NewsLetter April 2006

Pioneering New Solutions for Conservation and Rural Development in Zambia

COMACO Monthly Newsletter ? Reports from the Field

Wildlife numbers in Magodi Area benefiting from COMACO?s impact on promoting alternative livelihoods

Field Report filed by Nemiah Tembo, Senior Extension Coordinator

Extension staff working closely with farmers in Lundazi and Chama Districts have convinced households to surrender another 80 firearms since the recent handover ceremony of 768 firearms in Lusaka in March. One of these guns was an automatic military rifle holding 10 rounds. Its owner said it was used to poach elephants that crossed into Senior Chief Magodi?s area from Lundazi National Forest.

NewsLetter March 2006

Pioneering New Solutions for Conservation and Rural Development in Zambia

COMACO Monthly Newsletter ? Reports from the Field

Zambia proud of its COMACO Programme

Special ceremony, officiated by Hon. Minister of Tourism and Environment, acknowledges COMACO?s success ? 768 firearms surrendered by farmers and ex-poachers handed over to Government.

Report filed by Ruth Nabuyanda, WCS Programme Coordinator

Reformed poacher, H. Chirwa, surrenders firearm to Hon. Minister Mpande and pledges to fight poaching.

Newsletter January 2006

Pioneering New Solutions for Conservation and Rural Development in >Zambia

COMACO Monthly Newsletter ? Reports from the Field

January 2006 Issue

Fishpond construction exceeds targets and wins support from District Authorities

Field Report by Handsen Mseteka, COMACO/WCS Extension Coordinator, Luangwa District

It was during the beginning of January when I went out into the field with both the District Agricultural. Co-operative Officer (DACO) and the District Fisheries Officer (DFO), both from Chongwe, to show them the fishponds that were made by our fish farmers in Mpanshya and Shikabeta Chiefdoms.

Baseline Analysis of Rural Household Incomes in Luangwa Valley

D.M. Lewis, N. Tembo and P. Nyirenda

Introduction

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the African College for CBNRM (ACCBNRM) undertook a survey of household incomes in four game management areas (GMAs) in Luangwa Valley in 2001. These areas included Chikwa, Chifunda, Upper Lumimba and Lower Lumimba (see Figure 1) and encompassed five different communities as defined by their local chiefs: Chikwa, Chifunda, Kazembe, Chitungulu and Mwanya. All combined, these five communities represented a total human population of about 18,000 with 8% of the total GMA land area cleared for either settlements or farmland.

Can Wildlife and Agriculture Coexist Outside Protected Areas in Africa? A Hopeful Model and a Case Study in Zambia

(Dale M. Lewis, September 2004)

Introduction

Rural poverty and hunger, prohibitive costs of wildlife law-enforcement and human-wildlife conflicts arising from land use practices severely limit wildlife conservation outside Africa's national parks. Developing conservation approaches that are culturally acceptable as well as financially and ecologically sustainable in response to these challenges would have enormous implications for maintaining viable large-mammal populations in Africa. In Eastern and Southern Africa, conservation efforts have placed much emphasis on tourism to link tourism revenues to conservation outside protected areas on community land. Except where human populations are small or revenues exceptionally high, tourism income on a per capita basis is generally too little to modify local land use practices on a scale needed to protect large-mammal species and their habitat.

WCS Fact Sheet for Zambia: Community Markets for Conservation and Rural Livelihoods - COMACO

Fact sheet #4, 26 January 2004

Background

Hunger and poverty are the two most important threats responsible for the degradation of wildlife and other natural resources in and around Zambia?s national parks. Over the past decade, law enforcement agencies have generally failed to control the harmful impact of these threats. Wildlife numbers, for example, have shown dramatic declines in many parts of the country, creating much despair and anxiety for the future of tourism in Zambia.

WCS Fact Sheet for Zambia: Managing the threat of snaring to promote wildlife production and tourism development

Fact sheet #5, 6 April 2005

Background

Use of wire snares to capture and kill wild animals is a practice not uncommon to rural communities living in areas around Africa?s wildlife protected areas, especially communities affected by poverty and food shortages. Unlike the use of firearms, snares are silent and often go undetected, thus lowering risks of arrest by wildlife law enforcement officers. It is a passive, non-selective, and inexpensive way of killing wildlife. In contrast to firearms, which normally require considerable experience and skill, both men and women and even older children can easily practice snaring. When done on a large scale, snaring can be highly destructive, particularly to smaller-bodied animals, including the big cats. Deployment of wildlife scouts to search homes for possession of snares and patrol wildlife areas to remove them is costly and ineffective. This paper examines snaring as a wildlife threat to Zambia?s tourism and current efforts by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its collaborating partners¹ to manage this problem through interventions of improved food security and increased access to fair market alternatives.

WCS Fact Sheet for Zambia: Reducing the Threat of Wildlife Poaching by Offering Economic Alternatives to Local Hunters

Fact sheet #3, 25 November 2003

1. Background

Conventional law enforcement as a way of protecting wildlife is costly and often incites social resistance to conservation among rural communities, especially those who face economic hardships and rely on wildlife as a source of income or food. This especially applies to local hunters, who use their skills of hunting to enhance their livelihood needs, but typically do so without licenses for the animals they kill. Government authorities regard such people as poachers and only those able to afford the costs of acquiring licenses are called hunters. From the local hunter?s perspective, Government favors non-resident hunters, because they can afford hunting licenses, and over-issues licenses to make money or provide political favors at the expense of local hunters? livelihoods. Such perspectives foster continued local resistance to conservation.

Non-conventional approaches to wildlife management in an African landscape

I.Introduction

As human activities come into increasing contact with wildlife populations, resource managers are turning to new and often unconventional approaches in which humans are a major part of the management equation. Such approaches typically shift the emphasis from biological sciences to economics, rural development, and social sciences and create innovative opportunities for cross-cutting linkages. Variation in land uses and living standards dictate these approaches be uniquely suited to a particular landscape of biodiversity, cultural practices and human needs.

WCS Fact Sheet for Zambia: Achieving Increased Wildlife Production through Increased Food Security, Removal of Snares

Fact sheet #2, 22 November 2003

1. Background

Baseline research by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Luangwa Valley indicated between 20 and 60% of resident households experienced chronic, annual food shortages, occurring mostly from December to April. Irregular rainfall explained much of this variation though poor farming practices, inadequate inputs like improved seed varieties, and lack of market incentives to motivate farm production contributed to persistent food shortfalls. 42% of these families adopted the use of wire snares to help cope with their hunger by killing wild animals as a source of game meat to barter for bulk foods like maize or sorghum. Households who used snares in this way killed on average 5.6 animals annually. Based on these statistics, a conservative estimate of annual wildlife losses from snaring in a pilot study area covering 15,000 km2 with a population of approximately 12,000 households exceeded 5000 wild animals. WCS recognized the tragic magnitude of the problem on tourism and future opportunities of sustaining rural income through legal wildlife markets.