Litigation Launched to Secure Protection of African Penguin Population

The South African Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, is being hauled to court again, this time to argue the loss of the endangered African Penguin population. She must also answer why she has not implemented all the recommendations of the international panel to impose closures around the breeding colonies on six islands.

The Biodiversity Law Centre, representing Birdlife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), has initiated landmark litigation in the Pretoria High Court in the interests of the endangered African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus).