Good news: Efforts in KwaZulu-Natal to save the wattled crane have proved effective. Photo: Griffin Shanungu/Endangered Wildlife Trust
The largest, rarest and most threatened of Africa’s six crane species, the graceful wattled crane, has been downlisted from critically endangered to endangered, conservationists said.
This success is thanks to concerted conservation efforts by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the International Crane Foundation partnership, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and other NGOs, and farmers and landowners across the Drakensberg.
The regional downlisting will be published in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species at the end of May.
Wattled cranes, a winter-breeding, wetland-dependent species, were listed as regionally critically endangered in 2015, with only 267 individuals recorded in the KwaZulu-Natal aerial survey of that year. The survey has been conducted for 32 years as KwaZulu-Natal is the stronghold for the species in South Africa.
While the regional downlisting means the wattled crane is no longer declining in South Africa, the population remains small and vulnerable to threats, with an estimated population of only 304 counted last year, the Endangered Wildlife Trust said.
Despite this positive trend in KwaZulu-Natal, the global population remains on the decline and urgent conservation attention is required to safeguard populations outside the province.
“The downlisting reflects the effort that has been placed on the species over the last 30 years, and highlights the importance of collaborating when protecting a species, and their grasslands and wetlands habitats that we all depend on,” noted Damian Walters, the South African regional manager for the African Crane Conservation Programme.
This follows the reclassification of the Cape vulture from endangered to vulnerable in 2021, also due to the success of targeted conservation efforts by organisations including the Endangered Wildlife Trust.
In 1994, the trust began research and conservation action to safeguard Africa’s crane species, including monitoring; research to understand their movements and ecological needs; and powerline investigation in partnership with Eskom.
Other initiatives included supporting farmers and landowners to protect their breeding sites; conservation of key areas through the promotion of sustainable management practices; education of landowners and rural communities; as well as understanding the crane trade and inclusion of key areas in the biodiversity stewardship programme.
“More recently, with improved technologies such as transmitters that can be placed on the wattled cranes, we are deepening our understanding of the non-breeding species that do not hold territories, to understand their movement patterns and how they use the landscape differently to breeding birds,” the trust said.
Drone mapping is being used to enhance understanding of the wetlands used by the species. This information is vital to the rehabilitation of wetlands to expand the habitat used by these unique birds, which will enable the species to expand outside its current range.
“Our work in Mpumalanga will also reveal critical information on the potential connectivity between populations in the different provinces. Work will continue with farmers to maintain the conservation of the species in its core range and thus protect the landscape through biodiversity stewardship schemes.
“This will be supported by long-term funding through carbon trading in the grasslands where they live,” the trust said.
