25
Sep 2008 - Harare, Zimbabwe: A breakdown
in law enforcement against rhino poaching
and horn smuggling in Zimbabwe is threatening
the success of more than a decade's work
bringing rhino populations back up to healthy
levels.
Typical of the problem
is the recent release of a gang of four
Zimbabwean rhino poachers who admitted to
killing 18 rhinos in five different areas
of central Zimbabwe, including a semi-tame
group of black rhinos slaughtered in their
pens at Imire Safari Ranch.
The poachers, also alleged
to have been involved in a number of armed
robberies and arrested with several illegal
firearms, were initially denied bail and
it was reported that the four had received
lengthy jail sentences. However, WWF was
recently informed by authorities that the
poachers were subsequently granted bail,
were freed and immediately absconded.
Rhino poaching has been
increasing throughout Zimbabwe including
in the Lowveld Conservancies in southern
Zimbabwe, home to three-quarters of the
country's surviving rhinos and host to a
rhino conservation project involving WWF,
the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
of Zimbabwe, the private sector and several
other conservation agencies including the
International Rhino Foundation.
“Since January 2000,
approximately 70 rhinos have been killed
in the Lowveld conservancies, and the losses
are now rapidly mounting,” said Raoul du
Toit, Lowveld rhino conservation project
manager for the Lowveld Conservancies. “About
20 rhinos were shot in the Lowveld during
2008, which points to how this problem is
escalating.
“Prior to 2000, for
a period of seven years, there was no rhino
poaching whatsoever.”
When the poaching first
flared up, it was linked to the unplanned
occupations of sections of the Lowveld Conservancies
by subsistence farmers and primarily involved
rhinos getting caught in wire snares that
were set out to catch wildlife for meat
consumption.
Now the poaching has
reached commercial levels, with poachers
not only killing rhinos in snares but also
shooting them for their horns, without taking
the meat.
“WWF and other non-government
organisations involved in rhino conservation
maintain very constructive relations with
the Zimbabwean wildlife authorities,” says
du Toit, “But there is growing frustration
over Zimbabwe’s poor performance in law
enforcement for rhino crimes, which inevitably
gives rise to concerns about corruption.”
Although a few poachers
from Zambia have been arrested and convicted
after cross-border raids into National Parks
in northern Zimbabwe, not a single Zimbabwean
poacher has been convicted during the current
wave of internal rhino poaching.
The few Zimbabwean poachers
arrested, have subsequently been released
on bail, (equivalent to a few American cents),
and have then absconded, or have evaded
prosecution in the courts.
“The lack of enforcement
and increased poaching pressure in Zimbabwe
now threaten to reverse the excellent trends
in rhino populations of recent years,” said
Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF-International’s
Species Programme. “WWF calls on the authorities
in Zimbabwe to take much stronger action
against the internal poaching networks or
the recent progress made in rhino conservation
in Zimbabwe will be lost.”
Tom Milliken, the Regional
Director of TRAFFIC’s programme in east
and southern Africa, warns: “In terms of
the CITES treaty on wildlife trade, Zimbabwe
is now in the spotlight and an international
task force will be visiting shortly to investigate
its performance in rhino conservation.
“TRAFFIC has sponsored
initiatives to improve the country’s law
enforcement capabilities, but sadly most
investigations appear to have collapsed
without successful prosecutions.”
+ More
Catch them young: Promoting
Environmental Education in schools and communities
in Bangweulu, North Eastern Zambia
22 Sep 2008 - Such a
scenario breeds citizens who take natural
resources for granted and expect such resources
to avail themselves for exploitation whenever
the need arises. This contributes to the
wanton destruction of natural resources
for immediate gain and to the insufficient
appreciation of their importance to national
economies and to sustainable livelihoods.
A project by WWF Southern
Africa Regional Programme Office (SARPO),
that encourages more responsibility for
the conservation and restoration of the
environment in the Bangweulu basin in North
Eastern Zambia, has seen more players become
involved in spreading the message of conservation
and restoration among communities using
tools such as drama, video shows and nature
gardens in government and community schools.
The project is financially supported by
the founder of M Magazine through WWF Sweden.
It has reached out to 46 schools in the
Chiundaponde and Kalasamukoso areas. The
schools formed conservation clubs that act
as a platform for sharing knowledge and
teaching school children and their families
on the importance of natural resource conservation.
The clubs were registered with the Wildlife
and Environment Conservation Society of
Zambia. The latter gives the clubs environmental
Teacher’s hand books, magazines and posters
on a quarterly basis.
“Our main task under
this project is to popularize environmental
issues through participatory social learning
in schools and their communities, and to
capitalize experiences and lessons for purposes
of informing and influencing management
and decision-making processes,” says WWF
SARPO’s Miombo Eco-region Leader, Dr Enos
Shumba.
Undeterred by lack of
adequate resources, the project improvised
an Environmental Mobile Unit (EMU) by mounting
the relevant equipment - a generator, DVD/VCR
combo player, LCD projector and screen -
on a Land Cruiser vehicle. The Unit visits
the 46 schools on a roaster basis for environmental
video shows and distribution of relevant
literature. This has resulted in sharing
of experiences between and among schools
and their neighbouring communities.
One of the project field
officers involved in facilitating the environmental
video shows, Richard Kalyata, explains how
the shows are conducted. “Environmental
mobile shows are normally conducted in schools
and community centres and target school
going children, youths, teachers and female
adults - who happen to be the major natural
resource users in the area”.
Mr. Kalyata further
explains that most of the video shows are
locally generated and focus on local environmental
issues affecting the Bangweulu basin such
as deforestation, wildlife poaching and
inappropriate fishing methods. The shows
also highlight sustainable natural resource
use options being promoted by the project
in the area. These include bee keeping,
fish farming and conservation agriculture.
To spice up the environmental
issues, the shows provide clips on the importance
of education in order to generate a culture
of appreciating the value of education in
both children and parents. Each show takes
about 40 minutes followed by a question
and answer session where participants share
lessons learnt.
“The shows have generally
been appreciated by both children and adults
as they are considered educative in as far
as the conservation of natural resources
is concerned. Participants also view environmental
shows as a motivator for children to attend
school and the parents to send their children
to school. This is important considering
that most children in the area do not attend
school. They engage in other livelihood
activities such as fishing and girls are
forced into early marriages”, continues
Mr. Kalyata.
Eight of the conservation
clubs have established nature gardens. The
gardens are used to demonstrate good natural
resource stewardship to school children
and communities within which they live.
Practices demonstrated in such gardens include
intercropping of cereal crops with multi-purpose
trees and planting exotic and indigenous
fruit trees.
The Miombo Environmental
Evening Education (3E): Of Nature Gardens,
Schools, and Conservation Education in the
Bangweulu Basin, North eastern Zambia is
a project under the Miombo Ecoregion Conservation
Programme financed by the founder of M magazine
through WWF Sweden. Its goal is to encourage
communities (especially school children
and female adults) in the Bangweulu basin
to take responsibility for the conservation
and restoration of the environment. The
project has three objectives namely; to
popularize environmental issues through
Participatory Social Learning, to set up
an Environmental Mobile Unit (EMU) that
provides environmental awareness, and to
capitalize experiences and lessons to inform
and influence management and decision making
processes. It is hoped that through the
project, people of the Bangweulu basin will
gain a deeper understanding of how their
individual and collective actions affect
the environment and equip them with skills
for better and informed decision making.
