Poachers using the Zambezi River to smuggle ivory to Zambia and Mozambique

Tinashe Makichi

Fishermen are conduits of wildlife crime involving poaching and illegal smuggling of ivory along the Zambezi Valley to Zambia and Mozambique, a new report by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has revealed.

The Zambezi River is both a source of life and a conduit for traffickers, and fisher communities have since been identified as key to reversing the situation.

This comes as the riverine habitat now hosts an elephant population of 19 000 from over 30 000 in previous years. Direct causes of the decline include poaching, retaliatory killings and habitat conversion.

The Lower Zambezi Trans-boundary landscape is critical for the survival of wildlife in modern Africa covering core conservation areas anchoring the larger landscape centred on Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe and the Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia.

The area has some of the most remarkable terrestrial and riverine wildlife concentrations, including significant populations of elephant, lion and wild dog and scenic landscapes in Southern Africa.

Interviews with communities conducted by AWF last year, indicated that while there are vestiges of support for wildlife and conservation, many communities are pitted in a struggle for survival that means they are not capable of protecting the natural systems they depend on.

Security agencies, tour operators, Local Government and park management authorities from Zambia and Zimbabwe revealed difference in opinions on the exit points for ivory from the Lower Zambezi–Mana Pools Trans-boundary Conservation Area (LZMP TFCA).

AWF however, say there is consensus among security authorities that poachers are using the Zambezi River to enter the protected areas and transfer ivory and other illegal wildlife products between Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique.

“Fishers have been implicated by local authorities and wildlife officials as being involved in wildlife crime. Priorities include understanding the role fishers play in illegal wildlife trafficking better, raising awareness among fishers and initiating incentives targeted at motivating fishers to engage in anti-poaching efforts and stop support to wildlife traffickers. Data on the level of fisher engagement in poaching and trafficking is poor,” AWF said.

Currently, ranger and police presence on the Zambezi River and cooperation on illegal activity across borders is limited and there have been gaps in surveillance and pursuit of poachers across borders that make poaching and trafficking easier along the Zambezi Valley, the report noted.

AWF noted that the economic downturn in Zimbabwe and weakened implementation of policies and programmes have resulted in a sharp decline in investment in the management of wildlife and natural resources over the past two decades.

This, AWF said, resulted in inadequate anti-poaching resources and little incentive for communities to engage in Community-Based Natural Resource Management.

 “…the lack of resources for proper management, poor state of the national economy and weakened communal governance models have reduced the benefit communities derive,” AWF said.

The Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources in Zimbabwe was also once a global model for empowering communities in NRM and capturing value from wildlife for local communities, but is currently under-delivering for wildlife and people.

The Administrative Management Design for Game Management Areas programme in Zambia is also struggling to provide adequate benefits for communities to incentivise support for wildlife conservation, AWF said.

AWF noted that governance systems have been weakened and revenue declined substantially over the past two decades leaving the structures vulnerable and dependent on external financing hence exposing wildlife conservation.

It said growing human population was putting further pressures on land and resources. In Mbire District, Mashonaland Central, between 2003 and 2011 there was a 9,2 percent decrease in forest area, largely driven by agricultural expansion hence also affecting wildlife habitation around that area. This has spawned human wildlife conflicts with 100 crocodile attacks between 2000 and 2009.

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