U.S. philanthropist Howard Buffett takes aim at rhino poaching - By Pascal Fletcher - Fri Mar 14, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/article...dUSL2N0MB11620140314

JOHANNESBURG, March 14 (Reuters) - American philanthropist Howard G. Buffett donated $24 million to South Africa's national parks service on Friday to fund a high-tech campaign against rhino poaching which he compared to the United States' war on drugs on its southern border.

Buffett, son of billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Inc chairman Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, presented the 255 million rand cheque to South African authorities at Standard Bank offices in Johannesburg.

The money will fund a 30-month campaign to try to reverse a losing battle being fought against rhino poachers in the flagship Kruger Park, where illegal hunters infiltrating from Mozambique have been decimating the rhino population.

It will provide park rangers with a helicopter and other high-tech equipment, such as an aerostat balloon and land vehicles equipped with sophisticated electronic sensors, to track down poachers. The project also plans to place sensors on fencing along the border with neighbouring Mozambique.

"This is very much like our drug war on our U.S./Mexican border," said Howard Buffett, referring to the campaign by American and Mexican authorities against narcotics traffickers.

South Africa, which is home to almost all of the world's rhinos, lost 1,004 of the massive animals to poachers in 2013, compared with 668 the previous year and 448 in 2011.

Most of the killings are taking place in the Kruger Park, which lost 606 rhinos last year, and 113 so far this year. South Africa's rhino population totals around 20,000.

"We are losing the battle all across the continent ... we have to fight it every place we can," Buffett said.

Rhino hunting is driven by soaring demand in newly affluent Asian countries such as Vietnam and China, where the animal's horns are prized as a key ingredient in traditional medicine.

Howard Buffett, through his charitable foundation, has supported farming, wildlife conservation and poverty alleviation projects across Africa, often concentrating on hotspots which are suffering from conflict or the aftermath of wars.

"When you see what conflict does to people, you cannot turn away. That conflict is fuelled by rhino horns, elephant ivory," said Buffett, referring to the close link between insurgencies and conflicts in Africa and trafficking of natural resources.

Rhino horn has a street value of more than $65,000 a kg in Asia, making it more valuable than platinum, gold or cocaine.

South Africa's Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, said Pretoria was working with Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos to try to curb the demand.

"Fighting and winning the battle in South Africa is fighting and winning the battle in the world," she said.

Retired South African Maj. Gen. Johan Jooste, who is leading the fight against poaching in the Kruger, said his rangers were confronting hundreds of poachers who had made their bases in villages on the Mozambican side, in Maputo and Gaza provinces.

Criminal syndicates promise cash to poor and unemployed villagers willing to take the risk of hunting down the animals.

Jooste envisaged a hard campaign. "The talking is the easy part, this is not a sprint, it's a marathon," he told Reuters. ($1 = 10.7215 South African Rand) (Reporting By Pascal Fletcher; editing by David Dolan and Toby Chopra)

IMHO maybe 1 mil will go for anti poaching, 23 mil will be siphoned off by crooked officials.
Hope I am wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
IMHO maybe 1 mil will go for anti poaching, 23 mil will be siphoned off by crooked officials.
Hope I am wrong.

We will be very lucky if it is this case.

I bet 99% will go to grease some palms, and the 1% will go to a PR campaign of how well they are doing.

His Father Warren, joined the Gates Foundation which pledges billionaires to give most of their wealth away.
Bill Gates himself however ,just knocked Carlos slim [72 billion] off the Forbes perch,
Gates coming in at the top of the Forbes wealthiest person list, with 76 billion.

There are not obligated to give it all away in their lifetime, nor is there any set time in which they will give it away.
They can nominate to give it way 200yrs after their death if they so wish. Even then its only a pledge, not a legally binding agreement.
Personally I feel the GF is a fraudulent shell, structured to help the super wealthy in Tax avoidance.
In the process Gates will use it to buy himself his much desired Nobel Peace Prize.

$24 million would buy a hell of a lot of FN rifles and pay a lot of game scout salaries. Probably buy some drones too, which I've always thought would help significantly with anti-poaching if there were the funding.

Aerial surveillance, boots on the ground, superior firepower and the willingness to use it; as well as deportation of the Chinese and sanctions against the Chinese government; will solve the poaching issues. If, you can do away with the corruption.

Kind of a long wish list.

While there's certainly a place and need for anti-poaching, it's still protectionism, which has never really worked and is just the wrong approach toward wildlife management.

