The World Species Congress: Reverse the Red has begun.
It is a 24-hour online program designed to create ideas and share lessons learnt in conservation and related sectors.
The Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JPCZ), is among South Africans sharing lessons at the meeting.
The Joburg Zoo plans to breed and release 400 Pickergill’s Reed frogs in the wild towards the end of this year.
Mlando Dlomo, Curator for reptiles at the Johannesburg Zoo, said at the Congress this morning, there are currently 300 tadpoles monitored to be released in the wild later this year.
This is expected to be similar to events of 2006, and 2017, where Reed frogs were released by organisations working to conserve them, along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, where they are endemic.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the JCPZ and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZN), a provincial conservation department to join forces in the conservation of amphibians. A Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) was also approved and gazetted by the Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa in 2017.
The Pickergill’s Reed frog is listed as rare and endangered on the IUCN Red data list, which means it requires urgent action to protect it from going extinct.
Picture: Amphibian Survival Alliance
Cover page: Mlando Dlomo, Johannesburg Zoo