EU delegation to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Phillipe Van Damne

THE European Union (EU) and Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF) have joined hands to empower rural communities living in the lower Zambezi conservation areas by unveiling a $2 million project aimed at reducing poaching and encouraging sustainable development.

Alistair Pole, an AWF director on land conservation, said the partnership for improved anti-poaching and compatible land use in community lands of the Lower Zambezi-Mana Pools Transboundary Conservation Area will reduce illegal wildlife trade and enhance habitat conversion in the area.

“The project will strengthen community engagement in sustainable natural resource management, anti-poaching efforts and integration of conservation and compatible land uses,” he told delegates attending launch of the project in Chinhoyi on Wednesday.

“Fishers along the Zambezi River will be incentivised to cooperate with wildlife authorities to stop wildlife crime,” he said.

The majority of people living in the target area are dependent on subsistence agriculture, fishing and livestock for their livelihoods and benefit from nature through the collection of wood, wild fruits, pastures, water and wetlands.

Although the ecosystem services are dependent on the assemblages of wildlife species in the system, direct benefits from wildlife and wildlife-based enterprises such as tourism are less pronounced, and costs from wildlife attacks and crop damage are devastating.

In Zimbabwe, just like in most African countries, growing human populations are putting further pressures on land and resources.

For instance, in Mbire District between 2003 and 2011there was a 9,2 percent decrease in forest area, largely driven by agricultural expansion.

According to AWF, this expansion of human activities into areas once dominated by elephant, lion and other wildlife is resulting in an increase in human and wildlife conflicts. For example, there were 100 attacks on people between 2000 and 2009 from crocodile, many of which were fatal.

With limited opportunities to sustain themselves and their families, and a burgeoning demand for wildlife products from international markets, some are turning to poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking to make ends meet.

The new 36-month project will also result in the establishment of communal area conservancies, which will not only give rural Zimbabweans the legal right and responsibility to manage their natural resources themselves, but will also enhance the quality of their lives, while at the same time improving the biodiversity of these long-neglected areas.

EU programme manager for natural resource management Andrea Janoha said the trading bloc is supportive of the Zimbabwe government’s efforts to ensure that communities are involved in the management of natural resources.

“The government has also asked us to review organisations that work with natural resources such as the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe, the Environmental Management Authority, Forestry Commission and Campfire among others,” he said.

For the past 30 years, the EU has supported the Southern African strategic approach to wildlife conservation, with a 30 million Euro intervention to reduce the illegal killing of wildlife and the trafficking of wildlife products throughout Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.