What he should've done (and I understand that this is pure fantasy), is split the money 50-50; half to anti-poaching, and shoot a dozen rhino at a million dollars apiece with the other half.

Microsoft backs HSUS.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
$Aerial surveillance, boots on the ground, superior firepower and the willingness to use it; as well as deportation of the Chinese and sanctions against the Chinese government; will solve the poaching issues.

I think for $24M, I can line up just the crew to take care of this little issue.

Problem solved, problem staying solved sir.

Another welfare scenario.
They ( RSA ) gonna run out of that money so fast and even faster the hands will be lined up for more.
It might be grand gesture, but it is wrong to give it to corrupt governments. We all know that. So why these so called geniuses do that is beyond my understanding
You would think, with all the money they have, they would be smarter, but it is all for self gratification instead results.
Maybe I give these super wealthy people too much credit when it comes to intelligence.
They might be smart about how to make money, but that is about it.
I don't think they have any idea about real world.

His money may be inherited but I don't think the guy is a light weight.

http://www.amazon.com/40-Chanc...id=1395503679&sr=1-1

Mike

"This is very much like our drug war on our U.S./Mexican border,"

Yep... And as everybody is aware, due to the billions pumped into the War On Drugs it is now totally impossible for a teenager to buy coke, crack, pot, meth, or any other controlled substance anywhere in the US. Especially not in any High School.

The rhinos are now safe...

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
IMHO maybe 1 mil will go for anti poaching, 23 mil will be siphoned off by crooked officials.
Hope I am wrong.

Something tells me there will be oversight in place that will prevent this from happening.

I could be wrong but I believe the Buffet family is a bit too wise to just hand 24m over to some of the most corrupt SOBs on earth with the promise that they use it wisely.

quote:

Something tells me there will be oversight in place that will prevent this from happening. I could be wrong but I believe the Buffet family is a bit too wise to just hand 24m over to some of the most corrupt SOBs on earth with the promise that they use it wisely.Jason

I certainly hope you are right.

Stil can't see how it is gonna solve the Vietnam/China market
Those people in SE Asia have insatiable appetite

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
IMHO maybe 1 mil will go for anti poaching, 23 mil will be siphoned off by crooked officials.
Hope I am wrong.

Something tells me there will be oversight in place that will prevent this from happening.

I could be wrong but I believe the Buffet family is a bit too wise to just hand 24m over to some of the most corrupt SOBs on earth with the promise that they use it wisely.

Not sure about his son, but Warren certainly is and I would bet it has rubbed off on his son. I would imagine there is a lot of thought put into that donation and probably some oversight and/or restrictions we are not hearing about. Warren, at least, is not one to just freely give his money away. He didn't get rich investing by being foolish.

I tend to agree with those who view Buffet as not-easy-to -hoodwink... I expect that he has processes in place to measure outcomes & accoutatability. If he freely chose to donate That Much $$$ to < rhino poaching, hunters, IMO, should applaud him & not chastise the guy. When Buzz requests $ for anti-poaching efforts we are , rightfully so, all for it. Lets not be bigoted(or envious) toward a guy who is trying to accomplish a similar goal. Lastly, Lets not castigate a man simply b/c he is (very) rich.

quote:

Rhino hunting is driven by soaring demand in newly affluent Asian countries such as Vietnam and China, where the animal's horns are prized as a key ingredient in traditional medicine.

This is all great but why is it every article you read like this one refers to this poaching as hunting.
"Rhino hunting is driven by soaring demand in newly affluent Asian countries such as Vietnam and China, where the animal's horns are prized as a key ingredient in traditional medicine."
These journalists need to learn the difference between hunting and poaching!

quote:

I tend to agree with those who view Buffet as not-easy-to -hoodwink... I expect that he has processes in place to measure outcomes & accoutatability. If he freely chose to donate That Much $$$ to < rhino poaching, hunters, IMO, should applaud him & not chastise the guy. When Buzz requests $ for anti-poaching efforts we are , rightfully so, all for it. Lets not be bigoted(or envious) toward a guy who is trying to accomplish a similar goal. Lastly, Lets not castigate a man simply b/c he is (very) rich

I certainly hope I did not come across as being negative in any way towards Mr. Buffett, it's the corrupt officials (worldwide) that I have no faith in.
As far as being bigoted or envious of a rich guy, I'm working hard to join the ranks myself, just haven't made it yet.

Why do game scouts wear their hats rolled up on the sides?

So they can get three in the helicopter on Saturday night.