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January 28th, 2011
For the past month, conservationist within the Amboseli ecosystem were jubilant following the arrest in Tanzania of an infamous elephant poacher who managed to escape with a broken elbow after two of his accomplices were killed in Kenya as they try to waylay a herd of elephants armed with an automatic rifle. The network of informers from both countries, working in conjunction with authorities and MPT’s Big Life Foundation supported community game scouts, played a critical role in bringing to account one of the most wanted gang leaders along this porous stretch of border. It as a welcome relief for elephant lovers that the 22 years of poaching activities for this feared criminal are finally over.
But no sooner had we finished celebrating than another incident reared its ugly head. Two lions who are known to frequent Amboseli National Park in Kenya were poisoned with Furadan just one kilometer into Tanzania. In the first incident, a female lion was poisoned after killing a cow. The culprits removed her skin, teeth and claws. These valuable parts are worth a lot of money on the black market. Four hyenas and a vulture also died after feeding on the carcass of the poisoned lion.
Then, on January 18th, four lions (a large maned male and three sub-adult females) killed a milking cow belonging to the same owner as the first incident. The dead cow was skinned and several slabs of meat were removed, sprinkled with Furadan and then placed on ’strategic” paths and trails for “maximum impact”. The remainder of the carcass was poisoned and left for scavengers. Many people first thought all the four lions ate the poisoned meat but our investigations revealed otherwise. It seems that only the male lion returned to the carcass. He ate the meat and died shortly thereafter. Once again, the skin, teeth and claws were removed from his body, after which the culprits sprinkled more Furadan over the remains! The three lucky females were later seen resting under a tree and looked healthy and completely oblivious to what had happened to their male companion. Our Lion Guardian team’s investigation found that the lion tracks before the incident showed these lions had crossed over form Kenya into Tanzania. We strongly believe that these two dead lions are from Amboseli.
Even though the incident was first reported to us by AWF supported scouts in Tanzania, and the zonal warden of TANAPA in Tanzania as well as a few rangers provided an escort to our investigating Lion Guardian team, these porous border need more than casual monitoring. We appreciate the efforts of KWS Amboseli, but they have their hands full battling the recent serious outbreak in poaching in the region. The different legal and enforcement regimes from both countries need to be harmonized to more effectively capture and prosecute these killers. The lack of enforcement by the Tanzanian wildlife authorities with regards to the illegal hunting and killing of different wildlife species leaves a lot to be desired. Already, rumors have been circulating that any Kenyan entering Tanzania to follow up on any incidents will be arrested or beaten-up by the local community. The so-called “East African Community Spirit” is coming under severe testing. As the Lion Guardians have been so effective at mitigating conflict and stopping lion killing in Kenya, we would like to recruit some Lion Guardians on the Tanzanian side of the Amboseli border in an attempt to prevent any further carnivore poisonings.
For over two decades, Analisa Balares has been committed to women’s leadership development, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainable development, and education. She has produced, directed, and co-produced over 100 conferences, summits, events, and media on these themes, with 12 of these conferences and forums through Womensphere.
In the summer of 2007, Analisa founded Womensphere, a unique global leadership community and independent media company that inspires, empowers, connects, and unites women leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, scientists, artists, explorers, and women who are creating development and pioneering new trails across all fields and disciplines. In the last three years, as the US and global economies went through crises and upheaval, Analisa and the leadership of the Womensphere Team brought together a community of over 11,000 women leaders, building one of the most powerful new platforms for emerging women leaders, and for women leaders across all fields.
Prior to Womensphere, Analisa launched her career in the Goldman Sachs High Technology Investment Banking group, where she helped execute over $1.5 billion in IPOs, corporate financings, and mergers and acquisitions for companies like open source software leader Red Hat and communications leader Nokia. Her professional experience includes working for Milestone Capital Management, Morgan Stanley’s Energy Investment Banking Group, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, and the Japan External Trade Organization.
Analisa holds an MBA from Harvard Business School; a BA in Economics & Mathematics cum laude from Mount Holyoke College; and an International Baccalaureate Diploma from Lester Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada. While at Harvard Business School, Analisa founded and co-led the non-profit Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), and served as a President of the HBS Entrepreneurship Club, and Debate Coach/Team Co-Captain of the HBS Debate Team.
Following business school, Analisa joined Microsoft as Global Marketing Manager for Microsoft’s blogging and social networking service, where she managed the global marketing launch of Windows Live Spaces in over 30 countries, and led the strategy and execution of Spaces projects around branding, partnerships, events, and online community development. She managed Spaces’ internal partnerships with MSN Entertainment and XBox, and external partnerships with NGOs (Global Fund for Women, Earth Day Network), media companies (ABC, Sundance Channel), and independent music/film/TV festivals (SXSW, MethodFest Film Festival, New York TV Festival).
A global citizen, Analisa’s lifework and inspiration to have impact emerged early: In her teens, she led a team of students pioneering innovative work on wastewater pollution treatment, recycling, and alternative energy production, efforts which won recognition and the Philippine Shell Petroleum Company‘s Outstanding Junior Scientist Award for three consecutive years. She was elected Senate President of the 1st Philippine Youth Environment Congress, where she led drafting the Philippine Youth Environment and Sustainable Development Policy Proposal for the UN Earth Summit in Brazil. That year, she was elected Youth Mayor of Manila City, where she led the passing of 18 Executive Orders into laws to improve the community, education, and environment of Manila. As a Canadian Government scholar to the Lester Pearson United World College in British Columbia, she gave voice to the importance of children’s rights while on the Steering Committee of Canada’s First International Conference on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child held in Vancouver.
In 1999, Analisa founded The Lyons Network, a leadership and career mentoring organization for young women, and for a decade, Analisa co-led the organization of regional conferences on leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship for young women in New England, reaching several thousand young women in the last decade.
Analisa was recently selected as Fearless Woman of the Year 2010 by The Fearless Factor in New York City. Analisa was chosen by the New Leaders Council as one of its 40 Under 40 New Leaders in the United States, and recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in America by the US Filipina Women’s Network. Analisa was also recognized by CBS Radio/1010Wins as its Tomorrow’s Newsmaker Award Winner for Business.
