Land Management Plans and Wildlife-based Markets

As communities restore wildlife (based on independent sources of verification) and show increased commitment to reducing threats that harm wildlife and habitat, COMACO facilitates the financing to help communities develop wildlife-based markets as an added incentive to become wildlife producers. An important part of this process is for community leaders, both elected and traditional, to work together to develop their own land management plan that will set aside land for the exclusive and perpetual protection of wildlife, watersheds and other important natural resources or cultural sites on their customary land. These plans are developed in concert with local District authorities and are eventually ratified in full District Council meetings. If a particular community does not apply effective leadership and standards of good governance to help implement their land use plan, then the local CTC under the COMACO charter may reduce the trade benefits to that community until the land management plan is fully enforced.

<-- A land use planning meeting in Lundazi

Wildlife-based markets are an important challenge for COMACO. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), working in close partnership with the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), has begun to explore ways local communities can develop wildlife-based enterprises of their own, especially when their efforts to increase wildlife production and protection of wildlife habitat are well demonstrated. One such enterprise now well underway are community-owned tourism bushcamps, called It's Wild! Bushcamps, that provide high quality facilities and services, all managed by local community-based institutions, to visiting tourists who are able to see the wildlife and scenic landscapes that communities have conserved. WCS continues to explore effective and appropriate ways to stimulate community commitment to conservation through increased ownership and joint-partnerships in wildlife-based enterprises.