By Patrick Soko
As Zambia joins the global community in commemorating the World Elephant Day 2020, the Wide Fund for Nature notes that Investing in Elephants can move Zambian tourism from subsistence to year-long dynamic Tourism.
The African Elephant is a big part of the Africa Tourism proposition. However, the species and its habitat have come under increasing threat from various factors.
Zambia has lost more than 90 percent of her elephants since the 1950s owing to a multiplicity of factors including poaching, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and retaliatory killings.
The number of elephants plummeted from an estimated 250,000 in the 1970s to about 18,000 in 1989.
However, due to a number of interventions by government and partners as
well as the effect of global conventions such as CITES, populations have
started recovering in the last two last decades Recent surveys suggest a stabilization and
even increase in elephant numbers in the Luangwa Valley, Kafue, Lower Zambezi and Sioma Ngwezi ecosystems.
WWF Zambia Country Director Nachilala Nkombo
notes that despite some recovery in recent years, high demand for illegal ivory
over the past decade still poses pressure on Zambia’s elephants, contributing
to a broader, continent-wide decline of 8 percent.
She notes that the low levels of elephant
population growth in Zambia over the last decade compared with Zimbabwe and
Botswana suggests lower investment in protected areas in Zambia.
She says these low investments have created an enabling environment for the illegal killing of elephants compared to our neighbours. Compared to Namibia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, Zambia is yet to create and believe in its business case for conservation.
Ms Nkombo explains that these results have a
positive impact on tourism.
“Sustaining these results will require stronger
management effectiveness of protected areas and tourism operators in each
landscape taking collective action towards increasing their investments in wildlife
conservation as one way to support building the economic case for greater
public investments in wildlife conservation” she explained.
In the meantime, the WWF country director feels Investments in elephants and wildlife have the potential to drive green growth and green jobs post COVID 19.
“Targeted investments have the potential to
generate major financial returns to protected areas, deliver more economic
opportunities for communities and contribute to maintaining and extending wild
areas in Zambia.
Zambia has an opportunity to make a shift from
seasonal tourism to robust, resilient, and sustainable tourism that delivers
uninterrupted experiences, revenues and jobs for more Zambians all year round”
Ms Nkombo said.
The conservation organization has therefore called
on the Government to consider the following:
Ø Provide incentives and institute policy changes
that would be required to promote
wildlife stewardship, that
deliver increased benefits to local communities for protecting elephants and other wildlife
species.
Ø Structural investments in tourism
infrastructure to extend accessibility to tourism resorts in National Parks
and Game Management Areas (GMAs) from
the current 6 months to all year round access.
Ø Increase funding levels to DNPW, increase
staffing levels and explore innovative co-management partnership models for the
management of the national parks to secure long term sustainable financing.
Ø Support for improved controls over ivory stocks
and internal trade in ivory Provide legal instruments for the long term
protection of major elephant corridors Invest in applied ecological research
and the gathering of data on numbers, distribution, conflict, impacts, etc., of
elephants– inadequate information remains a major problem.
Ø Support the development and strengthening implementation of Zambian solutions for addressing human-elephant conflict with a high consideration for insurance strategies to cushion people living with elephants in the rural GMAs Implementation of ambitious CBNRM models that confer ownership of wildlife resources and deliver sustained benefits to local communities (and private sector) as incentives for the management of natural resources
ends///
By Patrick Soko
The closure of bars in view of the covid19 pandemic has negatively affected waste recycling industry as materials used such as plastic bottles are now in short supply.
In April this year, President Edgar Lungu announced the closure of bars and nightclubs following the recording of the first few covid19 cases, which have since leftover 139 people dead in Zambia as at 25/07/2020.
when the announcement was made, most citizens thought this would be a short term measure aimed at combating the pandemic but his has gone for over 3 months now, a situation which hugely affected the business owners.
And the recent address by President Lungu shuttered their hopes.
Greenland Recycling Services Chief Executive Officer Abel Mwale says the quantity of materials being picked to be recycled has reduced as it appears the consumption of beverages are minimal.
He
however, says this does not mean he would want bars to be opened as he
understands that the decision was taken in the national interest in order to combat
the covid19.
#presspoet2020
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| Kangwa Muyunda |
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| Florence Muleya |
