafone and others, with the support of the County Councils of Baringo and Koibatek, are tracking the movements of a number of individual flamingos with satellite transmitters. As well as trying to understand the birds' movements, the study also aims to find out whether there is genetic exchange between separate populations on the African continent, and possibly in India. In the two years since the study began, many surprise discoveries have been made. For instance, a juvenile bird that was ringed in October 1962 at Lake Magadi was recovered in September 1997 in a tiny unnamed lake surrounded by sand dunes in Western Sahara. Another was discovered shortly after its death at Lake Bogoria in July 2003, making the bird over 40 years old. One bird that was tracked by satellite was found to have covered over 12,000 km in just two years. Perhaps the reason they have kept their secrets for so long is because they fly at night. Certainly it is a very long time (1959) since Leslie Brown's book "The Mystery of the Flamingoes" was published. Now, new technology aims to solve the mystery. GWB has done it again. Idiot. The day that the latest 'travel advisory' against Kenya was issued by the American State Department, Kenya was hosting both Kofi Annan and Colin Powell. They came to no harm. CHRISTMAS WISHES Jean and Delulu would both like to wish all our friends, clients and readers all the very best for the festive season. May the industry continue to grow, and may many more wonderful films be made in 2005.
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